Little understanding of who I am:
I’m 17, I graduated high school a year early and have a mobile car detailing business. I have a van, all the equipment & knowledge to do cars and boats. The business has done good, but I’ve definitely not scaled it as much as I could.
I’m kind of lost. I’m attracted to these online businesses and know I could make one work, but I’m also attracted to hustling my ass off for a year or two, invest into real estate, and do rentals and Airbnb’s. Real estate is my end game and I’ve known that for a while, but I’m not sure where to stay.
I’ve tried a few online businesses and they themselves haven’t failed but I have failed to continue them. I just get a bit nervous to continue a physical labor job when these people are makings 10s of thousands if not 100s of thousands a month online.
I know very well I could scale my detailing business to 20-50k per month, but I’m also afraid of that becoming my new norm and never reaching those 100k months I so called dream of.
Please let me know your thoughts on this. The main goal for me to become so successful is to retire my father and go live on a ranch with my family. I’m not attracted to this whole Miami lifestyle that most are.
17, graduated a year early, and I’m lost.…
byu/Ok_Boysenberry_4789 inEntrepreneur
Posted by Ok_Boysenberry_4789
23 Comments
19 here.✋🏾 Its completely normal to feel lost. If you do, your on the right path
Making it to 10k even 100k a year means providing that much and MORE value per month to either people or businesses. Its going to take some back work, even online businesses doesn’t mean sit at home, make youtube videos and wait for the money to reel in.
Those are all facades to get you to buy a course. What you’re doing is the best path. Put ur back into it until you find opportunity to scale, once you scale enough and properly everything can be run remotely. I.e. Online business.
Don’t get distracted. Grow until you can’t grow anymore in the niche you have. Then figure out how to expand. Commercial, dealership outsourcing, fleet, etc. your business can definitely get over 100k/month you just aren’t thinking about it properly.
Scale the detailing business. Seriously, do it. In a couple years You’ll be 19 hopefully with 2 or 3 vans running full time and a GM to manage the business and one manager with each van. Then take a step back. Evaluate where the market is at for your next move whether it be residential real estate, commercial real estate, or some other business venture.
It sounds like you need to focus on your core business right now and get that locked in. If you keep getting distracted, you’re never going to build anything well.
Get the foundation and grow your detailing business before you start to diversify.
There’s a shit ton of money in detailing, and plenty of guys bank in the industry. Stay focused or you won’t go anywhere, with any business.
Most of the millionaires I know have pretty “normal” businesses. Car dealerships, industrial manufacturing, dairy farmers, and even college professors.
If you already have traction and a vision with your detailing business why the hell would you let that go? It would be like trading in a nearly guaranteed pension for a lottery ticket. Sure, you might make more on the lotto ticket, but your chance of success with it pale in comparison to what you already have.
Keep going! Create a repeatable process for employees. Scale and hit your $100k months. You got this!
This has got to be a joke
You’re young man, I graduated a year early too. I know you’re very money motivated and everyone else is saying push the business but no dude I think you should take some time and travel. When I turned 18 I went to Europe, SE Asia, and Australia for 6 months. It taught me so much about myself, others, and the world. It will give you a new perspective on life and business. Then when you get back work hard on the business. You only get ONE chance to travel young and on a budget. You get your whole life to work on a business.
Cream floats to the top.
For every person you see online claiming to make a fortune running an online business, there are thousands of people who don’t.
No body wants to write a blog about a loser.
No body wants to interview loser on a podcast.
So much of what you experience online is simply bias.
Someone ran a successful business and claims they can teach you how? That’s success bias. They think they can teach you because they already did it, but how much of their success is attributed to factors they aren’t considering?
You’re already winning. Business is business. You don’t work in your business, you work on your business. Working on a business isn’t manual labor, the people who work for you are the laborers.
Read the book The E-Myth, it will make what I’m talking about make more sense.
Cream floats to the top.
For every person you see online claiming to make a fortune running an online business, there are thousands of people who don’t.
No body wants to write a blog about a loser.
No body wants to interview loser on a podcast.
So much of what you experience online is simply bias.
Someone ran a successful business and claims they can teach you how? That’s success bias. They think they can teach you because they already did it, but how much of their success is attributed to factors they aren’t considering?
You’re already winning. Business is business. You don’t work in your business, you work on your business. Working on a business isn’t manual labor, the people who work for you are the laborers.
