Couple new business questions...

A

AuburnM5

New member
A buddy and myself are looking at starting a mobile detailing business. Both of us have day jobs - I am in sales and he owns a car dealership. We would hire a few people to work for us while we manage and market the business. We would eventually be able to use many of his existing relationships to leverage business from his and other dealerships around the area. Both of our jobs allow us freedom to come and go and be involved in the detailing business as necessary. We both are big car fans and have extensive experience detailing. I have been detailing since high school and ran a side business all through high school and college doing it. I used to frequent these forums. I have extensive experience with everything up to wet sanding and paint correction and would be doing most of the training.



A couple questions for you pros on some of the things we are looking at doing/debating on. First of all, and most importantly, compensation - I have seen several different methods for compensation discussed on these forums. We are about to purchase a truck and would hire possibly 1 full time guy and then we have 2 friends that are looking for part time work that are honest and hard working. We are currently debating between paying hourly with some sort of incentive to get so much work per day done vs. a percentage of the gross income for the day. I have no problem paying these guys well in hopes of it paying off for us in the long run. The employees would be 1099 and would have use of our truck and supplies. We are also trying to think of any extra incentives, bonuses, etc (buying them lunch, etc.) to help keep them motivated and encourage loyalty. What has worked for you guys?



Second is marketing - For one of my current jobs I sell internet marketing. It has really opened my eyes to the value of it. Also in the detailing industry, my market especially (which will remain unnamed in case of competitors), almost no one is taking advantage of this resource. I plan on running some Adwords/bing, taking time to elevate the business under the local results, and building a simple website myself at first. After some time money will be invested in a good website and traditional seo. I am not sure if my target demographic will be the people coming from craigslist/groupon/etc. What success have you guys had with this? What are some of the top keywords you target and had good results under?



Third is some of the logistics - We plan on doing this correctly, meaning filing an LLC, licensed, bonded, insured, etc. For insurance we are looking into some quotes today; is general liability and auto insurance all we would need? Also we are going to set up a business plan with verizon and get two cellphones. One as the main number for the business to keep everything separate and then one for the employees to use. We would get the credit card swiper to use with the cellphone. We would only accept checks and credit cards, does anyone see this being a problem?



I think that covers most of the questions for now. I would love to hear you guys opinion on all this. Thanks for any help.
 
I can't offer much advice as I have only had one employee and was always there. But running this with subbing the work out and 1099'ing, one thing you have to be careful about with 1099'ing is legally these guys are supposed to be using their own vehicle/equipment/supplies and are allowed to come and go as they please. When they use your stuff, and you dictate their hours, they are considered employees and are supposed to be put on payroll and W-2'ed at the end of the year. You prob already know this, but if you ever get audited, it's something to watch out for.



One reason I have never considered putting a crew on the road by themselves is quality control. People tend to cut corners when your not there to supervise, even the hard workers and we all know how hard it is to find good help. But if you can find the right people I'm sure it can work well, but you may have to go through 20 people to find that one right person.



Just a couple things to think about. You seem to know what your doing and have thought things through well. Hopefully others can give you more advice, but those things are just what popped into my head. Good luck!
 
I agree with Richard, the further you are from the work being done, the harder it is to maintain the quality. You are going to have to pay people pretty well and regularly check up on them to get excellent results from them.
 
Sounds like you want an employee but don't want the expense of an employee. Your plan sounds grand but easier said than done. You should start by rebuilding that old part time business you used to have. When that starts to take off and you and your buddy can not keep up that would be the time to hire some help. Good luck with your new venture.
 
rustytruck said:
Sounds like you want an employee but don't want the expense of an employee. Your plan sounds grand but easier said than done. You should start by rebuilding that old part time business you used to have. When that starts to take off and you and your buddy can not keep up that would be the time to hire some help. Good luck with your new venture.
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I agree with rustytruck here, it sounds like you are making things very complicated from the get-go, without the investment or infrastructure needed to start out a big business venture. I would suggest you and your friend write up a comprehensive business plan, go over it several times, especially the SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats), and see where your game plan lines up.
 
good word Mike ;)



rustytruck said:
Sounds like you want an employee but don't want the expense of an employee. Your plan sounds grand but easier said than done. You should start by rebuilding that old part time business you used to have. When that starts to take off and you and your buddy can not keep up that would be the time to hire some help. Good luck with your new venture.
Click to expand...
 
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