Mr. Car Bath as the name suggests is dedicated to delivering specialized vehicle care at the doorstep of a customer. Says Raghav, “Typically people employ the building watchman or the domestic help to wash their cars who render highly primitive methods of cleaning – the cloth dipped in a bucket of water do no justice to the interior of the cars and is a highly superficial way of cleaning.
Other available options in car cleaning at service stations, petrol pumps and private garages are expensively priced for the type of service provided and more so, require one to drive-in his/her car.”
We at Mr. Car Bath use the most well researched and sophisticated technology available worldwide to ensure that after every wash, the car looks like it has just been released from the showroom. “We have more than 25 treatments, each of which uses a combination of the right chemicals, brushes, tools and machinery to give every part of the car a specific treatment in isolation. Usually ignored areas like the fuel point, boot space and engine area amongst others are treated too” elaborates the innovative entrepreneur.
Having performed more than a 1000 washes since its inception late last year, it was a logical move for Raghav to include a plethora of useful car amenities to the services of Mr. Car Bath making it truly a one-stop solution for all vehicle care.
“Our business model has been designed such that most costs are variable in nature and hence it’s possible to look at adding new services so soon. The capital itself was low which I could manage to self fund through my savings from my earlier job at a large auditing firm” says Raghav going on to explain that plans for the future include the consolidation of business, customized packages for corporate clients, services at different touch points, and expansion to other parts of the country.
This clear outlining of a vision is what has worked for Mr. Car Bath who Raghav says is recording growth month-on-month and now has four management staff in addition to 10 washers and outsourced help to service the new customers they are acquiring from all parts of the city. They have recently done a few car washes for some well known celebrities which Raghav says his cleaners were really excited about. “We refine our goals every month and learn as we go along. Fortunately the mistakes we’ve made so far have been several but small and identifiable.”
The one challenge that was not as easy to overcome, admits Raghav was when just one month into the business, his business partner and long time friend called it quits and decided to exit the start-up. “It was like waking up one day to suddenly realize…this is it, its me alone now and I have to do it, partner or not. That did take a lot of persistence, courage and faith in God and myself. Today, the passion for what I do and the feedback we receive from customers is what keeps me going”, says the young entrepreneur who was nominated for the ‘Youth Icon’ awards by Pepsi & MTV in a contest held across the nation in 2008.
Having learnt his lessons, Raghav says that he still wouldn’t have it any other way “The fact is that entrepreneurship is the only way where the rewards are truly proportional to the work you do. Of course there are risks but it is a rich learning experience and the money you can earn is not capped.”
With many such thoughts on entrepreneurship, Raghav says he can write a book on the subject. For now, he leaves us with the following advice for start-ups – “passion, hard work, undying persistence, the ability to deal with risk and most importantly faith in oneself and God is what will see you through.”
We at Yourstory wish the passionate young entrepreneur loads of success in years to come.
