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Local mechanic opens his own automotive shop

WBZ Enterprises, LLC – ‘an honest place you can take your vehicles to'

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January 13, 2025

ASHWAUBENON –  William “Willy” Zasada said he’s lived his entire life by the golden rule of treating others how you want to be treated.

“I believe if you put good out, good comes back to you,” he said.

Those words, Zasada said, couldn’t be more true today as he reflects back on the first few weeks as a business owner, opening WBZ Enterprises, LLC at the end of last year.

From an early age

Zasada said he’s always liked to “work on things.”

“My bikes as a kid, taking toys apart to see how they worked, buying my first vehicle before I was even old enough to drive it and working on it in my mom and dad’s garage – growing up, I worked on anything and everything I could,” he said. “I love all things about anything mechanical – it’s amazing to take something that is not working and make it work again.”

Zasada said he grew up in Ashwaubenon and still calls the village home.

“I am an only child,” he said. “My mom still lives in my childhood home. My dad passed away in 2006 from cancer due to Agent Orange from his time in Vietnam. I have never left, and for some reason, this feels like the right place to be.”

Zasada said he has an “amazing little family” – which includes his wife Kathy and their daughter, Kennedy.

“They are the two best things that have ever happened to me,” he said.

Zasada said his first job was at Kmart Auto while in high school.

“A great man named Les Johnson took a chance on some kid – me – and took me on,” he said. “I worked there as much as I could in high school. He helped me with my Work Learn Program and even to this day, we still talk.”

As a student at Ashwaubenon High School, Zasada said he took many shop classes “offered by an amazing teacher, Jim Krueger.”

In 2001, Zasada said he competed in the SkillsUSA Challenge – taking first place and earning a $500 scholarship to Northeast Technical College (NWTC).

After high school, he earned an associate’s degree in automotive technologies at NWTC.

Following graduation, Zasada said another great man – Jerry Muenster, the owner of Muenster Shell on the corner of Mason and Oneida Street – took a chance on him and gave him an opportunity like no other.

WBZ Enterprises Owner Willy Zasada said he’s always like to “work on things.” Submitted Photo

“This is where life got fun – he raced cars,” he said. “He collected classic cars, and for some reason, he and I clicked. I would work on his classics after work, and on weekends I also worked on his and his son’s race cars, dirt track and asphalt oval cars.”

Over the past couple of decades, Zasada said he has moved up the ranks in a handful of automotive shops throughout the region – automotive technician at Dorsch Ford Lincoln Kia, director of reconditioning at Auto Haus on Velp Inc. and most recently, service manager at Bergstrom Automotive in Kaukauna.

Taking the leap

Zasada said feedback and encouragement from friends and family ultimately inspired him to branch out on his own and open WBZ Enterprises.

“In the automotive world, dealerships and repair shops are sometimes known to take advantage of people, typically ones that do not know cars, older people, women, the younger generation and everyone to some point,” he said. “I finally listened to everyone who told me, ‘we sure wish there was an honest place we can take our vehicles’ and, well, here I am. I just love helping everyone. If there was a way to do it for free, I would, but I need to provide for my family, so I do need to charge.”

WBZ Enterprises, Zasada said, represents the initials of his name – William Bernard Zasada. 

“I am good at fixing things, not coming up with names,” he laughed.

Zasada said WBZ Enterprises offers almost all services other automotive shops do.

“I work with aftermarket service plans,” he said. “I help people determine what they need to do and what can wait.”

More details on services and how best to get a hold of Zasada can be found on WBZ Enterprises’ Facebook page.

To provide customers with the most affordable automotive services he can, Zasada said he is currently working out of his home shop.

“It’s small, but there is no overhead, so I can help people who can’t afford to go to a big shop,” he said.

Though the smaller space doesn’t allow for large jobs, Zasada said it allows him to give discounts and even free advice or assistance whenever he can.

Working out of his home shop, he said, also provides him an opportunity to be there for his family when they need him.

“I love my family more than anything, so if Kennedy is sick or anything like that, I am home to help and still provide for my family,” he said.

Hopes and fears

Zasada said WBZ Enterprises allows him to do what he’s passionate about on his own terms.

“I love working for myself as I can help people, to where in the past it was ‘this is the price and this is what it is – do you want it fixed or not?’” he said. “Now I can give discounts, now I can direct, now I can even help them learn to do it themselves.”

Leaving a steady income and going out on his own, Zasada said, though exciting, is accompanied by some uncertainties as well.

“The fear of being able to provide for my family, like I said, is all that matters to me,” he said. “I don’t need a lot, I would rather be rich in my heart than my wallet, but I still need to put food on the table. I just want to do some good in the world.”

As he looks to what’s in store for WBZ Enterprises in the new year, Zasada said “I would love to expand.”

“I would love to have a building,” he said. “I would love to help more people. I don’t know if this is a thing, but maybe even becoming a nonprofit automotive repair shop, with discounted repairs for low-income or single-parent households that can’t afford repairs but need transportation. Maybe there is a developer out there who would want to team up and donate a building to use as advertising and a tax write-off or something to that effect to keep my overhead low to continue to do some good.”

All that, Zasada said, is in the future, and for now, he’s content on accomplishing what WBZ Enterprises set out to do – provide affordable, honest automotive repair.

“I am just truly blessed,” he said. “That is really all I can say – and thank you to all who believe in me.”

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