What I've Learned After 2 Years of Owning a Car Care Brand
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paint thickness gauge
A paint thickness gauge helps detailers check how thick the paint is on a car. It's important because if the paint is too thin, they might accidentally damage it while cleaning or polishing.
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Two years ago, this week, is when I launched Jimbo's
detailing the product line brand.
Two years almost to the day as I'm recording this,
you'll obviously be seeing it a few days after I record it.
But as I sat back and as I do kind of each year,
both at the start of the year and now what I'm starting
to do at the end of each, I think in business terms,
they call it, I don't know, I don't know what they call
it in business terms.
But the anniversary of my product brand,
I like to kind of reflect back, do like a post audit
of the entire year to kind of figure out what worked,
what didn't, what things will I continue to do,
what things will I not continue to do,
where I made mistakes, where I can kind of get better.
And so I do that kind of every year personally
and now professionally with the business.
And so I thought it would be fun to kind of reflect back
onto that, kind of let you guys into the inside
of kind of what I'm thinking and what it's really like
to run a car detailing supply brand.
Because even though I had extensive experience,
private labeling for other brands,
it's much different to be the brand owner,
even from selling private label.
And it's very different from running a detailing business
or being a detailer, mobile detailer, shop detailer,
whatever, even though business principles
kind of stay the same, there's kind of some intricate things
that are much different.
So I tried to take some notes to kind of get my thoughts
together and I'm sure I'm gonna miss a whole host of things.
I'm sure I'm gonna look back on this video
and be like, dude, you didn't even talk about this
or why did you spend so much time talking about that?
So just know that there is a lot of information
that I want to share, some information,
like I'm not gonna get into nitty gritty numbers
because it just doesn't matter.
There's no benefit to me sharing numbers.
There's too many people that lurk in the shadows
that don't comment, that don't watch,
that would take that information
and do different things with it.
So I'm not gonna talk about numbers,
but mainly lessons that I've learned.
And some stuff I thought I knew
and I was completely wrong about.
And in fact, the first lesson I learned
was that great products are really only half the battle.
My opinion from the very beginning,
because I dealt so much in private label
and consulting for products and stuff like that,
is like, hey, I have this crazy idea.
I'll just create the best possible products I can
and the products will do the talking.
Like eventually it'll be fine.
And I realized that that's only half true.
That only works, that only gets you so far.
And in fact, the problem with making
the best products possible is it's great
when people know about your products,
not so great when they don't, right?
And so, and I see this with detailing businesses
and all this, oh, I'm the best detailer ever
and I could do great paint correction
and I'm the best at interiors.
And it's like, hey, that's amazing.
You need that skill, you need that.
But if no one knows about your business, it doesn't matter.
And so, with the product brand, that is true too.
Cause I'm like, man, there's so many brands out there
that make like crappy products, right?
Like don't people know this?
And it's like, no, they don't actually know
that those are crappy products
because the vast majority of brands
make decent products, right?
And so the problem with that is most people
don't know what a great product actually looks like
and how it can perform, which is a problem.
But honestly, it's only half the battle
to make a good product.
That is only good for kind of what I would call
like the long tail, like yeah, once people start
to know about your brand, experience your brand,
experience your products, that's phenomenal.
Like if you're a great detailer
and people learn that you're a great detailer
and you have all these skill sets, that's amazing.
But if no one knows about your brand,
no one even gets to that point.
If no one knows about your detailing business,
no one even gets to that point, right?
So the messaging has to be clear.
That's definitely something that I'm working on
for my third year in business
is like getting really, really clear on my business
and on my messaging, what my products are,
who they're for, how they work,
how you could get the best use case out of them,
how they don't work, where they don't work,
who they're not for, right?
Getting very clear on my messaging,
getting very clear on my positioning,
where my brand personally fits in the whole ecosystem
of detailing supply companies.
I think that's another one, positioning your brand,
what if you're a detailer, like who you wanna serve,
what customer you wanna serve,
what customer you don't wanna serve, right?
And then making sure that my brand story,
kind of my origin, doing things like this,
like letting people behind the curtain
a little bit more connecting with people,
that is one thing that I found that I really enjoy doing
and I'm looking for more ways to do that.
And I think letting people behind the scenes
a little bit more, I'm learning that I actually want
a much smaller community of people,
I think especially having like an online following
and seeing other people with their online following
and kind of chasing clout and chasing numbers
and bigger and more and more and more, bigger, bigger, bigger.
