10 Questions With Avo Aboulian: Montreal's Lamborghini God
Avo Aboulian is the man driving all the beautiful exotic cars you see in Montreal. You have undoubtedly witnessed him speed right by you in and around our city without even knowing who's behind the wheel. Well, now you know.
Avo is the president of an internationally renowned high-end car customization business, Toyz Autoart. He's young, handsome, ambitious and successful. What an inspiration to entrepreneurial youth of Montreal!
I got in touch with Avo this week, asking him if he would be open to talk about his journey to success, share some wisdom with our readers, inspire them with his story and show off some cars, of course. He was kind enough to agree to the interview. Thank you Avo!
1. Did you always know what you wanted to do in life? What was your plan B as a career option?
Growing up, I honestly never really knew where I would end up and in what field. The one thing that I did know for sure was, that my passion for cars was real. I never really thought of an actual backup plan, but again, I knew no matter what, I'd want it to have something to do with exotics.
2. How did you get where you are today? Describe your journey.
The journey started with a will to succeed in what I loved. What I really loved was Italian hand built cars & German ones because they were marvels of engineering. I had to start somewhere, and that somewhere wasn't the top. One thing that I had noticed at the turn of this century was that not many cars were customizable from the factory to the customer's preferred specifications. One thing that I knew was that there is always room to improve, that's when I started noticing all the European automotive tuners. These aftermarket design houses would take these near perfect cars, and embellish them further with add-on parts. These consisted of nicer, lighter and more aggressive wheels, aerodynamic kits, upgraded exhausts and performance packages. This opened a whole new door of opportunity to put my hands on some of these cars and make them just a little prettier, better and just plain badass. It was a long & difficult journey building a client base which would trust you with their prized possession and willing to put upwards of tens of thousands of dollars to make it even more exclusive.
A photo posted by TOYZ autoart (@toyzautoart) on
3. How did you stay motivated and didn’t give up on your dream?
Staying motivated at times was proven difficult. Since this was a new wave of thought, convincing someone to take their car which was already considered a work of art, and allowing me to attempt to make it greater was not an easy task. The first few years was a struggle to stay afloat financially. I was blessed and given a chance years ago to attempt to customize and embellish a newly released Porsche 911. I gave it my best shot, luckily for me, it was a successful attempt. One project led to another. Before I knew it, I had successfully built a few cars that were getting a lot of positive feedback from other car enthusiasts. To this day, I still thank God for the opportunity I was given to prove myself and to succeed.
4. What would your words of wisdom/advice be to young entrepreneurs who look up to you?
A word of advice I can give to young entrepreneurs is to not only give up on what you love and believe in, but most importantly, always go that extra mile.
5. What’s the most challenging part about being your own boss?
The most challenging part about being your own boss is that you can never stop learning about your business and you can't lose the will to improve. You have many responsibilities, making sure everything moves forward and a constant but gradual growth is maintained.
6. What’s the most rewarding thing about being your own boss?
I wouldn't say there is a best part to being your own boss... When you love what you're doing... I don't believe I need to finish this sentence.
Surrealism ? #Huracan #lamborghini #luxury #exotic #madwhips #blacklist #carlifestyle #carswithoutlimits #montreal #toyzautoart #hrewheels #novitec #sunshine #art #motorhead A photo posted by TOYZ autoart (@toyzautoart) on
7. Do you have trouble finding the “right woman”? I’d imagine certain girls might “fall” for you for all the wrong reasons…
Like boys will be boys, girls will be girls. I'm not generalizing, but you just need to keep your eyes open and guards up. Luckily for me, I've become fairly lucky in this department recently ;)
8. Are there certain things you do in your business that are exclusive to your company? Something we can’t get anywhere else in Montreal, for example.
What gives my company a certain edge is our selection of product lines that we carry exclusively and of course customer service being the number one priority. If your neighbor has access to the same product, you no longer have that edge over the others.
A photo posted by TOYZ autoart (@toyzautoart) on
9. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Ten years sounds far away, but the last 10 came and went quicker than I can remember. My goal for the company would be to have 2 other showrooms displaying both our products and our luxury vehicles for sale.
10. Do you have any current/future projects you’d like to talk about?
As far as future projects we have already embarked on that journey. Our most recent venture that we have been working on is car sales and leasing. Whether it is a luxury vehicle or an exotic, we try to accommodate our clients needs and simplify the whole process.
Hope this has been insightful and thank you MTL Blog.
Toyz Autoart
3845 Rue Jean-Talon O
