Business advice

G

General Lee

New member
I'll try and keep this short, I know long posts can get kinda blah blah blah.



Anyone here ever dropped their current established career and began their detail business? I know Scottwax did many years ago. I have been in my current career for 11 years and we all know as time goes on, we develop a lifestyle accustomed to that career financially. I'm not really happy in this career and for several years I've been wanting to start my own business. I have thought about many business adventures but I keep coming back to a detailing business. The thing is I don't have the balls to just give up my career and do it. I can't ease in to it either because my current job schedule doesn't allow me the time to detail part time to build up a client base. I'm afraid of failing at the business then what??



The only way I envision beginning this venture is opening up a fixed location. That would be a lot of start up cost. My area doesn't have detailing services at the quality I would offer so I *think* it would be successful. I'm not getting any younger and even though I'm only in my 30's I have some neck issues that get aggravated when doing certain activities and detailing is one of them. Detailing is hard work so I'm also worried about my neck and back not being able to handle it physically on a full time basis.



I have no idea what the earnings potential would be, income is not discussed here in to much detail and that is understandable. So that is another concern of mine.



So what advice can you all offer? Any similar experiences, any links to some valuable information you can post would be helpful as well. Who all has just dove right it and turned out successful?
 
I did, last May i dropped out of doing web and graphic design for an ad agency after 6 years and went into detailing full time. It was the right time for me, my popularity had risen to the point where I was booked every weekend and couldn't tell a customer "Would you like to book for saturday, 4 weeks from now?" so once I opened my schedule up, it started to fill. Then new ventures came along (did some long distance traveling and detailed cars at an event about 300 miles away on invitation, also established a repitiore with a local country club who let me work in their parking lot every saturday).



Winter was difficult this year, only having a gig once a week if that, living on maybe $400-$500 a month (wife does work too), so I would suggest setting up a winter savings account so you will have something to fall back on. Dunno about your state, but KY slams us on a bunch of permits and business fees annually, plus my fed and local taxes, i ended up owing alot and that sucked! Not to mention insurance which renewed at the same time, so I'm going into spring with a BIG negative figure right now (just sharing experience).



You mentioned having a shop, i would suggest a smaller start-up cost, ie; a Van. This will let you get to everyone you possibly can in a 50 mile radius and build up clientele, then in a year or two, when you are dominating the autopian market, keep the van and launch a shop.



Detailing is a physically demanding job. I was hospitalized after my lower back suddenly spazmed and layed me out for 8 hours. I couldn't work all through December. (another bill i'm still dealing with going into spring). It has taught me a difficult lesson, how to properly bend and maneuver while working.
 
General Lee said:
I'll try and keep this short, I know long posts can get kinda blah blah blah.



Anyone here ever dropped their current established career and began their detail business? I know Scottwax did many years ago. I have been in my current career for 11 years and we all know as time goes on, we develop a lifestyle accustomed to that career financially. I'm not really happy in this career and for several years I've been wanting to start my own business. I have thought about many business adventures but I keep coming back to a detailing business. The thing is I don't have the balls to just give up my career and do it. I can't ease in to it either because my current job schedule doesn't allow me the time to detail part time to build up a client base. I'm afraid of failing at the business then what??



The only way I envision beginning this venture is opening up a fixed location. That would be a lot of start up cost. My area doesn't have detailing services at the quality I would offer so I *think* it would be successful. I'm not getting any younger and even though I'm only in my 30's I have some neck issues that get aggravated when doing certain activities and detailing is one of them. Detailing is hard work so I'm also worried about my neck and back not being able to handle it physically on a full time basis.



I have no idea what the earnings potential would be, income is not discussed here in to much detail and that is understandable. So that is another concern of mine.



So what advice can you all offer? Any similar experiences, any links to some valuable information you can post would be helpful as well. Who all has just dove right it and turned out successful?
Click to expand...



based on the bolded above, pick a different career or plan on doing it for just a little while until you can staff 2-3 employees at $12-20/hr each and keep them busy while the shop charges an hourly rate of $50-$75/hr (your profit margins may vary based on how you run things/expenses). VOLUME is the best way to earn a living from a shop location.



If you were Mobile, you can focus on doing 4-5 cars @ $500 or so per week which leaves you with a much larger profit ratio compared to a shop, but you may not have the volume to keep doing 8-10 hour details. Or you can slam yourself with 6-7 $100 jobs with an extra set of hand on board for the day and still make that $500+ per day in the end, possibly working less. For instance, I am usually booked two weeks out, but sometimes its 4 larger jobs, and sometimes its 6 smaller jobs. You have to be able to adapt to what your clients want/need and their availability too. Some HAVE to use their car during the week, so you have to work on saturday or sunday to accomodate them.



Ill tell you what, I get burned out working 60-70hr weeks all the time over 5-6 days. You wouldnt think a 10-12hr detail would be too bad, but add in the drive time (i drive an hour away a lot of times), the waking up early and going ot bed late, the physical strain of the job....its tough to keep at it. I did it like that for the last three months and am actually excited that next week is rather light for me. It will give me a chance to catch up on the necessary things and re-organize.



As far as income goes, I know some who make 100k+ and some who are always on the grind to make 40k...its all in what you put into it and what you want out of it. If you want Detailing to make you 100k, then you better employ help. If you want it to make you 200K, get into volume AND high end. you need to make about 800-1000 per day to reach the 200K mark - lots of lower dollar volume work with a couple of workers at the same time you are doing 500-600 per day on a correction job. - then subtract all the expenses and you might be around 175k-200k. I know of a guy clearing 250k owning a detailing business two years ago. he has not picked up a polisher ever! its all mobile - car washes, interior jobs, and clay and wax jobs...oh yeah, he hasnt done any technical work either, just handles the business end of things...
 
I would do some research to determine if there is a demand for detailing services in your market. After all, high end detailing is a niche market, and it can be challenging to find customers. If you go the shop route, you will most likely have to do volume to make it profitable. That means taking on some dealership accounts. Obviously, if you do volume, you will need to hire employees or sub-contractors. Paying employees or using subs can create lots of headaches for you. Carefully think through your marketing plan, because it will be a big factor in your success. Finally, entrepreneurs have a certain propensity to take risks. If you are not comfortable with the risk, maybe owning your own business is not for you.
 
There is nothing like being your own boss. The word "nothing" can be interpreted many different ways. There are SO MANY real world examples that I could offer that would persuade you or others in either direction. Like try taking a vacation in your first 5 years. Forget that. Do you like working 12 hours a day? Do you enjoy dealing with other people's problems all day? 401K? Dental? What's that? Oh shoot, my machine broke again! Then there's the wow I get paid to make cars beautiful! OMG I never have anyone breathing down my back. The harder I work the more I get paid. I feel like surfing this morning so I will. I feel so powerful that I've created something that people want/need. I can't believe I'm making $100 an hour! If you have any really specific questions PM me. I have 11+ employees and have seen the ropes. Good luck man. Just be happy you have options.
 
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