How Nice of a Living Can Be Made in Detailing?

jdoria said:
Take the dealer work to pay the shop bills.

Use the retail work as the fun money.





Take the state/city job for the house bills, retirement, and family insurance.

Take the part-time detailing work as the fun money.
Click to expand...



Is there a reason you're singling out city/state/gov't jobs? Wouldn't the same logic apply to the private sector?
 
Yes, private sector sucks.



You wouldnt go there for stability.





How many teachers do you hear make it to retirement working for one school district or simply retire a school teacher? 'll bet all of them.





How many different jobs will the average private sector person have in their lifetime, 7? I owned an IT recruiting business for years, it was a one in a thousand resume that had a 5+ year stay in any one company.





This is about building multiple steady revenue streams to cover business expenses, not why someone wanted to get a city/state/government job or how hard they work at it. Get over it.
 
Less said:
Many other businesses do this as well. I'd like to hear from the guy who works at Best Buy. it's my understanding that your employee discount is cost+X%. So if you find out YOUR price and then compare it to the retail price, you'll see which products have extremely high profit margins. For example, what's your discount on TV's compared to TV stands? what's your discount on an Xbox compared to Xbox games? What's your discount on an a laptop compared to your discount on a carrying case and second battery?
Click to expand...



Ask and you shall receive. :)



Best Buy LOSES money on most laptops sold. Yep, that's right, it's almost like a GM business model(:p) Anyways, the reason we sell those items is the accessories. Mice, bags, cables, service plans, printers, all these things have comparatively a lot of margin, and this is where the money is made. TVs are starting to get this way as well, often times a mount, stand, cabling, and other accessories can actually make more money for the store than the TV itself.



We make lots of money on batteries, paper, appliances, and audio equipment. We make very little money on video games, but get kickbacks for selling them which are not factored into our discounts. The easiest way for us to make money at Best Buy? Sign people up for services. Comcast, Sprint, DirecTV, etc all give us $75-250 for signing someone up for their services. Which takes all of 5-10 minutes. It's much more time efficient than trying to sell a computer and load it with accessories for an hour or more.
 
Easy tiger....I didn't mean to start any kind of heated discussion here. I'm sorry if anything I said offended you.



And I don't want to dwell on this too much, because it's off topic, but I do want to make sure I understand your points correctly.



You're saying that the only way to ensure a stable and secure income stream is to work for the government?



You're saying that utilizing your cumulative education and experience to secure a better, more challenging, position every 5-7 years, is a bad thing?



You're saying that working for a particular company or agency for a longer period of time somehow makes you better off financially than you would be working for multiple companies in progressively higher paid roles?



For me, I would rather that job stability stems from the fact that I'm using my skills and experience to create value for my company. At the same time I prefer working in a free market, so that when I feel the value I'm creating exceeds the compensation I'm receiving, I can make a move to restore the balance.



Conversely, that same free market keeps me motivated to find ways to create additional value in order to avoid my employer from coming to the same conclusion. I suspect that this is what you saw in your IT recruiting business to some degree. An analyst starts somewhere at $40K, and then through merit increases, cost of living increases, and bonuses, works his way up to $80K after 5-7 years. Except, he's not creating any additional value than he did when he first started. So now the company can lay him off, and hire two new people at $40K each and get double the productivity for the same price.



So to me, if you want to do the same job your whole life and have a stable income that you can rely on, then you're right, public employement is the way to go. But if you want to work in an environment that rewards ambition, cultivates skill development, and provides progressively increasing compensation commensurate with your developing skill, then most of those opportunities are in the private sector.



As I said, I'm not looking to start an argument, so you think whatever you want. Any further comments from me will be back on-topic.
 
XRL said:
Ask and you shall receive. :)



Best Buy LOSES money on most laptops sold. Yep, that's right, it's almost like a GM business model(:p) Anyways, the reason we sell those items is the accessories. Mice, bags, cables, service plans, printers, all these things have comparatively a lot of margin, and this is where the money is made. TVs are starting to get this way as well, often times a mount, stand, cabling, and other accessories can actually make more money for the store than the TV itself.



We make lots of money on batteries, paper, appliances, and audio equipment. We make very little money on video games, but get kickbacks for selling them which are not factored into our discounts. The easiest way for us to make money at Best Buy? Sign people up for services. Comcast, Sprint, DirecTV, etc all give us $75-250 for signing someone up for their services. Which takes all of 5-10 minutes. It's much more time efficient than trying to sell a computer and load it with accessories for an hour or more.
Click to expand...



Exactly as I suspected. There's a core family of products that keep the customers flowing, and then there's all of the accessories and add-ons (ie. "gravy") that builds up the profit margin.



The laptop thing makes sense too, though I'm surprised that the losses are pushed down onto Best Buy and aren't eaten by HP, Dell, Apple, etc. I know Sony loses alot of money on every PS3 that they sell. And microsoft hasn't made a dime on either of the Xbox consoles. But I always thought that the retailers were at least breaking even.
 
