Owner and founder of ShimmerDetail.com, Tim Krueger has been detailing cars since 1979. He started the Shimmer Detail brand in 2019 and it quickly became the fastest-growing auto, boat, and motorcycle detailer in New Jersey.
His prior business experience includes a stint as President and Director of Marketing for Future Solutions, a web marketing firm in Chicago listed by Crain’s Chicago business magazine as one of the top 100 internet firms in the late 1990s. In the early 1990s he was the Midwest Marketing Manager for Isowa North America, a global manufacturer of packaging machinery. To start the New Millennium, Krueger decided to try his hand at acting and spent 10 years as a full-time working actor in in the Chicago Market and followed that up with eight years managing a farm in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
After moving back to New Jersey in the fall of 2019, Krueger decided to start a detailing business to get back to his passion. His unique business experience combined with the detailing skill set he acquired over the years positioned him perfectly to build Shimmer detail into one of New Jersey’s Premier auto, motorcycle and boat detailers.
Although covid hit just a few months after starting Shimmer Detail, Tim realized that in the detailing space was one of those rare business models positioned well for that uniquely challenging landscape. The combination of being able to provide a no-touch interaction that also disinfected the inside of the client’s car was a perfect blend of services to offer as the pandemic took hold of the market.
While Krueger provided the detailing service for the first 100 cars himself, the business has since shifted, allowing him to transition to more of a management capacity and to get back into the pursuit of acting while running the day to day operations.
Krueger also authored the four-step fast-track to sobriety in the early 1990s, a sobriety method intended as an alternative to the typical 12-step programs offered by many rehabilitation facilities.
The method is freely available at a website designed and hosted by Krueger, and can be found at 4stepsobriety.com
“While being alcohol-free since 1993 has certainly helped me in my various business endeavors, for me the real key has been to take massive action once a plan has been developed.”
Krueger believes a business plan, while being essential, especially when you are seeking funding for expansion, shouldn’t hold you back from getting started. Especially in the detailing space, there are a wide variety of providers, and there is always room to start with a limited offering and an attractive price point. He stresses not to under value yourself as your skill set builds.
Auto detailing is a deceptively simple space at first, but the complexity reveals itself as you get deeper into it. You may start with a bucket and some sponges, towels, and wax and that’s fine. You’ll soon find you need polishers, steamers, vacuum accessories, extractors, drill brushes, a mountain of polishing pads, and a whole lot more. Don’t let that stop you from getting started with whatever you can afford. Map out a plan you can afford and take massive action. Expand the plan as demand allows you to. You can start with as little as a few hundred dollars or a fully outfitted $30,000 mobile rig. It really doesn’t matter which one you start with. There is actually a good argument to made that you should start small and get really good at each stage before expanding. The key is to take action. Assess where you are now. Make your plan and take massive action.
“I’ve always believed that having a robust promotional strategy mix is essential. Having a solid web presence that is well positioned in Google for appropriate keyword searches for your business model should be a main component but it can’t be your only promotional strategy.”
“We’ve also made use of various targeted print campaigns, digital billboards, social media ad campaigns, specialty advertising packages, and are currently evaluating a TV ad package on Hulu” Krueger said.
Krueger stresses the need to stay positive while being well-grounded. Maintaining a positive outlook will pay off in how you deal with clients and employees alike. Proactively cultivating a positive attitude, if you don’t already do that, should be one of your first areas of focus. An easy way to get started with that is with this one simple question:
What is good about this?
Train yourself to ask that in every circumstance. It’s especially valuable when things don’t go as you expected. This is based on the concept that questions you ask yourself are answered in your subconscious. When you ask bad questions like, Why me? or Why do bad things happen to me? Why did this or that not go in my favor? You are building up a subconscious database of bad answers, and that will make everything more challenging that it needs to be.
Learn to always ask yourself “whats good about this”, and set the table for all kinds of good answers to pop into your head naturally.
“It’s easy to stay positive while everything is going well, how you react to adversity is where you really learn what you’re made of.”
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