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STANDING ON THE EDGE
Posted by Jerry Slater
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STANDING ON THE EDGE September 26, 2003 01:44AM |
Registered: 17 years ago Posts: 137 |
<HTML>
I've been going over and over this for quite some time now. I'm not a business man yet but I am seriously thinking of quiting my lifer job and going into detailing full time. I am curious if a one man show could "make it". And when I say that, I am talking about cash. I estimate that I would have to make somewhere near 100 grand a year to justify going at it full time. This would be before expenses, ie; insurance, license, rent, etc... Can one very agressive guy do it? I know I could get help, but right now I'm only interested in myself. Right now, it takes me 8 hours to do a full detail. This length of time is due to the fact that I am not full time at this. Everytime I do a job, I have to get all the crap out. I'm sure I could trim an hour and a half off this time if I were set up for "assembly line" work.
Any thoughts, suggestions, input of any kind would be aprreciated. Thanks!
Standing at the Edge
jer</HTML>
I've been going over and over this for quite some time now. I'm not a business man yet but I am seriously thinking of quiting my lifer job and going into detailing full time. I am curious if a one man show could "make it". And when I say that, I am talking about cash. I estimate that I would have to make somewhere near 100 grand a year to justify going at it full time. This would be before expenses, ie; insurance, license, rent, etc... Can one very agressive guy do it? I know I could get help, but right now I'm only interested in myself. Right now, it takes me 8 hours to do a full detail. This length of time is due to the fact that I am not full time at this. Everytime I do a job, I have to get all the crap out. I'm sure I could trim an hour and a half off this time if I were set up for "assembly line" work.
Any thoughts, suggestions, input of any kind would be aprreciated. Thanks!
Standing at the Edge
jer</HTML>
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Re: STANDING ON THE EDGE September 26, 2003 03:36AM |
Registered: 17 years ago Posts: 751 |
<HTML>Jer, you and I both Pal...
I made the decision to go out on my own next year just a few months ago, it was an idea that was ticking away in my mind for some time. Hers everyhting that I have come up with so far.
I dont know which area you are in but the first call you should make should be to your local chamber of commerce, get some demographic info from them , then check out the existing detailing services in your area. They you need to decide if there are enough people and enough vehicles in the area to support another business. Save yourself a lot of time and money by checking these things out before making the plunge, no good setting it all up if there arent enough customers out there.
Now I dont know if you are going to be a mobile detailer of have a fixed bay, my start up will be a fixed operation. Even though I am not due to kick off for another 5 or 6 months, I alreayd have a realtor looking at properties for me. I have looked at a couple of places and havent been happy with them so far, so still looking around.
Next I worked out my costs , made a list of everything and by using something Bud posted on here I worked out my cost of doing business , I know how much I am going to charge and I know what I need to charge to make money. I am going in to this to make money, not compete with the other detailers in town, I have seen their work, and seen their shops and their employees and I already know I can do a much better job than these people. I currently work in a dealership and we used to sub contract out a lot of our work , so I got to see what the other main detailers in town do , and even for lot vehicles they made an awful mess.
I'm not even going for dealer work, dealer work will keep you busy but it probably wont make you much money. I know what our dealership used to pay for its contracted work and that figure is below my cost for doing a detail, so dont bank on dealer work, aim for the upper market , the prime area, people who have expensive cars, and lots of money. They would rather be on the golf course than cleaning their own cars. This is the prime market in my area.
Anyway I'm waffling on something rotten here ..
the point is , that after ploughing through all this demographic data etc, I know there are enough customers out there , in the right profile to support a one man quality detailing operation in my town, I also know that if I meet my low end goal in the first year I could make $45792 profit in the first year. This is after I have paid all my expenses, costs, taxes and my onw salary .
I'm going to wrap it up here as I will go on all night otherwise , but if you need any help working out those demographics or anything feel free to e-mail me .
Good luck.
Jim.
(PS, apologies to anyone who e-mailed me over the last couple of days, my cable modem got fried and I havent been able to get online since Tuesday)</HTML>
I made the decision to go out on my own next year just a few months ago, it was an idea that was ticking away in my mind for some time. Hers everyhting that I have come up with so far.
I dont know which area you are in but the first call you should make should be to your local chamber of commerce, get some demographic info from them , then check out the existing detailing services in your area. They you need to decide if there are enough people and enough vehicles in the area to support another business. Save yourself a lot of time and money by checking these things out before making the plunge, no good setting it all up if there arent enough customers out there.
Now I dont know if you are going to be a mobile detailer of have a fixed bay, my start up will be a fixed operation. Even though I am not due to kick off for another 5 or 6 months, I alreayd have a realtor looking at properties for me. I have looked at a couple of places and havent been happy with them so far, so still looking around.
Next I worked out my costs , made a list of everything and by using something Bud posted on here I worked out my cost of doing business , I know how much I am going to charge and I know what I need to charge to make money. I am going in to this to make money, not compete with the other detailers in town, I have seen their work, and seen their shops and their employees and I already know I can do a much better job than these people. I currently work in a dealership and we used to sub contract out a lot of our work , so I got to see what the other main detailers in town do , and even for lot vehicles they made an awful mess.
