Luxury Auto Dealership Owner Eric Whitehead Talks About Revolutionizing the Auto Industry

Being an auto salesman is not for the weak. It takes a strong background in sales, persuasion and determination to be a great car salesman. Now take those experiences and add entrepreneurship to it. When you put that all together you have the determined to succeed and talented businessman Eric Whitehead.

Eric is the sole owner of PTG365, a multi-million-dollar auto dealership that was created by his hard work and his goal-setting spirit. With the release of his latest e-book The Strategy: A Guide to Mental Dominance, Eric tells shares how keeping a log of your goals, and always being willing to learn can create a successful mind and a growing work ethic. Being around the auto industry since he was a kid has tremendously helped Eric be the force he is today. Outside of owning a car dealership, he has also created an app that is set to revolutionize the auto industry. Learn more about Eric in our latest interview.

Tell me more about how PTG365 came to life.

This idea has been something I've thought about since being a child. I always loved cars and had a passion for cars. Now that I've been in the auto industry for twelve years, I learned that rather than making everybody else rich, I can do the same thing and make myself very wealthy. I worked in many different dealerships for numerous years, and I learned that I was only making twenty percent of my money when I was doing one hundred percent of the work. It dawned on me when I had a meeting with one of my general managers. I asked him how much did he make a year? He told me he made about two million a year. I was only at about one hundred and fifty thousand. At the time, it didn’t make any sense. I can put one hundred percent of work into myself, and I will be just as successful with these guys. So, with the idea that they taught me and with my mindset of being disciplined to stay with my goal to be just as successful, that's how I came up with the idea of PTG365.

You recently became the sole owner of PTG365. How did this transition affect your business?

As far as the split, trials and tribulations do occur. I had childhood friends that I introduced to PTG365 and I brought them on with no buy-in fee. That’s how the relationship goes with childhood friends. One of them I introduced to the automotive industry and the other was very well rounded in the auto industry, just like me. I built that team together. However, by the grace of God, he wanted to bring me to another level. We weren't seeing eye to eye when it came to finances and ideas. I was more focused on where I needed the business to go versus who was coming with me. When it doesn't align, you question the relationship and question that partnership. So that happened with that partnership, and right now it's about applying that same foundation to this new structure. Sticking towards the goal, the plan, winning along the way, learning as you go and as you grow.

As a business executive, it is important to always be on your game. What are some tips you would give to aspiring Black men who are entrepreneurs in this market?

One is you either work for your dreams or you're going to end up working for somebody else's. That’s pretty much self-explanatory. You must go hard for your dreams. Another thing is it's not easy. Anything worth having doesn’t come easy and if it’s easy it’s not worth having. Being a self-proclaimed CEO and working from the bottom up, you lose a lot of time. People think you start your own business working for yourself, it becomes less time. Yes, you do control the narrative, but I went from having set days off to now being an owner, working twenty-four-seven/three-sixty-five. It's great as far as the glitz and the glamour, but it’s a lot of time and effort, and energy you have to put in. That's when I had to step in and I had to learn balance. Because you have to still have your family time. You have to still be able to handle the business and make sure the funds are dispersed the right way. There's so much that you have to learn.

Your focus is to continue to revolutionize the auto industry. Tell me about your app Cars 365.

Cars 365 is an application that I came up with that is available now as an auto concierge service. It's like a wallet for your vehicle. As technology is advancing, people are using their brains less for certain things like remembering a phone number because you have a phone book on your telephone. I noticed, being in this industry for 12 years, that most people don't know their VIN or insurance policy number. Let alone a woman changing purses all the time. Your registration, your license number, and more are stored in this app right at your fingertips. So, if you ever had an instance where you needed something, you go right to the wallet and you could display those documents at any time for free! Also, going more in-depth into the app, it has your VIN and your contract for your automobile.

Most people don't know when their maturity date is due for the vehicle. Whether they leased or financed. They don't know how much money they put down, the interest rate or who was the sales guy that they worked with. My app simplifies everything for your vehicle. We're also working on perfecting it where you can buy a new or pre-owned vehicle right from your application as well.

You recently launched your highly anticipated e-book, The Strategy: A Guide to Mental Dominance! What brought this book to life and what can we learn from it?

This book came to life because I'm an avid reader and I love to read self-help books, motivational books and things about pushing forward. I came up with a book that helped me. In this book, I give people workspaces so they can kind of revert back to what they learned. One major thing I talk about is my journey and success from young to where I am now, how I'm still growing, and how I turn negatives into positives.

I came up with this book where you can have the good, the bad, the ugly and you can always revert to it. Like how was I this way? How was my time? Is time management my issue? What is my goal? How can I make time management better if I'm not disciplined? Let me write down my goals. If I want to lose weight, how many days to the gym do I need to go? How's my schedule? You can write it down and assist yourself that way. I talked about so many different things in this book that will help you every single day in your life. Things that helped me, and things that I know I've learned from people who have helped others as well.

If you are looking for a new car, check out PTG365 in Atlanta, GA.