Applying for the dealership "was a leap," and his wife was "not a huge fan" of the idea, said Meskunas. He has a master's in business administration from Boston University and had worked for about four years as a field manager for an automotive company. He also had ridden a motorcycle since he was 13.
"I was already an enthusiast," he said. "In the same way I saw an opportunity in the brokerage business in the 80s, I saw an opportunity in the motorcycle business in the 2000s."
Meskunas opened NewRoc Harley-Davidson in New Rochelle in 2005, and worked part-time as a broker and part-time selling motorcycles until early 2009, when he finally quit the brokerage business.
"The Dow (Jones Industrial Average) was at about 7,000, and everything was looking pretty dismal," he said. "Nobody was doing any business, myself included."
Meskunas says his sales have grown every year, even through the recession. He loves having a real stake in his business, something he never felt as a broker.
"There doesn't seem to be any similarity between selling securities and selling Harley-Davidsons, but at the end of the day, everyone in this world is a salesman," says Meskunas. Whether it's an undervalued security or a motorcycle, the customer needs to understand what they're buying and feel they were treated fairly and got a good deal, he said.
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