Entrepreneur and Lancaster County Jim Hess took a risk when he named his business Pathetic Medic, which USA Today recently highlighted in its Franchising Today section as one of the nation’s “latest outside the box” franchise ideas.
But Hess, 41, who practices what he preaches, advises anyone starting out in the business world, “that success does not happen without taking risks. You can’t give into fear.”
With a name like Pathetic Medic, it’s obvious Hess, who lives in Elverson, is not in the business of saving people’s lives — it is their vehicles’ “pathetic” interiors he’s out to help.
Pathetic Medic dispatches mobile units throughout central and southeastern Pennsylvania to repair unsightly car problems such as burn holes, leather scuffs, ripped rugs, odors, windshield “dings” and anything else that needs fixing inside the car.
Work is performed at a fraction of the replacement cost, Hess said.
Plenty of business owners might shy away from using the less-than-appealing adjective pathetic as part of a business name, but not Hess.
In 2004 the name became a registered trademark. In 2006 Hess sold his first franchise in Montgomery County.
Most of Pathetic Medic’s work is performed at major auto dealerships on used cars being prepared for resale or trade-in, Hess’s wife of 18 years and business partner, Kim Hess, said.
“It was Kim who once said to a dealer, ‘If you don’t sell that car because of that burn hole, that’s pathetic,’ Jim said. “That’s how the whole pathetic thing got started.
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