Anyone who does pro detail on weekends while having a regular 5 day 37.5 hour a week job?

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TheMidnightNarwhal

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Hey

I'm about to begin a "career" job in IT which I like but I also like cleaning and detailing cars. I was considering doing a business and working weekends, but most likely saturdays only or else I won't have time for myself.

Which brings me to my main concern, is this physically and mentally possible. Anyone else who currently does this? I suppose when you're starting out and you're not very popular you don't have to much clients right and it doesn't get over your head.

I suppose I could also limit myself to X client a day and make them schedule next week.

Just curious if I'm crazy for even thinking about it or not?
 
If you are mentally and physically able to, then ultimately, you decide.

I personally don't want to put in a 40hr work week, and follow that up with detailing on the weekend. I've done it, don't care to do it too much. Haven't done a "job" in a good, long time. But I didn't really do "detail" jobs, mostly did paint correction.

Just keep in mind, YOU can always decide how much time you want to put into detailing. :) You're the boss!
 
If your detailing interest is going to give you more $$ than your IT job I think you should be a detailer. If its the other way around which i believe it would be then IT is your career and should be your focus. Working in IT for 15+ it can be a grueling thankless job that requires a lot of focus and attention. But i have learned a ton, worked my way up that chain and have had a great time doing it while being paid fairly. Its always changing and won't ever get stale. Its probably best to schedule and do x amount of details on a given weekend and be an IT guy. Thats what i am shooting for. What discipline of IT are you in?
 
JustJesus said:
Just keep in mind, YOU can always decide how much time you want to put into detailing. :) You're the boss!
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Yeah well that's the thing you are so right! I can definitely see myself doing 2 clients on a Saturday and maybe even only do that every 2 weekends! Just as a fun thing and making a little bit of side money it's always welcomed.
 
ledger64 said:
If your detailing interest is going to give you more $$ than your IT job I think you should be a detailer. If its the other way around which i believe it would be then IT is your career and should be your focus. Working in IT for 15+ it can be a grueling thankless job that requires a lot of focus and attention. But i have learned a ton, worked my way up that chain and have had a great time doing it while being paid fairly. Its always changing and won't ever get stale. Its probably best to schedule and do x amount of details on a given weekend and be an IT guy. Thats what i am shooting for. What discipline of IT are you in?
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Yeah well as JustJesus mentionned I'm the boss right. I can easily see myself doing 2 clients on a Saturday and just do that at my rate for fun and well the money comes with it.

I'm in the tech support side of things. I started as a desktop now I'm going to a new department call center but I really prefer desktop support tech. Hopefully next year I can find another position in the gov.
 
I've been a software engineer since 1995 and have been detailing my own cars since I got my license. I've been doing other people's cars for about 9 months now. It started off slow by advertising on Nextdoor and Facebook, but my work quickly ramped up to where I could spend all day every Saturday and Sunday. I did that for about 4 months straight and made some great $$$ but I feel like all I did was work and it's all a blur at this point. 45 hrs Monday thru Friday and then around 12 hours on the weekend is just too much.

I think it really depends on how old you are and what kind of shape you're in. I wish I'd starting doing side work when I was in my 20s, but now that I'm in my 40s, I try do devote one day of the weekend on detailing work. It's a real struggle trying to budget time for the detailing work because it's fun and the extra money is great.
 
DMW said:
I've been a software engineer since 1995 and have been detailing my own cars since I got my license. I've been doing other people's cars for about 9 months now. It started off slow by advertising on Nextdoor and Facebook, but my work quickly ramped up to where I could spend all day every Saturday and Sunday. I did that for about 4 months straight and made some great $$$ but I feel like all I did was work and it's all a blur at this point. 45 hrs Monday thru Friday and then around 12 hours on the weekend is just too much.

I think it really depends on how old you are and what kind of shape you're in. I wish I'd starting doing side work when I was in my 20s, but now that I'm in my 40s, I try do devote one day of the weekend on detailing work. It's a real struggle trying to budget time for the detailing work because it's fun and the extra money is great.
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Thanks for the input. Yeah I'm young, I'm 20. And yeah, I just plan on putting out an ad on Kijiji and have my website and people shoot an email if they want to. I'll see how it goes. Right now I just want to offer cleaning and wax/sealant and we'll see how that goes I suppose!

