The standards within our industry are on the rise and the day of the car trunk based detailers are numbered. Detail customers are becoming much more educated and the baby boomers are a very savvy group that makes up the great majority of the market share within our industry. More and more investor type entrepreneurs are entering the auto detailing industry and those not serious about the industry will fall to the wayside over the coming years. Many markets are seeing and more of these high performance detailers pop-up and as this trend grows it will become much more difficult for those NOT prepared to invest both time and the proper finances into their businesses to make a marked impact within their local market.

I am a professional detailer that operates both fixed locations and mobile detailing operations. I started with nothing and built my business by making wise decisions. As a businessperson, I have located mentors that had been successful and I have learned from these individuals. That decision has been key to our current success and has shortened the learning curve for our business. To get to a comfortable level for my family has not been an easy road. In the early years I worked two jobs and saved every penny to launch my career within the ranks of a true professional and anyone out there reading this today can do the same but you must connect the dots of successful actions to reach true success. For those feeling that the detailing industry, whether mobile or fixed will be an easy road, you stand ready to receive a rude awakening.

I talk with countless people that are well into the planning stages of their proposed venture yet they have failed to look at the basics of good business practices. They have overlooked the fact that you must evaluate the opportunity from a sensible viewpoint. Proposing to start any new business takes methodical study and a great amount of legwork and proper planning with realistic expectations and projections. The current winners within the detailing industry are those that understand key business actions and traits and properly plan for their success.

Many that are looking at the detailing industry are doing so with minimal exposure to the trade and while many may not agree with me, some people simply do not have detailing within their DNA. I have trained and hired people that were sure they were going to become Master Detailers to only realize after they start that they really do not enjoy the demands and challenges of detailing and in some cases, these individuals struggle to perform at or below an entry level. The opposite is also true, many great detailers start their business with their skills as the key to their planned success but yet they are lacking the knowledge and skills to operate a business. It takes both business and physical skills to be successful within the detailing trade. My early warnings to those looking to start a detail business are to make certain your motives of entering the industry remain to be for the right reasons, as there is nothing worse than hating what you do after you have invested tens of thousands into your new venture. Many see detailing as a cheap way to gain access into business ownership and I can tell you now, that type of motivation will most times lead to failure. There must be realistic opportunity along with passion for the trade to fuel a business to a level of bona fide success.

�We looked all over our area for a reliable detailer and could not locate a reliable source for our detailing needs, explains Andy Milligan, one of the partners within Attention To Details of Texas. Andy and his partners are educated business people and their research ran deep. "When we noted that no one was servicing our area, we felt there may be opportunity here, Milligan said. "We looked at sales projections, cost estimates and population and income facts along with a number of other primary indicators within our area".

What I find is that many entering the auto detailing industry are doing so with gut instincts and many times a with a degree of blind ignorance. I am not stating that these individuals are unintelligent, I am simply stating that for decades thousands of people with the hopes and dreams of operating their own businesses have entered the auto detailing industry with the belief that the industry was an easy start to only wake-up to the reality that their lack of skill and knowledge of business had killed their business and caused the loss of all of the money they had invested into their business.

"Because we manage several businesses, our business plan and projections were based on having employees to perform the work, Milligan explains. "We needed to make certain that we could make the needed profits to support staff and start-up cost". Andy's realistic review of the industry is what many smart business investors will do yet this is where many entering the industry fail; within the planning stages of their businesses. Many look at sales potential only; they fail in great part to connect the dots of business. You must take this further than just projected sales, you must understand your expenses, your tax liabilities and most important if your own personal finance needs will be met with capital left over for use within the expansion of your new business.

Andy Milligan adds, "We are entering industries with solid upside, we realized that while most detail operations are operated by the owner operators, few have the knowledge, ability and capital to launch and run a successful operation that has employees doing the daily detailing service work. Our plan called for a detail business based on the highest quality and top rated customer service within our area all while bringing technology and solid business practices into play."

While the greater number of people entering the business remain new to entrepreneurship, more and more professional business people are joining the ranks of service businesses and doing so with a new flare.
"I was drawn to this industry because of a longing to start my own small business", Matt Williams of Silver Lining Detailing said. "After being in sales for nearly four years, I wanted to find a career that I had more control over the outcome, but still utilize the skills I had acquired while in sales. I have always dreamed of owning my own business, and after completing my undergraduate in business just a couple of years ago, I knew now would be as good a time as any."

Matt is also among a new breed, Matt is not only educated but was very dedicated to researching his planned venture. In the years past we witnessed many making off the cuff decisions, while this remains to be a plague within the detailing industry, those that understand business are looking at our industry and capturing market share within the markets they enter at much higher rates than those that are entering the industry with off the cuff tactics.

"I wanted to ensure that a detailing venture could financially support my wife and I in addition to our future family. I also wanted to make sure that life, as a detailer would be an enjoyable one, noted Matt Williams. "I wanted to know everything I could about the detailing industry as a whole, what it would take to become a detailer on a professional basis, who was going to be my target market, how would I target them, what expectations should I have early on. At that point I began talking with experienced individuals within the industry. I wanted to know their stories, the roadblocks they encountered along the way, the successes they've seen and how they achieved them. I knew I had a genuine interest in starting up a detailing business after finding myself researching more information on my computer far into the wee-hours of the morning and spending countless nights laying awake thinking of various aspects of my business I would soon be starting."

Andy and his team in Texas along with Matt are examples of a new breed that are entering the auto detailing industry. These professionals are not simply looking at a way to make a living but avenues to build thriving and valuable auto detailing businesses that take on a life of their own and function at the highest levels within the auto detailing industry.

If you're looking to start or expand a business in most cases you're a salesman and the problem with most that sell or are capable of selling is the fact that we often sell ourselves on anything we believe in. I am very guilty of the disease of self-selling and continue to pass ideas by my mentors. You should also take your time within your investigations and look at the realities of the industry. Take the personal side out of your decisions and make realistic observations based on truth, not your desire!

The early stages of your investigations into a possible business are a great time to have others look at the opportunity with you. Again within my own successes mentors have been the cornerstones of many of my most important decisions. We all have others within our lives that we respect but few of these individuals have built solid and profitable businesses. I urge you to search for mentors that have proven histories in business and this feat is easier than you may guess. SCORE and your local SBA office are starting points for locating mentors that understand business and usually those that have succeeded are very open to helping others.

Within this first session we have discussed many of the foundation issues of our industry and the basics of solid business decision-making. As we introduce additional sessions within this series we will expose more fundamental actions and start looking at the mobile operation and fixed location subjects. Our point within this series is to not tell you, the reader, what is the best operation but to provide you with the tools to arrive at the answer of what type of operation is better for your own venture. It is our hope that this series will assist many within the industry to have a clearer picture of the minimal actions to take and we anticipate that this series will cause people to do more research and take realistic actions within their proposed venture.

Our next session, "Myths and Misconceptions Within the Auto Detailing Industry" will address the many myths and misconceptions that flood the auto detailing industry. We will discuss what others have done or are doing to properly evaluate the industry.

• Myths and Misconceptions Within the Auto Detailing Industry
• Effective First Steps That True Business People Utilize
• Positive Facts About Mobile Auto Detailing Operations
• Positive Facts About Fixed Auto Detailing Locations
• Possible Drawbacks Within Mobile Auto Detailing Operations
• Possible Drawbacks Within Fixed Auto Detailing Locations
• A Final Conclusion and Overview of The Mobile Vs. Fixed detailing Operation Series