Funny story of falling into lifelong passion

I wanted to reintroduce myself. I started over 14 years ago detailing as a weekend warrior. Cars and detailing have always been a passion of mine. After graduating college I started my career in retail management. I excelled and climbed the ranks fast, running my own store only 5 years removed from college. As time passed and life changed, namely having my first child, I began to hate the stress, hours and missed family time. Fast forward to this past couple weeks and a unique opportunity arose. A good buddy started a very successful detail operation in 2000. He sold in 2014 to a big local body shop giving more bay space to work with and gaining access to accounts such as Porsche, Audi, BMW etc. in the area. A friend of his started a food distribution business and required help running it. He left and it opened the door for me to take the detailing business, which I recently did! I start this coming week and I see tons of growth potential. Any tips and advice from the pros is welcomed!

Good luck, if you`re paired with a body shop set guidelines about cleanliness and stick to them. A clean workspace is going to be your biggest battle.

When purchasing machines like polishers, make sure to get something that is top notch, it will save you a headache, pain down the road and most of all time. The machine will pay for itself within 2-4 jobs depending on price point.


Oh, DO NOT LONE TOOLS TO ANYONE! Especially body guys, they destroy everything!

Also make sure chemicals used are body shop safe and new paint safe. And most definitely ditto to what driver said; clean shop, don’t loan tools out, and get quality tools it won’t take much to make the money back when not only does it help do quality work but also in shorter time.

Good luck on your new endeavor.


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Welcome back to detailing :)

It always seems like I take the "legal" aspect on business issues, but since I do not know all the details of how you are joining this body shop with the detailing business, IE are they one business entity under two different sub-business or are they two separate businesses in the same building-and-premises?? Are they LLC`s, corporations, or enterprises?

What legal agreements are in place or have you signed?
Non-compete contracts (IE, not starting your own detailing business OR working for another like business that will compete with them for a given time or distance from their business. Yes, it is a big issue)
Exclusivity agreements (IE, you will not farm out or sub-contract work given or directed to you by them)
Confidentiality agreements (IE, you will not talk about clients/customers vehicles and type of work you doing for them outside of work OR post your work on social media or a forum like this.)
Materials and car-care chemicals agreements (IE, as mentioned, body shop-safe chemicals or that they may have their own vendor/supplier agreements that you must follow or can you bring in anyone`s chemicals.)
Safety and MSDS training certificates/ OSHA compliant requirements
Liability and business insurance requirements

These are just some of the legal issues you need to consider and discuss.