Exceeding her own expectations...

From a September 2006 article about International Motor Productions owner Brigette Brown in D Magazine

...[S]he started buying and selling as many cars as she could afford to pay cash for, a strategy that she follows to this day. Selling cars that way is almost as unique as a woman owning her dealership. Most dealers "floor plan," or finance, their used cars.

Brown's approach is like gambling....

Her unorthodox strategy has served Brown well. From its humble base of operations on Tarpley Road in Carrollton, International Motor Productions has become one of the top 500 dealerships of the nearly 8,000 in Texas. She built the dealership there two and a half years ago, after outgrowing her first space. She owns the building and the land it sits on. Paid for upfront. And she now sells about 75 cars in a good month, during the spring and summer. She did $8 million in sales last year.

Besides paying cash for her inventory, Brown does a couple of other things that are unusual in her business. Even though she's the owner, you'll often see her emptying trash or detailing cars. "If I do the work with the boys, they're more motivated to do the work," she says. "I'm not a boss. It's more of a team around here." She also has a bad habit of answering her phone at all hours, not wanting to miss a single sale.

Be aware that Ms. Brown's expectations as a seller of vehicles and yours as a buyer most assuredly are not the same.

Photo credit: Elizabeth Lavin for D Magazine