fresh new start

[Hungryfish247]

ive been jobless for about 4 months now with no silver lining, and this got me thinking shall i go self employed and start up my own business? ive been thinking about doing a mobile valeting service around south wales to earl a little bit of cash, to help me with mine and my girlfriends future project which is to build a little tear drop caravan, but using the back end of a ds3 that has sadly been written off from the front end.

so tell me guys and girls what do you think???

[BeefMasta]

Do it!

[Superfly Guy]

Going self employed is not always the easy answer to employment issues. The biggest shock I got when leaving the forces was the number of legal hoops I had to jump through (and not just financial ones either). Do your research.

[gaz_dsport]

Do your market reaserch before you do it... I had same idea as you a while back was going put my savings into it and then realised that with all the cheap hand car washes about you would be very lucky to make a profit... I am from.south Wales area.. I done months and months of thinking and reaserch into it.. if you go for it.. I wish you all the best... But make sure you do deep reaserch into it

[Clean Your Ride]

Do your research as everyone has stated. What experience do you have? If it's mobile valeting, what can you offer that other established valeters cannot? How will you market yourself? Why book you to turn up when they can get their car washed and hoovered for a fiver whilst they are doing their shopping? You would probably spend more than a fiver just fuel there and back.

It is a seriously cut-throat business with regular (non too fussy) customers wanting as cheap a job as possible for as clean a car as possible.

How will you transport water, provide electricity and what happens when it's throwing it down? Will you be providing a gazebo so you can work undercover? How much is the public liability insurance you will need?

Nice idea and you should be commended for wanting to get out there and do something but I strongly advise you to leave this to the Poles and Albanians whose masters pay them about a Pound an hour.

[lfcrule1972]

Sound advice, it does seem like a cut throat business and round my way the detailers (if you call them that) are all Polish and don't appear to be rolling in the cash. We used to have a mobile valeter round at work but people balked at paying him £20 for interior clean and wash and dry on the outside..... After a while his bookings stopped cos the Polish place did that and a wax for £15

[ZACK]

Mate there's some pretty big well-established names in the South Wales area for valeting / detailing, both static and mobile. I think it would be very hard to break into the market at the moment unless you could offer something that the others couldn't / didn't have yet.

[Superfly Guy]

I think it would be very hard to break into the market at the moment unless you could offer something that the others couldn't / didn't have yet.

Zack has hit the nail on the head there. I receive a constant flow of PMs and Emails from former colleagues and current acquaintances asking me if I can give them a step up the ladder, the problem is they have no Unique Selling Point (horrid term but understood by all HR types). Yes great service is a USP but it takes a long time to build up that reputation for great service (and a nono second to wreck it). I have seen plenty of people in my line of work invest in hair/nail/tanning salons as well as pubs and restaurants, the vast majority go down the pan within 12 months.

Poor planning, execution and a lack of expectation management will see even the greatest idea fail.