Read the book The E-Myth, it will make what I’m talking about make more sense.
If you are from India, then I can tell you that there is really big scope of business growth in detailing market. Car related detailing requires lot of education. If you center your business around it and then try to tap the customers they will stick for long time. Also it this type of business where you are selling a low ticket item to enhance a high ticket item people don’t want to spend a lot of time in searching. They just go with first option they see or the first one to get known through word of mouth.
Hope it helps.
Feel free to ask more questions or connect.
Thanks
AbhyuK
Why don’t you get a realtor’s license and work as a realtor? You like real estate
„These people“ are trying to sell you a course. Getting you to think that you have to start an online business because it‘s so much more profitable than the thing you‘re doing at the moment is exactly what they want you to think. They want you to dream. But remember, dreams are not reality and neither is their proclaimed lifestyle. The businesses that allegedly made them rich are often complete bullshit and didn‘t make any money at all – do your research.
Buddy I’m 23, and your far ahead in life compared of anyone between 17 and 30 right now, I’m in Wisconsin and would love to work with ya if that’s your market, otherwise yeah you have something good going already, get another van and hire the labor out. Maybe consider taking some business classes at a tech college too just to familiarize yourself with the practice or look for resources on the Small Business Administrations website!
Have you ever heard of [The Mental Shift](https://thementalshift.beehiiv.com/subscribe)? Its a newsletter been giving me weekly challenges every Friday and its been really improving my life personally. Maybe check it out sometime it might help you. Best of luck!
Understanding tech products will help you become more successful because it’s the easiest product to scale. If you are willing to spend 15min a day high quality time on phone, check out [this app.](https://jetson.app)
We r lost lol I’m 46 n still lost
Hey! 21M just starting off my web design business, any chance I could help by building and managing a website for you, if you ever decide on your business?
You can pay me back once you start getting traction and results, just foot the hosting costs for now. I’m looking for business owners who want to grow together and are genuine about it. Let me know!
Uh, who’s to say you couldn’t scale a detailing business to $100k months?
Dear OP You are 17 & your confident of growing business…hustling btwn 20-50k a month?
Man you don’t need to learn more you need to teach what you know
I could teach you how to trade markets but I suspect you could out perform anyone who already is in markets.
> My advice ..do what you know well …but rince & repeat it
If you have a successful business (detailing)…consider franchising it. This is how you take the limit off your business (you being the limiting factor only one of u to run the business)
Don’t build one big business vertically (1 business to service N clients).
Do copy & paste the same business horizontally …in different locations (N businesses x servicing 1client each)….u get the jist
hell u could have two or three brands all in the same location…u have a percentage of each as they compete for same customers (there are certain times this works)
As franchisor u feed the franchisee with products for which you make X
They do the heavy lifting of marketing sales operations & creating revenue.
You take a percentage of Y (revenue & equity) on top…
You could even take the financing to the franchisee…make money on loaning money to buy your franchise off you …u get the jist
Anyways….u sound mad as hell…Mr Besoz 2.0 !
Keep grinding…
I work in the auto detailing industry, there are PLENTY of detailers making 100s of thousands a month.
Like others said, just lock in. You’ll get there.
I work in the auto detailing industry, there are PLENTY of detailers making 100s of thousands a month.
Like others said, just lock in. You’ll get there.
Hate to break it to you, but your expectations arent aligned with reality.
For example, you will have to absolutely dominate your local market to generate 20k a month in revenue a month detailing cars. Mobile detailers dont have high value sales compared to brick and mortar shops. You are limited by what services you can offer and the availability of space to offer services. As a mobile service with a van, you would have to land many many many large offices and office parking garages. A quick wash, wax and interior at a high price of $50 would require you to do 400 vehicles a month. If you work 5 days a week you would need to turn 20 jobs a day, all from a single location, which would take one hell of an office with a lot of interested people. Then you would be down to time. A okay to good job would take you about an hour. So you would need to turn 20hrs of non-stop work in a 24hr day, 5 days a week. These numbers are generous in price and time. Plus you would need at least 5-10 solid locations as most people would only use your service once a month. Winter time you would see your business cut in half, if not more. Also none of this assumes all your cost which would find you busting your ass for pennies.
Detailing industry oversaturated during covid due to a low cost of entry. You will be fighting with your long established competition, meaning lower prices to try and get the work.