Should a Single Mom With Two Kids Start a Mobile Detailing and Car Wash Business?

A week or so ago, someone asked me if they should start a mobile car washing and auto detailing business in a large US city. The scenario goes something like this; a single mom, in a large metropolitan sprawling city, let’s use Houston as an example, wants to hire two-guys to do the work and use this money to provide her an income. Will this work, I was asked, and how would one go about setting this up?

First, everyone must realize that there are so many ways to run a “mobile car washing business” or auto detailing company, and your strategy would be different for each scenario. If I am to give you worthy advice, I need to know everything. And, my advice might be – don’t do it, but I have no idea yet. Do you see my point? In this case I am leery and skeptical that such a scenario would yield the intended results. So let me explain.

First the young mom wants to do everything legally, which is very wise, but also realize employees can be a real pain from a management, accounting, tax, and regulatory standpoint. Next, she has been burned before and has a trust issue with business, employment, and even men as a whole. Perfectly, understood there, can’t blame her at all based on her experience, observations, and life’s story to this point. Thus, I get it and now see why she is wanting to be careful.

Nevertheless, she will need a strategic plan and she will need to keep it simple. Here is the deal, in planning a new business, if you keep changing your plan twice a day, all you will end up doing is wasting your money and time. You need a strategy. Now then, in this scenario, consider the mom’s stress levels, I hear that; single mom 3 kids, etc, yes, big time challenging, but that’s even more the reason to play it safe and have a plan, one that will work, or has the best chances.

Remember every business is a risk, so minimize it as much as possible. And if she does that success can be had. Here are the basic rules to success in the mobile car washing and detailing business;

1.) Work Smart – have a plan, keep it simple, conserve your money, play it smart.
2.) Make Lots of Friends – find solid customers, use your network of friends (not just online, real world too) to get customers and make this easier.
3.) Work Hard – meaning you are going to have to put out real effort, success does not come for free, right?
4.) Never Give Up – once you get going, stick it out, go the distance, don’t think failure, think about winning!

So, if you are a single mom considering on starting a business like this, please make a note of it, and think on it, Okay?