I'm not even going for dealer work, dealer work will keep you busy but it probably wont make you much money. I know what our dealership used to pay for its contracted work and that figure is below my cost for doing a detail, so dont bank on dealer work, aim for the upper market , the prime area, people who have expensive cars, and lots of money. They would rather be on the golf course than cleaning their own cars. This is the prime market in my area.
Anyway I'm waffling on something rotten here ..
the point is , that after ploughing through all this demographic data etc, I know there are enough customers out there , in the right profile to support a one man quality detailing operation in my town, I also know that if I meet my low end goal in the first year I could make $45792 profit in the first year. This is after I have paid all my expenses, costs, taxes and my onw salary .
I'm going to wrap it up here as I will go on all night otherwise , but if you need any help working out those demographics or anything feel free to e-mail me .
Good luck.
Jim.
(PS, apologies to anyone who e-mailed me over the last couple of days, my cable modem got fried and I havent been able to get online since Tuesday)</HTML>
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Re: STANDING ON THE EDGE September 26, 2003 03:44AM |
Registered: 17 years ago Posts: 3,550 |
<HTML>Jerry:
For you to make $100.000 a year by yourself I think would be very difficult to start. I know a detailer in NY who worked at it for a few years and eventually was grossing nearly $500,000 a year out of his shop, not a one man operation and was putting over $140,000 in his pocket.
Closed the shop and is now in the sun area of the country.
If you put some money into a good shop and a lot of money into marketing and advertising you could jump start a shop that could generate $300,000 to $400,000 a year.
But you will be hard pressed to do it as a loner just starting out.
Regards
bud Abraham</HTML>
buda
For you to make $100.000 a year by yourself I think would be very difficult to start. I know a detailer in NY who worked at it for a few years and eventually was grossing nearly $500,000 a year out of his shop, not a one man operation and was putting over $140,000 in his pocket.
Closed the shop and is now in the sun area of the country.
If you put some money into a good shop and a lot of money into marketing and advertising you could jump start a shop that could generate $300,000 to $400,000 a year.
But you will be hard pressed to do it as a loner just starting out.
Regards
bud Abraham</HTML>
buda
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Re: STANDING ON THE EDGE September 26, 2003 03:49AM |
Registered: 17 years ago Posts: 3,550 |
<HTML>Jerry:
To continue my reply. Here are some numbers to consider.
If you did $300,000 a year in business and could net $100,000 after all expenses that means:
You would have to do about $25,000 a month in business which is:
About $961 a day for 6 days a week.
From what I know about the business I do not think one individual starting out could generate, by himself, that kind of money nor even keep up that pace 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year.
But then, that is only one man's opinion.
Regards
Bud Abraham</HTML>
buda
To continue my reply. Here are some numbers to consider.
If you did $300,000 a year in business and could net $100,000 after all expenses that means:
You would have to do about $25,000 a month in business which is:
About $961 a day for 6 days a week.
From what I know about the business I do not think one individual starting out could generate, by himself, that kind of money nor even keep up that pace 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year.
But then, that is only one man's opinion.
Regards
Bud Abraham</HTML>
buda
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Re: STANDING ON THE EDGE September 26, 2003 03:49AM |
Registered: 17 years ago Posts: 3,550 |
<HTML>Jerry:
To continue my reply. Here are some numbers to consider.
If you did $300,000 a year in business and could net $100,000 after all expenses that means:
You would have to do about $25,000 a month in business which is:
About $961 a day for 6 days a week.
From what I know about the business I do not think one individual starting out could generate, by himself, that kind of money nor even keep up that pace 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year.
But then, that is only one man's opinion.
Regards
Bud Abraham</HTML>
buda
To continue my reply. Here are some numbers to consider.
If you did $300,000 a year in business and could net $100,000 after all expenses that means:
You would have to do about $25,000 a month in business which is:
About $961 a day for 6 days a week.
From what I know about the business I do not think one individual starting out could generate, by himself, that kind of money nor even keep up that pace 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year.
But then, that is only one man's opinion.
Regards
Bud Abraham</HTML>
buda
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Re: STANDING ON THE EDGE September 26, 2003 10:06PM |
Registered: 17 years ago Posts: 13 |
<HTML>Hi Jer,
Well, Having built several businesses I can tell you it takes time, effort, marketing and consistent discipline as well as results. I am doing it part time while I own other businesses and would like to buiild mine into full-time. While it can be done you must be realistic about how long it will take you with a well thought out plan.
You are like many people I talk to in my Business Broker business that I own. Corporate America types who are looking to transition out and live life on their own terms. I admire that and it's about time Americans realize they too CAN live the american dream.
It can be done.
Jay</HTML>
Well, Having built several businesses I can tell you it takes time, effort, marketing and consistent discipline as well as results. I am doing it part time while I own other businesses and would like to buiild mine into full-time. While it can be done you must be realistic about how long it will take you with a well thought out plan.
You are like many people I talk to in my Business Broker business that I own. Corporate America types who are looking to transition out and live life on their own terms. I admire that and it's about time Americans realize they too CAN live the american dream.
It can be done.
Jay</HTML>
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Re: STANDING ON THE EDGE September 29, 2003 02:19AM |
Registered: 17 years ago Posts: 3 |
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Re: STANDING ON THE EDGE September 30, 2003 12:16AM |
Registered: 17 years ago Posts: 137 |
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