We were lucky to catch up with Jack TerHaar recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jack , appreciate you joining us today. Almost every entrepreneur we know has considered donating a portion of their sales to an organization or cause – how did you make the decision of whether to donate? We’d love to hear the backstory if you’re open to sharing the details.
My older sister Abby was diagnosed with Alopecia Areata when she was seven years old. Alopecia is an autoimmune disorder that causes hair to fall out. I grew up going to the National Alopecia Areata Convention in the summer with my family, and it’s a fantastic community of people. To support my sister, my mom and dad hosted a golf tournament called “Links for Locks” and started a 5k fundraiser called the “Tortoise and Hair” back in Baton Rouge to help raise money and awareness for NAAF. We’ve all built meaningful relationships with the Alopecia community, and Abby still keeps in frequent contact with friends from NAAF.
I decided to donate a percentage of sales towards Alopecia in September of 2023. We posted a graphic on our Instagram and it led to a UGA teacher reaching out. We talked on the phone and she said she was hosting a “Walk for Alopecia” to support her six-year old son Mac and his friend Ally. I decided to help sponsor the event through Detail Dawgs, and I got to meet Mac and Ally at the event. It was awesome! Building this business is rewarding, but the people it’s allowed me to meet have been the best part.
I was raised on faith in God and giving back. This is a cornerstone of our business, and I believe that the fate of the business ultimately rests in His hands. We’ll work our butts off to make it work and pray that God will open doors to continue ensuring its success. However, He will ultimately be the deciding factor in whether this succeeds or not.
Jack , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m the founder of Detail Dawgs, an on-demand car cleaning technology and services company.
Growing up, I was raised by a family of entrepreneurs in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. My dad owned a sports construction business which meant from ages 12-18, I was digging holes and pouring concrete in the SCORCHING heat of Louisiana summers. I wasn’t a big fan of the work, but I learned a whole lot about business and discipline from that experience.
Fast forward to the Fall of 2022, I’m now a college student looking to find a meaningful way to help pay for out-of-state tuition. I’d worked multiple jobs in bars and restuarants throughout my freshman and sophomore years, but those jobs didn’t excite me. I wanted to build something of my own.
I started detailing for friends at UGA and posting pictures to my social media pages and website. Since that time, we’ve become the #1 ranked website on Google for car detailing within a 20-mile radius of Athens, served nearly 350 customers, and grown our team to 4 detailing technicians.
Our competitive advantage is our professionalism, communication and exceptional customer service. People often don’t know what they’re getting when it comes to car detailing. We’ve utilized technology and automation to provide our clients with detailed updates about the job process, and our team is comprised of uniformed professionals who come to work with a smile.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Ever heard of pitch competitions?
These competitions are the PINNACLE of opportunity for students. In April of 2023, I entered into a four-week accelerator at UGA with the opportunity to win $2500 through a pitch at the end of the program. We started off with 35 teams, but only 5 teams made it through to the final pitch. It was a grueling four weeks. In the last week, I detailed 12 cars which meant 40+ hours of manual labor on top of school. Pitch day comes, and I’m amped. This is it! Then boom. I didn’t even get top 3 in the pitch. I was down, but so is life. My pitch wasn’t good enough.
While it was hard not to focus on the loss, I got over it and used it as motivation. I focused on the growth of the business. We were moving and grooving now!
However, I still felt like we could come back my senior year and win a competition. Many people said, “I’ve never seen a service business win a competition like this before”. But, we knew it was possible, and we were also very fortunate to have a team of students who had won in the past believing in us as well. Our team prepared well, and we ended up winning $10,000 in the first competition of the spring!
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Service businesses are ALL about relationships. Communication and professionalism have gotten us to where we’re at today. While it’s impossible to ensure satisfaction for every single client, we make it our mission to set the standard for customer service in our industry.
Contact Info:
- Website: detaildawgs.com
- Instagram: detaildawgsathens
- Facebook: detaildawgsathens
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/companydetail-dawgs
- Yelp: detaildawgsathens
- Other: linkedin.com/jacketerhaar