"I love taking something that's broken and making it whole and better again," said Leavitt, who moved to Southern Nevada from Canada in 1997, when he founded Leavitt Auto Care. "My brother had been here and said Las Vegas needed a good, honest repair shop, and I always wanted to have my own business. It's not easy, but when you are able to go in and solve a problem on a vehicle, it's quite rewarding to find the problem and fix it."

He launched the company with the help of his wife, LeeAnne Leavitt, some used equipment and one lift.

"We really started it at the ground. Things were really lean until word got out and we were able to build the business on a referral basis and people knew that they could trust us," Leavitt said. "It was probably about a two-year period before we were really starting to make ends meet, and we now have very little walk-through business and do very little advertising, although we do send out an educational newsletter every quarter."

He said the shop services an average of 10 vehicles per day, providing general maintenance such as fluid changes as well as addressing more complicated problems such as electronic diagnostics, engine and transmission replacement and drive-train issues. In the summer months, air conditioning and cooling-system repairs also keep the company's technicians on their toes.

"The only thing we don't do is tires and exhaust," Leavitt said, adding that the shop has been on the Better Business Bureau's honor roll since the company's inception. "We feel like we do good work with problems a lot of other shops are unable to solve, although it's a hard business to be in because mechanical things sometimes aren't predictable and the last thing people like to do is spend money on their cars to repair them."

Mechanic Ralph Decuir replaces spark plug wires on a vehicle at Leavitt Auto Care. Photo by Steve Marcus

Colleen McCann has been a customer of Leavitt Auto Care for about seven years, having heard about the shop through word-of-mouth.

"At the time we had a Dodge Caravan and a Toyota Camry," McCann said. "They always explain to me what has to be done and show me the problem areas. They are always honest and helpful and reliable and friendly and are great with customer service. They always work with me and make sure we are taken care of, and they are affordable. I have referred other people to them as well."

Being a small-business owner has its ups and downs, Leavitt said. On the positive side, "If I want to leave early one day and go watch my son play tennis, I can do that," he said, "so there are lots of benefits. But it also makes you a problem-shooter and you work to put out fires, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. But it's kind of like 'the buck stops here.' If you're working for someone else, when you do go home at night your day is over, but if you own your own business, it's 24/7 and that's just a part of being in business."

LeeAnne Leavitt agreed.

"The biggest challenge is that it's never far from your mind," she said, adding that the company was recognized in 2005 by the Nevada State Development Corp., an SBA lender, as a successful small business in Nevada.

"You can't just go home at 5 and stop thinking about it. We also live in this very immediate society, and people expect things right away," she said. "But things like diagnosing a vehicle take time and we try to make people happy, but sometimes they will want their car back in an hour and it's not like fast food. But it is nice to be able to go and do things with our kids and be our own boss and not have people telling you what to do. I guess there is good and bad in every job you have."

She offered the following advice to other small-business owners:

"Be prepared to work hard," she said. "If you want to start your own business just do it. You don't need a lot of money, you just need a lot of guts."