Where's the money?

My VIP Packages(weekly,biweekly,monthly maintenance packages) are by far my best money maker, 75$-150$ a month. But besides that the basic wash an vac for 35$-50$ is the runner up.
 
Seems like the cycle of the starting detailing business. After reading so many stories ,bios, and personal experience it seems that the cycle is :

1)Start up wanting nothing but Exotics and/or Classics - Paint Corrections Everday - Dreams galore!
2) Struggle through year one with minimum DD's and perseverance (while making decisions to pay for unnecessary business expenses.
3) Word of Mouth finally starts kicking in - realize that what people told you was true (word of mouth and do a good job, then you will do great!)
4) Start charging true prices
5) Exotics and Classics start slowly coming in.


Seems to be the abbreviated cycle I have come up with. Sound about right?
:iagree::iagree::iagree:
I dont think ive ever seen it put better, my friend you have hit the nail right on the head.:dblthumb2:
 
Where's the money? Are you mobile or do you have a shop your doing business out of? If your mobile try to do 1 step polish or aio with full interiors, you dont want to spend your day driving from place to place doing washes only unless your charging 50+ for a wash. Then turn those into wash and wax jobs. If youve got a store front wash and waxes should be one of your highest profit/bread and butter money makers. Other then that with a shop you'll have to make the decision if you wanna be high volume washes or low volume washes with mainly correction work. This will greatly depend on the area you live in. Not many from a little town that live on dirt roads wants to spend money doing correction work so match your services to your area and customers needs. Other then that focus on good work, word of mouth will follow and you won't have problems staying booked a month out.
 
Believe it or not, the money's in doing 400+ monthly wholesale details @ $125 a pop. That's $600k sales a year. Owner should clear $125k min.

But the headaches: getting paid, hiring/firing, dealing with dealers.

It's hard-earned money.
 
600K a year? Not sure if serious
I think he's being a bit overzealous, he wants a volume shop filled with a bunch of low-wage high school and college kids working for cheap. Most of us here are enthusiasts that like to put our own sweat into this because it's a hobby (or drug in some cases). A french cuisine chef could make more money opening a McDonald's but likes the pride of doing the work himself.
 
^^I would assume he means he deals with car/truck wholesalers, or car dealers who bring him many cars a day/week...

Basic reconditioning as opposed to the high end detailing we are more enthused by.. I do a few dealer cars a week and they pay the bills but can be ugly.
 
Seems like the cycle of the starting detailing business. After reading so many stories ,bios, and personal experience it seems that the cycle is :

1)Start up wanting nothing but Exotics and/or Classics - Paint Corrections Everday - Dreams galore!
2) Struggle through year one with minimum DD's and perseverance (while making decisions to pay for unnecessary business expenses.
3) Word of Mouth finally starts kicking in - realize that what people told you was true (word of mouth and do a good job, then you will do great!)
4) Start charging true prices
5) Exotics and Classics start slowly coming in.


Seems to be the abbreviated cycle I have come up with. Sound about right?
That's how it's been with me so far. It's nice now cause all the hard work is starting to pay off and I can slow down on the growth and start building some cash flow instead of using the pay from my daily job for cash flow.

As to the OP's question about where the money is. For me the money is in the all in one details with interior. I get between $150 and $400 for these plus any up sells like headlights, pet hair removal, excessive dirt/tar and now I just got an ozone generator so I can push the marketing of odor removal which is the easiest big money.
 
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