Things have changed here.....

keep up the good work justin.. the econamy is tough. but as a business owner myself .we have to ride it out. it will get better.
 
Sorry to hear the economy is depressed in your area. Luckily, here in the DC area, we have been more fortunate. It is smart to offer what people want, and are willing to pay for. I would resist, however, the temptation to go lower than you already have (you mentioned $15 washes). A car wash can charge such low prices because they take advantage of economies of scale using their efficiencies. Unless you are operating with a team of guys who can wash a car in 5 minutes, going too low would be a bad idea. Of course you do what you have to do to stay in business, but don't devalue your time.
 
advs1 said:
unfortunately, in this business, as soon as you train some one, they will split and take some of your business with them. i have seen it happen too many times. as soon as some one sees the money you make for the work they do, its over if they have half a brain
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Maybe in the mobile world, but in the fixed shop world, good luck. It's not easy starting a fixed business. You need to have a good chunk of capital, good location, successful marketing techniques, and of course the ability to detail properly. Not to mention it's always a good idea to have some cash on the side, in case your first few months you don't even make enough revenue to pay the lease / mortgage. I've seen lots of employees come and go, and not a single one of them went into detailing for themselves.



Justin Murphy said:
This is not true in the small town I'm in. At least I think so!



Since I've started detailing for a living (5 years ago), 5 others have come and went. They all started up at least a year after me so I had my business out in the public but it's the job I do and reputation I have built up. I've had so many customers call me and tell me so and so left a flyer and then they would ask "when you coming by?".



I will eventually have to hire someone or stagnate. I've scheduled another 20 since I've posted this thread. 90 percent of these new customers want me to come by weekly. Some are even wanting to pre pay monthly.



Thanks to all of you for your support.
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Sounds like you're doing really good ! You might find that you're making a ton more cash doing this vs one-vehicle-per-day type of thing. Congrats on keeping your head above water in tough times !
 
Mr. Murphy,



Good job changing with the times, these days a half of a loaf of bread is better then a slice. In time we will have a full loafs again. This seems to be happening everywhere.
 
I know I started this out talking about how bad the economy is here but it being bad has actually increased my profits.



Today I did 13 at 20.00 (260.00) and 1 mini detail at 75.00 totaling 335.00. There were two of us and it took us at total of 5 hours including drive time......several were at one location....this is a huge key to this working. I paid my help 60.00....it was my brother inlaw. Not a bad days work and I feel great. No vacuuming or windows to clean. No buffer ran. Before, I was trying to to hit 150.00 a day average to just get by. Crazy huh?



Now I just have to fine tune what products to use.

Any suggestions?
 
Justin Murphy said:
I know I started this out talking about how bad the economy is here but it being bad has actually increased my profits.



Today I did 13 at 20.00 (260.00) and 1 mini detail at 75.00 totaling 335.00. There were two of us and it took us at total of 5 hours including drive time......several were at one location....this is a huge key to this working. I paid my help 60.00....it was my brother inlaw. Not a bad days work and I feel great. No vacuuming or windows to clean. No buffer ran. Before, I was trying to to hit 150.00 a day average to just get by. Crazy huh?



Now I just have to fine tune what products to use.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...





Just a quick calculation.....



Sales: $335

-$60 helper

-Business Insurance

-Chemicals

-Self Employment Tax

-Car Payment

-Gas

-Car Insurance

-Cell Phone

______________



What's left over?
 
If he is averaging $275 per day for a year after paying a guy $60/day and if he keeps $100 per day for himself he's got about $3791.66 per month left over for business expenses you had listed. I think it can be done.



For what it's worth I hope he is not set up as a sole proprietor. If you make a living off this you might want to consider setting up an llc. or S corp or something. That avoids the self employment tax because then you are an employee of your company. Talk to a CPA and an Attorney. They can help. There could be some tax advantages you are missing out on. Along with the separation of liability.



Tim
 
id love to start up a detailing buss. but id have to turn large numbers in order to survive..in my area anyway.. very expensive to live.. and every ones cheap...keep up the great work justin!!!
 
David Fermani said:
Just a quick calculation.....



Sales: $335

-$60 helper

-Business Insurance

-Chemicals

-Self Employment Tax

-Car Payment

-Gas

-Car Insurance

-Cell Phone

______________



What's left over?
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true.u need to fiqure out what ur daily exspensives are just toturn the key in ur truck everyday..
 
Sales: $335



-helper

60.00

-Business Insurance

3.33

-Chemicals

1.75

-Self Employment Tax

n/a (I'm LLC)

-Car Payment

0.00

-Gas

15.00

-Car Insurance

2.80

-Cell Phone

1.60



Daily expenses are...