Not only do I find that that can like have diminishing
returns, but one thing I'm actively trying to do
is actually get a smaller following,
I know that sounds weird, but like I actually want,
because I want the right people, I don't want everyone, right?
And so I'm actually trying to do things,
even this video is a perfect example,
I know this video doesn't have wide reach
or this podcast doesn't have wide reach, mass appeal, right?
It's not like a super hyped up video, right?
It's not a cheap versus expensive video
like I've done before, but this video
or this podcast is like for my core people, right?
And trying to reach more of my core people
of like, hey, this is what I'm doing,
this is what my brand's doing, this is who I stand for,
this is the people I'm trying to attract
and the people that are interested in that,
I realize it's not a mass market
and I'm actually excited by that.
I know there's a couple of books
called Like A Thousand True Fans
and really it talks about having like a core group
of like a hundred people even, right?
You can have a much more successful business
with like a thousand raving fans
or a hundred raving fans, right?
And so that's what I'm actively pursuing is like,
sure I want that group to grow, I wanna reach new people,
I will continue to do videos that reach a new audience
but I don't wanna desert my core audience
to reach new audiences.
And I think that's something that I see
a lot of brands do that I, outside of detailing even,
like they try to go mass appeal
and then in going mass appeal,
they lose kind of like their core audience, right?
We see this when venture capital money comes into something,
what's the latest one?
Like Sprinkles Cupcakes went out of business, right?
And I read an article or saw a video
of like the founder of Sprinkles
and she sold to a venture capital firm a long time ago,
made out a bunch of money, everything's great for her
but she said as soon as that venture capital money
came into the business, the business kind of lost its soul,
right?
And so I think of like Shine Supply
still has like that soul, right?
And then I think of brands like McGuire's,
they've kind of lost their soul,
they've kind of like lost their core, right?
And so my focus is on making sure my core
is like really strong, my kind of community is strong
and I don't lose sight of that.
And so yeah, that's one thing I'm working on.
Lesson number two, this is a big thing that I learned
is that what customers care about
and what I care about as a detailer
can sometimes be totally different.
So a lot of times, you know, us as detailers
obsess over like gloss, water behavior, contact, angle,
how many microns we're removing.
The big latest craze is like the paint thickness gauge,
which I think the biggest lesson that I learned
with the paint thickness gauge
is that it's measuring total material, not just clear coat.
And I think that is gonna be tricky
because it can give you a false sense of security of like,
oh, there's tons of mills of clear on here.
And it's like, no, no, no, no,
it's measuring total thickness of material
down to the metal, not just the clear coat.
So I think we can get confused with that.
Anyway, we obsess with that.
We obsess over durability claims.
I know I do.
But what I've learned is that most customers care about like,
hey, how do I use it?
How easy is it?
Does it work?
Can I mess this up?
If I do mess this up, how do I correct it?
Does this make my life better and easier?
Does it make my car look cleaner for longer?
Not like, do I do this and then I don't have to do anything
ever again, but like giving the customer that confidence
of like, hey, you're not gonna mess this up.
That's why I did a video on the gloss boss of like,
hey, this ceramic coating is impossible to mess up.
Like you're not going to mess this up, right?
And so giving people the confidence of like,
hey, this product, Tuffa Shell, is not gonna streak, okay?
This is a phenomenal product that's not gonna streak.
Yes, you could use the gloss boss on a tractor.
Yes, you could use Tuffa Shell
on your stainless steel appliances.
Yes, you can use the Super Soper to wash your house windows.
Yes, you can use the complete cabin cleaner
inside your house, you know?
And so giving people the confidence
that the products are gonna do what they're looking for, right?
And so I learned that like giving customers the confidence
instead of giving them complexity,
which is what so many brands do of like, you know,
do these 15 million steps.
Like complexity does not build confidence, right?
But simplicity does because when you're like,
hey, just spray and wipe this product, right?
And then they get this amazing result.
They're like, wow, I can do this.
When someone buys the gloss boss
that has never ceramic coated a car before
and they decide to ceramic coat their boat outside
and they have phenomenal results, that builds confidence.
And I love hearing those stories, love it.
So I'm just not a fan of a product
that like requires perfect conditions, perfect technique,
perfect timing and if you don't do that,
it's user error, right?
I just, I'm not a fan of that.
And again, lesson three,
I think simplicity wins long-term.
When I was working for a blender
and they launched their own product brand,
their house brand, which I was brought into consult for,
they launched with 27 SKUs.
