One Shop Door Closes, So Another Can Open
How Honest Auto found the right fit with ExitNavigator
When Two Stories Meet in the Right Place
Some businesses carry their values right in the name. Honest Auto was founded by Soren and Jennie Lesfruds, a husband-and-wife team with over a decade of experience in the automotive industry and a clear vision for doing things differently. Operating out of a home-based workshop in Auburn Bay, southeast Calgary, they built something real: a loyal client base, a reputation for straight-talk service, and a business rooted in the community around them.Then the location stopped working, and they needed to grow.Finding a new workshop space was the obvious next step. Finding the funding to make it happen was another matter entirely.
The Hardest Part Isn't the Wrench Work
Jennie describes what Honest Auto is, and what makes it worth fighting for, better than anyone:
"We are a small family run automotive repair and maintenance business with a really big vision and mission of restoring some honesty and integrity back in the automotive industry. A lot of the people that we work with are our very own neighbors or just other community members. That trust, relationship and community building piece is really important to us and what makes us special as a business."
For a business like that, expanding isn't just a financial decision. It's a commitment to the community that's come to depend on you. But commitment doesn't pay for a workshop build-out. Funding does. And for rural small businesses, finding that funding is where things get complicated.
Honest Auto is a unique and rural home-based establishment serving the communities of Foothills County and deep South East Calgary.
Not your average "backyard mechanic" — With a state of the art facility fully equipped to take on any project, no matter how big or small. We are an organization built with integrity, trust & the desire to serve our neighbours with respect, honesty, and inclusivity.
The Right Guide Changes Everything
When traditional lending options weren’t going as expected, Honest Auto found ExitNavigator, a program built specifically to support rural Alberta entrepreneurs through the challenges that big institutions don't have patience for. Jennie didn't hesitate when asked whether she's glad the program exists:
"Absolutely. I think the program and people behind it have done a really good job at standing behind rural entrepreneurs, understanding the unique challenges that rural businesses face and doing so in a massively supportive and meaningful way."
That understanding matters. Rural businesses don't operate like urban ones. The margins are different, the markets are smaller, and the stakes for the community are higher. A program that recognizes that, and responds accordingly, is genuinely rare.
More Partnership Than Transaction
Through ExitNavigator, Honest Auto secured the funding they needed for their workshop expansion in Foothills County. The new location now serves the rural communities southeast of Calgary including DeWinton, Okotoks, and High River, the neighbors and regulars who built their loyalty to Honest Auto from the beginning. But for Jennie, what stood out wasn't just the outcome. It was how it felt getting there:
"The program came through for us when no banks or big lenders would, and they helped us secure the funding we needed for a recent workshop expansion. They did so in a way that felt more like a partnership and less of a transaction. We just felt like the entire program and everybody involved really aligned with our values both as a business and as people."
That alignment isn't a small thing. For a business built on trust, working with people who share that value makes all the difference.
Built Here. Kept Here.
Honest Auto's new workshop is open. The community has their shop. And Soren and Jennie have the foundation they needed to keep building what they started. Rural Alberta businesses face real barriers that most funding programs aren't designed to address. ExitNavigator is. Whether you're looking to expand, transition, or simply figure out your next step, the support is there. To start the conversation, visit exitnavigator.ca for a free consultation.
