Am I crazy?

I have been detailing family cars for most of my life. I enjoy it, but wouldn't want to do it for a living. I am still learning and autogeek,Youtube, and people like Mike Phillips has increased the availability of educational material tremendously. Before the internet, it would take years to learn some of the "tricks" now it takes a few "clicks."So OCD go for it!!!

Pureshine--I can be a Brain Surgeon in four years, and "detailing cars" AIN"T Brain Surgery!!

I started when J-Wax and Turtle Wax was the"Best" money could buy--today the products are so many and easy, and yield a Great result!! Go for it, and if unsure--ask someone who knows the answer--probably on this forum--alot of knowledgeable folks!
 
expdetailing said:
OCD Detailing, you're being charged by Pshiny and the minority to put your buffer on the ground' and come out with your hands up. Your attempts to earn a living at a relatively easy task are in violation of the Pshiny code of delussional thinking, article VRG, section 3401.
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:applause:

That's awesome!!!

ODC....Keep at it and keep growing it one job at a time. If you see something that can be improved, try to upsell or at least let the client know it can look even better as long as the pay also looks better. Earn what you need to earn, how you want to earn it. Let the scoffers scoff, and if it don't apply, let it fly. Shine on my friend!!
 
When people ask me how I know how to do everything that I do, I just tell them I learned it on the internet. They probably think I'm joking but I'm dead serious. I have probably spent hundreds of hours reading about and discussing interior/exterior cleaning, paint correction techniques, and obscure tips and tricks to learn to be the best detailer I can be. Forums like this are literally a gold mine and can serve as an educational backbone for individuals with the drive to succeed in this industry.
 
Just to be thorough, I still don't think Pshiny is wrong. There is a lot of 'professionals' that shouldn't be advertising themselves that way or touching customers paint. There's also a lot of hobbyists that should stay that way.
On the flip side I'm sure there's a lot of people on here who don't have their own shop but do excellent work. There's a lot of crossover both ways.
The key is knowing which category you fall into. Theres no reason to feel defensive about suggesting some people give detailing a bad name, regardless of where they learned from.
Learning from a veteran doesn't mean you're automatically better than an auto geek online, nor the other way around.
 
gaschob said:
On the flip side I'm sure there's a lot of people on here who don't have their own shop but do excellent work.
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Interested to hear what having a shop has to do with being a good detailer? Scott Thrap details out of the back of his Honda Accord, does exclusively ONR washes and is one of the best detailers in the country.
 
By having a shop I don't mean literally having a physical shop. I guess I should have said having a business. In these times it's not easy to have a physical shop and only offer detailing. By saying I'm sure there's many who do excellent work without having a shop suggests there is no correlation between talent and business structure.
 
It feels like there is a lot of strong feelings about auto geek as an online resource. I've learned a lot from here over the years, only recently have I joined as a member. It's one of many great resources that should be used, but I would be worried if it was the only one. Not because the information isn't there, but I think theres so much more you can learn in person.
I've learned how to change my brakes, and other basic car repairs on youtube and it's worked out fine, but having someone show me tricks and tips in person goes a long way! A 10 hour job turns into a 4 hour job with the same results.
 
VP Mark said:
OP, please disregard this post.

Pureshine is well meaning but disregards the fact that not everyone has a chance or desire to spend years preparing to do relatively simple tasks in detailing.

A big part of ANY business is risk, and while I 100% agree that you should not be performing tasks that you are not experienced in such as wet sanding, correcting heavy defects, red stain removal with heat, ect. a good 70% of the detailing process is relatively simple tasks that just require a lot of patience, a little bit of knowledge, and some common sense to do correctly.

This is why you are having such success! Even though the cars you are doing are not perfect in your eyes, you are doing the things that you do offer really well! It's a big first step in realizing how important quality is when doing this.

Keep going forward my friend! If no one ever started from the bottom and worked their way up by taking risks and diving in there would be no real experts at all in this industry.:dblthumb2:
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Couldn't agree more, well said :dblthumb2:
btw, I don't think I've ever been 100% happy with any car I've done. there are plenty of times when I've finished a detail, looked back and thought 'well thats come up a treat, but if i just had a another 3 hours'. its called being a perfectionist, and its no bad thing ;)
 
Niblick said:
Couldn't agree more, well said :dblthumb2:
btw, I don't think I've ever been 100% happy with any car I've done. there are plenty of times when I've finished a detail, looked back and thought 'well thats come up a treat, but if i just had a another 3 hours'. its called being a perfectionist, and its no bad thing ;)
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Agreed, however.......there is also the point where you must say STOP! Newbies trying to impress can waste time & money going above and beyond what they are being paid for. Yes there are times for that but not on a daily basis. Little things like "I vacuumed your interior even though you said it was fine" are one thing. Spending extra hours on a job that won't pay you back is a great way to go under before you ever get established.
 
of course, you have to know where to draw the line. in a way, thats kinda what i was getting at :xyxthumbs:
 
We all learn differently. I am more of a research type person. I understand you can't have experience without experience but I also know not to go over my head. I am not going anywhere near a rotary buffer and according to even the experts, the Rupes DA is pretty safe. So far, so good, we are getting calls almost every other day and 99.9% have been referral.

As far as experience, it doesn't always guaranty quality. As proven by the fact that we took a few cars from a VERY experienced company because the client wasn't happy with their service. And as the weeks have gone by more of their neighbors are starting to turn to us and not them for the same reason.

