Thinking about starting a detailing business

[DanH]

That sounds like a good plan, but it will take a lot of time and capital investment to start a business of that size. Finding and keeping a number of quality employees that you can trust to build your reputation will be one of the more difficult parts.

Hard to please customers also will take a lot of the excitement out of the job. Doing something on the side for fun vs. doing the same type of work fulltime are often much different things.

Building up a consistent customer base in a smaller operation to begin with will allow you to refine your business skills before losing it all by trying to go big time... I'm not trying to discourage you though! (just offering a my two cents worth)

Good Luck in your business adventure!

[tim]

Dan,

You raise good points. A cheaper route would be to offer a more DIY type service until the reputation comes. A place where PLU's can go to wash their car, get it buffed, and maybe buy some stuff for the car as well, get some coffee. I definitely think it should begin with a site, rather from a van.

tim

[liquidtiger720]

Tim- really, all that for $200?

if i wanted, i could get it as cheap as $50, but some local dudes usually charge around $85-100. only thing close to $200 would be something like a navigator, because its so big.

anyways. good luck with your venture. i wish you luck with whatever route you choose.

[Springfield1952]

Tim,

15 years ago I threw myself out into the streets and started my own business. Here's my 2 cents worth . . .

1: Watch your cash - like a hawk. It's real easy for money to go out of your wallet and real hard to get it back in. I like the idea of starting small (I worked out of a bedroom for the first year) and building from there.

2: Sleep on every major purchase. If it still looks good in the morning, it probably is.

3: Opening your own shop will cost more than you can estimate. Taxes, insurance, rent, materials, employees. It adds up real quick.

4: Protect your reputation. If you do good work, people will come back and bring their friends. If you do a bad job, apologize more than once and immediately redo the job. Customer service goes a long way. It takes ten years to build a reputation and ten minutes to lose it.

5: Be prepared to work more hours than you imagined. When I opened my business I saw 1:00 in the morning more times than I wanted to. People who say, "Oh, you have your own business? You must be on the golf course all the time.", have no clue.

Good luck,

Curt.
www.compassdesign.com