This past Saturday night we threw a Halloween bash. Technically it was in celebration of our first full year in business as we had just purchased the Lotus and the truck last year at this time and already had the business in startup mode. Even though we didn’t technically rent our first car until April, we were still in business prior to that.

So, to celebrate, I brought over our working cars for display. Really just to show them off to the neighbors and friends who were planning on coming to the party. We decided to bring over the cars that worked the hardest all summer. The Lotus, Porsche and Mercedes are all owned by Jodi and I. The Lamborghini was our first “Investor” car and owned by Paul Piciochi. He’s been very generous in letting us use the car and I believe he benefitted from the arrangement as well. I kept the car in Tip-top shape all summer by meticulously detailing it every chance and by keeping it in good shape for when he needed to use it.  Now, it’s for sale. So, to make an offer, shoot me an email. Email Shane.

The Lotus and Porsche were the two most popular cars all summer. The Porsche was great for top down fun and the Lotus was, well, just freakin fun to drive. Our Mercedes made up for a lot of lost time towards the end of the summer and is still Jodi’s favorite car. She refuses to let me get rid of it. In fact, after the party Saturday night, we’re keeping it at the house. It has no immediate bookings, so might as well stay here for her to enjoy.

As far as the party goes, it was another rousing success. All of our close friends attended and many dressed up. We ended the evening by taking the cars back to the shop, slowly. At 11pm, you don’t want to attract any attention by the local police, which were out in abundance. After tucking them in for the night, the party wound down with our closest friends staying until late. (There were a few really close friends that had to leave early, so in case they’re reading this, you’re still the best for coming early and dressing as a  “MEOW”…

Were now into fall and have a few bookings for the sports cars, but it’s winding down. I just acquired a Range Rover Sport from an investor who’s out of the country most of the year. I’m in the process of detailing it and it already is getting booked. Even the H2 is getting booked, so hopefully these two cars will help during the winter.

Until next time…

Shane

Posted: October 30th, 2007 under Personal.
Comments: none

As we enter fall, which is in full swing here, we’re noticing the rental business start to slow down. Fortunately, it’s not completely dying or we’d have some issues. However, we did save for a rainy day during the summer peak. The hotel Concierge are still a good source of referrals as they are sending fall travel business our way. Weddings and other summer events are slacking off. So far. Truth is, we anticipated the fall slow down, so it’s no shock.

Fortunately, with the slower period, it offers me more free time to work on other aspects of our business that NOT related to cars, building web sites for local small business’s. I have connections in the community that have asked me to revamp their site or get a new one going on/off through the summer. However, with the focus on Altitud Dream Cars, it’s been all about time.

Repeat customers are going to really help during the slower times. We’re finding they’ll call at just the right time to reserve a car. Fortunately, they’re aware of our service offerings and it’s easy to simply update their information and deliver a car. We LOVE repeat customers. I think it lets us know that we’re doing something right and that we’re offering a good service.

We’re all about good customer service and offering a boutique solution to peoples needs and desires. Marketing is still tricky and spending money in the right area can be something that’s a bit of a hit-miss proposition. Operationally, we have our processes & procedures down and of course, our customer service is beyond reproach. Now, to just get more customers to understand and use our service.

As the holidays approach, we’ll be working on several “Gift” campaigns for those looking to give something different to the car lover in their life or for an experience gift. I’m thinking about providing dollar amount gift cards, like Altitude Dollars or something along those lines. We’ve tested packages and they get sticky. Weekend packages and/or more than one day packages never fit anyones schedule and variations are expected. So, we’re thinking about going with denominations that can be redeemed rather than a “day with”. The gift giver buys a day with the “lotus” only to find out they’d rather go with the “Lamborghini” and have asked if they could pay the difference. So, cash value may work better. We’ll see.

That’s business…

Shane

Posted: October 25th, 2007 under Personal.
Comments: none

I’ve been working on adding more ink to the old bod. Well, actually, I’ve been working on a half sleeve on my upper right arm. I posted the black-out-lining a few months ago. Several weeks ago, I had that colored in.

Before - After with color

Next was the “grime reaper”. Dave, my artist, really doesn’t like reapers in the traditional sense, so he decided to work up a skull with a cape thing and he wanted to hide it under my arm looking up/out depending on your perspective.

New tattoo

Now, that leaves a large gap of skin between his face and the pumpkin/skull art on the side and back of my arm. The plan there is to put in a grave-yard or head stones with smoke etc… We’ll see what Dave comes up with. When we started, I decided to let him “Run-with-it”.

Hope it doesn’t freak you out that a 43 year old is putting ink on his body. Well, frankly, I don’t care. It’s my skin and I’ll have to deal with it as I get older. Besides, when I’m 80, no one will care.

Posted: October 17th, 2007 under Personal.
Comments: none

Detailing business is coming together. Not as quickly as I’d hoped, but it’s still coming along. We’ve spent most of October going over the business aspects and we’ve reviewed our credit card processing. We purchased a wireless credit card machine that can be used anywhere and in fact, it can be used for the car rental business as well and save us money by changing our merchant account category from “card not present” to “card present”. Apparantly, it makes a huge difference.

Besides preparing for credit card processing, we formalized the business under our LLC as a DBA: Altitude Detailing. I also have the web site up and running. www.AltitudeDetailing.com

Initially, I planned on primarily doing shop details. However, after talking to several friends and reviewing several professional detailer web sites, it became obvious that I’d have to offer both shop work and mobile work. So, since I already have the truck and trailer, all that was required was getting everything I need to be self sufficient for mobile work. My trailer is a fully enclosed 22′ car transport trailer and is designed for just that. I wanted to utilize it, but not modify it. Everything had to be portable and be able to roll up the back ramp.

I started by looking at auto detailing supply sites reviewing what they offered. At first glance, I was shocked at the costs to have a tank, sprayer and some hose outfitted to a trailer and/or rig to go into the back of a truck. Being that I’m an engineer and huge DIYer, I decided to do it myself.

- First I trudged off to my favorite farm and ranch supply store, which are plentiful here in Colorado, and purchased a 65 gallon water tank for half of what the detail supply companies were gouging, err charging.

- Next I fitted it to a steel cart, purchased at Home Depot for $80. Purchased some PVC piping, a few valves, a water filter and some straps to hold it onto the cart, and voila’ I had mobile water on wheels to roll up into my trailer.

- I then purchased a portable generator from Lowes. They had a sale on large 3,500 watt units with dual 110 plugs and a 220 plug for welding if necessary. This one is pretty self explanatory. I was thinking about a power converter, but with needing to run a polisher, a vacuum, lights and possibly a carpet shampooer, I felt a full scale generator was in order.

- Since I already own the power sprayer and everything else, the two main purchases was the water tank and generator.

- Not wanting to remodel the trailer, I simply added 8 large eye-bolts to the frame for tie-downs to secure all of the portable equipment.

Everything works great. I loaded it all into the trailer today, tied it all down and drove home with out any incidents. All was right where I left it and it took all of 10 minutes to load and go. Pretty nice to say the least.

The only thing I need to add to the trailer at this point is another cabinet to store products, towels and anything needed for detailing.

I purchased a 12′ x 20′ fully enclosed canopy earlier and am waiting for it to arrive. My intent is to be able to incorporate it onto the back of the trailer as an extension. Then, cars can be placed into the canopy and all of my needs are right there in the trailer. Fully self contained.

Now, I’m ready for mobile detailing.

Posted: October 17th, 2007 under Business.
Comments: 1