Starting (a small) business - what to watch out for?

[Kenai]

The challenge is that the customers you target with a minimum viable product aren’t the same customers who will also pay big money for a full service - so building that customer base is irrelevant.

Perhaps more opinion than evidence but I would expect a lot of the more sustainable detailing businesses (at least in their infancy) are the ones that are catering to the 'casuals' who are happy to spend a few hundred quid to get a decent clean, polish and cheap coating that can fill gaps in the bookings as well as the 3 day multi stage jobs into the thousands.

 

[shifty_uk]

Apparently, those are a completely different customer base, though, so he's starting from scratch here in terms of customers:

Anyone that’s willing to give you money is a customer.

He can also use them as work examples for social media posts, time lapses, his website etc.

Examples of what I mean:

Can’t stress enough that so many people overcomplicate business and getting started. You don’t need an entire business plan in place.

Get on the blower and do some work for next to nothing to build up some examples.

 

[shifty_uk]

Perhaps more opinion than evidence but I would expect a lot of the more sustainable detailing businesses (at least in their infancy) are the ones that are catering to the 'casuals' who are happy to spend a few hundred quid to get a decent clean, polish and cheap coating that can fill gaps in the bookings as well as the 3 day multi stage jobs into the thousands.

100%. Those high end detailing businesses need volume and that volume comes from regular motors, not the supercars you see posted in their social accounts.

 

[dowie]

Can’t stress enough that so many people overcomplicate business and getting started. You don’t need an entire business plan in place.

I don't disagree - that's exactly my POV here, just get on with it and start building the business/brand - don't need to dive into premises and high upfront costs right away.

 

[Quartz]

Building some pipeline will be the toughest thing. My outreach plan includes:

Don't forget your local chambers of commerce.

And what's your unique selling point? What sets you apart from the other local detailers? You are renting a unit, so are you collecting and delivering your clients' cars?

 

[dod]

Don’t be too cheap and keep on top of cash flow. If you’re confident in your abilities go for the top end of the market. There’s always money there

 

[D.P.]

Turning a hobby into a business is s red flag. You will tend to be more interested in your hobby aspect than the business and will make decisions that align to tye former and not the latter. If you do have time to practice your hobby then sooner or later you will hate it, especially something physical.

You need to try and separate the 2, and your experience from your hobby used to drive business success, not let you practice your hobby. Your focus has to be on the business aspect, so i would very much expect you need to quickly grow to have a few detailers work for you while you run the business and you use your expertise for training and quality control rather than hands on work.


Similarly, you need to outsource as much as you can so you can focus on business critical work. Things like accounting need to be done by an accountant so you free up time and don't invest energy in learning processes and tools that are irrelevant to the core business.

 

[radderfire]

i would very much expect you need to quickly grow to have a few detailers work for you while you run the business and you use your expertise for training and quality control rather than hands on work.

Easier said than done. As soon as you employ other people, things become a lot more risky and expensive. I would say he's better off alone at first. It's critical to keep costs low to begin with. The other thing is that with detailing, people can easily leave and become competitors.

 

[Quartz]

You don’t need an entire business plan in place.

No, but you do need to do some basic research and budget thereon. Like what competition there is and what they charge for what they do, what the demand is, and so on.

 

[shifty_uk]

No disrespect to anyone but some of the responses here are why I never told anyone when I was starting a business(es)

When I was younger, I mentioned at a party that it was my ambition and you could see eyes glaze over, pipe dreams, that’ll never happen, how are you going to live etc.

Just get out there and get it done MrRockliffe, never overcomplicate and good luck to you.

Turning a hobby into a business is a dream that most have but never actually do. You don’t need staff, you don’t need a unit(yet), get yourself some work examples and get started. You can make a nice living off car detailing but it’ll take time to build up that customer base, doesn’t happen overnight, keep at it and you’ll get there.

You’ll learn quickly that you’ll need an accountant but bookkeeping is easy.

 

[bloodiedathame]

Hire a fit lass to do it in a bikini and charge £1000 daily.