Manufacturers price the laptops to make a profit for the store, however, most retail chains have to sell them under cost to compete. Nowdays computer shoppers are a very (cheap) shrewd bunch. They'll go online and try to find the lowest price, and if you've got the lowest price they'll buy it from you and so you get a chance to sell as many margin items as you can to go along with it.



We often can't find certain laptops when they're in stock. Buying the accessories with margin gives us time and hope to find where the items are.
 
I've learned so much about business models from this thread. I think the long and short of it is that yes you can make a comfortable living doing detailing, if you're willing to compromise your standards and do high volume work or if you find a niche in the market such as a Dalton or Helme. I myself have detailed my way through college while at the same time bartending and detailing on the side and I'm in the process of detailing my way through graduate school. Honestly, I think detailing will always (or at least while I physically can) be a source of extra income because it's something I enjoy to do and it pays well when you find the right customer who recognizes and appreciates the attention to detail (no pun intended) that I put in.
 
Yea the safest bet is to use detailing as a supplemental income It's great for extra cash, The next step would be a high volume shop if this is what someone wants as a main income. But it's expensive to run you'll need people and have to pay them the insurence cost is greatly higher etc etc etc... However with the right contracts with the right dealers and auction houses it's a great source of income. (remember location location location) and the riskiest edveour would be the dalton helme scenerio. Only a handful of people can ever reach the top of the moutian. And dethroning the king(s) is no easy task. It's right up there with being a pro athlete. very few spots available on the top with literally thousands trying to make the cut.
 
XRL said:
If you're wanting to make 200k a year, I don't think detailing is the easiest way to do it. I'm sure the guys that own PBMA, Mothers, Meguiar's, etc. all make that or more... but that's a super rare thing.



The easiest way to make that sort of money is to become a specialized doctor. Most MBA degrees are worth about as much as the paper they're printed on, and are more of a way to justify a hook up from someone you know "in the biz". Most specialized doctors make 200k a year or more without much of a problem. Neurosurgeons start at around 450k a year.
Click to expand...



The Neurosurgeon's bill for my surgery (which took 1.5 hours) was $16,000. Sure, he has some overhead: office rental, employees, etc., but still not a bad haul for an hour and a half's work.



I figure I'll have paid for his winter time Florida Condo by the time he's done all the surgeries I still have yet to go.
 
Half of the battle with becoming a Dalton or Helme is convincing people you're that good. I remember a guy not too long ago that spent all his time trying that, and never bothered to actually get good. He went on a grand "tour of America" and convinced people that they should spend a few thousand dollars on a chance to get their car detailed by him ("the greatest detailer in the world").



I'm sure most everyone remembers how THAT turned out. If not, do a search, there's plenty of info on it. You don't even have to check on here, there was more or less a witch hunt across every "expensive car" forum to call him out and expose the truth about him.



Point being, you have to be VERY VERY good. And you have to adjust your business model accordingly as well. From what I remember, Helme is in med school, and does it on the side to pay for things. He doesn't depend solely on the income from it as he has loans for med school. Point being, he doesn't spend his time doing cheap jobs. It's pretty hard to justify a "top class" detail to someone for $2k when your last job was a wash & wax for $100, and most of your cars are $400 or so for a multi stage cleanup. Remember, these rich people want to feel like they're getting something special that the common folk can't afford. That's why they'll buy waxes for a few thousand dollars that don't look any better than something for less than $100. That's why they paid so much for their vehicle in many cases, to showcase their money.



So in the end, if you want to become one of the "exotic detailers", it's one part image, one part skill, one part product, one part exclusivity, one part contacts. And it's stupid hard to do.
 
I believe it's pretty much all good marketing! On several occasions, we've fetched $3k+ for a correction. Again, all marketing. End of the day, I don't beleive Dalton or this Todd guy are any better or frankly maybe not as good as Jesse or Bob at Auto Concierge - both of them are regularly posting exotics. XRL's point is pretty much spot on, you market yourself as the Canadian did, and offer something most can't reach financially, and those who can are going to want it just because they can.



Andy
XRL said:
Half of the battle with becoming a Dalton or Helme is convincing people you're that good. I remember a guy not too long ago that spent all his time trying that, and never bothered to actually get good. He went on a grand "tour of America" and convinced people that they should spend a few thousand dollars on a chance to get their car detailed by him ("the greatest detailer in the world").



I'm sure most everyone remembers how THAT turned out. If not, do a search, there's plenty of info on it. You don't even have to check on here, there was more or less a witch hunt across every "expensive car" forum to call him out and expose the truth about him.