84.48



Daily profit is...

335.00

84.48-

250.52x 6 work days= 1503.12x 4.3 weeks in a month= 6463.42x 12=77560.99



I think I can live with that. The nice thing is that these numbers are based on business only working around 5 hours per day.



Two of the variables that's hard to knock down now are gas and chemicals.



Today I'm going to the town next to me which is larger than the one I live in. It's 15 minutes away. I think I can get the same business there but with a 25% increase due to the industry they have there. I might be setting up another truck soon.
 
Labster said:
Conventional washing or using ONR?
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Conventional for now but I'm looking at ONR. Just thinking of time constraints.



This worse thing about my area is the conditions. I have to use a pressure washer first no matter what. We have a lot of gravel roads here.
 
$15 for just a wash? thats a no brainer!



her in co springs $20 gets you a tunnel wash with two guys and a towel making a pass and thats it!



hell $9 gets you a self service tunnel with a blow dry but even then we all know you drive off with half the car wet.



you wanna come and wash my car for me?



Im glad you've been able to increase your profits and make it through these tough times major props to you for not calling it quits
 
black03mach said:
$15 for just a wash? thats a no brainer!



her in co springs $20 gets you a tunnel wash with two guys and a towel making a pass and thats it!



hell $9 gets you a self service tunnel with a blow dry but even then we all know you drive off with half the car wet.



you wanna come and wash my car for me?



Im glad you've been able to increase your profits and make it through these tough times major props to you for not calling it quits
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So you're saying I'm not charging enough? LOL!
 
congrats on adapting! :) :bigups



I know for fact money is in volume work, the catch is sometimes keeping up with the demand! Good luck with it and have you looked in to 55gal drums with chemicals to maybe lower your chemical expense?



Are you an all cash business? Do you accept credit cards? If you accept credit cards be sure to include this as an expense as well.



My dad always told me volume work is where its at for money...didn't believe him until I experienced it myself...congrats :)
 
congrats Justin. I thought i was one of the very few people in this lonely boat of down times. Economy out here in hawaii is much like what you are going through. Business has nearly fell off the planet man but you just gave me new hope. Correction is great but at the end of the day i would rather have some work then sitting around waiting for a big job to call.



Their are a few people who like correction work but then again some people who just want a clean car.
 
Justin I'll be following your new threads closely as I will more than likely be organizing a mobile detailing business with a couple friends focusing mostly on volume work and such. LUSTR will stay as is and separate but volume work is a great area to explore and I'll be giving it a shot soon as well. Best of luck again.
 
I'm glad this has become inspirational to a few that are finding it hard to get customers. It's all about adapting and hitting a price point. All of these people have had these 20.00 bills in their pocket waiting for homes. Some went to an automatic car wash and some went for a trip through Wendy's. The thing is, that 20.00 bill will come out of their pocket daily.......I just want one of them a week.



I feel like I simply gave them a "dollar menu" to now pick from when they don't need a #4.



I will be building business model for other if they wish to see what I've done.



Thanks again and lets make some money doing what we like.
 
Justin Murphy said:
I'm glad this has become inspirational to a few that are finding it hard to get customers. It's all about adapting and hitting a price point. All of these people have had these 20.00 bills in their pocket waiting for homes. Some went to an automatic car wash and some went for a trip through Wendy's. The thing is, that 20.00 bill will come out of their pocket daily.......I just want one of them a week.



I feel like I simply gave them a "dollar menu" to now pick from when they don't need a #4.



I will be building business model for other if they wish to see what I've done.



Thanks again and lets make some money doing what we like.
Click to expand...



Well said. I'm pretty much as busy as I'd like to be detailing wise, but the opportunity to make money and do something different with volume work is definitely something I want to try and hopefully make it a full time gig with the 2 businesses. Currently I have a Mon-Fri 8-5 at an Architecture firm.
 
If there were an AUTOPIAN in my area charging $15 for a wash - I know I'd be a customer!!!



I absolutely love to clean my car - but if I could save 1-2hrs per week for $15 ... NO BRAINER!



If you ever drive through Hershey PA and need $15 - call me! I'll even tip 20% :-)









Justin Murphy said:
I'm glad this has become inspirational to a few that are finding it hard to get customers. It's all about adapting and hitting a price point. All of these people have had these 20.00 bills in their pocket waiting for homes. Some went to an automatic car wash and some went for a trip through Wendy's. The thing is, that 20.00 bill will come out of their pocket daily.......I just want one of them a week.



I feel like I simply gave them a "dollar menu" to now pick from when they don't need a #4.



I will be building business model for other if they wish to see what I've done.



Thanks again and lets make some money doing what we like.
Click to expand...
 
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