Richard Rodriguez
One good moral to the story of Ray Weeks as an entrepreneur: It’s amazing what happens when you show up for a tee time.
Weeks had then only recently opened Elite Jet Solutions with an office at Love Field in Dallas. He had a great early lead on a contract, but it fell through.
“The facility that I was leasing my office through, they were hosting a golf tournament, and I went to the golf tournament,” Weeks says, recalling those early days of the business in 2016. “I met a guy there, and he was a chief pilot for Dean Foods. And I ended up taking over all their maintenance.”
In which direction the golf balls traveled that day Weeks couldn’t tell you or care. The contract that resulted served as the catalyst for the next point in the business, he says.
Elite Jet Solutions is a maintenance, repair, and overhaul — MRO — company now headquartered at Arlington Municipal Airport. Out of its 15,000-square-foot hangar, the company provides the comprehensive services required to ensure that aircraft are maintained in optimal condition, repaired when necessary, and overhauled at specified intervals to meet safety and performance standards.
Elite Jet Solutions employs seven full-time team members, as well as a number of contract employees, Weeks says.
“We've done probably close to about 28% to 32% growth year over year,” he says.
There are actually a number of good messages conveyed through Weeks’ experiences, which now includes another startup in hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
Weeks was introduced to the Entrepreneurs’ Organization through a friend, Chris Rupert of Nametag Films.
“I felt like we were coming to a point in the business where I needed to widen my horizons and be able to understand a little bit more of how people grow businesses,” says Weeks, 42, who was raised in Kennedale.
He had a good career in steel fabrication before turning to aviation.
His first real job, after finishing his A&P license, was at Bombardier, a world-renowned transportation company, at Love Field. He steadily climbed the ladder there, working his way up to project manager and in ops. The job of general manager was within his reach, he says.
“There was just a lot of stuff that was transpiring that I just, you know, didn't have any peace about,” he says.
He resigned his position and started Elite Jet Solutions out of a cargo trailer in 2016.
On that day on the golf course, his best shot was clearly a pitch — a business pitch.