Bought a domain and got email hosting for my domain just for total 2$ 1st year! I'm surprised how cheap it is, I guess I wasn't looking properly for domains before haha. The fact it's a .ca domain to reduces the cost.
 
Here is the thing, if you're going to be in IT, I can tell you, most information systems are worked on during low-peak times, which means nights and weekends. IT is not usually a M-F 9 to 5 job... If you've found one, bravo! However, if you find something you love to do (outside of work such as detailing) you'll find a way to make it work. Take it from someone who is "plugged-in" 24x7 365 and travels (by air) 35% of the time. I still maintain a detail business with great clients.

Owning your own business will teach you the in's and out's of business and give you a deeper respect for your full-time job. You'll see how it translates to customer service, vendors, overhead, costs, etc..

Good luck!!!
 
I stopped detailing for money years ago but I work full time for the railroad working 230-1030 pm with th/fr off and I work construction in the morning 7am til noon during the week. Usually work around 65 hours a week but it allows my wife to be a stay at home mom.

I can tell you it depends on your life situation, for me I work and do nothing at home. That is my wife’s domain since she can stay at home but she knows that I need her help.

I keep doing it til I can’t do it anymore and enjoy making good money while I am able, lord only knows what tomorrow will bring.

My advice is to go for it, but you need to make the best of your free time. You won’t have a lot of time to “be lazy” since you start losing free time to the extra work


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TheMidnightNarwhal said:
Hey

I'm about to begin a "career" job in IT which I like but I also like cleaning and detailing cars. I was considering doing a business and working weekends, but most likely saturdays only or else I won't have time for myself.

Which brings me to my main concern, is this physically and mentally possible. Anyone else who currently does this? I suppose when you're starting out and you're not very popular you don't have to much clients right and it doesn't get over your head.

I suppose I could also limit myself to X client a day and make them schedule next week.

Just curious if I'm crazy for even thinking about it or not?
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First question that popped in my mind was "How old are you?"

Are you in your 20's, or an old broken down man like me? Lol
 
PaulMys said:
Oh, OK. So you're pretty much Superman at that age. :)

If Detailing on the weekends would make you happy, and you don't mind the hours, I'd say go for it, young Jedi. :pc7424:
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Haha yeah I'll def give it a go after I start the job for a few weeks. I honnestly already have everything to do it so it won't cost me more to work for people, actually it will just give me money in away. And could start repaying all these supplies lol.
 
I work in IT (Healthcare), been in the field for 16yrs, prior to that 8+yrs USN, will be 45yrs young in a few months....It can be done. Not all IT gigs are late nights or maintenance window hours I work 8-430 Mon-Fri and have to be a Tier 2 support for after hours on call for a week every 5 weeks or so....My day job does more than pay the bills so it affords me the opportunity to be selective about what jobs I take.....last year I made the choice to only do corrections/coatings, being that I have a family it only made sense to take jobs that were worth time away from the fam....if you can be selective, do so, or grind for awhile you have youth on your side!!!
 
I can relate to this question because at the age of 20 i worked my first long term job at a body shop and wanted to my own detailing business as well.
My plan was to learn the actual hands on skills required to be a detailer and the knowledge to run a business.
I worked 4 years at the body shop first which was my full time job to hone my skills and knowledge and make the necessary mistakes in order to gain real life experience and not just by reading and watching videos.
My 5th year at my full time job was my 1st year offering my services pt on the weekends only which lasted 3 years of working 2 jobs and 50-80hrs a week in the beginning phase.
Business will be slow the 1st year because that will be the year you plant your foundation down and settle down the roots so to speak from scratch.
This would include own website, social media, building up your tools, chemicals, and take care of basic business back end stuff.
My 2nd year part time i had an increase of 50% more work. By then i was more settled in with doing the actual work on cars versus getting your company name out there and having people be able to find you online.
By my 3rd year pt, i was already into a management position for 3 years at the body shop so i learned valuable skills what it takes to run a business.
This year i transitioned from my 7yrs ft time to my 1st year ft business. In my situation i had the potential to make more with my business so my end goal was to do it full time.
With all this said, you will not make much your 1st year and you will be investing almost all of your money back into the business. Be prepared to put in long days of hustle to push toward your goals. If you want it bad, you will make it happen. Im currently 28 and it took me 7 years to learn, make mistakes, improve, continuous education to be able to call myself my own boss.
 
