[PROGRESS THREAD] - Just Do it

[Atona]

Hello everyone, this is a progress thread for my car detailing business, I will give weekly and monthly reports. I will make 10k by September 1st

Week 1 Goals:

• At least 7 clients
• At least 2 calls per day

I got my first client a few days ago, but I didn't do a good job on the inside. I ended up getting less than half of what I was owed. I learned that you should never half-a$$ a job when your first starting out

 

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[perchboy]

Just to hop in here real quick...

Goals should only be based on input.

Having a goal of "get x clients" is always a bad goal. Why? because it isn't inside your control whether the client/customer says yes. You can only control your input to get those clients, so focus solely on that.

It helps when you know your average conversion. In the future you will know that roughly 100 door knocks = 1 new client, you will be able to set your input relative to the desired outcome. So 200 doors knocked a day on average will get you 2 new clients etc.

Focusing on input helps you feel achieved and progressing which is necessary when you are on your own and deal with a lot of uncertainty.

Good luck!

 

[Subsonic]

Hello everyone, this is a progress thread for my car detailing business, I will give weekly and monthly reports. I will make 10k by September 1st

Week 1 Goals:

• At least 7 clients
• At least 2 calls per day

I got my first client a few days ago, but I didn't do a good job on the inside. I ended up getting less than half of what I was owed. I learned that you should never half-a$$ a job when your first starting out

What helped me was focusing on how many people should be reached by my ads.
You could say "I want that 100 people who look for car detailing see my offer".

That goal tells you what to do and is under your control.

 

[Atona]

I haven't been posting that much because I haven't made any real progress yet. Right now I'm focusing on getting more people to see my business, I'm doing through reviews, and posting photos of my work.

 

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[Atona]

I've been procrastinating since my last post doing niche every day. Now I have started uni and I am pissed off

I finally got my website up and I'm putting up Facebook ads right now.

 

[Atona]

I've been procrastinating since my last post doing niche every day. Now I have started uni and I am pissed off

I finally got my website up and I'm putting up Facebook ads right now.

1 job last Friday
Made $160
spent $95 on ads


I'm starting to get more and more jobs for car detailing

I posted an ad on Facebook and spent $20 a day, but I didn't get any new leads today

I got two calls on the GMB so far, I've been posting updates regularly but I need to get my GMB at the top of the search results for car detailing in Scarborough.

A minor problem I have is that I need to find someone to pick up the phone when I'm in lectures, I would ask my mother to do it but she isn't that proficient in English. Another problem I have is not responding to clients fast enough, I want to close my clients as soon as they interact with my ad, when their interest is peaked.

 

[Atona]

I had a job today for couch stain removal, I got referred by a friend and he warned me that I probably wouldn't be able to remove the stains, but I thought I could get it done.

I got there around 9:00 a.m., got my equipment out of the car, and knocked on the door. The client opened the door for me and led me to the couch. Apparently one of her kids had been drawing on the couches with marker, and I told her I wasn't sure if I'd be able to remove the stains, so I would test it out.

I tried removing a little bit of the marker and I was able to get most of it out, but the client wasn't pleased with it, so we decided not to waste each other's time. I asked her for money to Uber back home, thinking that she might pay for transportation expenses, but she declined. I said thank you, have a nice day.

Apparently, she wasn't pleased with the chemicals I used (carpet cleaner) and was pretty upset with my friend and said that her kids got sick. She asked for $90 to find another couch-cleaning company and threatened to sue. I don't know if she thought we were gonna take her seriously because there is no way the chemicals emitted from the carpet cleaning spray got her kids sick in only a few hours.

I think I should have communicated better in the message and made sure everything was clear, but I definitely think she overreacted as well. I posted updates for my GMB page for detailing and posted a bunch of photos along with that. My GMB is ranked 7th in car detailing for Scarborough. I closed a client who had previously said he wasn't interested on Facebook and got him booked for Sunday.

 

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[Genius01]

I had a job today for couch stain removal, I got referred by a friend and he warned me that I probably wouldn't be able to remove the stains, but I thought I could get it done.

I got there around 9:00 a.m., got my equipment out of the car, and knocked on the door. The client opened the door for me and led me to the couch. Apparently one of her kids had been drawing on the couches with marker, and I told her I wasn't sure if I'd be able to remove the stains, so I would test it out.

