How I Made $150,119.50 Detailing In My 2nd Year of Business

Mike Calloway

Mike Calloway

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Hey everyone,

Hope everything has been great with you. I just wanted to thank everyone who contributes to this section and others on the forum. I spent a ton of time in this section of the forum trying to figure out how to turn my passion for detailing into profit.

I watched Cosmin make a nice amount of money and wondered how I could do it. So I went on a search, a search to make 6-7 figures detailing cars.

I decided that I wanted to stay mobile to keep overhead down and profit margins up.

My first year (2013) I started out of my car and I made $20,000 in revenue. That wasn't enough for me (I purchased our first van in August of that year).

I then worked like heck in figuring out the right branding, price points, and marketing channels to grow 10 times in one year.

Last year (2014) I made $150,119.50.

This year (2015) we are of course making more but the great thing is that I'm moving into a passive role so now our team is detailing and making clients happy while I focus on marketing.

I want you to know that it is possible to make 6 figures in this business and create an awesome lifestyle. I benefit from being in a great part of the country DC, MD, VA. But I believe that with the right business model, you can make some great money detailing.

I still have some ways to go and there is still a ton of growth left and lessons to be learned ahead. Just wanted to inspires others like many have inspired me!
 
That is so cool to hear that you are kickin some serious booty!!! Awesome and I hope you make it to $250,000 - $300,000 soon!!
 
Congrats...is that gross or net? If the latter, great, if gross, that could mean you made nothing.
 
Rsurfer said:
Congrats...is that gross or net? If the latter, great, if gross, that could mean you made nothing.
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No offense to the OP, it's still a feat but this is the first thing that came to mind for me. $150,119.50 is great but not if you spent $150,119.50 to make it.
 
Congrats to you! I love hearing about fellow detailer's successes. Sounds like you really love doing what you do.
 
Rsurfer said:
Congrats...is that gross or net? If the latter, great, if gross, that could mean you made nothing.
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Ccrew said:
No offense to the OP, it's still a feat but this is the first thing that came to mind for me. $150,119.50 is great but not if you spent $150,119.50 to make it.
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Agreed. $70,000 in profit. Could have been much more had I not made some bad marketing decisions and overspending in certain areas (lessons learned).

haris300 said:
Congrats to you! I love hearing about fellow detailer's successes. Sounds like you really love doing what you do.
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Thanks brother! Hope it helps
 
This is awesome to hear, however your title says "how" you made that much, but you didn't really say "how" you did it other than now you're in a passive role and you stayed mobile. I'm on a quest to increase my bottom lines too, (last year revenues were roughly $85k with $70k being profit, but that's after almost 10 years), but as a one man show, I feel like I'm bumping up against the wall and not really able to increase revenues too much more without either hiring someone on (I'd rather not) or renting a shop (at least an additional 12k a year).

Curious if you could elaborate any more on the "how" you increased revenues that much in one year.
 
Mike Calloway said:
I watched Cosmin make a nice amount of money and wondered how I could do it. So I went on a search, a search to make 6-7 figures detailing cars.
Just wanted to inspires others like many have inspired me!
Click to expand...

congrats!
i am glad to hear that my story inspire others.
there are a lot of money to be done with detailing and other services related, you have to stay focus and don`t give up.
i think the first 2-3 years i reinvest most of the profit back into the business. is no way around.


*funny , that`s my 666post :)
 
jarred767 said:
This is awesome to hear, however your title says "how" you made that much, but you didn't really say "how" you did it other than now you're in a passive role and you stayed mobile. I'm on a quest to increase my bottom lines too, (last year revenues were roughly $85k with $70k being profit, but that's after almost 10 years), but as a one man show, I feel like I'm bumping up against the wall and not really able to increase revenues too much more without either hiring someone on (I'd rather not) or renting a shop (at least an additional 12k a year).

Curious if you could elaborate any more on the "how" you increased revenues that much in one year.
Click to expand...


