We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jaylaon Stanfield a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jaylaon thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
When I first got the idea that i wanted to start my own detailing business, I was working at a warehouse job. i Hated it so much i decided to quite before i even made my first dollar detailing. A buddy of mine has his own detailing business and took me under his wing to show me the ropes of the business. About a month after working with him I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands. I knew how to detail prior to, plus the long hard working month with my buddy. I knew i was ready but i didn’t have any extra cash for equipment. So i did Uber Eats for 5 days and got $500 dollars worth of equipment. Know that i have my own business i needed to learn how to market to get more customers. I took some great before and after pictures and videos of the cars i did before, and posted it on facebook and instagram. From there i got my first client and kept adding more pictures to my gallery. A few of cars later facebook is drying up and customers stop contacting me. I knew i needed a consistent source for new clients. I went searching and found Nextdoor. I posted my services there a few times and BINGO! i had my first customer. She was so impressed with my work she left a juicy review. The post went viral and i was waking up to 40 plus calls. my next @ months was booked up. Now Im the #1 Mobile detailer in my area on Nextdoor.
Jaylaon, 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?
Coming from a family of eight with one vehicle can get very messy. My mother was an extreme neat freak so she had a list of chores for me and my siblings. One of my chores was to clean the vehicle every 2 weeks. This lead me into a few extra dollars around my neighborhood, .When other neighbors seen how clean my moms all red Dodge Durango was, they couldn’t resist to ask me to detail theirs. Detailing at a young age with no experience other than my moms vehicle caused me to make a lot of mistakes product wise. From products that were supper cheap and didn’t work, to products that need to be diluted with water. Staining someones door panel taught me a valuable lesson; Always read the fine print, and do not touch a single vehicle without business insurance.
Im really passionate about how clean I make a vehicle. Shiny Detailed goes above and beyond to make your vehicle feel like you just brought it from the factory. Most customers will tell you after my detail that its cleaner than when they brought it from the lot. We specialize in deep interior cleaning. Taking almost any stain out of your seats carpet or headliner. With 8 siblings I seen almost every stain a person can possibly make.
At 22 years old. Im most proud of myself for just believing in my dreams and not giving up. Coming from a low income house hold with a single mother, can be challenging at times. If it wasn’t for my hard working/ strict mother, I do not think I would be in the same position. I hold my business to those same Hardworking/ Strict qualities my mother installed in me. As I am still learning i will continue to expand my business with the highest quality car services in the world.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
The Most effective strategy for growing my clientele is actually doing honest detailed work. In this industry a lot of detailers seem to cut corners to save an extra buck or two. The thing with cutting corners is if you are caught you now have a bad reputation with your customers. Word of mouth is probably the greatest thing since sliced bread.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
My social media presence is not the strongest but in my area I think I hold the most weight in the industry. Staying consistent with post is very important if you want to gain followers. Also getting reviews and tagged post can bring you a good amount of traffic.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Shiny.detailed
- Facebook: Shiny Detailed
- Other: nextdoor @shiny detailed mobile detailing