And the biggest lesson I learned back then
is that when you have that many SKUs,
it doesn't give you time to kind of market,
talk about, explain each one of the products
and what purpose each one of those SKUs serve in the line.
And that's something that I am big on,
is like each product needs to serve a very specific
but also wide ranging use, right?
Like for my line, I'm not gonna add a quick detail spray
just to add a quick detail spray, right?
It has to hit that line.
And one product that I'm coming up against
my kind of thoughts on this is like a window cleaner
because a window cleaner is a window cleaner
it's a very basic product, right?
But a lot of customers ask for a window cleaner.
And so it's not a sexy product,
it's kind of questioning my stance on these things though
because I get a lot of requests for like a window cleaner
and for me, it seems so basic,
like why would I do that, right?
And so, but for me, my overarching theme
and the reason why I haven't launched something
like a window cleaner is every product
needs to serve a specific use.
And I want it to be a little bit different
than what the current offering in the market is, right?
And so, and not only that, but geez,
one thing I'm really learning is like more skews
means more inventory stress, more cash flow needed,
more education needed, potentially more confusion
which I already talked about.
So what I currently have and where the line currently is
is like a tight simple system.
And so I'm very protective over that simple system.
It's also really hard.
Cash flow is always a problem.
And I think when I look at other brands
both in the detailing space and across other industries,
cash flow is a big problem.
Now I know a lot of people run a line of credit
or they have investors, which would be really nice.
But I don't have that, right?
So I'm constantly, you know,
not only am I learning how to get clear with my messaging,
clear with my YouTube videos, with my podcast,
talking to my customers, email marketing,
text marketing, all that.
I'm also learning a whole host of things
on the warehouse side, manufacturing side,
inventory, cash flow.
I just had samples dropped off today
of different bottles from a different bottling supplier.
You know, raw material suppliers,
microfiber towel, you know, I'm talking with factories
and Korea and China and Japan and Australia
all over the world, right?
And so I'm not only learning and hopefully
not making too many mistakes about detailing,
running a detailing brand,
but there's the whole manufacturing side of things
that I knew because I worked for a blender.
I kinda knew, but when you're running it your own,
you're running your own way, it's a lot different.
So again, I even take that whole simplicity mindset
into the manufacturing side of things
and say, okay, let's simplify this.
You know, what are things that I could do?
I don't do a custom bottle
because that adds complexity and risk.
If we have a thing like COVID again
and you have a custom bottle,
probably not gonna have that custom bottle anymore, right?
And so I know custom bottles are cool
and they make the brand feel good,
but I don't know if it actually moves the needle, right?
And so it's another thing that I've learned
is that there's a lot of things that we can do
for ourselves that feel good for us.
It's kinda like the emotional side of owning a brand.
There's a lot of things that feel good for us.
Oh, I wanna put a sticker in there.
Oh, I want t-shirts, you know, quite honestly,
the t-shirts I did were a total flop.
That was a big fail I had this year.
They tied up a lot of cash flow
from the design to printing
and they really were just a total flop.
Same with the air freshies.
I love those, I may bring them back.
I really like them, but kind of a flop.
Like didn't move the needle, right?
For the cash that it required to invest
in both those things,
those are two things that once they run out,
I will revisit those down the line,
but they will not take any priority over this year.
And so, forget why I went there.
But there's a lot of things like that
that we think as the brand owner would be so cool to have
and in reality, customers don't care.
Stickers in a box and do customers care?
Maybe, maybe not.
Is it worth the cost?
Time, you know, time will tell.
Custom boxes, like custom printed boxes.
Does anyone care about that?
Is the additional cash that it requires
to meet the minimums there?
I don't know.
Custom packaging for microfiber towels,
that's a discussion that I've been having lately.
And I'm like, I'm not sure people actually care
about the packaging because when I get
microfiber towels and nice packaging
and I have to throw that packaging away,
it actually makes me feel very wasteful
and actually don't like it.
I actually don't like that the packaging is so nice.
And so, you know, that's a little bit of a tangent,
but it's like sometimes as a brand owner,
whether you're a detailer or whatever,
like we have these preconceived notions
of what is gonna actually move the needle,
which what is gonna increase profitability
and it actually doesn't, right?
So that's one lesson I learned of like,
hey, analyze, scrutinize and look at every expenditure
to make sure you're not doing stupid things,
like tying up a bunch of money and merch
when people are coming to my website
for detailing chemicals, maybe not merch.
And actually what I think people would like more
now that I think about it and I learned the lesson,
they probably just like my Jimbo's auto detailing shirt
that I used to wear when I was detailing cars.
