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About three months ago I made a post on here asking the community how I can make money online as a teenage entrepreneur. I had started a dozen businesses, none of them successful, and wanted advice. A business I mentioned was some courses I had made. Someone commented something under my post that I haven't forgotten:
Not going to lie, my ego took a hit. But StrikingViper was right. I was focused on what I could do to make ME money, not on how I could provide value to OTHERS. I wanted to take the easy road and make shitty online courses about topics I barely understood...
I decided I needed to change. I did some market research and looked on Nextdoor and saw multiple posts complaining about how all the local car washes/detailers in my area had gotten worse to the point of not even being worth going to anymore. I saw an opportunity. I watched a YouTube tutorial on how to wash a car, practiced on mine first, and started going door-to-door washing cars for $30 each with a sponge, soap, and towels I bought at Ace for twenty bucks. I reinvested that money into better equipment, and then I charged more. I learned how to clean interiors too and was able to charge even more. In reality, all I did was learn a skill that was in high demand in my area.
Today I charge $170 per car (which takes me about 3 hours to complete) and I have a dozen five-star reviews on Google raving about the service. The most I've made in an hour was $100, which included the time it took to find a customer door-to-door and complete the job. You can't even believe how crazy it feels. It's unreal. None of my friends actually believe me when I tell them how much I make per hour. My only limiting factor is time. I have about five people trying to schedule with me right now but I have no time to do them. I put up posters all over my school and have been interviewing people to work for me. I'll keep you guys updated on how it goes!
There are two takeaways from my journey so far that I want to share with other young entrepreneurs:
1. Think about what you can do to make others better off. You don't need to reinvent the wheel. What do people near you want? Can you learn how to do it for them? Don't forget the importance of customer service too--about half of the messages my business gets are from referrals. You have an advantage that most adults don't have which is that older folks and parents LOVE young entrepreneurial-minded kids like us.
2. If you haven't struck gold yet, keep digging. Your skills are stacking. Once you have the abilities you need, it clicks. I wouldn't have been able to do this business had I not learned sales, social media marketing, and customer service beforehand from previous ventures in the last 3 years. Every time you think you're failing you're really just adding to your bag of tools that you can take from. Excluding the previous few months, the last 3 years I made $25 total. Then, in three months, I got to $2,500 monthly revenue. Your next move could be the one that strikes gold!
Thank you StrikingViper for your advice, and thank you MJ for your amazing books!
If you're a younger entrepreneur like me, I would love to hear your story. Leave a reply with what you think, or if you have any questions about my model so far.
Not going to lie, my ego took a hit. But StrikingViper was right. I was focused on what I could do to make ME money, not on how I could provide value to OTHERS. I wanted to take the easy road and make shitty online courses about topics I barely understood...
I decided I needed to change. I did some market research and looked on Nextdoor and saw multiple posts complaining about how all the local car washes/detailers in my area had gotten worse to the point of not even being worth going to anymore. I saw an opportunity. I watched a YouTube tutorial on how to wash a car, practiced on mine first, and started going door-to-door washing cars for $30 each with a sponge, soap, and towels I bought at Ace for twenty bucks. I reinvested that money into better equipment, and then I charged more. I learned how to clean interiors too and was able to charge even more. In reality, all I did was learn a skill that was in high demand in my area.
Today I charge $170 per car (which takes me about 3 hours to complete) and I have a dozen five-star reviews on Google raving about the service. The most I've made in an hour was $100, which included the time it took to find a customer door-to-door and complete the job. You can't even believe how crazy it feels. It's unreal. None of my friends actually believe me when I tell them how much I make per hour. My only limiting factor is time. I have about five people trying to schedule with me right now but I have no time to do them. I put up posters all over my school and have been interviewing people to work for me. I'll keep you guys updated on how it goes!
There are two takeaways from my journey so far that I want to share with other young entrepreneurs:
1. Think about what you can do to make others better off. You don't need to reinvent the wheel. What do people near you want? Can you learn how to do it for them? Don't forget the importance of customer service too--about half of the messages my business gets are from referrals. You have an advantage that most adults don't have which is that older folks and parents LOVE young entrepreneurial-minded kids like us.
2. If you haven't struck gold yet, keep digging. Your skills are stacking. Once you have the abilities you need, it clicks. I wouldn't have been able to do this business had I not learned sales, social media marketing, and customer service beforehand from previous ventures in the last 3 years. Every time you think you're failing you're really just adding to your bag of tools that you can take from. Excluding the previous few months, the last 3 years I made $25 total. Then, in three months, I got to $2,500 monthly revenue. Your next move could be the one that strikes gold!
Thank you StrikingViper for your advice, and thank you MJ for your amazing books!
If you're a younger entrepreneur like me, I would love to hear your story. Leave a reply with what you think, or if you have any questions about my model so far.
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