espelirS2K

I started my own small business at 18. I'm almost 21, and after two years of very stressful times, hardly making a dime, and mostly scrounging just to make ends meat, things are starting to fall in place and business is picking up. :knockonwood:

Perseverance will be your number one challenge. It's easy to quit. If everyone made good money starting a small business, everyone would do it. Also, how do big corporations form? they usually don't start with billion dollar profits and 20,000 employees. I always tell myself those things...

Onehots2k

My story is very similar to yours. I'm a few businesses in though. The first 3 failed big time but I've learned from the experiences. I've got a small side business that brings in very decent income and a 40hr a week job that I enjoy. Having the piece of mind knowing I dont "have" to work for someone is amazing. I do it because it pays well and I get to be around cars all day. I'm buying my dream car for my 25th bday(4months away) and have been saving to buy a biz or start my own by the 26th bday. I've got the plans completed for my own and have a few franchises in mind. I can't afford to do both so I'll have to make up my damn mind soon. At the moment all my trains are on time. I feel like there really isn't enough time in the day though. I really believe that life is all about balance. I'm at the point where I need to lift up the social/relationship aspect.

MikeyCB

In the back of my mind I am always thinking about products or services I could develop and provide that I won't personally have to handle for long. I am more interested in an idea that doesn't only work when I'm actively working it. I'd like to set something in motion that picks up steam during the hours when I'm unable to attend to it. I dunno what that is yet.

I say open a high-end self car wash. If you can find (and afford) a decent location, you'll be in the big money with little attention from yourself.

Rudy-S2k

My dad actually has a property with highway frontage that he doesn't use. Has cement slab and a sheetmetal warehouse. It needs some TLC, but I was thinking of maybe asking him to let me do it there.

evil MS3

You could manage a group of girls to sell kisses behind the temp building...

Do you know what I am saying?

thebig33tuna

Mr. Eryozgatliyan

I always thought that a car wash would be a good business to do....

espelirS2K

Volume car washes can make decent money. I think it'd be great to do a very nice self-serve car wash. But would people be able to justify the price? From my experiences, the majority wouldn't

MikeyCB

I look at it like this:

I'm willing to pay $2-5 to quickly rinse my car, $10 to give it a better wash using most of the settings on the self-wash dial.

With a 10 car capacity you can configure it in various ways depending on the building that exists there already; 5 tandem bays (and 5 exterior line-ups), a single-direction center roadway with 5 bays on either side (and 1 exterior line-up), etc.

If half the people who come in spend $5 and half spend $10 and you average 5 cars per hour (open 24 hours?) over the course of the week, then you'll be looking at annual revenue of $328,500. For an industrial (unfinished) space like this you might pay something like $1-4k monthly depending on location. Factor in all your supplies, electrical, and maintenance, and you could have a nice little business for yourself. If that works, think about opening another location and increase your income.


I'm a big fan of the car wash idea, myself.

MikeyCB

By the way, I don't see vehicle self-wash bays as a replacement for professional washing and detailing services.

I go to them because I don't trust hand wash amateurs to touch my cars, I want a quick wash without having to pull out 20 different products, a hose, a bucket, etc etc etc, and don't have enough money to spend on pro services every time my car gets dirty.

Self washes aren't converting anyone who uses professional wash & detail services into self-washers, they simply provide a function to the majority of the population at a lower cost.