Want to be a pro detailer? Watch this. | DIY Detail Podcast #32

Are you someone that loves detailing so much that you want to start making money doing it? You're not alone. Thankfully, Yvan has seen it all -- and has plenty of wisdom to share about how to succeed as a professional detailer. (He also shares mistakes to avoid)
In this episode, Nick and Yvan sit down to talk about the transition from enthusiast to professional detailer.
Find our line up here: www.DIYdetail.com
#detailing #entrepreneur #paintcorrection #diydetail #yvanlacroix #nickMcgurk #podcast #podcasts
#detailing #washcar #detailing101

[@diydetailofficial]

DIYDetail.com

[@madwax1360]

I haven't heard this much knowledge in one shot since first seeing Yoda in Empire Strikes Back

[@diydetailofficial]

Thank you

[@josephhales8054]

Please provide more business content. This I feel is the real stuff nobody talks about and can elevate our knowledge as business owners. I greatly appreciate yall!!! Also talk about how to pay ourselves from the business when we go full time. I think I understand that no longer I can take all the profits for myself when full time.

[@diydetailofficial]

You may want to watch Yvan’s channel kzbin.info/door/iAirridYXEt5iQIZ4K9RmA

[@davidkasparian3813]

I laughed when Nick countered with Dave Ramsey because that thought popped in my head too about credit 😂

[@diydetailofficial]

Thank you

[@peterbowman5750]

As someone whos been in insurance for the last 15 years i can agree with what was said....one thing is to review your policies regulary. At least once orctwice a year as things change. There is professional liability out there but it would be completely separate from the business owners policies.

[@diydetailofficial]

Thanks

[@MikesMarineDetailing]

I am consistently blown away by the sage wisdom from Yvan. So many gold nuggets in this video. I can only imagine how helpful his coaching services would be

[@diydetailofficial]

Glad it was helpful!

[@randymurphy7051]

I've been on & off with detailing as more of a hobby I make money to pay back my expenses. And now, I think I've watched every Detailer's Business Academy video that Yvan has posted and have a handful of practice getting my efficiency down, learning the rotary (it really is easy with a good waffle pad, slow speed, and proper lubrication), and my cart is almost trained to follow me around! I am planning on opening my business out of my garage in a couple weeks and I don't think theres much left for me to figure out other than to just open up and start accepting calls & going out to market to the community. Since I also have a full-time job (no family thankfully) making good money that would be tough to beat with detailing, I wanted to see if either of you have any specific tips for dealing with doing both at the same time! I want to make detailing work in the long-run as a way to become my own boss, and I think I am starting out with a good set of knowledge and skills, and the confidence to be able to give the customers what they are looking for. I've done corrections & coatings for a few years now, got pro certified for a coating installer, and plan on only doing paint corrections & ceramics + maintenance details as I gain reviews & following in the area (suburbs north of Austin, Tx). Theres tons I need to just do and figure out, but anything to ease the anxiety would be great 😅 Appreciate all you guys do, can't wait to try out the DIY rinseless when it arrives!

[@diydetailofficial]

Thank you, best advice I can give is do not become enslaved to your work.

[@gunnsteinnjonsson9166]

"No that is just stupidity" 😅😅 Nick asks grest questions and Yvan always has the right answers. Great show as always guys 😮

[@diydetailofficial]

Thank you

[@bjimsondetailing]

this is the kind of talk that I do enjoy from your detailers business academy.

[@diydetailofficial]

thanks for watching!

[@neilwalker5041]

The first thing my insurance agent told me was if you mess up the customers car your paying for it. Then he told me if I go mobile my vehicle has to have commercial tag or the vehicle is not covered if it gets in a crash. Remember we are not in the detailing business but we are in the people business. If you know the story of “give the customer the pickle” then you understand what being in the people business means. For me I saved up a years worth of income and my house is paid for along with being debt free. The business license and insurance aspect is where I am but I have not set up a web page. After twelve years of retail I decided to take a few months off because I was burnt out physically and emotionally. Yvan makes work life balance sound easy but for me this is very challenging. Thank you guys for the video and your advice is appreciated!

[@diydetailofficial]

It’s not necessarily easy, but it’s 100% necessary to be healthy.

[@MrChuckwagon55]

Yvan is so full of incredible wisdom & knowledge. Amazing video.

[@diydetailofficial]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@shawnyanak1684]

Great Video Yvan and Nick!!! I guess I will stay as a Weekend Warrior Detailing. Great Advice!!!

[@diydetailofficial]

Have fun!

[@waxmanvids5015]

Wow! Thanks for the knowledge dump! Much appreciated Yvan and Nick!

