55 Ferraris , 12 Porsches , 2 Bentleys + .. in 8 months!

I totally hear what your saying about meeting your customers needs. Still just to maybe throw in what everyone else is thinking. It's hard to to want to make every car look perfect, since most of us are proably OCD about detailing ;). But your right on the money that spending 8 hours on polishing when you could have made the customer just as happy with only 2 hours of polishing is a huge difference on time and sweat your putting in. And it is true, time is money and you don't get any time back.
 
Pics are the last thing on my mind when I have a cliet waiting for thier car, but after they pick up thier vehicle I think D#@% I should've took before and after shoots.....
 
BobbyG said:
Cosmin,

An absolutely impressive and inspirational post! :props:

You've come along way but through had work and perseverance you're living the dream. You live in the US, you own your own business, you're making excellent money, and work on some of the fines automobiles ever produced!

Life's a journey, enjoy the ride!

Congratulations and Welcome to Autogeek! :props:
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YOU easily have some of the best posts on this forum!!! :props:

Great job, Cosmin. :props:
 
Cosmin, great write up man. It sounds like you have really made Austin home and have worked yourself right into the perfect position to make a great start for the new year. We need to catch up and maybe have some lunch sometime. It sounds like business really took off since the Tri-Mark show when I met you. Its awesome that you have been able to build this into what you were hopeing for.

Many congratulations man.
Blake..
 
bfowkes said:
It sounds like business really took off since the Tri-Mark show when I met you. Its awesome that you have been able to build this into what you were hopeing for.
Many congratulations man.
Blake..
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Hi Blake , i hope u doing well too , i use to go at car shows but i found them a waist of time.
most of the car owners that goes there they maintain their car by themselves plus they have a big ego, are stubborn and cheap!
they are not on my list.... a max 2-3% are more open to new products , tehniq and willing to invest and learn how to have and keep a show car finish.
about what i do.. i am still in the building stage. i should l rich a full potential by next summer :buffing:
 
Cosmin right, I am in college now so I only book details when I dont have class or hockey. I knew christmas break was coming so I put the word out there for a christmas special and this week alone I have made $775 and that was working 4 days. If you can get the word out there about your company and people start talking about how good your work is you will be booked solid making 4K plus a month. When I saw how much I made in 4 days the first week of break I can't wait to be done with school and do it full time.

The key is to never give up things might start out slow but stay with it and your business will turn around. When time get tuff barry your head and keep driving your feet till you come out on top
 
Thanks for the posts and reply's on this thread. I'm in agreement with you on the iron sharpens iron statement. I love cars and cleaning them so much that I will talk to anyone and everyone that is interested in hearing about it. There are plenty of cars out there and only 1 me. I don't need to trash anyone else's work to make mine look better.

I worked for a dealership back in 1999 and was pretty good at detailing. I've learned a lot more about detailing since then. My speed has slowed down quite a bit. I'm still working on giving the people what they want and still make money at it. I think it is a combination of becoming more efficient and charging what the work is worth. Not everyone wants a show car detail and most people don't know the difference between a swirl and a squirrel.


Tim
 
sullysdetailing said:
The key is to never give up things might start out slow but stay with it and your business will turn around. When time get tuff barry your head and keep driving your feet till you come out on top
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you are right on that!


**a quick update to this post... AFTER 1year of business

i have a little over 1 year in business , i am still active and get jobs done.
i look over my records and i have a total of 100 clients/open accounts since april 2010, and an average of $500 each.
i can say that my goal from last year rich and i got few record numbers this year.

But the business is not steady and constant to have a reason to hire a helper. having some down side in business it may be because i did not market so aggressive like last year, but i did feel a lot of return clients from last year and that show me that my projections are right and i am still in the building stage.

any thoughts ... are welcome!
 
You are an inspiration. Excellent job at growing your business, and thank you for sharing.
 
