Today we’d like to introduce you to Ryan Watts.
Hi Ryan, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I come from a corporate IT background (30 years) and suddenly found myself unemployed after working as a Chief Information Security Officer for a startup in Atlanta (sometimes you win with startups, sometimes you don’t). At 50-something, I decided that this was an opportunity for me to try something on my own, to be an entrepreneur and not return to corporate America. So, I looked at “What do I have?” and “What do I like to do?”. I had a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van and I liked to work in IT. The van came from a previous adventure (I was a professional musician in a band for 10 years and we used the van to get around to various gigs… but that is another story) so I decided to do something with the van. Because we were all musicians and Johnny Cash fans, the nickname for the van was always “the Van in Black” named for “the man in black”, Johnny Cash. I thought the name was good and the domain name was available so I decided to go with that for the name of the business. I had no idea what I was doing as I had never run a business or even worked for a transportation company before. However, I knew and liked working in IT, so I decided that we were going to have a great website and that I would use technology to make this company successful. After hiring some companies to help me with the aspects of the business that I didn’t know, like federal compliance, we were off and running, transporting our first clients in July of 2018. Wine Tours seemed to be the thing that took off, it was a niche that we fell into, so we ran with it and now we are the leading provider of wine tours in Western North Carolina and the Upstate of South Carolina. The company has grown to a fleet of 8 vehicles (with more on order). Several of our drivers/guides are interested in wine education and have become Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) certified experts in wine which helps us provide the best wine tours possible to our customers. We are a transportation company at heart so we are not limited to wine tours, it’s just something we do well and have become known for, but our services are not limited to wine tours. We provide wedding transportation, scenic tours, airport shuttles, brewery tours and date night / night on town transportation. We continuously have record months and the forecast for the business is excellent. I am working more now than I ever have in my life but I enjoy every bit of it. My only regret is that I didn’t have the guts to start something like this earlier in life.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The largest struggle that I had to deal with apart from government regulation was COVID when everything was shut down. Being a very new company, this absolutely decimated all cash reserves that we had. All of the government aid was based on the previous year’s income, which for us, was very low as it was our first complete year of operations. There also wasn’t any relief in regulations, like maintaining commercial auto insurance, which have significant expenses associated with them. There was so much that was unknown and we had no idea how long the shutdowns were going to last. The “15 days to slow the spread” turned into months of expenses with no income being generated and nothing in the bank. While my wife and I were willing to fund the business for a while from our personal account, it wasn’t something we were willing to do indefinitely. Fortunately, however, in our area the shutdowns only lasted about 3 months and when things came back it was like everything was on steroids’. I spent the time during the shutdown making sure our website and online presence was better and ready for when things came back and, when it did, our business just exploded!
As you know, we’re big fans of Van in Black. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about the brand?
We want our brand to be synonymous with quality and service. At our core, Van in Black is a transportation provider that serves Western North Carolina and the Upstate of South Carolina. We have a modest fleet of luxury SUVs and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Vans in various configurations. We specialize in, and are probably most known for, our wine tours. We are the leading provider of wine tours in the area and that is something we are very proud of. We are the highest-rated transportation/wine tour company in the areas that we serve, maintaining a solid 5-star rating on all online sites that rate us. I also believe that we are the only wine tour company in the area with WSET certified wine experts on staff. Three of our staff are WSET level 1 and have tested for Level 2 (expecting a pass, but are awaiting the results). While we are most known for our wine tours, we also provide other transportation services and would love for your readers to know that the same level of quality and service is provided no matter the occasion. These include services like wedding transportation, scenic tours, and brewery tours.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Personally, my family matters most to me as I am nothing without them. I have a wonderful wife of 30+ years, 3 amazing kids whom I hope will take over the business one day, and a grandson who is the cutest thing in the world.
From a business perspective, I would have to say that my employees and customers matter most to me as the business would be nothing without them.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@vaninblack.com
- Website: https://www.VanInBlack.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vaninblk/
Image Credits
Ryan Watts