I tried removing a little bit of the marker and I was able to get most of it out, but the client wasn't pleased with it, so we decided not to waste each other's time. I asked her for money to Uber back home, thinking that she might pay for transportation expenses, but she declined. I said thank you, have a nice day.

Apparently, she wasn't pleased with the chemicals I used (carpet cleaner) and was pretty upset with my friend and said that her kids got sick. She asked for $90 to find another couch-cleaning company and threatened to sue. I don't know if she thought we were gonna take her seriously because there is no way the chemicals emitted from the carpet cleaning spray got her kids sick in only a few hours.

I think I should have communicated better in the message and made sure everything was clear, but I definitely think she overreacted as well. I posted updates for my GMB page for detailing and posted a bunch of photos along with that. My GMB is ranked 7th in car detailing for Scarborough. I closed a client who had previously said he wasn't interested on Facebook and got him booked for Sunday.

Liked for taking action.
At least you can improve from where you are now, going forward.
At least now you know what NOT to do.
And can improve from there.
Don't overestimate your abilities, and don't overpromise and under deliver.
Much better to underpromise and over deliver.
She was probably pissed because you had stated you could remove the stain, even when your friend had warned you you likely couldn't remove it but you insisted you could.
Only to get there and fail to remove it.
So she felt you had wasted her time by promising what you couldn't deliver, and probably wanted to teach you a lesson on that.

Anyway, guess lesson learnt for next time.
On to the next one, keep moving, and improving your abilities.

 

[perchboy]

Less lip service and more action

What progress have you made since you started this thread?

 

[DoTheWork]

1 job last Friday
Made $160
spent $95 on ads


I'm starting to get more and more jobs for car detailing

I posted an ad on Facebook and spent $20 a day, but I didn't get any new leads today

I got two calls on the GMB so far, I've been posting updates regularly but I need to get my GMB at the top of the search results for car detailing in Scarborough.

A minor problem I have is that I need to find someone to pick up the phone when I'm in lectures, I would ask my mother to do it but she isn't that proficient in English. Another problem I have is not responding to clients fast enough, I want to close my clients as soon as they interact with my ad, when their interest is peaked.

I've been working closely with someone who is doing well with auto detailing.

When he was doing all the jobs himself he had all his calls go to voicemail, then he calls them back ASAP when he's off a job. You can implement the same thing very easily.

 

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[Atona]

Update: Did the first job with the employee, the job went well for the most part, but the employee wasn't satisfied with the pay, said it wasn't worth his time. The job was $150, I paid him $50 when I offered him the job I told him that he would make more than he would in a "normal" job. He had some experience detailing and said that he would normally get paid $80 for the job we did at his old detail shop, I told him I couldn't go any higher and he accepted the $50. There's a good chance he won't come back after today. Should I have paid him more?

 

[DoTheWork]

What is your pricing? It sounds like your prices might be a bit low, which could be why you can't afford to pay higher wages.

 

[Atona]

What is your pricing? It sounds like your prices might be a bit low, which could be why you can't afford to pay higher wages.

I charged $150 for an inside only job, and was paying the employee $20 an hour. Job took about 2 hours

 

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[Johnny boy]

I charged $150 for an inside only job, and was paying the employee $20 an hour. Job took about 2 hours

So employee made $40 that day?

 

[Atona]

So employee made $40 that day?

I gave him $50 because he took a little longer than 2 hours to finish job but he thought that his "expertise" made him worth more than that

 

[DoTheWork]

I charged $150 for an inside only job, and was paying the employee $20 an hour. Job took about 2 hours

What size vehicle was this? Do you charge differently based on vehicle size or any other factors?

 

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[Atona]

What size vehicle was this? Do you charge differently based on vehicle size or any other factors

The vehicle was small, I bid higher for vehicles like vans or trucks. This guy's car was really f*cked up though, apparently a fire extinguisher exploded in his car, his whole front looked like it was under-construction

 

[perchboy]

I will make 10k by September 1st

Week 1 Goals:

• At least 7 clients
• At least 2 calls per day

Did you hit these?

 

[Johnny boy]

I gave him $50 because he took a little longer than 2 hours to finish job but he thought that his "expertise" made him worth more than that

don't expect him to keep working for you.

better off at mcdonalds

 

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