Need advice on starting "side business".

Take what Dave said and run with it. Trust him, Me and everyone else who has commented on this thread about going overboard on products. It becomes very easy to say, "Oh hey i MIGHT need this or that." Or "I see this detailer uses this so i should buy it."

Your good with Polishes. If you want to start trying some Menzerna products then go ahead. I highly recommend Powerlock for LSP.
A good All Purpose Cleaner
Optimum No Rinse
PH soap of your choice
Clay
Tire Dressing
etc.. You get the picture.

Your off to a great start! Just don't go overboard until your workload takes you there.

 

I typically seal with DG 105 if they pay for a clay/wax because 105 lasts longer than any wax I have in my arsenal. However, I ask if they would like additional protection and usually just charge another $20 for that.

 

Oh, and I always top it wit DG Aqua Wax. AW looks fantastic and lasts a long time for a QD. That is the best combination I have found thus far. However, I really want to get some Menz polish and sealent because I have heard it awesome stuff for 1 steps and seals great. I am not going to get too carried away with products. I simply want enough for my own vehicles and the few customer rides I get the opportunity to detail.

Next on the list for purchase is the RG brush set, RG wheel brush, Uber Sponges, RG mitt, and Iron X. I also need a solid tire dressing for my car. I dress customer vehicles well, tires, and engine with Megs Hyper at 4:1 and love it. Cheap, affective, and easy to use.

 

Relevant read:

Does Your Home Business Need Insurance?

 

Some things I could not live without now

ONR - wash, clay, post polish dust mess clean up in the garage
Good APC - I use meg's super degreaser (4:1) for tires, engine bays, and exhaust tips, and I use Majestic Solutions Super Green Stuff (4:1) for my trim washing. I could really live with different dilutions of SGS no problem, but I already have a lot of Super Degreaser to go through.
Brushes - Clean wheel barrels are necessary imo, and a small brush for cleaning hard to get areas with sponges is also nice

These are also very cool for cars with giant brake calipers.

Two Micro Fiber Wheel Wands - Cleaning Tools - Wheels & Tires - Car Care - Griot's Garage

As for wax, how about Collnites? They look great, and they last a long long time. It's hard to go wrong with them. The money spent to applications ratio is pretty high on them.

Like DSMS said, I would avoid constantly buying new products that you don't actually need. I got caught up with waxes (I THINK A LOT OF US ARE GUILTY ON THIS ONE.) if I'm honest. It's unnecessary and very costly. I ended up spending a lot of the money I made detailing on the side for more products. Zero equity there, haha.

For LSPs now, I keep DG 601+105, Victoria Red and a spray wax around. Spray wax is for the lazy days or my keep it protected until I have more time days.

 

Absolutely. Quite honestly, I really don't understand the big deal about all these big hi end waxes. I could throw 2 coats of DG105 and 2 coats of HD wax on a red Corvette and it will look and feel nearly the same as some of these high dollar waxes. I am very confident in my APC whic h is Zep. This stuff does wonders and I can get it cheaply by the gallon at my local Home Depot. I do want to pick up PF and PL however. I also have some Scholl polishes I am dying to try out on my Mustang when I compound it again (thanks JL!)

 

High end waxes = perception for many. while I do not doubt the fact they are great products, Its not worth the money to me; and I have stuck with what works and what lasts long for dry dirty heat (where I live)

for my personal car its no holds barred, but for customers cars who generally do not care about the process, and care more about the visual result Im happy with D151 and Glanz wax, if I go that route, but I'm a Menzerna power lock user for most applications. But alot depends on what the customer wants too.

I have a buddy who uses Swissvax Crystal Rock on his cars, lasts about a month in Fresno, attracts dust like crazy. when its clean, it looks good, but I honestly cannot tell the difference. AG HD looks just as good IMO......... but you don't get a cute sticker that says " do not touch I used swissvax etc etc" to put in the door jam; with AGHD, i had to use masking tape for that.

but as with anything you will always have a high end, mid grade and total crap.....

 

I agree with Kilo 150% on this. You will be much better served investing in your equipment that will serve you many years as opposed to high-end waxes that the customer can't even differentiate from a glanz, a HD auto wax, or a collinite, a Powerlock, etc.. Even if it was just for your own vehicle I still wouldn't do it. There's plenty of reasonably priced products out there that look fantastic!

 

Definitely. Here in Phoenix, I have seen as much as 4 months out of a customer vehicle with 1 coat of both 105 and HD wax. He is going to bring me his wifes car to do the same thing too real soon!

I am going to look into some business cards here soon and buy my own domain name. Any suggestions for host sites? I have a free site at Free Website Builder | Create a Free Flash Website at Wix.com currently.

 

honestly, websites you get what you pay for. alot of the cheap to free ones are cookie cutter, not saying you need a epic site, but it may be worth investing a little.. it sets the tone really when it comes to getting your information out there.

 

Pshh. I did my own site with my sisters Mac. iWeb created a good looking site!

The wix site does look nice though!

 

Yeah, I am pretty happy with the free wix site I currently have but here is the domain name:Wix.com Freeworksdetailing created by Freefallin2000 based on Nu Classic Com

Little redundant/long, cheap sounding.

 

Can you transfer to your own domain?

 

I think so...I am going to check into it down the road or when I get paid....

 

you are two steps ahead of me, i can barely turn my computer on let alone design a site.

 

lmao....

 

Some great info here, I do this as a paying hobby more then a side business I wish I had more time to devote to it but the wife and kids plus 60+ hrs a week at work take a lot of time. I have used wix and weebly to create my site and used wix one for a while until I fooled around more with weebly and now I use weebly. I purchased my domain from netfirms and redirect my domain to my weebly site so to a client they only type in my domain no weebly.com stuff added to it. I am one that has falled into the gotta have all products I now am using what I have before I buy anything and will be only purchasing the few products I use contstantly. Good luck with your side business

 

Thanks a lot for the advice on the side business. I am playing with my site and have recently changed the name to "Pristine Detailing Works". Is there any way to pay a "flat fee" for my own domain name and not have to pay yearly or monthly?

 

Netfirms is $11 a yr but you can pay for longer terms I believe

 

I will have to check it out....how did everyone make or buy they're business cards? I am thinking of making my own and having them printed but I have no idea of how to make them and transfer them fro mthe jump drive to get printed. Any advice here?