A few questions for full time detailers

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eric04h

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So, long story short my wife has gotten a work opportunity where shell make more and the only way we can make it work is if i quit or go part time. I currently make about 45k a year. So, with that being said i plan on going part time and taking on detailing full time come spring. Deciding how part time i go is where i need your input so i have realistic expectations.

So, for those of you that do detailing full time, what did you make for your most profitable month? What do you make on average? And lastly (though not as important), how many hours do you usually put in? I know there are plenty of variables, but i just want to get an idea of what to expect or what i can hope to achieve.

Primarily i get most of my business from craigslist ads that link to my facebook page which i am slowly building with before and afters. On my best week this year when i took a week off work and was able to say yes to every customer, was roughly around $700. If i can do those numbers on average, id be happy.

That brings me to my next question. Do you find having a dedicated website helps actually get more customers? Facebook seems to work pretty well, and i dont have pre made packages nor prices and honestly would rather keep it that way as it just seems easier. Do any of you successfully run your business with only social media pages? While i dont mind making a website, i also dont want to complicate things when facebook seems to display my business pretty well i think. Though i havent yet, i do plan to invest quite a bit into google adwords that i think ill just link to my facebook.

Thanks in advance to everyone. I almost live on these forums lately researching and learning as most as i can before i dive into this. This will all be happening around april.

Oh, i also have money saved up to pay my bills for about 2 years and plan to have enough chemicals to last a while so essentially once i go at this there wont be much ill have to spend beside marketing. Obviously the plan isnt to burn through the money though.
 
Most of these jobs will be dropoff/pickup from my garage. I used to do mobile but it just didnt seem very worth it after all the packing/unpacking trips. I thought it wouldve effected business thinking most only wanted mobile, but after doing a few months this year it didnt seem to effect business much. Most just drop off and ride home with someone or just take a uber. If need be ill probably pick up some mobile jobs on weekends when ill be able to.
 
Services i currently do include single to multi step corrections, interiors, and headlight restorations. Hoping to get into the coating business once im able to apply and get authorized.
 
Life is short and do what makes you happy.your income will vary due to the weather and your prices.The first year will be tough but just keep on grinding and hustle.Im in Florida so the weather is beautiful all year round except for the summers a lot of rain,but still can pull off 80k a year then minus all your cost and taxes.with a 2 man team you can increase your gross income due to fast turn over jobs but it's hard to keep that in play all year round.700 a week is easy to make but you may not see that every week cause stuff happens weather plays a big factor.Being mobile has its advantages over brick and mortar I think,and easier to promote and getting your business on the fast track due to exposure.A majority of people don't want to give up there car for the day plus fleet accts will cover some of your monthly expenses and it's steady work.within one year you will know if this is for you and you will ask yourself can I handle the ups and downs.So good luck on your new business.
 
You don't need to be authorized to do coating jobs.
 
How much do you have to charge per hour to keep your business profitable? Determine how many hours a week, every week, for months at a time, can you detail a week? That will give you an estimated gross profit per week.

I vary rarely work a 40 hour week, it's more like 60-80 hours, almost every week (April-December), but it did take 3-4 years to build to that level, and I do have part-time help as well.

Example: $50 * 40 hours * 50 weeks = $100,000 - (expenses) = Net Profit - Taxes = Take Home

In my opinion, you need a website, and the only way I would have a website is if it was professional looking and easy to use.

Facebook, and facebook advertising is highly, under valued and under rated. I spend most of my advertising dollars on Facebook. Facebook is a call to action tool, to get them to call you, visit your website, etc. I would also recommend using instragram.

I think google adwords is almost irrelevant, if you have a good website with good SEO. I also wouldn't use google adwords if I didn't have a good website because why pay to send someone to place that doesn't look appealing? So with that being said, if your website is good, along with the SEO, you will rank high in the search results, so why pay to be slightly higher? I think the money is better spent on Facebook.

I hope my 2cents was helpful.
 
GSKR said:
Life is short and do what makes you happy.your income will vary due to the weather and your prices.The first year will be tough but just keep on grinding and hustle.Im in Florida so the weather is beautiful all year round except for the summers a lot of rain,but still can pull off 80k a year then minus all your cost and taxes.with a 2 man team you can increase your gross income due to fast turn over jobs but it's hard to keep that in play all year round.700 a week is easy to make but you may not see that every week cause stuff happens weather plays a big factor.Being mobile has its advantages over brick and mortar I think,and easier to promote and getting your business on the fast track due to exposure.A majority of people don't want to give up there car for the day plus fleet accts will cover some of your monthly expenses and it's steady work.within one year you will know if this is for you and you will ask yourself can I handle the ups and downs.So good luck on your new business.
Click to expand...

Thats another thing i was interested in. How exactly do you guys go about obtaining fleet or dealership accounts?
 
Ive used a few different ways of advertising on facebook including post boots and page likes campaigns but while it did get me views and likes, none of it really translated into any business. For this reason i figured adwords might be a bit more profitable since this is pushing you in front of people who are actually searching for detailing. Im pretty good with websites and seo but since im trying to hit the ground running i think ill he experimenting and really investing in marketing
 
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