What begas as a hobby for 15-year old Carlos Hickman has, years later, been demonstrated with much certainty and validity at Fort Wayne, IN, shop Los Labs Automotive Firm. No, not the last three letters of his first name, and no, not an affiliation with any city beginning with the previx. "Los", meaning Logic Operating Systems, is a term that Hickman created to describe the art of building unique circuitry for OEM integration electronics. Cool name for a shop that's seen a solid rise since its inception.

Tricky Business
"I would flip through magazines like Car Audio and I was seeing the work that guys like Fishman and Gary Biggs were doing, and I fell in love with it," said Hickman. He founded the shop in 1999, and has run the business as a single store ever since, despite that fact that Hickman has always been on the move. His present location is the third "official" site of Los Labs. That's not counting his off-campus apartment at Purdue University, working out of his garage. At that time, Hickman was studying electrical engineering technology. His friends were into imported tuner custom cars that were tricked out on performance parts and fabrication, and it just took off from there, Hickman described.

Los Labs is located in a detached warehouse that is part of a strip mall. "The complex is very professional, but the location is kind of obscure, so unless you're looking for me, you won't see me. But I am a block away from one of the busiest intersections in Indiana," Hickman said.

Within a three-mile radius of Los Labs, there are about 10 different shops including both big boxes and specialist shops. "I think it helps you. Competition drives the market. If people can compare your product to someone else's, then they can make an informed decision," said Hickman. The retailer has enjoyed, on average, a steady 30 percent increase each year since the business opened. He attributes the growth to word-of-mouth, name recognition, brand and product recognition. He has also experienced positive results with car shows that he feels has helped to create an awareness of custom applications for customers.

Hickman currently has four installers, while he handles sales in addition to doing installs. His fiancee also plays a role in the business, performing administrative and book keeping duties, event planning, and is also his self-proclaimed "best and worst critic." He requires that his installers have certification from one of the various installer training schools.

"I want to be able to mold [installers that I hire]. The reason I require some certification is that it's going to be a platform. Certification tells me that you're serious about what you're doing," said Hickman. The staff always handles problems upfront, installing new product if necessary and dealing with problems through manufacturers' warranties. Los Labs also offers a lifetime warranty on all installation work.

Although the store keeps typical 12-volt days and hours, Monday through Friday 10 AM to 6 PM, and Saturday, noon to 6 PM, Hickman stated, "We'll stay as late as we need to stay. There's none of that, 'I'm sorry, we close in five minutes' ".

Moving On Up, Again
Since Hickman is always looking for the next lucrative move for the shop, it won't come as a surprise that he's got big plans. "We are looking to build a facility that's more central in the city, and have a much larger storefront and bay area where we can do more services like wheels and more," he stated. Hickman plans to eventually either buy a building or build a brand new one. He's hoping to have four bays-but not more - so he doesn't get ahead of himself. "I don't want to get so huge that the overhead can't justify the work coming in. And I really want to give back to the community. That's why I stayed here in Fort Wayne in the first place," he said.

Instead of trying to open up a shop in a larger city, he wanted to show others that are aspiring car audio business owners that it's possible to be successful in smaller towns, too.

Los Labs stays involved in the local scene, sponsoring car shows and philanthropic events like the Special Olympics and child abuse prevention. Hickman also hopes to be able to get a bigger space so that younger kids will have the chance to visit his shop for school-related, career-day events, which he feels creates interest in 12-volt not only as a hobby but as a career.

The Wow of the Web
Hickman estimates that he spends five to 10 percent of his budget for advertising, and is beginning to do some print ads in magazines. He mentioned that the shop doesn't do a lot of local advertising because of the price of its product and services. "We try to specifically target our demographic. We're not a high volume, low profit kind of place like the [big boxes]. We don't have sales. Our clientele is very demanding and very meticulous. "

Los Labs has an extensive Website, www.loslabs.com, that Hickman started in 2002 and which he continues to develop. "We plan to make the Website a much more integral part of the store, and generate e-mails and mailers through the Website in the near future," he stated. He is creating a system so a customer can go online, enter his or her name and ID number for the product they purchased, and then product, purchase and warranty information will be available to the customer.

According to Hickman, he feels the most important task of the store's Website is to expose viewers to the show-quality level of custom installs, fiberglass and upholstery work that the staff performs.

Currently, navigation, iPod interfaces, Bluetooth applications and 10-inch headrest screens are some of the shop's hottest-selling categories. He mentioned that custom upholstery is also a big trend right now, including ostrich, crocodile, and suede materials.

The majority of his customer response is from word-of-mouth buzz, as well as from the momentum of doing a couple of high-profile athletes' vehicles. Hickman has customers driving in from surrounding states to get their cars worked on, and has achieved a level of recognition such that, "We have people from both coasts getting installs done here. We have a deal with a shipping company, so we pick up and deliver their cars," he said.

Hickman recently showed off his newest baby, a custom dash kit for Chrysler vehicles. "We went to the Daimler-Chrysler museum to showcase our product. They were pretty impressed with it," he said. He is also in the process of mass producing pre-fabricated fiberglass doorskins to fit popular GM trucks and SUVs, that fit two 6 1/2-inch components with an option to add an eight-inch sub.

A High Price to Pay
When asked about particular challenges at his shop, Hickman finds it difficult to try to explain to customers the price of custom work. "It's never an easy topic. What they're looking at on TV with some of these [reality] shows, is people getting a car that is completely obliterated, with no motor and no roof and holes in the floorboard, and then a half-hour later the car has everything brand new! It's not realistic. But I understand why they do it; nobody wants to see anybody mix mud," he said.

Hickman's advice to other 12- volt professionals: "You have to have a strong work ethic. If you want to be successful, your hours are going to be long. That just comes with it. You need a good support group - people you can count on, people you can trust, people that are there to support you and really see your vision and want to see it come to fruition," he advised.

Hickman plans to continue creating custom car audio and aftermarket solutions like the dash kits and door skins for vehicle manufacturers. The retailer said, "I'm still not where I want to be. I want to be recognized as being one of the premier shops in the country. That's my goal."

Hickman continued, "People think that because you have a tax ID number, that you're just rolling in dough. It's been a lot of hardship on me, and my family. There are a lot of growing pains. You're not going out every day. You're not going to get to go on that trip. Christmas gets kind of thin, but that's just the way it goes. You feel like you're never going to get caught up. If you want to be successful, you have to keep every profit you make."