How One New Brunswick Entrepreneur Built on a Family Legacy to Lead in the Automotive Industry

By Sarah Walker

Anna Patterson knows the automotive service industry inside and out. After all, she’s been part of it since she was a kid. Today, as the owner of Swifty’s 15 Minute Oil Change Ltd in Fredericton, New Brunswick, she’s expanded the business her father founded and established herself as a go-to leader in a field where women remain underrepresented.

Early beginnings in the family business

“I’ve literally worked in the family business since I was about 10-years-old,” Anna says. “If there was no school, I would go to work with my dad. I loved it.”

She’d do everything from clean the shop to organize shipments and even tackle admin. Anna became a fixture for customers, even through high school. That’s when tragedy struck.

“My dad suddenly died without a will,” Anna shares. “The business went to probate. Nothing was planned out. There had been no succession planning.”

Though she recalls wanting to take over, the business eventually went to her mother, who helmed operations. At 18, Anna decided to explore other career paths and “see what else was out there.”

She ended up working in medical administration and later for a construction company owned by one of her father’s friends, two roles that gave her the experiences she needed to realize “the grass isn’t greener” working for other companies (though she loved the work she had been doing).

Her return to the business wasn’t part of a grand plan — it came in response to a family emergency. “My mom had an accident where she broke her arm badly, requiring surgery. I thought, ‘I can come back and help you,’” Anna says. She focused on the bookkeeping, which she describes as “the nitty-gritty stuff” she had been doing in previous roles.

What began as temporary assistance evolved into a permanent role.

Taking ownership

By 2017, Anna was in a position to take full ownership of Swifty’s, a transition that felt natural.

That’s not to say taking over was easy. Early on, Anna was faced with a forced relocation of one of her two Fredericton locations.

“There was a daycare beside us that was applying for government funding to build a community friendship centre,” she says. “They were acquiring all the land around us.”

After initially resisting the change, city officials presented her with an option of three different properties already zoned for proper use by the business.

Given just a year to relocate, Anna embraced the challenge. “From scratch, without knowing anything, I had to get plans drawn, hire a general contractor, and apply for all the building permits myself.”

This is also when Anna says her banking relationship with TD truly took off. Her family had always banked with the organization (“we’ve been with the bank forever… we just trust them”), but when it came time to secure a commercial mortgage and navigate unfamiliar financial territory, she turned to her TD Account Manager to get some unbiased and solutions-focused advice.

“I brought him into the mess,” she jokes, “but, as my Account Manager, he worked with me to secure the financing I needed to make a bad situation beneficial. I felt he gave me the confidence and backing I needed from a financial perspective so that I could keep building and planning.” She adds she’s currently working with her TD Account Manager to support and plan for Swifty’s long-term growth.

She also credits much of the financial advice she received from TD during this period for turning the forced move into “a blessing in disguise. In the old building, there were inefficiencies. I was able to build something bigger that would accommodate more vehicles with no wasted space.”

The project was such a success, it inspired Anna to find further efficiencies across the organization (with the help of her bank manager, of course).

“I’m redoing my older building right now. It should be done in July or August.”

As an independent business owner, Anna values her autonomy. “I’m not a franchisee. Everything that goes on in our building, I decide 100 per cent. I don’t have anyone saying, ‘You need to buy this or advertise here.’”

Navigating industry challenges

Despite her success, Anna faces ongoing challenges as a woman in the automotive industry. “People [in the automotive industry] don’t take me seriously, and they really underestimate what we have going on,” she says.

The gender bias extends to everyday interactions, including to her management team. “They talk to one of my managers Josh [he/him] completely differently than they would talk to one of my other managers Alaina [she/her] or me,” says Anna. “Sometimes, we have him deal with things because people talk to him so much differently than us.” (Thankfully, Anna’s banking relationship with TD isn’t one where she faces this challenge.)

Managing it all

With a growing family, all involved in competitive sports, plus two business locations and expansion plans, Anna’s life is undeniably busy.

Learning to delegate has been crucial. “I used to try to do everything myself,” she admits. “Now, there are some things that get done… they might not be done the way that I would do them, but they still get done.”

For Anna, entrepreneurship is about both preserving a legacy and building something new. “I’m really sad to see that not a lot of family businesses are getting taken over by their kids anymore,” Anna shares. “It’s a fading thing.”

As she finishes her second rebuilt location and prepares for both a new child and new business ventures, she reflects on what it takes to succeed.

“If it were easy to be a business owner, everybody would do it,” says Anna. “It takes a certain kind of person, and not everybody has those same qualities or desires.”

But for Anna, the rewards of building something personal make it worthwhile — even if, as she jokes, “I’m 36-years-old and my hair’s all grey, but there’s nothing else I’d rather be doing.”