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21 Y/O, Potential First Car Wash, No RE Experience

SelfServe

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Trash, mud, vacuum cleaning. All seems like low level maintenance that can be hired out. Buying all new equipment for a self serve can you not expect a reasonable useful life so you aren't there every weekend? Make relationships with trade workers to service equipment and offer free washes as an added incentive to prioritize your work when stuff does break down. What am I missing here?

The wears of a small business don't sound that much different from wears of working for other people, pick your poison.
I took over my wash last year after the sellers renovated everything then sold it to me within a year because they didn’t realize how much work is involved. Luckily, I inherited an amazing worker that likes the part time hours outside if his other gigs. He’ll help with misc tasks, cleaning at night, and some maintenance too. Because of him I can work my day job and go to the wash a few nights a week without being there every day. I’m also young and enjoy my weekends but the wash comes first on Sunday and Saturday mornings so keep that in mind. Good help is really hard to find, and you will have to pay a part time employee more than you’d think, otherwise it’s not worth their time when other part time jobs don’t require real work. Even with an employee it is still at least 5x more work than I’d thought it would be.
 

Rocketman

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^^^ Same observations and findings as your stated as we go through the mentoring process. I have a few years left in my day job before I plan to retire and have this fill up part of my days.

Key reliable, well paid person is key to the operation. I have that implemented in my laundromat so same type of effort here only that it is a bit more intense when something breaks down primarily do to the fact that I / we are learning the process.

I'm very much ok with having to work a little more as the ends justifies the means. I am not the just sit in rocking chair person and wait on my time to be up. Not yet anyway. I don't like to fish and I am done traveling. To date out of my close to 35 years and counting, I've spent 12 of those years traveling.

Personally, I think that this is a reasonable substitute for a next step for me post career.
 
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