An open letter to all past and present Uptown Customers from owners, Russell and Mickie Holmes:
It doesn't quite seem possible, but UpTown Detailing is coming up on it's 12th year in business this June. We've met countless wonderful people all across Central Florida, working in their driveways and office parking lots and have thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
2019 will see us begin to move into our next chapter in life and away from UpTown Detailing. We are continuing operations to service our established regular clients for the time being, but we are unable to accommodate all of the requests for detailing work that we have been receiving. Over the coming year we will be decreasing our time input to UpTown as we increase our time input to, and income from, other sources. The final date that we close down for good is still to be determined. When we do decide to close, we will attempt to find good detailers for our existing customers and hope to stay in touch with many over the years. Any outstanding gift certificates we will offer to complete the work towards the end or buy them back for purchased price. We've had the business listed for sale for several months at a reasonable price, but small owner-operator businesses like ours don't often sell easily since they require active buyer participation and convey no employees. If the right buyer comes along, we'll be happy to pass the torch and train them if needed. If not, the experience and income over the years was worth the effort.
So if not detailing, what next?
After years of having an interest, I finally got my Real Estate license in February of 2018. I am now a Realtor with cloud-based brokerage eXp Realty, the fastest growing brokerage in the country and the largest by geographical area, covering all 50 states and some of Canada. Over the last year, I have been working to build my personal real estate business, network with buyers and sellers, and have been devouring knowledge and training like I'm drinking from a fire hose. I've built some good momentum, made a ton of networking connections with countless vendors, professionals, and investors, and I've sold a few properties. I've got two clients with in-progress flip properties in Apopka that should be ready to market in the Spring, I'm working on a couple of rural acreage home listings. In general I'm hustling for more business and more connections. I have investor buyers with capital to deploy and am in the hunt for the type of properties they seek while marketing actively for new clients looking to sell their homes. In the meantime, my wife, Mickie, is pursuing a passion of hers by finishing up a Graphic Design degree at Full Sail in February to begin a freelance career in design work.
This transition from Husband and Wife full-time operators of UpTown Detailing to one day hanging up the "UpTown hat" altogether is something that we are still figuring out as we go. There's no how-to guide to switch from owner operators of one business to independent contractors as a Realtor and Graphic Designer, all while having five kids in school and a life to pay for. Both Real Estate and Graphic design require time input to get things going, so we've already cut back on the time we allow UpTown to fill in our calendars and have given up on some sleep and free time in order to put more work into our next endeavors.
We would love to be able to return every call and email that we get and fit in every person who wants detailing appointments, but the days of that being reasonably possible are in the past. In order for us to maintain our quality and accountability to our loyal regulars while carving out the time to pursue our new endeavors, we must first close our doors to the less frequent customers and new requests.
UpTown has been a fun ride, but the end of the line is approaching. All customers who have ongoing schedules with us (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc) we will be continuing to service as usual as well as quite a few that aren't on set schedules by still frequently use us. Thank you to everyone for the loyal support, business, and conversation over the years.
It doesn't quite seem possible, but UpTown Detailing is coming up on it's 12th year in business this June. We've met countless wonderful people all across Central Florida, working in their driveways and office parking lots and have thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
2019 will see us begin to move into our next chapter in life and away from UpTown Detailing. We are continuing operations to service our established regular clients for the time being, but we are unable to accommodate all of the requests for detailing work that we have been receiving. Over the coming year we will be decreasing our time input to UpTown as we increase our time input to, and income from, other sources. The final date that we close down for good is still to be determined. When we do decide to close, we will attempt to find good detailers for our existing customers and hope to stay in touch with many over the years. Any outstanding gift certificates we will offer to complete the work towards the end or buy them back for purchased price. We've had the business listed for sale for several months at a reasonable price, but small owner-operator businesses like ours don't often sell easily since they require active buyer participation and convey no employees. If the right buyer comes along, we'll be happy to pass the torch and train them if needed. If not, the experience and income over the years was worth the effort.
So if not detailing, what next?
After years of having an interest, I finally got my Real Estate license in February of 2018. I am now a Realtor with cloud-based brokerage eXp Realty, the fastest growing brokerage in the country and the largest by geographical area, covering all 50 states and some of Canada. Over the last year, I have been working to build my personal real estate business, network with buyers and sellers, and have been devouring knowledge and training like I'm drinking from a fire hose. I've built some good momentum, made a ton of networking connections with countless vendors, professionals, and investors, and I've sold a few properties. I've got two clients with in-progress flip properties in Apopka that should be ready to market in the Spring, I'm working on a couple of rural acreage home listings. In general I'm hustling for more business and more connections. I have investor buyers with capital to deploy and am in the hunt for the type of properties they seek while marketing actively for new clients looking to sell their homes. In the meantime, my wife, Mickie, is pursuing a passion of hers by finishing up a Graphic Design degree at Full Sail in February to begin a freelance career in design work.
This transition from Husband and Wife full-time operators of UpTown Detailing to one day hanging up the "UpTown hat" altogether is something that we are still figuring out as we go. There's no how-to guide to switch from owner operators of one business to independent contractors as a Realtor and Graphic Designer, all while having five kids in school and a life to pay for. Both Real Estate and Graphic design require time input to get things going, so we've already cut back on the time we allow UpTown to fill in our calendars and have given up on some sleep and free time in order to put more work into our next endeavors.
We would love to be able to return every call and email that we get and fit in every person who wants detailing appointments, but the days of that being reasonably possible are in the past. In order for us to maintain our quality and accountability to our loyal regulars while carving out the time to pursue our new endeavors, we must first close our doors to the less frequent customers and new requests.
UpTown has been a fun ride, but the end of the line is approaching. All customers who have ongoing schedules with us (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc) we will be continuing to service as usual as well as quite a few that aren't on set schedules by still frequently use us. Thank you to everyone for the loyal support, business, and conversation over the years.
~Russell & Mickie Holmes
PS - If you or anyone you know is looking to buy or sell a home, please visit RussellHolmes.exprealty.com to begin the home search or to get a free home valuation!