I grew up poor and started doing odd jobs as a teenager when my dad died – now I earn £60,000
A 22-year-old who grew up living paycheck to paycheck tells how he struggled to build a business with a turnover of £60,000 a year.
Randy Roblero started working in 2021 to provide for his family after his father passed away, leaving the family in financial difficulty.
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He always enjoyed keeping his car, a Nissan Altima, in top condition and so decided to start a car detailing business.
“I chose auto detailing because it’s a lot easier to get into the auto industry as a young person than other industries,” he told CNBC.
“Auto detailing is basically a thorough cleaning of a vehicle.
“We clean the nooks and crannies, the seams and cracks, in short, all the small details that you don’t encounter at a normal car wash.
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He continues, “What I love about auto detailing is the ability to transform a vehicle from very dirty to very clean.
“I think that’s the best part of my job.”
Randy learned the skills needed to clean cars from YouTube. As his business began to grow, he bought a van so he could drive to people’s houses and wash their cars.
He said, “I love my car detailing business because it is rewarding.
“It makes money and provides for my family’s livelihood.
“I plan to continue polishing cars for the rest of my life.”
Randy’s services start at £93 and can go up to £272.
He now earns £4,600 a month and around £60,000 a year.
Randy said his hometown of Florida was a great place to start a car detailing business because there are so many cars.
How to start your own business?
Dragon’s Den star Theo Paphitis revealed his tips for budding entrepreneurs:
- One of the biggest barriers that aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners face is a lack of self-confidence. You have to believe in your idea — and more than that, be the one to bore your friends to death with it.
- Never be afraid to make decisions. Once you have an idea, the confidence to make decisions is crucial to starting and maintaining a business.
- If you don’t take calculated risks, you’re standing still. If a decision turns out to be wrong, identify it quickly and act on it if you can. If you can’t, find someone else who can.
- It’s okay not to get it right the first time. My experience of making bad decisions has helped build my confidence and made me who I am today.
- Never underestimate the power of social media and remember that the internet is an equal opportunity for small businesses.
- Don’t forget to dream. A machine can’t do that!
“On every street corner you see so many cars, all different types of vehicles.
“There’s just so much work, so much potential to make money from it.”
Randy’s friend George often helps him with his business and in the future he would like to expand to a larger area and hire staff to help him.
He said, “In the future, I want to earn enough money so that my mother doesn’t have to work. I also want my family to be more financially stable than it is now.
“I just had the mentality that life goes on and you have to get on with your life.
“And I know that’s what my father would have wanted me to do, instead of grieving his loss every day.”
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