I should probably just launch that, right?
So again, just kind of getting too emotional with things
because on top of that, like I talked about,
I have all this manufacturing pressure,
stress, inventory, cash flow,
not to mention negative comments,
second guessing myself,
wondering if I made the right move, all those things,
it could be very, very taxing.
And lesson number four, I guess I jumped the gun on this one,
but I talked about it a little bit before.
My community and my customers are so important.
So I think if you, I put, if you build customers,
you get transactions, but if you build a community,
you get loyalty.
And I think that's what I was trying to hint at earlier
of like, sure, you could run ads
and you have your cost of acquisition cost
and all this and blah, blah, blah,
and everything just becomes a number.
YouTube subscribers, podcast downloads,
just become a number.
Instagram followers, TikTok followers,
becomes a number, order numbers.
Oh, I've hit 4,000 orders or 5,000 orders or whatever.
Everything can quickly become a number
and you want those numbers to get bigger
and bigger and bigger.
I think that's just human nature.
But what I realized is building a community
builds loyalty and loyalty is more important long-term
than any customer acquisition cost.
My average order value, my retention,
all these stupid numbers that are important,
they're not stupid, they are important,
but they're not the most important.
And so I think building the community,
and that's why I constantly ask you guys,
hey, reach out, let's interact.
I've jumped on the phone with people,
I've emailed back and forth, I've DMed back and forth,
because I think building that community builds the loyalty
and that loyalty is what will make my brand successful
long-term, but instead of it being kind of a one-way street,
it's like, hey, we're doing this together.
I'm helping you, you're helping me,
we all help together, right?
And from that, we build a very cool community.
That's what I want.
So I think also I'm learning that integrity matters
and that can be compromised at a lot of different levels.
So I think it's easy to be the hype man.
In fact, hype sells, so I totally understand that,
but it's really easy to be the hype person.
That's in fact kind of lazy marketing
because it's just hype is very easy, right?
Say, no, it's the best ever, hyping it up is easy,
but it's harder to kind of under-promise,
not be the hype man, make products that are forgiving
that work, build things the right and slow way.
And I learned that I'd rather build something
that I'm proud of than like the spike in sales and the dip,
spike in sales and dip.
And I think we see that in the detailing space
and then across a lot of industries,
just constant discounts, constant,
oh, 20% off this and 50% off that and blah, blah, blah.
And it's like this constant,
oh, this is the best ever.
Version three, version eight, version 10,
version blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And it's just constant hype.
And for me, one thing that I've tried to do differently
is that I don't wanna be the hype guy, it's exhausting.
And then your sales spike and dip, spike and dip, spike and dip.
And it's like I'd rather build the community,
offer sales when it's meaningful,
when it'll help the community, birthdays, stuff like that,
offer special discounts for those people
that trust me with their emails
and we interact that way.
So if you're not on the email list, get on the email list.
Instead of using discounts to hype up my own brand,
that really diminish profitability
and really make it so my brand doesn't exist long-term.
Cause no brand that constantly offers a discount
is gonna be around for a long time, right?
So those are some things that I learned.
Going forward, I think just refining my systems,
getting very, very dialed in and efficient
with like my bottle filling, my labeling, my packaging,
my email flows, my content flows,
just really trying to stay simple
and cut the fat when you need to cut the fat,
double down when you need to double down.
Again, the goal for me was never to just,
really never to start a product brand at all.
I really didn't even wanna start my own brand.
I actually prefer to private label,
the money's better, it's more fun.
But I needed to do my own thing
because I couldn't sit back and watch how people did things.
It really bothered me.
The integrity was gone, people didn't care,
they would pump out whatever,
and it just, it didn't sit right with me.
And I knew that it could be done differently.
I knew that it was gonna be a grind.
It's a little bit more of a grind than I expected,
but I think going into the third year,
I've seen a whole host of brands come and go
in the past three years,
some that I've sold private label to,
and so there's that part of it too,
but which is kinda sad.
I don't like to see people's brand go under.
And so the problem is for me is I have no backup plan.
This is my only plan.
I was telling my dad the other day,
like, hey, I got no plan.
I'm hoping, I got no backup plan.
I'm hoping year three compounds a little bit.
I think year three is gonna be a banner year
for Jimbo's detailing.
I'm excited to launch a couple different products.
I'm making moves and simplifying things
and being more efficient,
not wasting money on stuff like the merch
that I talked about,
and just getting really dialed in,
adjusting some suppliers
and some additional manufacturing partners
and stuff like that.
