ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, September 22, 1996 TAG: 9609230004
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-21 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: LISA GARCIA
Peyton Whited Jr. was fired by the owners of AuTow Inc. and made an offer to buy the business the same day.
That gutsy attitude has served Whited well since the former owners accepted his offer in spring 1994. Since then, he turned a failing business with a poor public image into a profitable one.
Susan Edlund, manager of Softcovers Book Store on Draper Road, said Tek-Tow's public image has also improved under Whited's leadership. She called the former owner "rude" and "unreasonable" and said Tek-Tow "is much nicer."
Whited said it takes a certain personality to run a towing business like his and he has it.
Two characteristics are imperative: patience and self-confidence.
"Attitude is 99 percent of what we do every day," he said as a nearby computer screensaver flashed images of soothing landscapes punctuated with confidence-boosting phrases.
Whited prides himself on turning what many people would call a bad situation into an opportunity. View a situation as a tragedy, and it will certainly be one, he said.
The Virginia Tech graduate said he takes his business seriously.
Maintaining a professional attitude in his day-to-day business dealing with irate "customers" is a priority, he said. Only one or two , he admitted, ever got the best of him emotionally.
In fact, his business has done so well that he opened another office in Radford in April just two years after he took control.
Asked about rumors that he was selling his business, Whited said nothing official has happened. That could change any day, however.
"It is for sale at the right price," he said.
LENGTH: Short : 39 linesby CNB