Point being, you have to be VERY VERY good. And you have to adjust your business model accordingly as well. From what I remember, Helme is in med school, and does it on the side to pay for things. He doesn't depend solely on the income from it as he has loans for med school. Point being, he doesn't spend his time doing cheap jobs. It's pretty hard to justify a "top class" detail to someone for $2k when your last job was a wash & wax for $100, and most of your cars are $400 or so for a multi stage cleanup. Remember, these rich people want to feel like they're getting something special that the common folk can't afford. That's why they'll buy waxes for a few thousand dollars that don't look any better than something for less than $100. That's why they paid so much for their vehicle in many cases, to showcase their money.



So in the end, if you want to become one of the "exotic detailers", it's one part image, one part skill, one part product, one part exclusivity, one part contacts. And it's stupid hard to do.
Click to expand...
 
XRL said:
From what I remember, Helme is in med school
Click to expand...



Huh? First I heard of that...I'd hope you'd be able to spell to get into med school. Maybe you are thinking of Scuba Stevo...who WANTED to go to med school but just started college...then again, he couldn't spell either...
 
XRL said:
Half of the battle with becoming a Dalton or Helme is convincing people you're that good. I remember a guy not too long ago that spent all his time trying that, and never bothered to actually get good. He went on a grand "tour of America" and convinced people that they should spend a few thousand dollars on a chance to get their car detailed by him ("the greatest detailer in the world").



I'm sure most everyone remembers how THAT turned out. If not, do a search, there's plenty of info on it. You don't even have to check on here, there was more or less a witch hunt across every "expensive car" forum to call him out and expose the truth about him.

.
Click to expand...



I wish people would stop posting archiac references to thing that happened in the past that not everybody is familiar with.



And before you say search, try googling stuff like 'tour of america' 'world greatest detailer', etc.. etc..; oh hey look, they bring you back to this thread. That was helpful :)
 
efnfast said:
I wish people would stop posting archiac references to thing that happened in the past that not everybody is familiar with.



And before you say search, try googling stuff like 'tour of america' 'world greatest detailer', etc.. etc..; oh hey look, they bring you back to this thread. That was helpful :)
Click to expand...



I didn't want to go into further detail because of tons of bad will and bans and other such stuff. But here's the general rundown. Guy had a company called "Apollo Detailing" (he wasn't the one from Hungary), and talked himself up a lot. posted some pretty ridiculous videos, one of him massaging a car with some wax and his hands like he was going to make love to it, some where he was detailing cars incorrectly, etc. Anyways he planned himself a big trip to the USA and made a big deal about it, and on said trip he worked on a Lambo and did a crap job, along with burned the window trim (costing the owner a few grand to fix). Once this all came out he disappeared never to be heard from again. There was other stuff involved, but that's the basic run down.



Point of it was, he made himself out to be a big deal, but couldn't back up his talk and had to have other detailers come fix his mistakes on their own time/dime just to not make the entire industry look like crooks and fools.



I dunno, maybe Helme's not in med school. I thought I read that somewhere, someone said something along the lines of "Helme's not worried about income from detailing long term, he's in med school". It was right around when he got banned IIRC.



Anyways, back on topic: It's a hell of of a lot easier to have a detailing business that makes 200k a year by doing lots of cars at a high rate of speed than it is to be a super elite detailer that doesn't work on cars for less than a grand. Dealerships, though they offer low margins, will bring through a lot more cars, and so the increased volume will lead to higher revenues. But you still have to have a decent amount of margin built into your services or you still won't make any money.



My advice? Stay in school, and invest in a fast food restaurant like McDonalds. It'll make you way more money long term.
 
Well like I tell the kids. All that money didn't just dissapear. While we're suffering and loosing jobs left and right someone is getting rich like no tomorrow. You just have to stay ahead of the curve. Right now Auto Mechanics and Auto parts stores might as well be oil tycoons. Life is good for anyone in those feilds with some decent skills. Alternative energies are picking up huge right now. Want lots of cash??? Buy up some foreclosed property and put a windfield on it and sell off the proceeds to make millions. Things that are out the door or close to it... Manufacturing for the big dollars... What few jobs will remain in that sector will soon become minimum wage jobs at best. Health care is about to take a huge kick in the nuts. everyone and their brother is currnetly in college for it. (they all think it's the safe bet) But here in a few years when all these tens of thousand collge student graduate they are going to flood the market and over saturate it to no end... Mix that with the end of employer paid health coverage (cutting more and more every day) Less and less people will be going to the Dr's unless it's of only vital nessecety. Same with Auto Insurence... Most thought that was a recession proof feild because the law Requires it. However when it comes down to paying the rent to keep a house for your family or drive awhile with no insurence it's easy to see what takes priority. My insurence guy (state Farm) has seen an 80% drop in his customers in the past 3 years. That's an insane number. A few state aren't seeing this ... Most are. They say right now 7 out of 10 drivers in the state of Michigan do not have proper insurence to be on the road. Think about that for a second. Nothing is really recession proof...Except maybe feilds related to Death. As morbid as that sounds it really is the only thing money can't effect much. The point is... When one area suffer's somewhere somehow some other area picks up and has a boom. Find that boom and you'll have all the money you'll ever need.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top