23-year-old builds a $75k/month car detailing business

Hey UpFlipers,

Mowing lawns, landscaping, washing cars, flipping burgers…

We’ve all done these (or other) summer jobs as teenagers or college students.

You earn some fun money or stash cash for tuition, but these jobs aren’t meant to last forever…

Or are they?

What if you turned one of those summer gigs into a $75k/month business?

Today’s newsletter shows you how one teenager managed to do just that with his car detailing gig. 

No fancy degree — just YouTube tutorials and sheer hustle.

Read today’s newsletter to find out he did it…

How Alan made $75k/month at age 23 by detailing cars

Today, you’ll learn about Alan and his car detailing company, GoDetail.

When we spoke to Alan, he was 23 years old and making $75k/month on average. Probably earns more now.

Time to learn how he did it…

The summer after graduating high school, Alan needed a job. 

Alan craved the independence of being his own boss. His dad was self-employed, so he wanted to follow in his footsteps.

Alan stumbled upon a video about another auto detailing business that did $300/day (just over six figures a year)...

And realized this could be a lucrative career.

Not to mention:

Summer is a popular time for car detailing because everyone’s driving around and taking vacations.

Self-taught, self-made

Alan just tried jumping right into it. He bought basic chemicals and tools, then found a few clients by searching through his friends list.

Big mistake. 

Alan hadn’t detailed a car in his life.

Turns out he bought the wrong polisher and vacuum. And they failed him early on. 

But he didn’t let failure stop him.

He turned to YouTube videos about detailing. He watched tutorials on cleaning interiors and exteriors, detailing product reviews, and more.

After that, he spent $500 to get the necessary (and correct) equipment:

• Pressure washer

• Chemicals

• A few tools

• A nice vacuum

He later invested in a higher-end pressure washer, a retractable hose, and a blower to dry the cars off.

Getting the word out

As a recent high school grad, Alan didn’t have much money after buying equipment. 

So he couldn’t spend money on marketing.

Alan set up a Google My Business profile and used his Facebook friends list to spread the word. He offered a discount to get his first few customers.

The hustle paid off — Alan recouped his $500 investment in just 2 detailing jobs.

Alan said that he’d dive more into social media if he had to start over.

Either way, Alan overdelivered on service and asked customers to tell others about this business.

Soon, he had enough leads to make a healthy income.

The turning point: Customer reviews

Good reviews = credibility. Credibility = sales. 

Alan realized this early on. He made sure every customer left a public review about GoDetail on Google and Yelp.

But reaching out to every customer is a lot of work. 

Alan invested in Housecall, a business management platform for home services. The app does a lot — including reviews.

Alan set up automated review requests to send from Housecall to customers after their detailing…

Business exploded.

From “summer job” to REAL business

Alan got so busy that he couldn’t run this like a “job” anymore.

He needed to step back and hire some people.

He posted ads on Snapchat offering $20/hour wages (he had the margins to afford this).

Alan looked for well-rounded, outgoing candidates willing to hustle and deliver the level of service GoDetail was known for. 

Once Alan hired employees, he put them through rigorous training and monitored their work for a month. Soon, he ran out of time for that… and brought on managers to do it.

Alan’s game-changing deal

Remember Alan’s review-gathering efforts? Dealerships noticed GoDetail. They wanted his top-notch detailing services to themselves.

Alan negotiated a deal with one, getting a bay in the dealership’s service area.

It’s like an assembly line. The car goes from station to station. Crew members do a different task at each station.

Each job is way faster: 40-45 minutes, vs. 3 hours that mobile detailing jobs require. 

The dealer gets some of the money. But Alan gets a steady 10-15 cars daily on top of his mobile detailing service. Not bad.

Dealing with slower seasons

Most think car detailing is a summer-only business. And the main detailing service indeed slows in the winter.

Alan learned to adapt by expanding into similar services — ceramic coatings and window tints.

Mainly, ceramic coatings and window tints.

This drives business year-round, helping Alan maintain steady revenues and cash flows.

Alan’s future plans

Alan’s monthly profit margins are around 50%, depending on the season. That’s about $37.5k/month in profits.

Took him about 4 years to get here — the same amount of time it takes to get an undergrad degree.

Not long in the grand scheme of things.

And we’re sure that his empire has grown even more since we spoke with him.

Alan’s got a few goals going forward.

One is to keep scaling.

