trying to figure out what to do next

A

afreelife4me

New member
I have been detailing for a long time and the business was growing very fast...biz was coming in every day and all my customers loved my work and gave plenty of referrals.. Well I tried to get some help so I can start getting more cars in a day and start getting more income .. Well I have been through like 4 guys in a matter of months.. Either one is too lazy.. The other just does

Not show up for work.. Or they just don’t pay attention.. I also had someone answering my phones and doing the calendar.. Paperwork..etc.



Well things were spinning out of control .. And mistakes were happening left and right… the quality of my work was going down and my customer service was starting to get hurt.. So I decided to pull the plug and go back to doing it myself so I know its getting done right.. So now I was just wondering if you can make a full time job out of this just doing it alone off the books… do many detailers just do it on the side or do they jump through all the loops and try to do it legal and open a legit business.
 
When hiring for detailers be sure to hire ONLY people who want to learn and have NO experience. Besides the autopian detailers on here, most people who say they know how to detail really have no clue at all. Find someone who is a hard worker, but has never handled a buffer in their life, then start them on preps, interiors, then gradually move them up to light colored cars, and after a year or so, start teaching them to correct dark colored cars. That is how I do it in my shop, and I will say that I have had lots of luck doing it this way, and I have 6 very dedicated hard working employees who really really care about my business. I take good care of my employees and they take good care of me.
 
Perfectly correct, John! Wise words from an experienced pro:happy:



The most important things are the enthusiasm and willingness to listen and learn.

Much better than simply getting a few "much-talked-about" old-timers who bring along their stubborn, smart-arse characters that insist on using the same 'ol techniques carried over from their previous place of employment.



We can't expect perfection from any employee because they are not us.

Heck...if they are so fantastically smart, they should be opening their own business, and not having to work for someone:happy::happy:



But as long as they are willing to listen to instructions and execute it with enthusiasm while producing the expected results within the timeframe, I'm happy:chuckle:
 
thats what i was doing.. i had my guys starting out cleaning the engines and polishing and cleaning rims and tires... see how they handled that.. if they did good then i would have them try to go faster doing that.. then if they were doing good and i did not have to repeat myself 5 times.. i would have them prep the car so i can polish.. light clay baring... only on easy jobs.. anything big or black paint i would help out.



but these guys would not even last that long.. so i started one on interiors as well.. and the guy could not handle even vacuuming.. i found so many spots that were obvious..i know we are not perfect here but if i point out spot after spot then obviously you dont care about your work and i dont want you in my company.. i had to do that whole interior all over again .. so wasted time and money





i have been using people with no exp so i can train them on my methods and not have a pissing contest on what products and way of doing things are better... so i tried college kid first.. figuring he has a different future planned out and i can help him pay his tuition..etc.. next i tried a guy who just had a kid and used to do construction before he got laid off.. no go...
 
I agree with John word for word. One way you may look for a good employee is to search around on local car or detail forums and try to find a promising candidate who's just starting out detailing. I've had good success finding helpers that way for the few jobs I don't do alone.
 
A customer of mine just had this same conversation with me two days ago...he invented those ultra bright tools that you see in a dentist's office. Anyway, he was saying how going to work was a pain for the first few years until he figured out how to manage better. He now has a great group of people and is hiring about 10 more to put into his 10k sq. ft. building! This took about 2-3 years to build and now he says going to work is a lot of fun. One key thing he stated, "I had to get my guys to understand, 'You work for the business, not in the business.'" Everyone has a set job. One guy does not tell another their responsibility..all take pride in exactly what they are trained to do.

Some of this fits detailing, and some does not.



Have you read the book, The E-Myth Revisited? I highly recommend this book.



If I could train and pay (well) a crew and make half of what I do, but spend my time managing, promoting, and booking appointments, I'd do it! The increase in volume and lack of labor on my part (I'm 41 yrs. old) would pay itself back 10 fold in years to come.