<This.
 
jarred767 said:
This is awesome to hear, however your title says "how" you made that much, but you didn't really say "how" you did it other than now you're in a passive role and you stayed mobile. I'm on a quest to increase my bottom lines too, (last year revenues were roughly $85k with $70k being profit, but that's after almost 10 years), but as a one man show, I feel like I'm bumping up against the wall and not really able to increase revenues too much more without either hiring someone on (I'd rather not) or renting a shop (at least an additional 12k a year).

Curious if you could elaborate any more on the "how" you increased revenues that much in one year.
Click to expand...

If you are a one man team (just like I am) you are effectivelly converting your time into money. Problem with that is we have limited time. So if you are working full time, there are no way to increase profits being a single guy without increasing the price for your services and this is very hard to do if you are already charging a premium price (which I assume you do since you made quite a chunk of money doing it alone).

I am very interested in what the OP did to make that much gross. I expect to see a team in there dividing the work. That's pretty much the only way to increase profit once you have a good client base and no more free time.
 
Well, assuming by his posts, that he's got a team. That being said, his profit numbers in 2 years is obtainable. Now, the guys who are a one man show, you WILL run into constraints because YOU only have so much time in the day. The key here is to "be earning money while you sleep" so to speak.

There comes a point where you will run into walls like jarred stated. Working from your garage, perhaps not enough space, and not wanting to hire another person, which will equal no increased profit. You have to spend money to earn money. It requires a solid business plan, marketing, time, and work. I don't doubt that with all of that, anyone can make 7 figures in this industry. It all depends on how bad you want it.
 
SKorch630 said:
Well, assuming by his posts, that he's got a team. That being said, his profit numbers in 2 years is obtainable. Now, the guys who are a one man show, you WILL run into constraints because YOU only have so much time in the day. The key here is to "be earning money while you sleep" so to speak.

There comes a point where you will run into walls like jarred stated. Working from your garage, perhaps not enough space, and not wanting to hire another person, which will equal no increased profit. You have to spend money to earn money. It requires a solid business plan, marketing, time, and work. I don't doubt that with all of that, anyone can make 7 figures in this industry. It all depends on how bad you want it.
Click to expand...

You are absolutely right. In my case I have trouble getting clients so expanding is out of the question at this point. Once I do have a full schedule I plan on hiring a helper or two to keep growing. Would love to have a fixed place to do detailing too, would help with people who don't want to do the work at their place (get a lot of that here in Montreal, most people don't have a parking space or a garage and simply park on the streets).

Would still love to read how Cosmin and the OP went about it.
 
Calendyr said:
If you are a one man team (just like I am) you are effectivelly converting your time into money. Problem with that is we have limited time. So if you are working full time, there are no way to increase profits being a single guy without increasing the price for your services and this is very hard to do if you are already charging a premium price (which I assume you do since you made quite a chunk of money doing it alone).
Click to expand...

Yeah, I do whatever I can to reduce costs as much as possible, I know that revenues are somewhat capped as a one man operation, so cutting expenses is the a great way to increase my bottom line.

I've also started looking into renting a small shop so I'm not affected by the weather (I'd still be primarily mobile, just another option). Problem us that commercial spaces aren't exactly cheap, which makes it a tough trade off.
 
jarred767 said:
Yeah, I do whatever I can to reduce costs as much as possible, I know that revenues are somewhat capped as a one man operation, so cutting expenses is the a great way to increase my bottom line.

I've also started looking into renting a small shop so I'm not affected by the weather (I'd still be primarily mobile, just another option). Problem us that commercial spaces aren't exactly cheap, which makes it a tough trade off.
Click to expand...

My advise, don't get a shop till you have the customers to support it. That overhead never sleeps, it goes on 24/7. If you got sick for a few days, your mobile operation doesn't cost you anything except for insurance. If you have a storm for a few day's no one will want to have their cars detailed and yet that overhead goes on. Having a shop, the rent and higher insurance never stops. They are other examples, but you got the idea. Good luck to you.:props:
 
Mike Calloway said:
Agreed. $70,000 in profit. Could have been much more had I not made some bad marketing decisions and overspending in certain areas (lessons learned).