Very nice, I hope to soon be there. I got a different approach, i get me new customers, and get them to do repeat business, and maintain their vehicles. I will one day knock out some exotics, but got to get my name out first in this small town before I venture up in the big city. I love what I do, and money will come later, so I get what I need before I do this full time.
 
well done mate , im a 'full time' detailer and own my own shop ...
your dead right about targeting the clients that you want to do work for , which in turn allows you to work on 'high end' cars .
Im lucky as i worked at a major BMW dealership and kept alot of my contacts i made there .
The best advise i ever got was to have a mentor to help and guide me along , my mentor isnt a detailer, but a very savy business man who gave me very good advice on marketing , pricing , book keeping .... everything !!!!
On his advise i randomly pick around 2 (depending on bookings) people to give them a free wash and vac (think free tastings of food products ), you just cant buy the amount of good publicity they give you (i hand them a fist full of cards also)
Next thing you know their family members , friends , people they play sports with , work mates are wanting work done because they've seen your work ...
Dont just pick someone with a BMW or a Merc ... make it random , i did a womens little hatchback a couple of months ago , now her fathers three Lotus' are regulars of mine !!!! you just never know ....
I pump around 15% of my earnings back into addvertising , its works for you full time and reaches people that might not recieve one of your cards .
I also got little stickers made up to place on the rear window of cars that iv worked on , they work over time for you also , the owner is happy to have one their vehicle because im well known as doing good work and they like bragging that they get their car pro. detailed ....
theres no end of tricks and clues to making a business a very profitable one , im very lucky to have been shown alot of this by much wiser older guys !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
deluxedetailing said:
well done mate , im a 'full time' detailer and own my own shop ...
The best advise i ever got was to have a mentor to help and guide me along , my mentor isnt a detailer, but a very savy business man who gave me very good advice on marketing , pricing , book keeping .... everything !!!!
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thank`s for post , good advice , is all about business.
i do have to plan for a light volume than what i do now. i am getting ready for the next step....

Kristopher1129 said:
All those nice cars and not a single photo? I'm gonna need to see these cars!
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you are funny , search all my starting treads and see my work , or visit my web for eye candy :xyxthumbs:
 
its great to see someone not happy to just be comfortable , but to keep wanting too better themselves and their business !!!
Well done ....
 
It looks like maintenance plan is one of the targets for pro detailers. These rich guys do talk. I am sure one of them asks the other, "How do you take care of you car? It looks like brand new everything we meet." The answer is probably, "Cosmin of Pro Reflections takes care of it, and my Bentley too."

BTW, I am a big fan of your write-ups.
 
20 months update :)

70gal water tank and an extractor
IMG00448.jpg



and ...on the way: (the van will be set-up for all electric, the design for the wrap is not done, i heard pro and contra so far, the car pic will blend in and the background will be light blue or gray)
fordbenz.jpg
 
Cosmin your gonna love the ford transit, and the wrap looks good, nice tank also just make sure when you position it, it's not pasted the rear axle :) congrats on your success!
 
man, you must have an mba from harvard in marketing. congratulations on your super sucess in a very competitive business! having spent my entire career in sales and marketing i can say you are on target. keep stroking and youll get to the top rung!!!!!!

budinsc
 
budinsc said:
man, you must have an mba from harvard in marketing. congratulations on your super sucess in a very competitive business! having spent my entire career in sales and marketing i can say you are on target. keep stroking and youll get to the top rung!!!!!!budinsc
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Thank you for you support! :dblthumb2:

Perfections said:
Cosmin your gonna love the ford transit, and the wrap looks good, nice tank also just make sure when you position it, it's not pasted the rear axle :) congrats on your success!
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Thank`s John, Santa got earlier this year .......and the fun begins!!!
i have a huge list of shopping and i hope in max 1-2 months to have the van set-up and ready for any kind of job
i probably should start a new tread...

ftc01.jpg


ftc03.jpg


ftc04.jpg
 
Great thread. Very well done Cosmin you are well on your way to achieving the American Dream. And doing it the right way through hard and smart work, not saying someone owes you.

My wife and I owned a portrait studio for 15 years before 3 back and 1 neck surgery put me out of commision. You need to constantly be marketing your business and through multiple channels. One mistake often made is you market, you get busy, your too busy working to market, and then your work dries up. We always said constant marketing kept the pipeline full so that there were always new clients coming. If your new to business take advantage of all those " congratulations you won 250 free business card offers", then you will have plenty to pass on. And yea fit the service and the amount of work you put into it to the client and car. We made the mistake of retouching and working on every client lime they were high end well paying clients. Some just wanted a "Nice" picture and would never see the level of imperfection we did. Do a Good job, get your money and move on.

Excellent post Cosmin you have definitely Planned to succeed and you are there. Bravo

Btw: I have close friends who came to America knowing no one with $200 in there pocket. On top of that they owed the Mafia in Romania $6000 to be paid off in 6 months for helping them get outcof communist country or they would hurt their parents. With that incentive they worked their A$$ off and today in only 12 years they have a high end Medical Massage and Spa with a net worth of over $1 million. It can be done. Spiney-Dave
 
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