Rob
 
This is a really hard business to get and keep high quality help. People with experience think they know it all, people without experience might not have the passion for detailing required to keep at it long term and those who do think after 6 months they can go out on their own. I've been lucky that at least for most summers, my kids have been able to work for me. Neither one is particularly passionate about detailing but they understand that it is my business and it behooves them to do a good job. Now that my younger son is in another state and has a good job with Pepsi, he isn't working with me anymore but my older son still is until he finishes college. After that, I will probably go back to working on my own. This is the type of work I prefer to have as much control over as possible.
 
in have tried 4 people as well, but none had the OCD that I do. Sure their work looked better than the car wash jockey, but that isnt my clientele I am after, so results need to be higher. I had to constantly go back over their work, so what was taking them 5 hours I could get done in 2-3, so what am I paying them for??? I went back to working alone and its much harder, longer hours, and "less per hour, but more money in my pocket" and the end result is what I am after.



I would do as John said and hire someone with ZERO detailing experience! training someone YOUR way is better than trying to break old habits. Try training a volume, 5 cars a day type detailer to sit on one car for 2 days...not going to happen!



Another thing, if business is that out of control, and you are going to stick with working alone, raise your prices! You will get less work, have a more manageable schedule and make the same amount of money working less. I did, and what I just said is true. I made about xxK more this year than I did last year and worked less hours overall. The types of jobs also played a factor because I wasnt doing too many wash and wax with interior jobs so much as my main focus is on the paint correction jobs. It depends on the market you are after though...I like the longer exterior reconditioning jobs as its more rewarding for me. if its the car wash, wash and wax and light interior work you are after, it shouldnt be hard to train a couple of people to do that work for you. I would pay one person a couple bucks more to be the "supervisor" and hold him responsible for each car they do. If he keeps slipping and cars are coming out 80% done, then he goes and the other guy takes his place while you hire and train a new guy.
 
I'm moving forward with hiring right now. As of now, I have my brother inlaw working for me and a young part timer when I need him. He's in college. My goal was to find a great manager first. I want somebody I can trust to take of the crap when it hits the fan so I don't have to. I want to manage my business and train......that's it. To do this I have to have someone to take my place of being a manager.



You may just want to step back and do this. You will have to work with him and train him and stroke his ego. You may go through several but when you find the one, you'll be happy you did.
 
toyotaguy said:
I would pay one person a couple bucks more to be the "supervisor" and hold him responsible for each car they do. If he keeps slipping and cars are coming out 80% done, then he goes and the other guy takes his place while you hire and train a new guy.
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Absolutely the correct way to do it.

Justin Murphy said:
I'm moving forward with hiring right now. As of now, I have my brother inlaw working for me and a young part timer when I need him. He's in college. My goal was to find a great manager first. I want somebody I can trust to take of the crap when it hits the fan so I don't have to. I want to manage my business and train......that's it. To do this I have to have someone to take my place of being a manager.



You may just want to step back and do this. You will have to work with him and train him and stroke his ego. You may go through several but when you find the one, you'll be happy you did.
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Also a very good approach.



It all comes down to what you want to do personally. If you want to be out of the day-to-day labour involved in operating the business, then you need to find really good employees. If you want to micro-manage and be OCD, then you need to stay in it. Not saying that either way is better or the "correct" way to go, it's simply a personal choice of how you want to operate your business.
 
It all comes down to what you want to do personally. If you want to be out of the day-to-day labour involved in operating the business, then you need to find really good employees. If you want to micro-manage and be OCD, then you need to stay in it. Not saying that either way is better or the "correct" way to go, it's simply a personal choice of how you want to operate your business.
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thats where i think im at.. i moved the company to texas from NYC area 2 years ago.. when i got here i did not know a single person.. and i still dont know many people because my main goal was not to come here to party and waste money.. my goal was to move the company to a warmer climate so i can succeed.



well i put my time in.. did some jobs for like barely nothing to get the word out about me.. over time my machines and chemicals have all upgraded and im getting much much better results ..once people started leaving reviews and spreading the word for me it began to take off.. and take off so fast that i could not handle it.. calls and emails were coming in daily.. like 5 a day.. and with me in the pits getting dirty all day.. i cannot stop every 5 min to answer a call or email.. so i hired someone to take my calls and be in charge of customer service and my calendar..etc... well even she was having problems because the work was coming in so fast that she did not know where to book these people because with being one person i was only getting to one car a day... so thats when i decided to bring help on board to help in the pits.. so i can take some time away from the car and make important business decisions and have time to think...that did not really work out cause i was training and still trying to get the car done because we were all still going to slow.. i had him doing most of he easy stuff.. stuff you cant really mess up on.. but things were still not working out..i was correcting them left and right.. or pointing out so many spots they missed.. one car i had to do the entire interior over again cause it was just crap.



