Got an offer to move my business down to S.Florida

ShineTimeDetail

ShineTimeDetail

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I use to live in Fort lauderdale for a few years and have been back in st. Louis for 2 years this dec. When I moved back I started detailing cars for myself and this year I bought a trailer when I was visiting ftl in march to do a full mobile detail up here. Last year I made ok money for just starting out. This year I made atleast 2x as much as last year. Well I got and offer from a friend of a buddy that owns a detail shop in hollywood( glorified car wash ;) and he wants me to move back to to run the mobile aspect of the business bc he doesn't know anyone with the knowledge or the passion I guess I have. All he does is washes, hand waxes, and light interior cleaning. I use all machines full interior cleaning some paint correction too. He says just the mobile I could make 35-60k depends on. How hard I want to work- I personally love to bust my ass and make money!! I'm addicted to (making things) shiny things and money!!

The thing I don't like is I've spent a lot of time marketing my business a long with spending money trying to market my business here in stl. I am starting to get recognized but still nothing has "really" taken off.

What would you do. I'm 25 with no kids wife girl friend etc but I am. Close to my immediate fam (parents/ siblings) and these past 2 years I've gotten a great relationship with my 6 and 7 year old niece and nephew...but I havee great support down in florida too. So I'm just caught between what I should do. Thanks guys!
 
If it was me, and I was making "ok money" as you cal it, I would stay, anybody can offer you anything, but he can't warranty you anything, right now you work for your self, and that is a big plus as well, also, if been close to your family has been good, that might be another reason to stay.

Let's say that you go, and for what ever reason it doesn't work, you will lose what you have made out of your business so far (Sure, what if it works out and you make over $100k in FL). I just think that with the way things are this days, is better to play it safe...
 
I'd have some serious questions for the owner of the business on where he came up with the $35k - $60k figure. First off, that's a large ($25k) range. Second, with what documentation can he show you that these numbers are achievable? Third, how does he plan to pay you, since it sounds like you'll be under his business name? Hourly? Flat rate? Commission?

You've also got to ask yourself how much you need to make to live in that area. I'm guessing (haven't researched) the cost of living is higher in Ft. Lauderdale than it is in St. Louis, so can you make enough down there to sustain the same (I would demand better) lifestyle that you do now?

Good luck with your quest.

Mark
 
:iagree: You kind of sound like you dont like his way of thinking (glorified car wash). There is nothing better then working for your self!!!!! JMO :buffing:
 
He's. Getting his figures from people that want him to go mobile. He has 3 medical offices that already have a guy but not happy with, 4 recovery. Centers that I know would give me there business bc I'm in recovery and then he has another potentail 25-40 cars at another facility(just washes). All of these are weekly washes along with upsales obviously. When I say I make ok money what money I make is just spending money. I work at. Restaurant on the weekends to pay my bills. I'd say I made around 10k profit this year....maybe.

I think what I will do is talk to him and see if I can use my business name and pay him a certain percentage of the sales. I think he just has these people that want the services but he can't offer them to them. This way I'm still working for myself and if I get new clientel its mine.
 
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I live in WPB and would do just about anything to get our of South Flordia, it is a crime pit plus it has become little Havana, even the billboards are in Spanish now. Not a fan of the cold but got to guess a better quality of life than this place.
 
Since you asked, I have no detail xp but as a business stand point your talking about going from a good detailer to a car wash guy who may or may not ever have time to spend on real detail work. What you described sounds like the guys I pay 10-15 bucks to wash my car when I am to lazy to take it to the car wash. Not someone I would think of as being able to do a serious detail. Unless your getting others to work for you that number of weekly washes sounds like full time work and mostly "grunt" work. Nothing wrong with it but you don't need to move to find someone who can wash a car, does he want you for your skills or your trailer?
I would imagine that if you put that much work into finding a local carwash that does not offer on site(travel to them) and talked to the owner you could scare up work where you are now. That still makes you a car wash guy that can detail, not a detail guy that takes care of his better clients and maybe their office building by coming by to wash their cars each week.

And unless your talking a really big building or washing really cheap getting that many cars at a single location is iffy here in clean car meca known as southern california. There are 4 carwashes(full service) in my town of 120k people.

Ok novel over.
 
Talk to him about profit sharing. If you do good work and the volume goes up so should your share of the money.
 
Make sure you really want to live and work in the new location. Being farther away from parents and relatives can really suck.

