From Hot Wheels to F1, cars have captivated many students for a large part of their lives. This passion often remains a remnant of childhood. Senior Andrew Yuhas, however, has relied on his knowledge of cars to start and run Enterprise Mobile Detailing, a community car detailing business.
Once he saw students his age developing similar businesses across the country, Yuhas immediately gravitated towards the idea. He loved cars, and there were a lack of consumer options in the Barrington community. A career in detailing felt right.
“I never grew out of cars. I’ve always wanted to do things around cars. Once, I was scrolling through Instagram, and I saw a bunch of kids around the US who have been doing detailing. That just sparked a light bulb moment in my head. I was like, ‘I should really try this.’ I just took a leap of faith,” Yuhas said.
Before anything else, Yuhas had to start with the basics: figuring out how to detail. Still dedicated to the opportunity, Yuhas began to learn procedure after procedure through the free resources that he found on YouTube, Reddit and Discord.
“I’m self-taught, through three to four weeks of late-night grinding. I would definitely be up till like one or two on my computer, understanding stuff and writing notes down, especially about the chemicals,” Yuhas said. “There’s a huge community out there willing to help you, you just have to find it. I’ve learnt new things about detailing every day. It’s just like a game of life, you keep learning as you go.”
Only a few weeks have passed since Yuhas began serving customers. He’s seen success, reaching around 15 customers outside of Barrington in Palatine, Naperville and even by the Wisconsin border.
“Profit margins are very good. I make about $400 a weekend for about two details. I’ve never seen this much cash in my hand before. Still, I make sure that my pricing is very reasonable, because I want this to be based around helping out the community and helping out anybody that requests my service,” Yuhas said.
Yuhas has also faced roadblocks in his entrepreneurial journey. Yuhas’s biggest challenge is growing Enterprise through marketing, considering his business is a one-man operation. In this struggle, he’s mostly turned to actual customers to get the word out there, perfect for a business Yuhas hopes will revolve around the community.
“I do everything myself, from making my own flyers to cards and then mailing out flyers through the UPS and like in their program for that,” Yuhas said. “I’ve also had multiple customers send me referrals, since they have loved everything I’ve done. The main thing people tell others almost all the time is ‘my car looks so new I never want to drive it.’”
Yuhas’s services aren’t going away anytime soon. With plans to enroll at Harper College and then stay local, Yuhas hopes to commit to Enterprise for at least 5 years, expanding as he goes.
“My goal five years from now is to buy my first vehicle, my first actual detailing van, and employ probably about two people. Eventually, I hope to get a facility where people want to just drive there and have me detail their vehicles there, instead of them wanting me to go out to them,” Yuhas said.
Some things won’t change in the future, though, and that’s the spirit Yuhas aims to bring to the job. Yuhas knows his age could create a barrier of mistrust for consumers who might not trust someone so young with their cars. For what he lacks in experience, he strives to make up with dedication.
“The quality of my work differentiates me from the competition. When people see somebody younger doing something so big that they maybe have never done, never tried, they usually lack trust. Building that trust is so huge for me, so that when they see me there, they don’t see me as just an 18-year-old. For example, if there are ever any problems, I make sure I literally go out and meet them to fix the problem on their car,” Yuhas said.