It's possible, it really depends on your drive and willingness to give up your spare time to devote to your side hustle.

I am a software developer and I am detailing on the weekends. There are times I question if doing both is maintainable, but I am also working 8-430 in the office and again from 8pm-midnight/1am to complete this massive rewrite project that is overdue. If you enjoy doing it, it won't be a burden on the weekends.

You're smart to sticking to just Saturdays. Keep Sundays to yourself because in the future there may be other interests/responsibilities that require that time and its easier to start with the spare time rather than having to carve the time out. You'll be amazed at how quickly it will grow for you once the word gets out that you do quality work. I encourage you to pursue it, especially if you already have all of the materials. Best of luck, I hope it all works out for you!
 
I work 40 plus during the week and was just a weekend warrior, friends and family. This spring though people starting getting word and calling to get there vehicles done. As of right now i am lined up weekends through May. After this i am done with that, it is to much for me as i have home responsibilities, family responsibilities, etc. i wish i could detail full time but i dont think the cold weather climate is conducive to the dollar amount i make at my day job. Plus i dont charge people nearly enough for the amount of work i put into there vehicles, i am a sap.
 
I work 40 hrs/wk at my full time job and detail 1 day on the weekend. I've done it for almost 10 years now and this is the first year that I said "screw it" and put a flat number of jobs that I would do during the season (I'm mobile). I am already booked into all of my available slots through June and am not continuing past August this year. My advice as far as booking multiple jobs/day is to avoid it at first until you get into a system that works for you both from a time management standpoint and a physical/mental wear and tear standpoint. As much as we all enjoy this, there are times when you book a second (or third) job and the first one beats you to death and you don't feel like starting another one. I personally limit myself to 2 per day maximum regardless of what the job entails this way I know exactly what I'm getting into and can approximate exactly when I'll be finished.
 
LSNAutoDetailing said:
Here is the thing, if you're going to be in IT, I can tell you, most information systems are worked on during low-peak times, which means nights and weekends. IT is not usually a M-F 9 to 5 job... If you've found one, bravo! However, if you find something you love to do (outside of work such as detailing) you'll find a way to make it work. Take it from someone who is "plugged-in" 24x7 365 and travels (by air) 35% of the time. I still maintain a detail business with great clients.

Owning your own business will teach you the in's and out's of business and give you a deeper respect for your full-time job. You'll see how it translates to customer service, vendors, overhead, costs, etc..

Good luck!!!
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That’s a great answer and an even better attitude! I also have a detailing business, job and personal train. It can be done, especially if you love it. IDA certified with detailing trainings throughout the year. High level, elite detailing/paint correction is something I love, you can have it all if you’re willing to work hard. You’ll also get a much deeper appreciation for everything else in your life too!
 
I have been doing part time job plus detailing for 5 years. This year I might go full time detailing.

My typical week is 2 to 3 days at my regular job, and 2 to 3 days detailing. The days I am detailing as very physical, I am mobile and work alone so on most detail that is a 8 to 14 hours day for me with almost no breaks.

This year I decided to hire someone to give me a hand. If it works out, I may go full time.

What you have to remember is that detailing is very taxing on your body. I don't think you could work 40 hours plus 2 days of detailing for very long unless you are an athlete and are in peak physical condition. When I first started detailing it would take me a day of rest to recover from the detailing. Now I am used to it and I merelly feel tired or sore on the next day but still can fonction normally. I do like to have a day off between details if I can. With help that will likelly be much less taxing.

So my advice, if you can, ease into it. See if you can cut 1 or 2 days from your normal job and add 1 or 2 days detailing at first. As demand grows you can cut an other day at your work to do detailing and so on. Not all jobs allows for this but if you can make it work with yuor employer, that is the best way to do it IMO. Not only do you have more financial security this way, but you don't have the stress of accepting any detailing job that comes your way. It gives you the option of choosing what detailing jobs you want to do.
 
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