*Maybe* starting a new business

[Shane55113]

Hey guys some of you may have seen my job rant in the off topic section and i got to thinking why should i go and look for a job when i can just create one for myself.
I have been thinking of starting a Detailing business with my long time friend. We would be sinking allot of $ into buying professional grade products. And i was wondering if any one has an opinion on this? I have a whole promotions campaign planned out in my head, that would utilize allot of the resources that are available to me. I've been learning about how to run a business from school and from my dad who started a business from the ground up 3 years ago and i've been there since the beginning. Let me know what you think. I'm going to be doing allot of research to figure out the basics.

[Pimpin Dsmstyle]

Research the dictionary before you move on with a business!

[CDeutsch]

That might be a tuff market to get into. Do you have lots of experience working for a reputable detail shop? If you don't, then you have to come up with a good reason why someone should trust you with their car.

[Shane55113]

Do you honestly think that my grammar and spelling are going to effect my business? If so, please show me a detail shop that employes english majors. i get it i have bad spelling and grammar. Ok now if you don't have any thing helpful to input please don't say anything at all.

Research the dictionary before you move on with a business!

[Shane55113]

That might be a tuff market to get into. Do you have lots of experience working for a reputable detail shop? If you don't, then you have to come up with a good reason why someone should trust you with their car.

Very good point, but as I stated I have resources, I have a couple rich friends that own very nice cars and i am sure they would be glad to get a couple free details in exchange for pictures. The cars include : '05 Lambo, '04 porche turbo (suv), '93 300ZX TT, '05 Audi S4, '06 brabus,'05 mercedes S500. Throw that all into a web page along with a solid mission statement and some other miscellaneous things that I have thought up. As i said i have a promotions campaign planned out. Luckily my mom works for an advertising agency so i have access to all of those resources also. Its not like we'd be doing shoddy work, we'd be using professional equipment and product, not the junk that you buy at target.

[INTRIGUED]

Any type of business could go well all you need is a go plan and and lo-cal and anything could happen. Get a good strong client list and word of mouth travels. If you feel strongly about it anything could happen. Good luck!

[clean2g]

I tried detailing for a while but the amount of work I did took too long because it's all about the technique, and I was one person. I would go to the customers house and do everything there. It's a good side business but not sure if it's the best full time thing. I used only professional products, stuff only available by order. If I could recommend one product, I'd have to say Zaino Bros car polish and their product line in general, that shit's the bomb.. still use it on my 2g. Best way to advertise for this type of business is word of mouth when starting out at least, and set up a booth or something at the local car shows/events. And the professional products arent cheap either so if you're really serious about it, start crunching some numbers and figure out your costs and whatnot. It's all about planning and organization, and too much of either of those is never enough because the businesses that fail, usually fail within the first 1-2 years they're open for business due to lack of the before mentioned. Good luck.

[Goat Blower]

You need experience, nobody is going to let you buff their lambo with no experience. I owned a boat and car detailing business on Lake Minnetonka for six years. It's a heavily saturated market and getting new clients is tough. You need dealerships and they usually have a buddy that owns a shop, or their own in-house. The guy I have do my details can barely pay the bills sometimes and he just lost his biggest account to a nephew of the client's used car sales manager. He did pick up Carousel Porsche in their place though.

It's a good business, but it'll take you a good three years to make any money. And if you burn through someone's paint and you don't have insurance, be prepared to get sued heavily.

And lastly, a good website isn't going to do much good. Word of mouth is the best, a visible location on a major thoroughfare is second, and a yellow pages listing is almost required.

[Kracka]

Don't expect to just start a business and imediately turn a profit. The average is 3 years for a new small business to just break-even. Nobody will trust their fancy cars with some guy working out of his garage so like Steve said, you are going to need some nice real estate. Add an insurance premium on top of that and you're going to need a fairly substatial business loan. Only proceed forward on this if you are in it for the long haul, steer cleer if this is just a temporary get rich quick scheme.

[CVD]

Not to add too much fuel to the fire here, but just about any small business consultant will tell you that starting a business with a friend is a horrible idea.