18 y/o starting a local cleaning company.

[SeanKelly]

Here's my take on things...

Cleaning business has no barrier to entry and is a flooded market. You can make money in it for sure, but there are better residual income businesses. Way too many illegal laborers.

Mobile detailing is just not very scalable because the prices you need to charge to be profitable are too high.

If you want to make quick money in college do this...

Make cheap fliers and post them around campus that read "cash for all new, used, and broken electronics" with your phone number. I did this in high school (much less students than college) and made about $15,000 in the first two months. About 40% of that was profit. When someone texts you that they want to sell you something ask about the details (model, condition, carrier, etc). See what they're going for on ebay and offer them about half. Negotiate the price and then list it right on ebay (don't forget that ebay and paypal take 12% of the final sale price up to $100). It's really that simple. It's also beneficial because rather than driving around using gas and time, you are already at the college and can easily meet them on your breaks.

Good luck!

 

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[dotyy]

This is so far off the mark it doesn't even make any sense, it's like you want to call an antique car restoration job a "jury rigging job" because you don't understand the term "restoration". Thorough car detailing can easily run into the thousands of dollars at, for example, Esoteric, and do you seriously think the guys sending lamborghinis in for detailing are doing so because they are "so filthy dirty"? Not the case at all. Esoteric charges $350 minimum to prepare a new from the factory car for delivery. That's to say a brand new car is typically not up to the standard of show quality that detailing is all about.

BTW tipping 99.9% of car washes $20 extra just means they'll do that much more damage to your paint by introducing swirls with non-microfiber towel or even using microfibers that have any sort of contamination or insufficient lubrication. It takes highly skilled labor to clean a car without causing damage.

The problem I see here is if you really are in a college town - you probably don't have the market - because you can just immediately write off all college kids and professors (low paying job) as potential customers.

Absolutely agree. I'm very big into cars and detail my car as my hobby. Taking care of it makes it last longer. Go to /r/autodetaling on reddit for TONS of useful people and info to get started in really correcting a car. 175 is expensive for just a wash, but for a detail with interior and light polish it's on target. For full car correction with polishing and wax it can be a 12+ hour job and can be $900+ depending on damage and products used. Oh god don't even get me started on automated car washes. Dirt particles cause marring and scratches all over your vehicle. Absolutely terrible. Also, for those of you who go to a stall and use the pressure washer; NEVER use the foam brush. Buy a 10$ microfiber wash mitt and let the foam drip onto that instead and never drop it. The amount of crazy contaminated trucks and cars I see using the brush makes me never want to mix dirt with them. Sorry to ramble, I hope I helped educate a few of you on the business and how there is an actual market for dedicated car owners.


Also, you may want to incorporate clear bumper, mirror, and fender bra into your business at some point.

 

[chrischapman]

Hi mate,

I hope your execution goes well.

A little tip with a cleaning business: your ability to do basic business functions and cleaning functions should run like a well oiled machine. That can be done by implementing habits relating to those.

I read this entire book yesterday afternoon, it's very insightful and masterfully written: The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

Someone else on here recommended it, so I thought I'd give it a read. I highly recommend it.

A business, this book has helped me realise, is a synthesis of habits producing and selling a final product. If you can nail these habits - I suggest by working for a good cleaning business in your industry and learning tricks of the trade, you will find many business processes very successful from the start and will see higher success and customer satisfaction.

All the best.

 

[garysvpa]

Congratulations on getting this far on your journey.

 

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[Lagron]

Any updates?