But I think year three is gonna be great.
Again, this is just me behind the scenes,
my family helping.
This is like a family business.
Part of doing this was there was a mentor
who I had a long time ago
and he pretty much only worked from home
and he had made some good investments
and I was working with him on something else.
And I said, you know, why are you doing this?
We were working on a sprayable ceramic coating
a long time ago.
And I said, why are you doing this?
And he said, I said, you don't need the money.
You got a great house, great wife, great life,
you know, blah, blah, he goes,
because I can't see,
my kids can't see me in my PJs every day.
And I thought about that.
And as my life and my income became a lot less
physical detailing and a lot more on the phone,
shooting a video, meeting, meeting,
I thought, I don't want my kids to just see me on the phone
and working on my computer and think that that is work.
I need to show them the physicalness of working, right?
And so, because that's what I did.
I grew up in a t-shirt and candy shop.
My dad's an entrepreneur.
I worked with him.
That's how I learned how to interact with customers.
That's how I learned how to work a cash register.
That's where my love for entrepreneurship came
was when I was a kid.
And so, I wanted to pass that on to my kids as well.
And that's what I'm currently doing.
They help me fill bottles.
They help me pack orders.
They go with me to different manufacturing partners.
They're in the fold completely, right?
Because they need to see how to run a business
if they ever want to run a business of their own one day
or come into my business.
So, with that, if you made it this far,
I want to offer you a discount code.
If you go to jimbosdetailing.com
and use code year in the number two,
Y-E-A-R in the number two,
you will save 20% off on your whole entire order.
I'm only gonna leave this code up for a little while,
maybe a week or two.
So, make sure you take advantage of that offer code.
That is to show my appreciation, my gratitude
towards you guys supporting, trusting,
and encouraging me through orders.
So, if you made it through this long in the podcast,
I really appreciate it.
So, with that, I will catch you guys on year three.
Let's go, but use that discount code.
I will also link it below.
Thanks for watching.
Thanks for listening.
Thanks for supporting over the years.
I really appreciate it.
I'll catch you on the next one.
See ya.
About this episode
Reflecting on two years of running a car care brand, the host shares valuable insights about the challenges and lessons learned in the detailing industry. Key takeaways include the importance of effective messaging and brand positioning, the need to connect with a core audience rather than chasing mass appeal, and the realization that customer priorities often differ from a detailer's. The discussion emphasizes simplicity in product offerings and the significance of building customer confidence through user-friendly products.
Original notes
Two years ago, I launched my own car care product brand. I thought I knew what I was getting into. I didn't.
In this episode, I break down the real lessons I've learned after two years of owning a detailing product company — from product development and marketing to customer psychology, brand positioning, emotional endurance, and building community.
We're talking about what actually matters when building a car care brand:
• Why great products aren't enough
• Why simplicity beats complexity
• Why customers care more about ease than performance specs
• The difference between hype and integrity
• The emotional reality of owning a product company
• What I'd do differently if I could start over
This isn't a highlight reel. It's an honest look at what it really takes to build a detailing brand from scratch.
Whether you're a detailer, an entrepreneur, or someone thinking about launching your own product line, this episode will give you clarity on what matters — and what doesn't — in the car care industry.
If you've been part of this journey over the last two years, thank you. We're just getting started.
USE CODE: YEAR2 at https://jimbosdetailing.com/ to save 20% OFF - Limited time.
PRODUCTS TALKED ABOUT:
Tough As Shell Ceramic Spray: https://jimbosdetailing.com/TAS or on Amazon https://amzn.to/4r5UxYr
The Super Soaper: https://jimbosdetailing.com/TSS or on Amazon: https://amzn.to/49KEM2d
Picture Perfect Polish: https://jimbosdetailing.com/PPP or on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4sQWpWu
Microfiber towels: https://jimbosdetailing.com/products/orange-wash-microfiber or https://jimbosdetailing.com/products/everyday-microfiber
Cut & Finish Pad: https://jimbosdetailing.com/products/cut-finish-pad or on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3LsxJ69
Finishing Pad: https://jimbosdetailing.com/products/black-finishing-pad or on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FJNDCPTG
SHOP ALL JIMBO'S DETAILING ON AMAZON: https://amzn.to/3LX3mVE
SUBSCRIBE TO MY CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/user/jbalaam?sub_confirmation=1
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The Auto Detailing Podcast
Jimbo Balaam interviews guest like Barry Meguiar, Jason Rose, Yvan Lacroix,
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