Before Detail Pros: How I ended up detailing for money

Many jobs employed as a detailer

As a "millenial" I am unhappy to report that I grew up with a sense of entitlement and not taking responsibility. In my jr. college years at Yuba College in Marysville, CA, I did not take being employed very seriously. I worked hard, yes, but I was a bad employee. You know the difference between someone you want on your team, and someone that works hard, but has a bad attitude. I was the latter.

I've worked at Yuba City Honda and had a bad attitude. I was working at Enterprise-Rent-A-Car, and while I didn't have a bad attitude, I did not try to excel there. I have worked at Roseville BMW and got fired for having a beer in the back with a coworker (bad idea!). I've worked at the now shut-down Credit Max in Sacramento, CA (wannabe Car Max) and literally set a car on fire there (on accident, of course). I worked at a small, used car dealership in Chico, CA and left there without warning to start my business. I am unhappy to report my regrets as a crap employee, but am happy to report that these days, knowing that I am fully responsible for myself, my family and my business, that things are at least a bit different.

Doing "side" detailing work for my mechanic friend's shop

One of the reasons I've ever had the chance to start this detailing business, is because I got to see that starting a business, from someone my age, a friend, was even possible. In fact, that same friend allowed me to use his mechanic shop as a platform to do some of my first paid work. Yes, I was "advertising" on craigslist, but all of my "customers" came by way of his shop, from his traffic and his customers - people who trusted him and his judgement.

​I cleaned and polished a few vehicles there, and gained the experience of being solely responsible for providing for myself. No, this was not my only source of income, neither was I really seeking an income - but the experience and witnessing the shop grow, allowed me to see first hand what is possible.

Gold Gloss Auto Detailing & starting to start a business

My last job being employed somewhere was at that small, used car dealership in Chico, CA. While I was working there, my baby boys were born, I was married, and life was simpler yet way more difficult financially. We were living in an apartment complex off of East Onstott Road - the Butte Horizon Apartments. We tried a few things on the side to get some extra income coming in (selling knockoff snapback hats and cheap knockoff beats by dre headphones,  selling rap beats, etc.), but I always came back to  car detailing because it is what I knew and is what I was most familiar with.

The difficult thing was, that I was already working hard, detailing for someone else for 10 hours in the day. The thought of making $300 on one car instead of 3 days at work, kept me very interested though. I ended up making 1/2 page flyers with a picture of a Cadillac Escalade on it, and text reading "GOLD GLOSS AUTO DETAILING." (I used that same name as my moniker for making rap beats: Gold Gloss Beats.) I didn't really distribute these flyers, as I didn't make the time to, nor did I dare go up to a stranger. However, in that time, before I made a legal business (with the name GO GREEN WASH N' WAX), I accumulated the equipment and supplies necessary to start.

I purchased my first dual action polisher from Harbor Freight Tools, paired with the black, blue and orange foam pads from that store. I bought Meguiars Ultimate Compound and Ultimate Polish. I used purple power degreaser as it was the cheapest, most aggressive cleaner available in the store, and sprayed it all out of dollar tree spray bottles. I spent a lot of time researching products and techniques on the forum Autogeekonline.net, definitely too much, but it helped me build the confidence to get started. If only I would have just gotten started earlier, and kept my self-consciousness and indecision from getting in the way.