Making about $400 on the weekend. should i open up a business?

touring

touring

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i have a full time job and on the weekends i detail cars. i make about 6k a month at my full time job and started to detail cars to cover gas and food for the week,making 400$ on fri-sun. i do all of this out of my garage. should i lease a small garage? im starting to get cars everyday,while its not cutting in to my regular job it is wearing me out.
 
touring said:
i have a full time job and on the weekends i detail cars. i make about 6k a month at my full time job and started to detail cars to cover gas and food for the week,making 400$ on fri-sun. i do all of this out of my garage. should i lease a small garage? im starting to get cars everyday,while its not cutting in to my regular job it is wearing me out.
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Charge more and stay in your garage at home.
 
I agree with Garry. Dont put more expense on yourself. If you want this to be a part time gig and you arent looking to grow it to where you can quit your current full time job... and at making $72k /year I dont think you would just schedule what you can and say no to what you cant. This is just to make extra money so its not like you NEED it to feed your kids.

Also with Garry, if you are staying crazy busy then you could up your prices and make your time worth more.
 
If you do decide to go the business route there can be nice perks such as deeper discounts. As mentioned, stay in your garage. I work out of mine during the weekend and through the week I work out of a co-worker's garage.
 
keep workin out of your garage and get more experience on different paint and try to builds,hard .soft,etc.try to reinvest some of the money into good tools,maybe flex da , dewalt or flex rotary,air compressor,extractor,staemer.etc try to build the type of clients you want
 
Cool thanks for you guys input. Makes sense and at least I'm at the house.
 
Keep in mind that if you rent a garage bay you have to have vehicles in those bays every day to make the rent and pay the other incidental expenses, such as a internet for your computer, water, electricity and of course, equiment and supplies.

Working out of your garage has its advantages.. many of your expenses are already covered!
 
touring said:
i have a full time job and on the weekends i detail cars. i make about 6k a month at my full time job and started to detail cars to cover gas and food for the week,making 400$ on fri-sun. i do all of this out of my garage. should i lease a small garage? im starting to get cars everyday,while its not cutting in to my regular job it is wearing me out.
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How did you build your client list? Word of mouth, or advertise?? Is your workload typical interior exterior, or are you seeing larger restoration projects every weekend?
 
touring said:
i have a full time job and on the weekends i detail cars. i make about 6k a month at my full time job and started to detail cars to cover gas and food for the week,making 400$ on fri-sun. i do all of this out of my garage. should i lease a small garage? im starting to get cars

Hire a good assistant and keep your real job. Weedout the deadbeat customers
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courtdale said:
How did you build your client list? Word of mouth, or advertise?? Is your workload typical interior exterior, or are you seeing larger restoration projects every weekend?
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i advertise in the newspaper and every autostore in town hands out my card. it just seems that the customers are multiplying. i srted with 4 cars a weekend 2 weeks ago now i have 4 cars mon-fri and 3 on sat and 3 on sun. i only charge 100$ for most cars. i saved up for this sale that was going on and was going to buy alot of things but for whatever reason they have no sales on the buffers/polishers..... WTF. anyway if anyone sees a discount going on with the kits please let me know. im applying wax by hand right now.... :nomore:
 
Funny I came accross this as I am literally in the same situation. I make the same at my full time job and pretty much just did it on the side for co workers/friends with higher end cars. And now I actually have my license and stuff full bore, word of mouth can be like wild fire.
 
StealthZ said:
Funny I came accross this as I am literally in the same situation. I make the same at my full time job and pretty much just did it on the side for co workers/friends with higher end cars. And now I actually have my license and stuff full bore, word of mouth can be like wild fire.
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What do you mean by license?
 
DaGonz said:
Keep in mind that if you rent a garage bay you have to have vehicles in those bays every day to make the rent and pay the other incidental expenses, such as a internet for your computer, water, electricity and of course, equiment and supplies.

Working out of your garage has its advantages.. many of your expenses are already covered!
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If you decide to go the business route and still work out of your garage, AND report for tax purposes, you might be able to deduct the garage and other stuff as a business expense. Check with a CPA on that though.

Personally, I'd be keeping it under the radar, cash only, as screw around money.
 
touring said:
i advertise in the newspaper and every autostore in town hands out my card. it just seems that the customers are multiplying. i srted with 4 cars a weekend 2 weeks ago now i have 4 cars mon-fri and 3 on sat and 3 on sun. i only charge 100$ for most cars. i saved up for this sale that was going on and was going to buy alot of things but for whatever reason they have no sales on the buffers/polishers..... WTF. anyway if anyone sees a discount going on with the kits please let me know. im applying wax by hand right now.... :nomore:
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You don't polish and still have all those cars? Wow, not bad for a wash n' wax! :dblthumb2:
 
Since you're getting busier you may want to check with the town to see what the ordinances are for running a "legit" biz from home. Especially since you're advertising in the paper. It only takes one pita neighbor to call the town & screw things up.
 
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