Good idea to start business first, then get the retail spot if it all goes well! WAY less overhead for sure! You would think that this website would like your $. Just send it to me and I will make sure he gets it.

 

"If you got yourself a Krispy Kreme franchise, consider yourself lucky. Krispy Kreme has no more U.S. franchises available, according to its site. A few months ago, you could still open one for in $175,000 cash and a total outlay of about $1.1 million."

http://www.trendsetters.com/food-trend/900...ispy-kreme.html

 

there are zero kripy kream's near me..... the local Giant Grocery story (same as Martins other places) sell them, but by that point they are about 8 years old.

 

So whats the URL?

 

DetailersParadise.com
Sorry, but you won't see anything until tomorrow.

 

bump.....

any word on how it is going?

 

I'd stay out of the retail front business in Denver and go about it the way you are, the Internet.

Locally in Denver you have a few things working against you.

1. Weather

2. Water shortages (at least this past summer we were not allowed to wash on certain days or in some areas at all).

3. Traffic. I (and most other folks I would assume) am not going to drive more than 10 or at most 15 minutes, which means you either have to be downtown and give up the county folks or in the county and negate the city folks.

4. Cheap alternatives. Within 10 blocks of my house we have 2 do it yourself washes and one they do it for you (the firehouse) place. Folks are fairly lazy and for many 20 bucks seems like a fair price....and boy do those places pack em in on weekends. Figure 3 illegal kids working for 5 an hour can clean 10 cars an hour. That is one business where the math works out well.

Regardless of all of this, it would be nice for us Denver folks if you had the option to pick up the products instead of having the shipped. With this feature I know I would certainly give you my business.

Your approach of hitting up the local car shows and clubs seems sound. You might try the BMWCCA folks and perhaps try to get some presence at the local auto-x's. Not sure what their policy is but I'm sure exposure could be had either with or without their blessing.

But whatever you do, don't tape shit to my front door. I spent five hours last week collecting the BlackJack pizza ads plastered on every front door and covering their entire store front facade with them that night.

 

Scot keeping it real. Thanks for checking in. Here is the scoop...

The website went live around June 10. We did quite a few shows over the summer. Some really good and others a waste of money and time. Ah well, it is a learning process.

Anyway, in September we turned our first profit. I doubt we will this month, but our numbers continue to improve. Basically, this month I plan to get paid.

I just contracted an outside sales person (1099) to pick up some local accounts. He is 100% commission. We will see how it goes.

I picked up an amazing line of products out of Germany called einszett. They are really the bread and butter of my sales. I have been doing the car detailing thing for close to 20 years and the einszett polishes continue to impress me each time I use them.


steve-I have mixed feelings on the retail space. About 35% of our business comes from CO and that is without directly advertising or promoting. Much of it has been word of mouth, two big car shows and the Denver Grand Prix. I think if we open in the right location, we will do fine. I would like to get the internet piece funding at least 60% of our required daily income before we jump into brick and mortar.

So what has been the secret to my success so far? Customer service and fast, fair shipping. Our products are well packaged and ship the same day you order (before 3:00 MT). We ship from Denver, so travel to either coast is damn quick. Our stuff generally hits NY in two days, CA takes an extra day or two. Customers really appreciate that level of service. I also sponsor NSXPrime, AudiWorld and Roadfly. Don't even ask about contacting cthree about S2Ki. I could rant about that guy for pages.

So there you have it. Things are going well. We have been lucky in our timing and decision making. As we look back on the first few months of business we more often than not go, "Shew, we guessed right."

www.detailersparadise.com

 

the 4 month check in....

I am always fascinated how other people make $.... I have no idea why.....

I am sure the weather sucks for car care stuff right now.... do you have any indoor car shows?

"I picked up an amazing line of products out of Germany called einszett" - bless you...

 

Scot,

Nick has gotten me hooked on the Einszett stuff. All my customers cars that I detail end up looking just downright amazing....I made the cars look that good without Einszett, it's jsut that Einszett makes doing the work much easier.

I'm not sure, but I'm on track to becoming one of his best returning customers .