Today we’d like to introduce you to Veronica Rhead.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Our business is a family-owned business that started in 2019. My husband and I had fallen into some tough times and needed to make extra money to make ends meet and detailing was always a hobby I shared with my brother Jr. I wanted to find something that I enjoyed doing but that would also bring in extra money, we started with the very basics and started detailing out of my mom’s garage because at the time we were trying to buy our own home.
In 2019 and 2020, I was only detailing part-time because my husband and I still had full-time jobs. In 2020, everything slowed down because of the pandemic but I was still able to detail vehicles for dealerships. There seemed to be a lot of people still buying cars during the pandemic so I was able to keep working part-time, while still doing my full-time job.
In May of 2020, there was one dealership (Xtreme Motorz) that reached out to me because they needed their trucks detailed so I took on all their vehicles, and by September I was renting my shop from that same dealership. I slowly started finding more dealerships and finding personal vehicles through friends, family, and social media. My family was also a big reason why we were able to accomplish so much. I really feel that I could not have done it without them.
So many times, they would be outside with me till almost midnight finishing up cars, they would help me in the middle of summer when some of the trucks were too big to fit in my mom’s garage so we’d have to detail in the hot sun, and they always pushed me to work hard and to reach for my goals. In January 2021, on the first Monday of the year, after a lot of planning and saving, I chose to quit my job for almost 10 years. I started detailing full-time and have been doing it ever since.
The majority of what I detail is dealership cars but I still have personal vehicles as well as I have recently started learning how to detail boats. Starting my own business has opened so many doors for me and my family, in 2020, I joined a car club (Ogden Midnight Runners) that does community service as well as car stuff. Throughout the summer, my family and I would help the car group with community service projects like cleaning parks, parking lots, as well as donating to different groups.
It has been so amazing to teach my children how important it is to help others. We have been so blessed and we love being able to give back to our community. Last October, my shop was one of the sponsors for a trunk-or-treat/car show to help raise money for youth impact. We held the event at a boat shop (Adventure Marine and Powersports) and that is where I met the owner and he gave me the opportunity to help with boat detailing.
The owner of the boat shop and his family have been so good to us and we appreciate it so much that he gave me a chance. In December, I also helped organize a donation drive for the YCC Woman’s Shelter, this was something that was really close to my heart and I was so happy that I had the opportunity to help donate. Apart from the car club, we have been able to be a part of so many car shows, detail cars for people attending car shows, and parades. We had such an amazing summer and we look forward to being able to do it again this following summer.
Lastly, I wanted to add that being a woman in this industry has taught me so many things. It has not been an easy journey because I have met so many people, mostly men, that don’t think women have a place in this type of work. I have been turned away, made fun of, even told that I would not succeed and I feel that it only pushed me to try harder and to work towards my goals.
Being a woman means you have to try twice as hard to show people you know what you’re doing. Detailing has been something I have been passionate about for as long as I can remember. I know I’m not the best in my profession but I enjoy being able to learn and practice every single day and making a career out of it. I’m grateful for all the opportunities and all the people I have met along the way.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road? The hardest thing about detailing and owning my own business has been being a woman and having to deal with people, mostly men, not taking me seriously or not giving me a chance. I feel that because I am a woman and anything with cars is a male-dominated industry, I feel like I constantly have to prove myself or try twice as hard.
This sounds kind of bad, but I try not to show myself or mention that I am a woman on social media until I meet people in person because so many times, I’ve been turned away because of that. A lot of time people assume that it’s my husband’s business, or they ask why I’m the one detailing and not him. Another struggle was having to hear all the negative comments from people I knew as well as people I didn’t know.
A lot of people are scared or don’t know enough about what it means to start a business so it’s easy for them to talk negatively and make you feel bad. I feel the biggest reason why I kept going was that I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. I wanted to show that it’s not impossible, especially because I have 2 little girls and I want them to know that they can accomplish anything they want!
It will take a lot of work and heartache but it is possible.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about VCR AUTO DETAIL LLC?
We detail cars, but the majority of what we do is dealership cars. There are many detail shops that specialize in paint correction or deal mostly with show cars. Although we have had a lot of experience in show cars, we mostly detail daily drivers. We also try to be more reasonably priced compared to other retail shops. We understand the struggles of daily life so we want to keep your car looking nice at an affordable price.
I very slowly learned how to detail from the time I was 16, I say slowly because I didn’t have anyone to teach me so I had to learn on my own. But it was something that I was really interested in so I learned the best way I could. My husband has been around cars his whole life, his dad and older brother raced cars at RMR, for the first car his dad bought him 3 of the same cars from the junkyard and told him to make one of them run.
So, when we first started dating our date nights consisted of him teaching me how to work on my own car. We started with the basics like how to change a tire, how to change the oil, etc. Now, we are currently working on restoring a 1985 Ford F-250. But the more our relationship progressed the more we started learning how to do things neither one of us knew how to do.
We spent so many hours watching videos and practicing on our own vehicles, but it was something we both enjoyed doing. I can honestly say that everything I have learned to do I would practice on my own car first.
What do you think about happiness?
The things that make me happy are my family and my work. I have been very fortunate enough to be able to bring my girls to the shop with me when I need to and that has been a big blessing.
I feel that another reason why I wanted to quit my other job is that I was missing a lot of time with my husband and kids. Now, I have the freedom to spend more time with them and create a schedule that works for us.
Another thing that makes us happy is being able to attend car shows, all summer we attended car shows almost every weekend. It was so fun being able to meet new people and hear their stories. It really makes you appreciate the hard work that is put into these amazing cars.
Pricing:
- $150 (Simple Detail)
- $200 (Full Detail)
- $250 (Diamond Detail)
Contact Info:
- Email: vcrautodetail@gmail.com
- Website: https://vcrautodetail.wixsite.com/vcrautodetail
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vcr_autodetail/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vcrautodetail/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRE2z6QJz2N73TUKjK7-2JA
Image Credits
Jr Galvan, Ethen Gerena, and Colten Rhead
