I'm going to copy and paste my reply to your original post below - I think if you go back and re-read everything, you'll see deep down we are all sincerely trying to help you and steer you in the right direction.
DealerRefresh is a wealth of industry knowledge and we want you, like all vendors, to be successful because it ultimately benefits us, the dealers.
You're clearly driven and have a lot of passion, don't let this be discouraging. Wishing you luck in whatever endeavor you end up landing on!
On April 30, 2024 Ryan Everson posted:
@autovantaofficialI love the enthusiasm to get in the automotive marketing business at such a young age!
I have a similar story, I started working at my family's car dealership when I was 13 - handling the marketing, IT, typing deals, collecting payments, and riding along on the occasional repo!
Then in high school, I started an online SaaS company that served as a credit bureau consortium alternative for BHPH dealerships. Somewhat similar to what Point Predictive is doing today, but at a smaller scale and a lot less polished. It started off as a high school marketing class project that I took to DECA internationals (high school business plan competition) and ultimately turned into a real business.
So my suggestion would be to find a small mom and pop dealer in your hometown and volunteer to work there. Let them be your playground to test new ideas!
Selling car dealers a new marketplace subscription is going to be an uphill battle and not one I'd personally recommend going down if I'm being completely honest. Lots of potential in other areas though - running facebook ads that convert into leads and sales could be a lucrative niche.
I would just recommend narrowing it down to the 1 thing you’re most passionate about and start from there. No need to be everything to everyone right off the bat, find a niche and expand organically.
Also, if you're still looking for colleges to attend, I'd highly recommend checking out Northwood University. They are well-known in the automotive space and car dealers from across the country send their kids to college there. I went there and loved it.
[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.northwood.edu/programs/automotive-marketing-management/[/URL]
Source: Car Sales Website Startup
