Growing the business...choices/options/input

**oekundar** · 07-17-2007, 03:30 PM

So I think I have realized that I would much rather own a detailing business and run it rather than be a "worker". All this because the wife/baby are due in 3 weeks and I would much rather dedicate my time to being home after my 9-5. So here go the questions:

Do any of you professionals have a staff working for you?

How many do you have?

How did you find qualified individuals?

More to come...

**imported_Jakerooni** · 07-17-2007, 06:12 PM

I currently have 1 full time staff and 2 call in guys should I get slammed. I`m still out there in the shop doing at least 50% of the work myself. But as I grow and open more locations I will become more oa businessman than a detail man. Right now my main goal is getting a full proof system in place so all my guys detail (mostly) the same process so when people hear "B&D Detailing" they know the reputation I built up and what to expect. But I`m still pretty new to the business side so it might take a couple years to get to my end goal of multiple locations like I want. But I have a extreamly solid start so it`s only up from here.

**todd@bsaw** · 07-17-2007, 06:31 PM

If you want to become an owner instead of a technician because you want to be home more... you`re looking at it the wrong way. I`d say I`m at the shop 50-60 hours per week, thought I don`t have my own steady staff.

I`m like Jakerooni where I have guys I can call in, but finding someone that I find acceptable per my standards is getting harder and harder. My detail shop is me and I like the personal relationships I`ve built with clients, but I could never rely on a steady 9-5 shedule. 8am to 8-10pm is usually my daily routine.

Read The E Myth if you`re looking at being a `technician` run owner. A few people on here have suggested it numerous times and I finally read it recently (THANK YOU!). There couldn`t have been a more important book for me to read at this time in my business.

**imported_Jakerooni** · 07-17-2007, 09:41 PM

Just to add a bit more my shop is basically a family owned shop. I`m the main driving force behind it My wife is my secretary/personal assitant/customer liason, My 15 y/o son is up there learning the trade along side. and then my 11 y/o boy is up there during the summer months as well with a wash mit in hand ready to help out. This helps me out a great deal simply due to the fact that I`m up there ready to open shop at 8:00am till 6:00pm mon-fri and then 8-noon on saturdays. However that`s just operating hours. I`m lucky (as I see is common practice in this feild) if I can get out of there before 7-8pm every night. So still expect to spend long long hours away from home regardless of being a detailer or just an owner. It`s the biz were in I`m afraid. But having a supportive family makes everything much easier to deal with.

**PRB** · 07-17-2007, 09:56 PM

Originally Posted by oekundar

...and I would much rather dedicate my time to being home after my 9-5.

9-5 is generally for staff, not for managers and owners.

With the added responsibility and job requirements of managing and owning, you will find yourself unable to do it well in just 9-5. If you are an established company with solid management, it`s possible, but not every day of the week.

As others have said, going toward ownership in hopes that you can work 9-5 hours is going in two different directions.

**oekundar** · 07-21-2007, 08:55 PM

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts...I certainly would like to expand the business, I am having difficulty in identifing the best way to go about it, and was hoping that some could provide advise from experience

**todd@bsaw** · 07-21-2007, 09:54 PM

The best way I`ve found to get qualified individuals to detail for you is to start them off just washing cars. The less detailing experience the better. That way you can mold them into your process and your expectations.

Show them the proper and responsible way to wash a car and prep it for a full detail. This gives you more time doing the really skilled work and the new guy can watch and learn from you while he`s not cleaning cars.

I`ve done this with a few employees and it has always been a great benefit. Only one has moved up to be a full detailer, but he is still a student and one of my `on-call` guys if I need him. Eitherway, you pay someone $9 per hour part time to do this and clean up and you`d be surprised on how much more you can get done around the shop.

**Scottwax** · 07-21-2007, 11:37 PM

Originally Posted by todd@bsaw

The less detailing experience the better.

Words to live by. The last thing you want is a know it all who thinks his experience at Hacker`s Detail Shop makes him smarter than you. Give me someone with a good work ethic and no detailing experience. I can train them to detail and won`t have to untrain bad habits or poor technique.

Just to add to what the others have said about detailing not really being a 9-5 job desk type job, the farther away you are from the work being done, the less control you have over the results. That may be fine if your company is making trinkets but when someone trusts you with their $100,000 automobile, you want to stay pretty close to the job.

**PROServices** · 07-22-2007, 10:32 PM

Treat employees the way you always wish your boss had treated you, and pay them what you know you were worth at their experience level. Before I higher a guy I ask myself if this goes perfect am i willing to pay this guy enough salary to support him and his wife/ children (even if he is currently single). You`ll never build a quality shop on low pay high turn around employees. Look to build a long term well trained team and in ten years your name will be detailing to your community.

Along with this... figure out a fair salary for yourself and think of it more as a goal. Starting out with employees there were a few months my guys were making a lot more than me. It is a long term game and once you add employees the hard fast rule is you get paid out of whats left over. Your first bounced payroll check can easily be your last.