UGA student turns car detailing side hustle into full-time, expanding business
University of Georgia senior Jack TerHaar likes to say that being an entrepreneur “has always been in my DNA.”
“I was blessed to grow up with parents who were entrepreneurs,” the Louisiana native said, noting his mother owns a stationary store and his father started his own sports construction business when he was in college more than 40 years ago and also founded a private post office and a fast-fire pizza business.
“My dad is a serial entrepreneur," TerHaar said. "They’ve always gone after whatever idea appeals to them and I grew up around that. It’s ingrained in my blood.”
In order to make money for school during his freshman and sophomore years, TerHaar worked in downtown restaurants and bars, but didn’t care much for the hours. (“I’m not a night owl,” he said). When he returned to Athens for his junior year, TerHaar decided to start a car detailing business and Detail Dawgs was born.
“I was going over ways to make money and I felt like car detailing was a good option for making a lot of money, because I hadn’t seen any big players in the industry around here, so I felt there was a pretty big gap in the market,” said TerHaar, who will graduate in the spring with degrees in finance and real estate.
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In October 2022, TerHaar launched his detailing business and after a false start in locating a place to work, he began cleaning automobiles in a friend’s driveway. Eventually the business transitioned into a mobile detail operation as he said about 80% of his jobs are now of the mobile variety.
“It went from making enough money for the weekend to doing 12 cars and making $1,500 a week and taking on two friends to help me with it,” he said. “Now I’ve got three other UGA students working with me.”
TerHaar said he’s so pleased with Detail Dawgs’ progress that he’s looking into creating similar businesses in other college towns.
“I believe this is something that’s scalable to every other college town in America,” he said. “We’ve developed a playbook for how to be successful here, and a lot of college students are like me, they don’t want to work until 3 a.m. in a bar or restaurant.
“The pay we’re able to give, plus flexibility and work hours, is a great gig for students willing to hustle. You can make as much money as you like. … I’m looking to scale this at college towns in Georgia first and hopefully across the country.”
TerHaar said his team details between eight and 15 vehicles per week and he’s working 40-hour weeks to manage the company and his employees, which he admitted wasn’t easy with balancing schoolwork.
In addition to the entrepreneurial spirit, TerHaar also inherited his parents’ philanthropic mindset. In September, a portion of Detail Dawgs’ revenue was donated to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation to raise awareness of the condition, which is also known as spot baldness. TerHaar said raising funds and awareness for Alopecia Areata hits close to home.
“My sister Abby was diagnosed Alopecia Areata when she was 7 years old,” he said. “It’s something that’s always been very important to our family. My parents did a golf tournament for five years and also did a 5K race and raised more than $250,000 for National Alopecia Areata Foundation through those events. ... I would really like Detail Dawgs to be something that could support the foundation through raising money and raising awareness."
For more information on Detail Dawgs, visit www.detaildawgs.com or on Instagram @detaildawgsathens.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: UGA student Jack TerHaar started Detail Dawgs to make extra cash