But I do understand why you are saying this and I respect others opinions. Besides, I'm 45, I don't have much time left to practice. Im the MAN

Pureshine said:
I have to say this and it may come off not so nice. If your only education is youtube and books you have no business being in business or touching anyone's car but friends and family cars for at least one or two years before you should even touch a customers car. There are so many people on this forum starting detailing businesses with no real training or any work experience at all. I did friends and family cars for 4 years before I went full time and learn a lot in those four years. I feel know I can handle almost anything that comes my way. I'm so tired of people asking the most simple things in detailing when you should know most of this stuff way before you ever touch any customers car ever. To many people think they can start a detailing business with no experience or training. Reading and watching videos doesn't make you a detailer at all real hands on experience does and time. I've seen to many people on here doing things they have no business doing on a customers car and then they post on here how do I fix this.
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Thank's everybody for the responses. Like I said in the reply to Pureshine, I understand experience will make me better but I also didn't just read a few pages and watch a few videos, I am pretty sure I have read everything regarding detailing that is online. LOL Ever time I try to search for something to learn more, it's something I have read. It's all I do all day, every day when I have a spare moment.

I personally think the internet is a great way to learn for people that are able to learn that way. Some learn faster at doing. I built my water cooled over clocked PC with a few weeks of reading everything I could find online. I honestly don't know how I existed before the internet.

Thank's again.
 
Every car I release I always think I could have done better. The key is to make sure the customer is satisfied with the work based on what they paid and what you promised. I under promise and over deliver but I know I could spend more time making it even better.
 
Everyone has made good points.

Theres no right or wrong statements here.

I get pureshine' s argument.

I feel pretty confident I can make a car look pretty good but if your driving a Lamborghini you need to make sure you know who your handing your car to.

You take it to someone like Evan
 
parttimer said:
Every car I release I always think I could have done better. The key is to make sure the customer is satisfied with the work based on what they paid and what you promised. I under promise and over deliver but I know I could spend more time making it even better.
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Well so far we are undercharging over delivering. Lol Funny I read a few books on how new detailers tend to do too much then I fell right into it. Lady down the street asks if I can detail her Dodge Durango. I talk with her to get an understanding of what she means by detail. She wants the interior cleaned well and an AIO for the paint. I quote her 170$ and about 3 hours. Well yesterday she drops it off at around noon. I wash it then go to work using my vapor steamer inside. At around 5 pm I finished the interior, and ask her if she needs the car back I can finish the exterior next week. She was ok with it and nearly passed out when she saw the inside. When I got it it was a mess. So bad that I just opened all the doors and used the Master Blaster to blow all the old French fries and everything else out. I then steamed every inch of it and, vacuumed it and put some leather conditioner on all the seats. It's going to end up being a 7 hour job by the time I'm done. I'm going to try and upsel her on doing her headlights so maybe I can eek a little more out of it for my time.

We just within the last month got regular car washed down to an hour to an hour and 15 min from 2 hours! Strange thing on that is we didn't change the amount of work we do. I guess we just got more efficient. I can't for the life of me walk away if there is something that can still be cleaned. I spent 20 min making sure the seat rails in the Durango looked good! The metal rail the seat slides on that nobody sees.

On the bright side it is a pretty cool feeling to see the customers reaction.
 
New debate: Clear coat is clear coat. Besides price and some material differences, what's different about a Lambo vs a mini van?
With only 6 months of experience, I would have zero issue doing a Lambo, and am pretty confident it would look excellent when I'm finished.
I think as long as you know what material you're dealing with and how it should be treated, there shouldn't be any issue. We mostly deal with clear coat, plastic, rubber, glass, and different leathers and fabrics. Seams uncomplicated, as long as you have a library (the internet) at your fingertips, and commit to learning properly.
Also, these fancy products we get from AG and other sites, help out a lot too.
 
Once you stop over delivering, I have the feeling you'll feel like a guy who just washes cars for a living. That would suck. Nobody wants to be a professional car washer, right?
Yes, I too, can see myself getting more efficient at approaching a vehicle, evaluating it, then setting a plan of action after each vehicle I complete. Each vehicle hones your efficiency skills. I think efficiency is the biggest take-away from experience.
 
VP Mark said:
That is an issue, but spending 5 hours watching autogeek videos and half a day reading forums makes you 100x more knowledgeable than the average swirl shop throughout the country. Lack of knowledge is completely relative in this industry. Just being on this forum makes the OP more qualified than most of the guys running production shops out there.
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well said

OCD Detailing said:
Just an introduction: My friend and I started a mobile detailing company 2 months ago with nothing more than an education from youtube, google, and autogeek. When I say education I mean I spent many nights up until 5am reading up when I had to be at my normal job at 6am. I also bought Mike's book and have read it a few times. We also did full paint corrections for free on a few friend's cars.

The business is going well. We don't attempt anything that would risk the cars but with the Rupes (we bought the 21, the 75 and the Duetto) it seems even rookies like us can do a good job. Well at least until we got our first Jet Black BMW 7 series. But that's a different story. :buffing:

My problem, at least one of them, is washing cars that don't look much better after they are done. The ones that were so neglected that nothing can make them look good. I literally feel like crap when we are done, like we are no good at what we do and the client is going to hate it. So far all of our clients have been overjoyed with our work which is great, but it still messes with my head. Is that normal?

On a related topic, even when a car does look good when we are done, it never looks good enough to me or my partner. We constantly think this is the client that isn't going to be happy. Yet, like I said they have all been extremely happy with our work and referred us quite a bit and that should be enough.

Just curious if this is something that will pass once we get a lot of details under our belts?

On a side and totally unrelated note, We bought the Metro Blaster a few weeks ago and it's amazing how fun it makes drying cars. I actually look forward to the car wash just so I can use the blaster. Strange how watching water blow is fun.

:props:
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keep on working and practicing, as pureshine said it takes time, but, this is NOT rocket science and can be learned fairly easily. Hell, I don't do many, but I'd go up against the "best" any day!
 
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