Expanding your company to a new state can have many challenges, but imagine expanding to a whole new country.

It’s the story of Carsten Wagner, President and CEO of Wagner Tuning, and he joins Dave on this episode of Gone to Texas, to tell his story of expanding to the United States, and picking Kilgore, Texas as his location.

Carsten talks about why he chose Kilgore and what convincing his family was like when no one really knew much about Texas. (And honestly, many of them thought it was going to be open spaces and cowboys.)

He also talks about making a move during the pandemic, and how it went from exciting to sitting in an empty warehouse with nothing to fill it and no one to work.

Carsten also shares his experience working with the Kilgore EDC, and what it’s been like being able to connect with an amazing community. It’s not just about being home for a business, but the opportunity to train local hires through the community college. He discusses the different ways he partners with the EDC and the Kilgore community as a whole.

If you would like to connect with Carsten and Wagner Tuning, visit: https://wagner-tuning.com

To connect with Kilgore’s EDC: https://kilgore-edc.com/

Full Episode Breakdown:

1:00 - Learning how the company grew and decided to expand and move from Germany to Texas.

3:30 - Carsten talks about what it was like visiting Texas for the first time, and the charm that attracted him to it.

7:20 - Carsten discusses what their original plan was, and how starting that plan during the pandemic really messed everything up.

9:35 - Once the items finally started coming together, talks about the next steps for Wagner Tuning and using their new facility in Kilgore.

12:15 - Carsten talks about what’s next for their business.

12:45 - What does the local hiring environment look like? And how are they managing the specialist side versus hiring locally?

14:10 - Carsten talks about being able to tap into the Texas economy and being able to capitalize on connections.

15:45 -Carsten talks about working with the EDC, and what it meant for his company.

17:40 - Carsten discusses what one of his surprises was that came from working in Texas.

23:40 - Carsten offers advice he would give to someone who wants to come and bring their business to Texas.