Urban Legend

LOS Labs Automotive Firm’s Carlos Hickman sets an example for young and old alike

Story by Vince Robinson/Photos by Tom Lecy of ThomaSheryl Photography

Methodically thorough and dangerously reckless.

Meticulously technical and creatively artistic.

Intensely serious and hysterically funny.

Carlos Hickman, owner and founder of LOS Labs Automotive Firm, is a study in contradictions. Even his location is a clash of opposites. Located at 811 West Coliseum Blvd, the shop is close to Coliseum Boulevard and Lima Road – one of the region’s busiest intersections. Even so, the business is discretely hidden from view behind a row of stores. You’ve probably driven past it countless times going to and from Glenbrook Square and never realized it.

However, the Fort Wayne native manages to pull it all together. The company he founded ten years ago with just $800 is now a nationally recognized leader in high-end custom audio, video and fabrication solutions for clients ranging from corporate executives, professional athletes and celebrities to die-hard car enthusiasts who want the very best for their beloved vehicles.

“We try to develop new trends and styles here,” Hickman says. “A lot of times clients bring their vehicle here because nobody else has a solution. Customers love the service.”

Despite designing, handcrafting and installing car audio and video systems ranging from tens of thousands of dollars in value all the way up to six-figure projects, Hickman’s main personal transportation is a no-frills Ford Ranger. For him, it’s less about a love for cars than about a passion for the work and the drive to be the best at what he does.

“Most people have to have down time. I do not,” Hickman explains. “Most people work to live. I live to work.”

Hickman’s personal drive and philosophy, and the life experiences that molded them, are what make him a worthy role model for young people, as well as for other entrepreneurs of any age. The 30-something Hickman is especially interested in being a positive example to the many young Black males who see crime, rap music or sports as their only avenues to financial success.

“You don’t have to do the ‘streets, beats or cleats thing’,” Hickman says. “I’m not one of those guys who has to have a bunch of women – one will do me just fine. I don’t play sports. I don’t sell dope. I don’t rap. I just work hard. That’s all I do.”

Growing up poor is part of what forged Hickman’s drive to succeed.

“We had to heat the house with the oven. I was paying utility bills by selling baseball cards when I was 11-years-old,” Hickman recalls. “Whenever I wanted to do something, the answer was always, ‘We don’t have money for that.’”

As a teen, Hickman found social life to be yet another challenge.
“Girls back then liked the guy who was the athlete, the street hustler or the guy who was great with music. I was never one of those guys,” Hickman says. “I wasn’t hip. I didn’t have money, so I didn’t have great clothes. I didn’t have a car. It was a lot of ‘didn’t haves.’”

All those early challenges made Hickman determined to succeed through hard work. After graduating from Northrop High School, he attended Purdue University where he majored in electrical engineering. For a time, he worked for defense contractor Lockheed Martin, and in August of 2001, Hickman was prepared to leave the Midwest for a job in Seattle with airplane manufacturer Boeing.

However, one month later, Hickman’s plans changed forever. On September 11, 2001, the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil shook the nation. While the entire economy was in shambles, the airline industry was particularly devastated. The Boeing job was now questionable at best. In the meantime, Hickman decided to try to make a living out of something that had previously been mainly a hobby.

“I’d been doing automotive installs on the side for years,” Hickman says. “I always had a love and a passion for it.”

Hickman flashes a broad smile and a hint of embarrassment when he recalls his first auto assignment: at age 15, he talked his sister into letting him work on her car stereo. The results were less than spectacular — a lot less.

“I butchered my sister’s car. It was bad,” Hickman laughs. “I can’t remember how I talked her into it. I do remember that she was mad. But I fixed it, and I ended up getting better.”

Learning as much as he could from reading, research and hands-on application, Hickman got so much better that he landed a job as a car stereo installer at a major appliance store. After a short time working primarily on commission, Hickman decided his skills could be put to better use working on his own. Combining his education, experience and an $800 loan for tools and rented garage space, Hickman went out on his own.

“I didn’t want to be the guy who showed up to work one day to find out that his job had been outsourced to Asia. I wanted to control my own destiny,” he explains. “If I was going to fail, it was going to be at my own hand.”

With no actual experience running a business and no formal business plan, Hickman hit the road – literally. If he saw a car on the street that looked like it could use his skills, he’d approach the owner.

“I would actually run up to people in the middle of the intersection to try to convince them that I was the guy to fix up their stereo. If the driver was young and looked like someone who took an interest in their car, I would go talk to them.” Hickman recalls. “I would convince them that what they had was inferior and that what I could do was superior, and I could do it at a better price.”

“I would tell them to follow me to the shop,” Hickman laughs. “Oh yeah, I was reckless.”

However, Hickman credits that determined drive and reckless ambition with propelling his business to the next level. Using his college connections, positive word-of-mouth, submissions of his work to national auto magazines, and meticulously building relationships with manufacturers, vendors and suppliers, Hickman grew his business from a drive-by sales pitch to an award winning company employing about eight installers.

LOS (Logic Operating Systems) Labs Automotive Firm is drawing national and international attention to Fort Wayne through its innovative design work and commitment to quality. Another example of Hickman’s ingenuity is the company’s state-of-the-art website (www.loslabs.com). The website gets about 200,000 hits per month from all over the world.

“We have people from Croatia, Poland and Russia who e-mail us to ask whether we ship product overseas.”

Although Hickman is currently focused on growing his business, he does envision getting married and raising children someday. At present, his custom automotive work provides a stimulating creative outlet for him. In addition, he is putting the finishing touches on a book of poetry and other writings. While Hickman definitely has his serious side, he also has a quirky sense of humor. In fact, he even got up the nerve to perform as a stand-up comic while attending college.
“I don’t have enough sense to be scared,” he chuckles.

Hickman believes success in business demands a suspension of fear and a commitment to give it your all.

“You need to be fanatical about it,” Hickman advises. “You have to be almost dangerously reckless. You can’t care about comfort and self-preservation if you’re going to make it. Don’t be that old guy at the barbershop talking about what he could have been.”

“If you die striving, it’s better than living wondering.”