That means investing in more vans and mobile detailing crews to serve more clients.

The other?

Growing his online coaching business — he helps other aspiring entrepreneurs start and grow detailing businesses like he did.

He even has a free course with all the basics on launching your own business.

You can check that out here.

Steal Alan’s 2-step holiday SMS campaign that netted him $10,000 in 3 days

SMS has insane click-through rates. There are no spam or trash folders. Customers who opt into SMS trust your messages a lot.

At the same time, SMS’s are short and punchy.

The following 2 messages netted Alan $10,000 in just 3 days during Black Friday 2023:

Message 1: Send on Black Friday

Still looking for Black Friday gifts for friends and family? Get 50% OFF Gift Cards from GoDetail! (Must be purchased for someone else).

Gift a Car Detail this holiday season! Buy now, send later. Limit 3 per customer. Sale ends Monday! 

Text Us: [BUSINESS NUMBER]

Buy Online: [GIFT CARD WEB PAGE]

Message 2: Send on Cyber Monday

Last Chance to grab car detailing gift cards at 50% off. Limit 3 per person. Cyber Monday sale ends Tonight at 11:59 pm! 

Text Us: [BUSINESS NUMBER]

Buy Online: [GIFT CARD WEB PAGE]

Why this sells like hotcakes

1. Urgency — It’s a limited-time deal.

2. Trust — The buyers know Alan delivers top-notch service. They trust their friends will be impressed.

But even better:

Not everyone will redeem their gift cards.

So Alan sells $10,000 in gift cards, but might not have to do $10,000 in detailing services. Unredeemed gift cards are pure profits.

You’ll need a roster of clients who trust you before this works. Once you’ve done a good job for a bunch of people, you can keep them on your list and send them an SMS blast about your special deal.

One other note

These SMS messages may be for car detailing…

But you can tweak them for any other businesses. 

For example, maybe you run a home cleaning business. People NEED their houses clean to impress their friends and relatives over the holidays. People also need gifts for friends and family.

Offer a nice discount, and you’ll be SWAMPED with business.

Heck, you can even try this for other holidays or random flash sales.

How Alan set his pricing

Pricing can be a tough nut to crack.

Too low, and you won’t cover your costs or keep any profits.

Too high, and you won’t get business.

Here’s Alan’s formula for pricing your services:

Desired Hourly Rate X Hours per Service = Price

Let’s break that down…

Desired Hourly Rate

How much do you want to make per hour? 

You only have a limited number of hours per day. So you need to earn a high enough Effective Hourly Rate.

It has to be realistic, too. You have to see what other businesses are charging, and, if you’re just starting, you’ll have to undercut that competition.

For example, Alan wanted to start at $50/hour. He researched the pricing of other detailers in his area and weighed that against his skills and experience.

Hours per Service

How long does it take to perform your service — in this case, detailing a vehicle?

At first, it took Alan 3-4 hours per car detailing job. 

So we put it together:

$50/hour X 3-4 hours = $150 - $200/job.

Simple math.

Keep in mind:

The time it takes can vary by your service. In Alan’s example, an SUV takes longer to detail than a sedan. So he charges more.

Also:

You can raise your prices once you have a full pipeline and happy customers. You’ll earn more in the same amount of work time.

To wrap it all up…

Turning an “after high school” summer job into a $75k/month business is nothing short of awesome.

Alan now earns a multi-six-figure income at the same age many are handed their diplomas or starting their jobs.

Shows that you don’t need a fancy degree or a world-changing idea to create wealth for yourself.

You just need a market, a service you can provide, some creativity, a bit of hard work, and a willingness to learn.

Maybe car detailing isn't for you.

That’s fine…

Here are 49 other business ideas you could try.

Woah, check these out…

💸 Alan’s free course on launching and growing a profitable auto detailing business

▶️ Alan’s YouTube channel — TONS of free car detailing biz content

📖 Here’s a huge list of types of cleaning businesses you can start today

📚 Grab our CEO’s 2024 reading list… time to upgrade your knowledge

🎙️ Catch our latest podcast episode for more business inspiration

There are three ways to join UpFlip:

 ✔️ Join the free 7-Figure Pressure Washing Blueprint to learn how you can start a grow a profitable pressure washing company today.

✔️ Mobile detailing has TONS of opportunity — for proof, check out this interview with another detailing entrepreneur

✔️ Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more awesome case studies and success stories

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