I am always in search of great stories of everyday people who may not be celebrities or presidents, or billionaires but are paving the way in industries that are less travelled by a particular gender. It is as a result of this search, that I bring you an inspiring story of a lady in Australia who I consider not only a ground breaker when it comes to the Paintless dent repair industry, but an inspiration to all those ladies who are thinking of venturing into this industry.
Lisa Donohue is the founder of The Dent Shop Pty Ltd and the creator of Perfect A Dent Paintless dent repair training system, she is a woman with endless energy who seeks to create Paintless dent products and information that will be enabling to those who use them. To her there is no “man’s” or “woman’s” world! To her the world is one with boundless opportunities just waiting to be seized by those who are positive and willing to work.
Lisa’s was born in 1980 and her inspirational story starts off as an administrator in a PDR company, working directly with a large Australian insurance company that found itself repairing damaged cars as a result of Australia’s Hail Storm of December 2004. When the company got a job overseas they offered Lisa a new position where she would basically to do the R&R’s (or R&I’s for my American friends and demontage for my German followers). This meant she had to learn quickly how to remove and replace (R&R) the linings and parts of various car makes and models.
Lisa did such a great job, (“better than any men we have had do the job” was the quote from her boss) that they decided to keep using her for their international contract work, so she set off on her next adventure that was to take her to Europe. Once she touched down in Germany her bosses quickly changed her job description and instead of her working on R&R’s again, she was to be head quoter for the vehicles in a major VW & BMW dealership in Germany which meant she not only had to do her job extremely well, but had to do it in German, something she saw not as a challenge but as an opportunity to learn and grow!
6 months later Lisa was back in Australia with the same company straight back into another hail storm. She started out doing quoting and R&R’s. In addition to this Lisa soon began managing contractors, doing all bookwork and taking care of all the administrative end of things. Lisa saw how Australians had to buy their entire Paintless dent products from overseas companies and with shipping it resulted in very high costs. This led her to identifying an opportunity that would lead her to her next adventure; one of creating quality Paintless dent products that would be easily accessible to Australians.
Her first products were glue tabs; she had a mould made, got an engineer to check the plastic and design, personally tested them, and within 3 months, her first batch of glue tabs were out in the market and they were not just selling in Australia, but she brokered a deal for glue and started importing the most popular glues and exporting her glue tabs, thus the birth of The Dent Shop Pty Ltd in 2007.
Over the next 18 months, The Dent Shop Pty Ltd not only grew in popularity but offered wide product range of Paintless dent repair accessories and tools. In 2009, in a move to reduce costs and keep prices low for her customers, The Dent Shop, moved from a bricks and mortar shop front to an online only store that can be accessed and purchased from 24/7.
Lisa was not one to rest on her laurels as her she quickly saw another opportunity. As a result of her business’ growing popularity, in 2008 she found herself receiving a number of Paintless dent training requests. Now as there were no specific Paintless dent repair training facilities and the only way one could learn was through someone in the industry (something akin to informal traineeships), or through quick 1 week training, (often by technicians trying to supplement their income, rather than actually trying to help people learn to be quality repairers), Lisa saw an opportunity to create a Paintless dent training system and manual whose focus would not only be on quality but would cover all elements of how to become a great Paintless dent repairer.
Lisa’s 5+ years of University education and her 10+ years working as a teacher was definitely an asset when she set out on this new venture. Together with the help of a fantastic PDR technician she created a Paintless dent repair training system and workbook that is not only the best in the Australian Paintless dent repair industry but is also the best worldwide and thus the birth of Perfect A Dent Paintless dent repair training system.
What is Lisa’s motto? “If you are going to do something, do it well, or don’t bother doing it at all” – That’s why The Dent Shop has only the best quality tools and accessories, and also why Perfect A Dent is creating and giving away additional resources for current and new members for FREE. It is also why Lisa and her businesses are brands that people know in the PDR industry, and trust.
Lisa continues to be inspirational as she travels down the Paintless dent repair road less trodden by women!
I would like to personally thank Lisa for allowing me to write her very inspiring story. For more information about Lisa and her company, The Dent Shop Pty Limited you can visit her websites:http://thedentshop.com.au/ andhttp://www.perfectadent.com/.