Driven by determination and entrepreneurial spirit, University of Georgia student Jack TerHaar transformed a side gig into a thriving business that's cleaning up in the local auto industry. His venture, Detail Dawgs, is catching the eye with its mobile detailing service, according to a report by WABE.
The 21-year-old business major launched the company as a junior, quickly to learn from his missteps and bolster customer satisfaction. "At the beginning stages, there were some things that we could have done better. And some customers weren’t quite as satisfied as I would have liked them to be," TerHaar told WABE. Initially a way to earn some extra cash, the business has since shifted gears dramatically, accelerating from servicing a mere five cars a month to now over a dozen each week.
Insight from the UGA Idea Accelerator Program helped TerHaar apply his academic savvy to a practical domain, propelling his business into quick expansion. Detail Dawgs prides itself on its mobile advantage, meeting clients wherever convenient within a 20-mile radius of Athens, Georgia. TerHaar discussed the edge his company has over competitors: "[With] every other service, you have to call a number for a quote and talk to somebody. On our website, here’s what we provide, here are the services we offer, and people can literally just click on their one tap, book it for a time, and come meet us out here," he explained to WABE.
As the demand for their services polished up, Detail Dawgs had to hire additional help, including Ian Fitzgerald, who's been faced with his fair share of messy interiors. "Some of my first one of my first cars were pretty terrible," Fitzgerald recalled in the WABE interview. "You can tell when people have kids. Kids don’t care for the cars as much as adults do. You see a lot of gum squished into carpets, cupholders, and snacks everywhere. There’s stuff that you couldn’t even imagine being in places."
But TerHaar's vision extends beyond just clean car seats. In a personal battle close to his home, Detail Dawgs made a generous donation to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation, a gesture driven by his older sister's diagnosis with the autoimmune disorder. "So through my business, I wanted to do something to help my sister, Abby," TerHaar shared with WABE.
With his undergraduate journey nearing its end, TerHaar is planning to drive his business into new markets. After detailing Athens, Atlanta is next in line, with sights set on college towns beyond Georgia. "So the next location is going to be Atlanta, and we’re going to try to compete in that market, and then probably just go into a couple of different towns, I’ve looked at like Charlotte, North Carolina, and like Columbia, South Carolina, some of the dealerships have branches over there," he said, according to WABE.
