Lodi Teens Use Time At Home To Build Car Detailing Business
LODI (CBS13) — Cleaning is the last thing you would think two 15-year-old teen boys would be doing without being asked during their summer break.
Axel Castro and Diego Gutierrez are using their time at home to build their own car detailing business, Alex and Diego Details, drawing in more than one hundred customers every summer with a little help from social media.
"It's good, you work hard for it and we always try to satisfy people," said Axel Castro.
Castro started learning the lesson of hard work two years ago when he started his own car detailing business out of his home in Lodi. The teen has been so successful after two summers of work, he hired on his first employee and long-time friend, Diego Guiterrez.
"It feels wonderful because you're making your own money at this age," said Guiterrez.
The two teens taught themselves through online videos. They use social media as their own marketing platform to draw in an average of two to three customers every day at prices ranging from $50 to $60.
"I just started telling my neighbors and they really liked it and they started telling people. (I) started making posters...that's how my customers grew," said Castro.
Customers like Nancy Brakensiek saw their post online and decided to give them business, instead of giving her money to a major business. Brakensiek said the teens gave her 2008 SUV a professional deep cleaning.
"The inside hasn't looked like this since it was new," she explained.
Brakensiek came back two days later to bring the teens cleaning supplies, to support their entrepreneurial spirit.
"Most 15-year-old boys would be inside playing video games," she said. "I think it is just great when young people are motivated to get out there and earn some money and save some money for their future," said Brakensiek.
The teens who still aren't old enough to have a driver's license are gearing up to expand in the future.
"We are planning to do it every summer and when we are over age and stuff like that, we are planning to build something bigger in the future," Castro said.
