Renny Doyle is the official detailer of Air Force One, creator of the P&S Double Black collection of products, founder of Detailing Success and founder of Detail Mafia. Where did this master detailer come from and how has he grown multiple companies and made them a success? We featured Renny in our Prescribing Growth interview series. Here’s his story…
Renny grew up in Colton, California. He grew up without a father, but credits his family for laying down a solid foundation for him. His mother and grandmother were important figures in his life; they believed in him when no one else did. Born into a family with an underdog mentality, passion and never giving up were key values Renny learned as a kid. His grandmother told him that there was greatness in him if he wanted it. He just needed to go out and create himself. And he did.
Renny got his start in detailing as he was learning how to become a pilot. He got introduced to Art Scholl, an aerobatic pilot and flight instructor based in Riverside, Southern California. Art put Renny to work cleaning airplanes to make extra money. Renny realized he loved the art of detailing and soon started becoming obsessed with detailing any vehicle that moved.
How Renny Doyle Started out in the Detailing Business
Renny’s detailing gigs to make extra money soon turned into solid business ventures. He started and then sold his first detailing company as an 18-year-old for $96,000.
How did he do it so quickly? He tracked everything and everything was documented. Renny says he could have provided a ledger from the 3 years of his business with record of all of the income he brought in. Being able to track what your company is doing creates lasting value for your company.
Another aspect that contributed to his early success was more effective management of his resources. Instead of a heavy focus on customer acquisition, he took more of a customer support mindset. Renny compared his company mentality with the Chick-Fil-A business model. Chick-Fil-A might be 3x more expensive than other competitors, but they’ve instilled a culture of quality and great customer service. Likewise, Renny has never been the cheap guy; in fact, he’s often been the most expensive detailer among his competition.
Taking the Entrepreneur Mentality
There’s a big difference between an entrepreneur and a technician. A technician is worried about beating everyone with technical skill and he’s worried about his survival. An entrepreneur manages the back end of the business, and he’s not just concerned with the front end. Look at your finances – where you’re weak and where you’re strong. Once you develop an entrepreneur mentality, you’ll take ownership over the process and the business.
The Value of Education for Detailers
For Renny Doyle, the value of learning and education is huge. He wants to be learning constantly, stay up-to-date, and keep up with the latest technology.
Renny started a college degree in his younger years, but didn’t finish it until much later in life. For him, the classroom curriculum didn’t seem as valuable as real-world experience. But when he told his daughter to finish her degree after time in the military, she challenged him to do the same. So he finished his Bachelors at 47 years old and then took on a Masters and finished it at 53. Thankfully, since he’s a part of the National Guard in California, he was able to pursue his education for free.
But formal college education isn’t the only way to learn. In fact, Renny places huge importance on mentorship. It’s important to find people to help you learn what you don’t know and listen to their guidance and instruction. One great resource is the International Detailing Association (IDA), basically the forefathers of modern detailing. Every IDA member is trying to do it the right way and they put on classes every month for the association.
How Renny Doyle Manages Life as an Entrepreneur
The detailing industry is seeing a huge leap in technology when it comes to lighting, coating, lasers to measure paint thickness, etc. But he also warned that companies shouldn’t be managing their businesses with pen and paper – business software is the way of the future.
If you manage your business with software, you’ll get to a greater level of efficiency. And as an entrepreneur, efficiency is important. Time is money. Renny has a wife, kids, hobbies, etc and he wants to be able to spend as little time on the business while still reaping big rewards. Work less, earn more is his motto.
Prescribing Growth
This is just one episode of our Prescribing Growth series – a series of interviews with industry leaders to talk about the tips and tricks of running a successful business. Watch the other Prescribing Growth interviews.