Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Jones.
Hi Matthew, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Harker Heights Ceramic Coatings started as a hobby in Matthew’s home garage, and grew into the go-to place for paint protection film, window tint, ceramic coating, hail repair, residential/commercial window tinting, and auto detailing in the Killeen, TX area. Matthew retired from Fort Hood after nearly 22 years active duty Army, including three combat deployments to Afghanistan, one combat deployment to Iraq, and one overseas assignment to Kuwait. He reached the rank of First Sergeant (E8) before transitioning to Warrant Officer at 17 years of service, eventually retiring as a Chief Warrant Officer Two. Most of his career was spent as a Human Intelligence Collection non-commissioned officer or warrant officer technician.
Matthew started this business out of his love for cars, having owned three Corvettes and over 40 different cars in the last 25 years. He first started polishing cars in 2007, learning on his black C5 Z06. A passion for cars and people created this massively successful business in Central Texas!
Matthew serves as a brand ambassador for Autobahn Performance Films and Autofiber, and has spoken at Window Film Conference & Tint-off in Virginia Beach, VA as a keynote speaker. He has also appeared on various podcasts, including the Cruise Control podcast as well as Road to $1 Million Detailing Podcast, and frequently works at booths educating potential clients at SEMA and other trade shows.
In May 2024, during the massive Mother’s Day hailstorm, we decided to find a large shop to accommodate hail repair and move out of the home garage. A little over a year and a half later, we are now a multi-million dollar business that also added residential and commercial window tint (as well as security film).
Now, we work with local charities to raise funds for children with cancer, the Nolanville Food Pantry, toy drives, ahd more.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Jumping from 400 sq ft to 5,300 sq ft is a big challenge and a risk (you never know if you can fill the space). When you get a huge jump in space, you worry if you’ll have the ability to scale into the space, but we have been blessed with the clients that have easily made our numbers go from “wondering if we can get the business” to “we have more business than we can even handle!”
Finding the right team at the new shop and steadily growing your operation for the future have all been fun to overcome.
Perfecting our sales process, finding the right manager and assistant to help me (I did all of the work initially to being able to learn to step back) are finally complete, and now we have the right team.
As you know, we’re big fans of Harker Heights Ceramic Coatings. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We are Central Texas’ premier paint protection film, window tint, ceramic coating, auto detailing, and hail repair shop with nearly 1000 five star Google reviews (more than any other shop around). We pride ourselves in providing the best possible customer experience, knowing that there are so many options around for window tint and other services. At Harker Heights Ceramic Coatings, we are the only company with loaner cars, premium film, and this many Google reviews. It’s a slight drive from the Georgetown area, but we have many clients traveling all the way up from Austin to work with us!
We are EXTREMELY active in the community and charity, giving money to the Nolanville food pantry, helping fund cancer charities, work with local pet adoption centers, and now donating HEB gift cards to families each month. We actually have a GoFundMe that we are matching the first $2000 to provide more food gift cards to other families.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I don’t believe in luck, good or bad. Things that happen to you are often results of choices you’ve made or work you have done or not done. Every success we have had going from 15k in revenue per month to 135-150k a month has been a result of much trial and error, mistakes, good ideas and bad, and extensive planning.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hhceramiccoatings.com
- Instagram: @hhceramiccoatings
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hhceramiccoatings/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@HarkerHeightsCeramicCoatings
