Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ethan Williams. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Ethan, appreciate you joining us today. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?
I wish I would have been so scared to start. I could’ve been 6 months to a year ahead. I started with my car, and later moved to detailing friends and families car. But this whole time I was more focused on my job at the time, and nervous about putting my business out there. I was 18 when I first started detailing (Just my car) but it wasn’t until covid hit, and I got fired from my job that I thought about turning it into a business. I was really unsure on what i wanted to do, but my girlfriend realized my love for cars and gave me the idea. Then that’s when I started detailing friends and family. I did this for about 6 months, then my girlfriend finally got me to realize I could do it and I went and got my first customer. This seems like a while, but i’ve always been a not very social person and got way too nervous when it came to presenting by business and services. After I got the first customer it was a snowball effect and by 20 I quit my job as a manger at a dessert shop I was working at and went Full Time detailing!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I first got into detailing, after my girlfriend gave me the idea when I got fired from job when covid hit. So I started my mobile detailing business, basically we come to your house and detail your car while you relax or get whatever you need done. We solve the problem of having to wait hours at a car wash in the hot sun, while being unproductive. We do high quality detailing which is a lot different from a car wash. No worrying about the car wash scratching or messing up your car. We also go above and beyond to get all the cracks and crevices. I’m mostly proud of how far i’ve been able to take the business. It’s proved to me I can do a lot more than I ever believed, as long as I work hard and put my mind to it.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
I posted a lot. To the point wher some said it was annoying. But most importantly I made sure it was mostly if not all the best content I could put out. My main advice would be to stay consistent and make it as high quality as possible.
Have you ever had to pivot?
When I first started I had someone that wanted to invest and be a business partner. This however discouraged me a lot. I jumped in too fast with my “business partner” at the time and ended up with a truck and everything I needed, but no customers. This made it hard because I felt I had to start with lower prices because of lack of experience, and then to be splitting that with someone on top of that I felt i’d never make any money. So I paid for all the chemical, some equipment, but returned the truck and bigger equipment. I then compacted this all into my toyota camry and restarted. This is how I should’ve started all along, now I didn’t owe anyone , had what I needed, and way less stressed about getting customers.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.trueshinesd.com
- Instagram: @trueshinesd
- Facebook: @trueshinesd
- Youtube: @trueshinesd
- Yelp: @trueshinesd