It seems like he's completely ignoring any business related questions (other than the importance of having a black van of course).
Unfortunately I think the silence says a million words
Black vans for under £3k
- Thread starter MikeHiow
- Start date
It seems like he's completely ignoring any business related questions (other than the importance of having a black van of course).
Unfortunately I think the silence says a million words
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
I suppose thats a fair point, and I'm now at the stage where my knowledge on photography and detailing has reached a point I no longer have the knowledge to fight my corner.
But, one thing I can say is that as of yet you have posted nothing of your own work that would be suitable to sell yourself on a website. The long side shot of the MR2 would, in my opinion, generate more interest than your shots of the Evo or the Civic, even if the job isnt as perfect as it may first appear.
Third time lucky
.I'm not questioning whether people will spend hundreds of pounds on detailing, I'm questioning is that is there enough people out there on the Isle of White who are willing to pay this type of money regularly to keep a man in his 20s, his wife/girlfriend and young child afloat?
I'm wouldn't call myself a business guru but I'm just not seeing the market. Surely the people who are willing to spend hundreds upon hundreds of pounds on a car wash (sorry, paint correction) are going to own cars that don't really need that level of polish and effort? Is someone really going to notice the difference between hours of Mike's work and a £50 mini valet at the local eastern European place on a 10 plate SL Merc with immaculate paint?
Also, I don't like to prying into people's finances, but things sounded like they got pretty rough just a couple of months back, are you really prepared to go balls out on a venture that looks (from the outside at least) a little bit veeble? Do you have saving to sustain yourselves? And most importantly how do you intend on getting afloat and breaking even and how long is it going to take? I'm not sure of the margins but I would have thought you needed to do a fair few jobs to get in the black even month?
I'm sure you're going to get angry and say that you don't need our help and advice on your business idea, your family or your finances but I'd like to remind you that we all just want to help. Well, maybe apart from Skeeter
Joshy said:
Yes, easily - this line of work isn't just limited to cars, either
Joshy said:
Cars rarely have immaculate paint unless they've been corrected properly. In fact, there's even a thread on detailing world of a brand new Bentley with shocking paint - covered in buffer trails and marring.
Paint damages extremely easily.
Joshy said:
It has never been rough here. The beauty of this business is I already have a unit, half of the tools/materials and there isn't much required on top of that lot. I have the accreditation training to pay for, a few extra tools/products, insurance and a van, all in all it's around £5k to get going.
The company who I am becoming accredited with set the prices with their dealers - I offered a friend a deal on a plan that "RRPs" at £499, for £300 and he did not even hesitate at saying yes. This is for 8 hours work.
Beyond that, once you start getting into Marine stuff the money you're charging becomes larger, but even less significant to the clients.
Seems a fair enough concept to me - if it were me and I was going with the 'distinctive' look then I'd definitely plan to attend a bunch of car shows and/or meets with your shiny black stand-out van and offer on the spot 'discount' details, flyers, stuff like that - it's not like you're an Eddie Stobart-esque fleet so being present with a fairly distinctive vehicle (black in this case) at venues with a strong potential customer base isn't a bad idea and almost certainly more memorable than doing the same in a generic white van with your logo etc.
Good luck with it! At least you're giving it a shot, even if one out of a dozen ideas pans out you're probably doing better than a vast number of career 'employees' that wouldn't dream of risking their average existence on such wild and wacky business gambles
Good luck with it! At least you're giving it a shot, even if one out of a dozen ideas pans out you're probably doing better than a vast number of career 'employees' that wouldn't dream of risking their average existence on such wild and wacky business gambles
When has he not listened to advice? Where is the advice, other than one or two posts?
All I see here is prodding, ripping and generally belittling of the guys ideas. It's quite crazy actually, to see some people becoming so utterly obsessed with digging deeper and insignificant details such as his career history.
People severely need to get a life. He asked for van advice not an MI5 background check.
The amount of stuff the admins on this board completely disallow, delete or close when this derailing is perfectly acceptable?
No he didn't - thats the point. He asked which vans were black, which is a vague and useless question he already knew the answer to.
Mike is a big boy, he knows what he is doing and he knows exactly what he's going to get when he posts - its why he posts in the way he does.
You can't derail something which never ended up on the track in the first place.
Ahhhh the art of detailing, or car washing/cleaning as it used to be called.
It's a minefield out there especially with many know it alls and the variety of both good and bad info out there on the web. Plus even the best ptgs arnt exactly perfect and there is still an element of guesswork in good old paint standing/polishing.
My point is that some internet reading and playing with some products and techniques isn't an exact art and there are far too many people who consider themselves experts when they arnt at all.
It's a minefield out there especially with many know it alls and the variety of both good and bad info out there on the web. Plus even the best ptgs arnt exactly perfect and there is still an element of guesswork in good old paint standing/polishing.
My point is that some internet reading and playing with some products and techniques isn't an exact art and there are far too many people who consider themselves experts when they arnt at all.
Soldato
- Joined
- 4 Apr 2003
- Posts
- 8,115
Well, can't deny there is a marine market on the IOW and south coast round here so to be fair it could be quite good, apart from all the competition.
Damn right! - I can't believe ESL have found their way into a Mike thread without me prompting it!
The day Mike has a Stobart esque fleet will be the day I marry a Goat.
Damn right! - I can't believe ESL have found their way into a Mike thread without me prompting it!
The day Mike has a Stobart esque fleet will be the day I marry a Goat.
Don't worry, I don't think there are enough £3k black vans in the world for that to happen!
Hilarious thread, brightened up my morning.
Interesting point about everyone thinking they are car detailers today- I have noticed the increased incidence of these charlatans, round about the same time as the Polski-staffed fiver-a-wash pull in is rammed full and conventional car washes are closing...
Interesting point about everyone thinking they are car detailers today- I have noticed the increased incidence of these charlatans, round about the same time as the Polski-staffed fiver-a-wash pull in is rammed full and conventional car washes are closing...
The day Mike has a Stobart esque fleet will be the day I marry a Goat.
You really came into this thread to inform us of this completely irrelevant piece of information?
You're another troll.
Posting in epic Mikiehow thread!
I just wet sanded my bonnet after removing all the stone chips. Came out alreet but I need a stronger cutting compound. What would you recommend?
Also, I'm going to buy £10ks worth of sandpaper now and get people to pay me money to wet sand their cars, because, I am actually so good at it!
I just wet sanded my bonnet after removing all the stone chips. Came out alreet but I need a stronger cutting compound. What would you recommend?
Also, I'm going to buy £10ks worth of sandpaper now and get people to pay me money to wet sand their cars, because, I am actually so good at it!
On a serious note, what grade paper were you using?
On this, I detailed my car now I'm doing to be a detailer nonsense, let me address something that Fett has already partially picked up on.
It is a captive market over here, no one really does it already and there is room to expand into the huge marine market over here. There is one gaping hole in the market and I'm going to take it.
This isn't a case of "I detailed my car - now I'm pro", this is a case of me having sufficient experience under my belt to be able to give it a go at a professional level - sure there will still be a learning curve, but when is there not when entering a new field of business?
It seems haters gonna hate.
On this, I detailed my car now I'm doing to be a detailer nonsense, let me address something that Fett has already partially picked up on.
It is a captive market over here, no one really does it already and there is room to expand into the huge marine market over here. There is one gaping hole in the market and I'm going to take it.
This isn't a case of "I detailed my car - now I'm pro", this is a case of me having sufficient experience under my belt to be able to give it a go at a professional level - sure there will still be a learning curve, but when is there not when entering a new field of business?
It seems haters gonna hate.
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