Working for yourself is always better. Even if you're making more working for someone, you will eventually have disagreements and end up doing it his way, because he is the owner.
 
Do your self a favor take a two week vacation and see what kind of work he can line up for the two weeks that your going to be here . Also by the way i live about 15 mins from Ft Laud and also i work full time in the Automotive business and part time hobby doing details . The Automotive business was hit real hard three years and it's even worst in South Florida. In my opinion your rolling the dice but it never hurts to try something . Any info about the area feel free to shoot me a PM .
 
scrib13 said:
I live in WPB and would do just about anything to get our of South Flordia, it is a crime pit plus it has become little Havana, even the billboards are in Spanish now. Not a fan of the cold but got to guess a better quality of life than this place.
Click to expand...

Those Cubans screw everything up don't they?
 
tomrzk said:
I use to live in Fort lauderdale for a few years and have been back in st. Louis for 2 years this dec. When I moved back I started detailing cars for myself and this year I bought a trailer when I was visiting ftl in march to do a full mobile detail up here. Last year I made ok money for just starting out. This year I made atleast 2x as much as last year. Well I got and offer from a friend of a buddy that owns a detail shop in hollywood( glorified car wash ;) and he wants me to move back to to run the mobile aspect of the business bc he doesn't know anyone with the knowledge or the passion I guess I have. All he does is washes, hand waxes, and light interior cleaning. I use all machines full interior cleaning some paint correction too. He says just the mobile I could make 35-60k depends on. How hard I want to work- I personally love to bust my ass and make money!! I'm addicted to (making things) shiny things and money!!

The thing I don't like is I've spent a lot of time marketing my business a long with spending money trying to market my business here in stl. I am starting to get recognized but still nothing has "really" taken off.

What would you do. I'm 25 with no kids wife girl friend etc but I am. Close to my immediate fam (parents/ siblings) and these past 2 years I've gotten a great relationship with my 6 and 7 year old niece and nephew...but I havee great support down in florida too. So I'm just caught between what I should do. Thanks guys!
Click to expand...

FAMILY FIRST! :dblthumb2:
 
superior_shine said:
Today I received an email asking what I meant by this. It was a sarcastic remark.

I am Cuban/American raised in So. Florida.
Click to expand...

Is just funny how there are so many people that complain about the cubans in Miami, or the Dominicans in NY...

If there are so many things in Spanish in your area maybe that should give you an idea who is really spending the cash there...

I just love to see how some feel like they are the minority because there are way to many Hispanics in an area... ( btw, not all are from Cuba, but that shows the level of education ).
But hey, it must suck to live in a crime pit...
 
Oh, and I'm from Venezuela, live in NY. Used to live in Orlando, FL. And take at least 2 vacations a year in central/south FL. Since I still have family and friends there. And none lives in a crime pit.

People that stupid really piss me off!!!

:rant:
 
The original poster is in law enforcement and sees allot of bad things that many of us only see on T.V.

He is a person of up standing character and we caught him on a bad day.

I was never upset or anything.... I can be just sarcastic sometimes. Ask my friend Mike Phillips - He knows ... :dblthumb2:
 
scrib13 said:
I live in WPB and would do just about anything to get our of South Flordia, it is a crime pit plus it has become little Havana, even the billboards are in Spanish now. Not a fan of the cold but got to guess a better quality of life than this place.
Click to expand...

Well I live in the 'most dangerous' city in the nation right now.lol
 
If over the last 2 year you have doubled your money where you are now I wouldn’t leave. You’re just starting to take off and people are recognizing your name, your business, and your quality of work. Why would you want to move to another state and have to start all over again?
 
Well I have a lot of friends down there and I've been wanting to move back since I moved back to st. Louis. The main reason I moved back was to spend time with my grand father. I got that chance and now he's past. I just tink there's more potential in fort lauderdale / miami area for detailing cars.
 
tomrzk said:
Well I have a lot of friends down there and I've been wanting to move back since I moved back to st. Louis. The main reason I moved back was to spend time with my grand father. I got that chance and now he's past. I just tink there's more potential in fort lauderdale / miami area for detailing cars.
Click to expand...

Florida is one of the state with the worse housing market. Alot of people are tight with there money now. Most of the people that had there vehicles detailed dont anymore. The ones that do would rather pay $10 at the corner then $30-$50 for a quality detail.
 
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