Jack Basil on How His Family Business has Affected His Life

Jack Basil is the son of Robert Basil, the owner of one of the Basil car dealerships in Buffalo, NY.  Jack agreed to an interview at his home in Orchard, Park New York regarding how his family’s business has had an impact on his life so far, and what he plans to do with his future and the future of the business.

What is the name of your family’s business, and what do you sell?

My family owns Robert Basil GMC and Cadillac Cars.

There are a lot of Basil car dealerships in the area, which one does your family own?

My family owns the Orchard Park location on South Western Boulevard.

How did your family’s business get started? Was it passed down to your family, or did your father start it?

My father started it himself as it was a tradition passed down from his father and older brothers who owned the other Basil dealerships in the area.

Did he receive any help in starting the dealership?

My father received a small amount of money from his fathers as well as all of the experience needed to start and run his own successful business, along with a recognizable and reputable name in the car business. 

Have you worked for your father at the dealership?

Yes, I have.

What did you do there?

I’ve worked in the parts department, maintenance department, I have detailed cars coming onto the lot and am currently working as a technician, pretty much working my way up the ranks as an employee.

Have you already gotten recognized for your association with your family’s business?

I have.

Do you think this has had a major impact on your life so far?

Yes, because I have done quite a bit of work there. It has allowed me to learn to manage my time and money and get a sense of the worth of a dollar in terms of what it takes to earn money. It’s also given me to meet a bunch of interesting people, as well as figure out what my passions are in life.

As a whole do you think your family’s business and your association with it has benefited you or had a negative impact, or maybe a little of both?

It has probably had both positive and negative qualities to it, but more advantages than disadvantages in my opinion, but there are still disadvantages.

Why is that?

Well in terms of advantages, it’s given me a lot of opportunities, like I talked about earlier, and getting to be around cars, which is one of my passions. It’s just awesome to be able to work doing what I love so easily.

Well talking about the money aspect of it, do you think that money buys happiness?

Yes and no, I think you can have a lot of money and be really unhappy and also be happy with little to no money, but it does help to take away a lot of stresses in life.

You said earlier that cars are your passion?

Yes, I love working on them and even doing off-roading and racing.

Do you plan on taking over the business or branching off of it after graduation?

No, I don’t plan on taking over after graduation.

Why is that?

I just want to do my own thing, and become self made. I don’t like to think that I’m starting out on third base or anything like that; I wanna have my own success story.

What do you plan on doing after high school instead?

I want to attend Alfred State and become an electrical engineer.

Why?

I’ve always been curious about how electricity works, and being around cars has given me a little bit of a look into that. Also there’s a growing need for electrical engineers as the car market goes electric.

As his family business has had such a drastic effect on his life so far, Jack would love to take it over, but instead is going to pass it off to his brother in an attempt to start “his own success story”. Jack hopes to take his future in electrical engineering far, and hopefully one day start his own small business or company and will surely use all the information he has learned so far to take him there.