so i was making decent money.. but it was all going to my employees and my business expenses.. nothing was left for me..so my car payments were falling behind as well as all my other bills... the only thing that would make me get on top would be to pump out more cars...so i was catching myself now cutting corners and rushing to make up for time lost with the new hire.. and i did not like that at all.



so finally i pulled the plug and went back to just me.. the level of service will not change but my customers will have to be patient because i am now booked 2 weeks out and they will have to wait...



i also had this same issue with contract workers like PDR and windsheild repair.. all these other guys were either doing crap work or have bad customer service.. and since i recommended them to take care of my customer it was making me look bad.



so there was a lot of baby sitting going on and i hate that... since i went back to me i felt like a huge weight has been lifted and i have a sence of freedom.. even though i work 7 days a week from sun up to sundown...



so i guess i will not try to be a kingpin and run my company or think of growing into a shop etc.. for now..



guess it goes back to the old saying .. if you want it done right do it yourself... just really tough for one guy to handle..some days its hard to bounce back from getting beat up for 8 hours straight.
 
flyingsolo: It's going to be hard for you to get good employees, because you're in such a high-end detailing market. You'd either need to pay someone enough money to care (think probably double what the "average" detailer makes working at some shop), or you need to get into lower-expectation detailing. Again, either choice is a business decision, I'm not saying one is better than the other. That said, you do need to always think about the future. What happens if you get sick one day ? Break a bone, come down with a more serious long-term illness, or just start to permanently wear your body out ? It's MUCH easier to still work if you're mainly managing your business (doing books, advertising, etc) as opposed to doing the physically demanding work. That's my personal take on it, I don't want to be a "one man show" whose company immediately dies if he can't work all aspects of it.
 
^^^^^ agree!!!!



you can either pay someone 25-30/hr to do high end work like you do, or pay someone 10-15 to do the lower end volume type of work.



That is the reason I am going to start up a second business to handle all the low end stuff like washes and wash and waxes...the easy stuff that is time consuming where people dont want to pay much (price shoppers) will utilize the 2nd business while those who want paint correction and understand the difference between a $400 detail and a $100 one.
 
toyotaguy said:
^^^^^ agree!!!!



you can either pay someone 25-30/hr to do high end work like you do, or pay someone 10-15 to do the lower end volume type of work.



That is the reason I am going to start up a second business to handle all the low end stuff like washes and wash and waxes...the easy stuff that is time consuming where people dont want to pay much (price shoppers) will utilize the 2nd business while those who want paint correction and understand the difference between a $400 detail and a $100 one.
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This is the only way to do it safely in my opinion. You are training them AND getting paid! Then, if one of them get's better and better, don't move him to doing high ends....make him a MANAGER and higher another one and let your manager MANAGE your team.
 
@ Flyingsolo: welcome to the board. I think you'll find that many of the guys here are in your boat (myself included) making a living by detailing by themselves. It's totally possible. I decided to 'fly solo' and bailed from my original career to pursue detailing full time in May 2010 and haven't looked back since. I can't recall who said it here, but it was read; "if your good, then people will seek you out and wait for you."
 
toyotaguy said:
takes time to develop a name for yourself!!!!
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Absolutely true, 100%. I naïvely thought I could build my detail business into a solidy booked year-round operation within a few months. Not the case, it takes a lot of time and patience, but it does and will happen if you keep working at it.
 
exactly...I was trying to get a shop location this year, but I think that I will hold off for at least another year. I was booked 150 days+ this year. If I can get to 225 in 2011, then I will definitely do the shop in 2012!
 
You do have to be very careful when chosing a fixed shop location. I did it and don't regret it at all, but I also ensured that my expenses associated to a fixed shop were kept very minimal, to reflect the "still growing" nature of the business. Eric: While I obviously don't know your business balance sheet, based from what I know of you and what I've seen from your work, I personally think you'd do extremely well in a fixed shop location.
 
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