[@diydetailofficial]

Thank you

[@johnbrown3951]

That was so useful I have been thinking of going pro but I am not sure that if I do the enjoyment I get may turn into a job that's not so much fun. I need to sit down with Business Gateway who are our Government here in Scotland's help for new start up's then I guess my Bank. Thanks for these pointers.

[@diydetailofficial]

Best of luck!

[@Ecdetails]

Bro where was this years Ago haha This is the method I took business license , garage keeper and liability. I also went got the website , Facebook, instagram And you can use stripe and use afterpay and month payments. Removes the risk from you as the business. Thank you all for the wealth of knowledge

[@diydetailofficial]

Thank you

[@DIYworkplace]

Merci Yvan et Nick!

[@extremeoptimumautodetailin6616]

Good evening Yvan & Nick I love the info. & the awesome tutorial you guys talk about & show us the mobile detailers and the new comers I love what you do for me & the rest that watch your content that has a lot of knowledge which I new this 30 yrs plus ago even today I've made so many mistakes but you guys wow give us so much is great thanks for your hard work & dedication you guys do thanks again William from extreme optimum auto detailing pr be safe God bless

[@diydetailofficial]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@stevedeneckere6009]

From the Quad Cities. Love your videos.

[@diydetailofficial]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@jamietaylor3075]

Nick your mind must be blown every time that yvan speaks

[@diydetailofficial]

Lol he’s a smart guy

[@iglopez63D]

Awesome video. A lot of what you cover relates to many small businesses set up. Ty

[@diydetailofficial]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@wadetaylor3195]

Great info, ty. What would be an example of a common insurance claim by the detailer?

[@diydetailofficial]

Having an accident while moving the car.

[@chriss3959]

Great content! Enjoyed the discussion!

[@diydetailofficial]

Thank you

[@stevenv9224]

Excellent tip 👍👍👍👍

[@diydetailofficial]

Thanks 👍

[@pipesmoker956]

Great information, if I was younger. I would consider a business I'm just a hobbiest. I have 2 brand new cars and I like to keep them looking new.

[@diydetailofficial]

Appreciate you watching! Hopefully we can help you get the results you want and you have fun doing it😃

[@bjimsondetailing]

thanks for the enlightenment what if after washing the engine bay and the car refuse to start again will the insurance cover that

[@diydetailofficial]

Insurance will not cover that.

[@chodkowski01]

Because of liabilities and the result of damage caused is the reason why you should charge a high price to detail a car. Out of pocket expenses can be very high.

[@diydetailofficial]

True

[@nickcangelosi1836]

There are too many mobile detailers where it’s just a ONE TIME TRANSACTIONAL deal. Never start cheap. The goal is to build Wealth and Financial stability, aka Residual Based/Passive Income. Find customers that will continue to remain a customer, Maintance plans 100%. Once a customer, always a customer. As a business owner, Connecting with like minded individuals should be the goal. BUILD SOMETHING IS THE GOAL.

[@diydetailofficial]

Agreed

[@maacodale]

Hey Yvan, just watching this again and I realized you left out Workers Comp Insurance. That's actually required and BIG fines if not obtained. Plus, it covers you if an employee gets injured, otherwise, it's coming out of your pocket!

[@diydetailofficial]

Good catch

[@thewiseguy390]

Hire people as contractors and not employers.

[@bluegrasskid4835]

@@thewiseguy390 If you go this route, just be careful that you follow the IRS guidelines that define what is an employee versus what is a contractor. If you incorrectly treat contractors as employees and get caught, you get stuck having to pay fines along with employment insurance and tax withholding for the time they worked for you and other costs normally associated with employees. In my area, taxing authorities have really stepped up auditing companies that use contractors to see if they are really employees being misclassified.

[@DetailsNMe]

As a female who is trying to break into the industry-I feel like I’m already hurdling an obstacle -being female in a predominantly male focused genre of auto detail-am I being paranoid and irrational to feel this way? What are your thoughts on this?

[@diydetailofficial]

It’s not an obstacle if you don’t allow it too be. Look up Detailer Chick on KZbin, she has a great perspective and content.

[@DetailsNMe]

@@diydetailofficial 🙏 thank you!

[@aarongrantthebulk]

Working on becoming a detailed in 2 months time. Don’t need licence here thankfully. Do you think a person can be “successful” doing this less than full time? Maybe 20 hours per week? Still working my way through all your videos. I’m also going to be mobile… Thanks

[@diydetailofficial]

Yes, absolutely

[@collinwidmier5704]

Appreciate the knowledge you share so helpful. Where are you located?

