Today we’d like to introduce you to Jack TerHaar.
Hi Jack, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I grew up in an environment deeply rooted in entrepreneurship, Both of my parents have started and run small businesses in my hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. My dad is a serial entrepreneur; he started a sports construction business while in college at LSU (forty-three years ago) which he still owns. He’s also started a private postal service and a fast-fired pizza restaurant. My mom started a printing and design boutique that was built into my dad’s private postal service. Throughout adolescence, if I wasn’t competing in sports, I was working in these businesses. Growing up in this tradition of entrepreneurship, I witnessed firsthand the passion that small business owners dedicate to their ventures. While I didn’t realize it at the time, my experiences within family businesses were stirring an innate fire within me to carve out my own path in entrepreneurship.
Coming to UGA, I needed to work consistently to pay off expenses associated with college. This led me to work in various jobs within the service industry in Athens. However, I wasn’t a huge fan of the late hours that accompanied those jobs, and I constantly felt a desire to create something of my own. In the summer between my Sophomore and Junior years, I brainstormed numerous different business ideas that would require little overhead and background knowledge to get started but also create a lasting and meaningful impact on the community around me. After weighing the viability of my ideas, I decided car detailing had the most potential. Early on, I watched countless hours of YouTube videos and sought out guidance from the owner of a shop back in Baton Rouge to develop a system of my own. I analyzed ways to gain competitive advantages in the local industry that would differentiate Detail Dawgs from established players in the market. After operating the business for a little over a year, I’m proud to say that we’ve become a major player in Athens through professionalism and a commitment to customer satisfaction.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Absolutely not. I faced a major roadblock just four days into launching the business. I came to a disagreement with the owner of the location that I’d been working out of in the middle of completing a job for a customer. After trying to negotiate with him for about an hour, I was told that I’d have to find a new location to work out of. I had to inform the customer about what happened, and I also had to find a spot to complete the jobs that were lined up for the coming days. I immediately started calling friends and professors. I also drove around Athens with my landlord that next morning, using his expertise in the Athens property market to scout out new locations. Thankfully, I found a new location relatively quickly, and I was able to complete the jobs that we needed to get done.
As a first-time business owner, almost every challenge is completely new to me. In complete honesty, there are times when problems exhaust me, and I question my decision to enter into entrepreneurship. The obstacles haven’t become easier as Detail Dawgs has grown, but my tolerance and resilience in dealing with them have grown significantly. I’ve also come to realize that solutions are rarely black and white. Entrepreneurship is uncertain, and it will always be uncertain. While the uncertainty is stressful, it’s the part that I love most about it. Every day has an element of chaos to it, which keeps me on my toes.
Most recently, delegation and relinquishing control has been the greatest challenge. We’ve been fortunate to see significant growth over the past few months, causing our team to expand. Growth is always the goal, so I’m trying to look at these problems as opportunities rather than roadblocks. Great things rarely happen without a great team.
The balancing act of being a full-time entrepreneur and a full-time student has not been simple for me. I’ve turned to family, community, and ultimately to my faith in God to get through the tough times. There can be extreme highs and extreme lows. I believe relying on something greater than myself to turn to in the good and bad has been instrumental for putting failures and success into perspective.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Detail Dawgs is an automotive detailing business currently servicing residents of Athens, Georgia and surrounding communities. Simply put, we’re looking to restore our customers’ vehicles to the best condition possible. What truly sets us apart from other competitors is our professionalism and the quality of our services. The local detailing industry is fragmented, with many players. To stand out, we offer an ease of customer experience through mobile detailing services and online bookings. We’re staffed with a team of UGA students who’ve all had experience in detailing for years. Lastly, we’ve partnered with the National Alopecia Areata Foundation to help raise funds and awareness for Alopecia Areata nationwide.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
As a UGA student, I’ve had the opportunity to leverage the resources of the UGA entrepreneurship program. The network and resources that this program has provided to me have been invaluable. I didn’t begin to utilize this community until March of my Junior year, which was five months after I’d initially started Detail Dawgs. I went through a four-week accelerator program that took me from doing five or six jobs a month to completing twelve jobs in a week and hiring two other students to come onto the team. Being pushed by professors who have grown successful businesses of their own helped me think big and start to consider scaling the business to other locations.
Networking is critical. Once I found this community of students who were going through similar challenges in balancing business with school, I started looking to build relationships. In April, I was fortunate to become President of the Entrepreneurship Society at UGA. In this role, I’ve had the opportunity to continue to grow my networking skills. Over the summer, our executive team reached out to a plethora of successful entrepreneurs to come speak on campus at UGA during the academic year. In trying to convince big names to come to campus, I’ve learned persistence and the importance of providing value in interactions.
As a college student, it’s important to be creative and intentional in the value that you will add to networking with another individual. Similar to entrepreneurship, resilience is key. In obtaining speakers for the Entrepreneurship Society, I’d develop a comprehensive list of who would provide significant value to our organization, and then I would try to give them incentives to come. I’ve learned that getting a “no” might just open another conversation up, and you can typically get what you’re looking for if you’re willing to hustle.
Pricing:
- Sedan Full Detail – $180
- SUV/Truck Full Detail – $210
Contact Info:
- Website: detaildawgs.com
- Instagram: @detaildawgsathens
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-s-terhaar/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/detail-dawgs-athens?utm_campaign=www_business_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct
