Hey forum, my name is Brandon, I have been lurking on here a long time, and just recently decided to join in and contribute. I am 19, and live in SW Florida. I am in my second year of college (finance). I love the grind of owning my own business and have had a good amount of experience but still have so much to learn!
I started my first business in January 2015, a wheel repair business. I learned how to fix cosmetic damage on wheels from when people would drive into the curb. A older friend hired me and trained me for about a year to grind, sand and paint, and I got very good.
I started an LLC and I worked hard establishing connections with as many dealerships as I could. I didn't make any excuses, I packed my Miata with all the equipment I needed, and drove around with cards and handed them out to every used car manager at every dealership Within an hour drive. Eventually I set up a weekly routine with 9 dealerships in the area. I would show up once a week and walk the lot looking for nice cars with damaged wheels and I would get the wheels approved approved and set up and fix them on site.
It was great, I was making $100+ an hour most days which was great as an 18-19 year old.
While working I listened to a lot of audiobooks, and listened to a lot of entrepreneur/investor speakers on YouTube. I loved my business but what I realized was that I had just created a job for myself, and I wanted my next project to be something that I could remove myself from and not have to do all of the work. I knew it would be very hard for me to train someone to do what I did as well as I did, and also to find enough work in the area to keep both of us busy.
So, I was contacted by a larger company in the area and they wanted to buy me out. I took the opportunity as an exit strategy and honestly , sold myself short. The deal was for me to work for them and train their employees, and get commission for the work that I did, I would get monthly payments for the accounts that I had established over a couple months as a security for them so I wouldn't leave them high and dry with work to do but no one to do them.
I realized 2 weeks in that working for someone else was not for me. I left them after 2 months and left a good amount of money on the table, but it was totally worth it for me. I was so happy the day I left haha.
On to my next idea.
I started a mobile detailing business about 2 months ago and it is booming. I market solely on Facebook ads and it is the greatest thing in the world to me. I chose to do detailing because I love working with cars and am very knowledgeable about cars, and it is something I can train easily and develop an easy system that will enable me to expand and grow very well.
I have 2 employees, one that is cleaning cars on his own (mobile) and another that is still training with me. My plan is to keep grinding and build a team of 8 this year and then hire someone to book the appointments and monitor the 8 detailers work
Very eager to learn , please tell me your thoughts.
I hope to be an active member on this forum.
-Brandon
I started my first business in January 2015, a wheel repair business. I learned how to fix cosmetic damage on wheels from when people would drive into the curb. A older friend hired me and trained me for about a year to grind, sand and paint, and I got very good.
I started an LLC and I worked hard establishing connections with as many dealerships as I could. I didn't make any excuses, I packed my Miata with all the equipment I needed, and drove around with cards and handed them out to every used car manager at every dealership Within an hour drive. Eventually I set up a weekly routine with 9 dealerships in the area. I would show up once a week and walk the lot looking for nice cars with damaged wheels and I would get the wheels approved approved and set up and fix them on site.
It was great, I was making $100+ an hour most days which was great as an 18-19 year old.
While working I listened to a lot of audiobooks, and listened to a lot of entrepreneur/investor speakers on YouTube. I loved my business but what I realized was that I had just created a job for myself, and I wanted my next project to be something that I could remove myself from and not have to do all of the work. I knew it would be very hard for me to train someone to do what I did as well as I did, and also to find enough work in the area to keep both of us busy.
So, I was contacted by a larger company in the area and they wanted to buy me out. I took the opportunity as an exit strategy and honestly , sold myself short. The deal was for me to work for them and train their employees, and get commission for the work that I did, I would get monthly payments for the accounts that I had established over a couple months as a security for them so I wouldn't leave them high and dry with work to do but no one to do them.
I realized 2 weeks in that working for someone else was not for me. I left them after 2 months and left a good amount of money on the table, but it was totally worth it for me. I was so happy the day I left haha.
On to my next idea.
I started a mobile detailing business about 2 months ago and it is booming. I market solely on Facebook ads and it is the greatest thing in the world to me. I chose to do detailing because I love working with cars and am very knowledgeable about cars, and it is something I can train easily and develop an easy system that will enable me to expand and grow very well.
I have 2 employees, one that is cleaning cars on his own (mobile) and another that is still training with me. My plan is to keep grinding and build a team of 8 this year and then hire someone to book the appointments and monitor the 8 detailers work
Very eager to learn , please tell me your thoughts.
I hope to be an active member on this forum.
-Brandon
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