[@diydetailofficial]

Our facilities are in Nebraska

[@bluegrasskid4835]

Detailers who operate in a shop need shopkeepers' insurance, building insurance, and liability insurance, what about mobile detailers? Liability insurance obviously. I assume you don't need building insurance or shopkeepers since you are not operating out of a shop or building correct? If you use your personal vehicle, my guess is you would need to add some type of special insurance for your vehicle?

[@diydetailofficial]

That’s a question you should ask your insurance broker.

[@edornelas7248]

Another great one guys!!

[@diydetailofficial]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@JohnSnow1232]

In your 40 years of experience Yvan, what would you say is the top 3 things that wealthy clients value most when it comes to delivering your services to them? I read that a top business tip is to know your ideal client and so I would greatly appreciate it if you could help me out with the above mentioned top 3 :)

[@diydetailofficial]

Time savings, quality customer service, customer experience.

[@joshbanker8743]

Yvan I need help. I have a client with a vehicle that is a disaster there is much residual organic matter and odor in the vehicle. I'm going to use an enzyme cleaner but I don't know the steps exactly do I pretreat everything first and let it start working by itself? Or can I mix it with any type of cleaner such as alkaline or apc or extracter shampoo? Or does the enzyme come last as a post treatment? Thanks.

[@diydetailofficial]

Honestly I would hire a company with the proper training and equipment to deal with Biohazards

[@joshbanker8743]

@@diydetailofficial ok its not a biohazardous it's just I'm trying to figure out when to use enzymes

[@diydetailofficial]

Interiors are Nick’s specialty.

[@joshbanker8743]

@@diydetailofficial if only he was here. Thanks anyway yvan.

[@chriss3959]

Sorry not related to this discussion but what was the brush you use to apply tire lotion?

[@diydetailofficial]

diydetail.com/products/medium-soft-wash-brush

[@chriss3959]

Much appreciated!

[@kingranch8516]

Yvan going to give gold standard a try gold standard polish no dusting sounds great, so how does it stack up against 3D one more cut or less? Thanks for all you guys do.

[@diydetailofficial]

I’ve never compared them. One has been around for 4-5 years now, it may not have the latest in abrasive technology.

[@kingranch8516]

@@diydetailofficial great thank you

[@piggietruckerjones7545]

So what if you just want to stay a hobbyest . I do maybe 5 to 6 cars a year out of my garage. Do I still need insurance? They do pay me. But I only brake even.

[@diydetailofficial]

Check with your insurance broker if You need more coverage

[@fredericdoyle4467]

💪🙌🔥

[@diydetailofficial]

🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@caseG80]

Get a good CPA find out what can be tax write offs and learn how to keep track place for receipts or specific folder on computer or phone better you keep tract daily weekly the easier not will be come tax time.

[@diydetailofficial]

Excellent tips!

[@joshbanker8743]

Yvan do you have a chemistry degree?

[@diydetailofficial]

No, we work with chemists daily.

[@ricklong3218]

They glazed over the what packages to offer rather quickly. I have not jumped into making this a busines or looked into doing so, YET. Sick of grinding it out every day so that may be coming soon. Anyway, keep packages to a minimum and upsell everything! You need to talk to the customer to see what they expect and what you can do to make them happy and make a profit. My wife never sees the swirls in her paint as long as it is shiny and clean she is happy. A car person who loves their car will see more than most other people see. Basically the difference between a daily driver and a show car or a super car. And to add to the image thing, don't be a cocky cock, pardon my French. There is a guy local to me that drives the customer cars to his "studio" at his house and he really is just an arrogant person that thinks he's a VIP because he gets to drive and work on some of these cars. Says the wrong things and treats people poorly in general. Not sure how he got the business from some of these car owners because I wouldn't let him touch anything I own just based on his attitude and demeanor.

[@diydetailofficial]

It’s a customer service business.

[@bjimsondetailing]

man you're too much. you have a lot of stuff in your brain .40 year experience is no joke sir more powers to your elbows

[@diydetailofficial]

thank you

[@albertsneed8263]

Do what he says, you will be broke in no time

[@diydetailofficial]

Why?

[@extremeoptimumautodetailin6616]

Yvan do you guys have decals or stickers banners come you help me w my channel in tips and advice on it thanks William from extreme optimum auto detailing pr be safe God bless

[@diydetailofficial]

We do send stickers with orders, but no banners yet.

[@serranosmobile]

Yes i want to be a pro 😭😭😭

[@diydetailofficial]

Bro, I don’t know how to tell you this…it ain’t gonna happen 😂 You are already a pro.

[@serranosmobile]

@DIY Detail that's facts 💯 🤣🤣