Thanks brother! Hope it helps
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Looking like you're dedicated, and working hard Mike. That's always great to hear.

I've been trying to get my son (he's 21) to understand that he CAN build a good business and make a good living detailing. Just have to get HIM to understand that.


OTOH... thought I'd pass on that Norton doesn't want to load your site. If it's happening to me.... it's happening to others. This isn't browser dependent as it does it on IE as well as Chrome. Seems to be related to a mail link perhaps. :dunno:

There is a link for the "site owner" to communicate with Symantec, which if I were you... I'd do ASAP.:xyxthumbs:

Two main warnings, one is a SWBPL the other is a Drive-by download.


As for the meaning of "Drive-by download".

What are Drive-by downloads? Drive-by download attacks occur when vulnerable computers get infected by just visiting a website. Findings from latest Microsoft Security Intelligence Report and many of its previous volumes reveal that Drive-by Exploits have become the top web security threat to worry about. Even the EU cyber security group, the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) agrees.

A drive-by download refers to the unintentional download of a virus or malicious software (malware) onto your computer or mobile device. A drive-by download will usually take advantage of (or “exploit”) a browser, app, or operating system that is out of date and has a security flaw.

These are just a couple, but there are plenty of descriptions out there.

As for SWBPL... I have no idea what that is. :dunno:

Below is the report:​

Safe Web Report for:


premereautodetail.com
Web Site Location
us.gif
United States of America



WARNING
Site Owner? Click here



Norton Rating

Norton Safe Web has analyzed premereautodetail.com for safety and security problems. Below is a sample of the threats that were found.
Summary



  • Computer Threats: 1
  • Identity Threats: 0
  • Annoyance factors: 1
Total threats on this site: 2

The Norton rating is a result of Symantec's automated analysis system.
The opinions of our users are reflected separately in the community rating on the right.




Threat Report

Drive-By Downloads

Threats found: 1 javascript:void(0);
Here is a complete list: (for more information about a specific threat, click on the Threat Name below)

Threat Name:
Malicious Site: Malicious Domain Request 2

Location:
Contact Support









SWBPL
Threats found: 1 javascript:void(0);
Here is a complete list: (for more information about a specific threat, click on the Threat Name below)

Threat Name:
SWBPL

Location:
Contact Support
 
Expanding is a tough situation to be in. Like surfer said, it's hard to expand without the clients to support it, however; if you're currently capped at what you can do, but you want to do more... What do you do? It takes money to make money. Plain and simple. If you can lease a spot for 3 months, give it a try. What's to say that you don't have more business with an indoor shop?

My issue is I can't get the clientele I need because I don't have an indoor space. Rain is pretty common around here, and like it was stated, no one want's their car detailed if it's going to rain. So... That means I either get an enclosed space in my driveway, or look into a shop. Overhead never stops, that is correct. Whether you have a shop or not, it still doesn't. When you're not working, you're not making money. My goal is to make money while I'm personally not working. I think that should be everyone's goal. The tough thing is figuring out how to do that :)

A thing I looked into is doing the detailing at their place of employment. Is there a large parking lot? Are there areas they can park to get it done? I ask myself all the time how I can better my business and get more clients. I don't have many, and it's frustrating at times, but I also work a full time job and do this on the side.
 
Congrats! Now here in "Tumbleweed Central USA", I'd be lucky to make $150 in two years. Even if I was Mike Phillips.
 
Awesome! Congratulations on your success. Glad to see others with a similar mindset as myself. 2 years ago I started my mobile business. Did 2k revenue year 1 and 8k revenue year 2, I got my shop this April, opened in May, and now have 2 employees and average $600 a day. It's much easier to focus on how to increase revenue and sustain profit margin than to try to save money off the bottom. I still work my butt off but I'm putting systems in place (working ON the business rather than IN the business) so that eventually I will be able to just collect profits rather than trade time for money. Best of luck on the future of your business!
 
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