Do i need to hire someone or is this just a seasonal thing?

to hire or not to hire?

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  • don't hire

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T

tssdetailing

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This is my 2nd Spring/Summer as a company and I've been booked 2-3 weeks out since March. Is this just a seasonal thing, or should I hire some help? I'm so scared to hire someone who doesn't possess my work ethic, I'm a horrible teacher and always feel I can do it better myself. I have a bad habit of trying to be friends before being a leader too. But I feel like my customers shouldnt' have to wait until June to get their car cleaned!
 
Why not? How long do you sometimes have to wait for something great that a lot of people want? I am the same way and I say don't hire for "those" reasons. Now if you happen to meet someone that you feel good about by all means - give him a chance.
 
Based on everything you said (not good at training, more interested in being friends instead of acting as a manager) I would have to say don't hire. You don't sound like someone who is cut out to be an employer.



That said, if you DO feel that you want to expand your business, I would suggest taking some managerial training courses at a community college or somewhere of that sort.
 
Maybe its that I have been a manager before at a dealership I feel the same way as you. You can be friends with your employees but you just have to tell them when it comes down to it I am the boss and sign your checks. So when you do ask them to do something they need to do it. Training think of it as nothing more than showing them how to do it like you do. Then keep an eye on them and give them pointers and advice like a friend would. Management is always different at first till you find your style and the lime between managing and being friends.
 
Pro-tip:

After the first 3 months, when they really start understanding the why of what I/we do, having an assistant is awesome. I can get so much more work done in a day. Clients don't have to wait as long, you get two different sets of eyes on a car(all the good stuff that comes with that) and there is better profit potential. The drawback is the steep learning curve for this kind of work and not knowing if someone will ultimately pay off.



There are times when there's about 20~45 minutes of there being only work for 1 person left during a full day detail. Instead of waiting around, he can load up the truck or I can do something extra and special for the client at no cost as a "thank you". One thing I won't do is stand around with my finger in my nose. There's always something that can be done that doesn't take forever and can set you above your competition.
 
If you are going to hire someone to detail, you will want to have them sign a no-compete clause. There is no sense in training them so they can go off and do their own thing.
 
In all honesty... If you have people waiting 3 weeks for you, and not going somewhere else, youre doing good, and I don't think you need to hire. If you feel like you are losing customers because of the wait time, then I would def. hire someone. I have always been partial to hire people with no experience, so I can train them to do it my way. If you're a bad teacher, and wanna get caught up, then you might wanna hire someone with lots of experience that you dont know, but maybe someone you trust has reccomended to you.
 
JohnKleven said:
If you are going to hire someone to detail, you will want to have them sign a no-compete clause. There is no sense in training them so they can go off and do their own thing.
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Eh, I don't see this being such a huge deal. Not many people have the know-how or the drive to run their own business, so I wouldn't worry about an employee taking off. Not to mention that a lot of employees you're going to get for these types of jobs are kids and young adults.



3 weeks booked out since March ? Hire someone. I'm always an advocate of hiring someone as soon as possible. What happens if you put your back out again like you did a few months ago ? What if something happens in your personal life and you have to drop everything and go somewhere on short notice ? Bottom line is, when it's JUST you, there's a lot of weight on your shoulders. Doing that for a while is fine, but you don't want to do it forever. It will get stressful eventually (if it hasn't already), you'll get tired of not being able to take a vacation, and you'll definitely lose out on more potential revenue.
 
^+1. Training sucks and employees are a pain sometimes, but after a few weeks they will get will be able to do most tasks under your supervision. You know what your weaknesses are and you will need to be remember to check yourself.



If you throw your back out again or go through something like Scottwax (bike accident) you would be left with no way to get work done at all. IMO the benefits far out weight the draw backs.
 
If the state is a right-to-work-state, it won't matter. Though, many won't know that and the "contract" may scare them from testing its validity.



Sometimes fear of that contract holding water is enough to keep 'em from becoming your competition.



JohnKleven said:
If you are going to hire someone to detail, you will want to have them sign a no-compete clause. There is no sense in training them so they can go off and do their own thing.
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Wow, so many responces, so where should I look to hire? CL? temp agency? Through friends (this i really would like to avoid, last thing I want to do is hire a friend and they suck as an employee)
 
Barry Theal said:
BUmp your prices! Sounds like simply supply and demand. Try that first then hire someone if you remain busy.
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If he bumps his prices too much, and loses all his work, he might be seeing if someone else is hiring!!! I agree with this... just don't bump too much!!!
 
This is a tough call, what about a part time employee, could this be an option. That way if things slow down they know ahead of time it was not a full time job. If the show intrest, love to learn you can always keep them around, train correctly and have a dedicated employee for yourself
 
gt08vapor said:
This is a tough call, what about a part time employee, could this be an option. That way if things slow down they know ahead of time it was not a full time job. If the show intrest, love to learn you can always keep them around, train correctly and have a dedicated employee for yourself
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Kinda thinking the same thing...like a Mon/wed/fri person and I can double book gigs those days knowing I'll have help. However, i'm starting to wonder, lets say I average $200/gig. So $400 a day, less $10/hr for help AND the insurance coverage for him (not benefits, i'm talking liability coverage for a ts|s employee), does that equal out to me making the same amount alone on 1 car????
 
tssdetailing said:
Kinda thinking the same thing...like a Mon/wed/fri person and I can double book gigs those days knowing I'll have help. However, i'm starting to wonder, lets say I average $200/gig. So $400 a day, less $10/hr for help AND the insurance coverage for him (not benefits, i'm talking liability coverage for a ts|s employee), does that equal out to me making the same amount alone on 1 car????
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Depends if all you can do is "double" the work with adding 1 employee. I find that I can do about 2.5x the work with 1 employee. 2 workers are better than 1, becuase they "push" each other around if they're doing separate steps (one is always trying to catch up to the other, so the other works faster to ensure the first doesn't actually ever catch up and have nothing to do). People do this subconsciously, give it a try.
 
WAS said:
Depends if all you can do is "double" the work with adding 1 employee. I find that I can do about 2.5x the work with 1 employee. 2 workers are better than 1, becuase they "push" each other around if they're doing separate steps (one is always trying to catch up to the other, so the other works faster to ensure the first doesn't actually ever catch up and have nothing to do). People do this subconsciously, give it a try.
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Interesting. I do it very consciously...i'm very competitive when i work along side others. In a mobile situation, half a gig is pointess since we'd have to return and that's gas
 
DetailKnight said:
If he bumps his prices too much, and loses all his work, he might be seeing if someone else is hiring!!! I agree with this... just don't bump too much!!!
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Correct, I mean, i like making the bigger bucks, but I wonder if I pull on someone, I should reduce prices so as to make some of the my lower end packages more obtainable for people, thus incurring more gigs?
 
tssdetailing said:
Correct, I mean, i like making the bigger bucks, but I wonder if I pull on someone, I should reduce prices so as to make some of the my lower end packages more obtainable for people, thus incurring more gigs?
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Don't worry about the number of jobs you get, worry about whether the jobs you're getting are netting you the highest margin you can obtain. Your lower end services will usually tend to be your least profitable, whereas high end services like paint correction and the like will be more profitable since the vast majority of what you're charging will be labor, not materials.



Spending most of your time doing a high number of "low end packages" may actually be worse for your bottom line than spending most of your time doing a lesser number of "high end packages" when you sit down and really crunch the numbers.
 
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