An entrepreneurial spirit: Pueblo West student Benjamin Hall opens mobile detailing service

May 18—An entrepreneur from the start, Pueblo West High School graduating senior Benjamin Hall opened a mobile detailing service, NoSpots4Less, during a global pandemic and his senior year.

From a young age, Hall would visit garage sales and then flip whatever he could find.

Then, when Facebook first came out, he began utilizing the platform as a way to sell products before the social networking app opened its own marketplace.

"My mom always told me I could sell ice to an Eskimo," Hall said.

By 16, Hall got his first car — a Subaru that he was constantly cleaning, atop of being a full-time student and working for a company selling solar panels door to door for commission.

When one of Hall's friends was detailing cars for her family, he saw an opportunity and ran with it.

"I told her, 'I could start a business," Hall said. "I was like, 'I'll start the business, you clean the cars.' Since I knew so much about business already."

To fund the business, Hall said, he used a trust fund he had received from a lawsuit.

"When I was younger, I had work on my teeth done that was unlawful, you could say," Hall said. "Someone had sued for me; it wasn't even my parents. We didn't know about it. So, when I was 10, I got a letter in the mail basically saying, 'Hey Benjamin, when you turn 18 you have a trust fund waiting for you.'"

When Hall was a kid, he wanted to use the money he received to buy the next cool thing, but by the time he was 18 and was able to use the money, he knew the best way to spend it was to invest in himself and his entrepreneurial spirit.

"That was my thing, I wanted to do something different with (the money,)" Hall said. "I take risks all the time, but I've never really put a lot of money into something."

At this point, Hall and his friend had detailed a few cars, but hadn't fully invested in the business they wanted to start.

"I was like, 'Let's put money into this,'" Hall said. "I bought the website, did mass advertising, bought a truck. The whole 15 grand later, here we are. I haven't made the money back yet, but we're on track."

NoSpots4Less officially became a business in September of 2020, and Hall noted opening a mobile detailing service amid a pandemic didn't hinder him as it may have with other businesses.

"COVID never really stopped us," Hall said. "So many people wanted their car cleaned as opposed to anything else I was working on. All the markets were going down but mine (in mobile detailing) was going up."

But given his age, Hall said, getting the business up and running was the easy part.

"It's either hit or miss," Hall said. "They either love it that I'm this young and doing this, or they try to kind of take advantage of the fact I'm young."

Despite all obstacles, NoSpots4Less has been a licensed business for eight months, and Hall noted it is continuing its growth.

The mobile detailing service now serves all of Southern Colorado excluding Fremont County currently, and Hall said for now the plan is to stay mobile.

"I was on Amazon eBooks," Hall said. "I found this book about a guy who owns a mobile detailing company. What he said was that all these people that start (a mobile detailing service) fail because right away they open a shop. Those who really prosper in it were just buying another truck, and another truck."

With that information, Hall said, he has decided he will own five trucks before starting one shop.

"Having a shop would increase our expenses," Hall said. "With a truck, I just pay insurance. And the demand is so high because we are mobile. Not a lot of people want to come to you anymore — we are living in the age of mobile everything."

Going back to where a majority of his business started, Hall said Facebook has been crucial in NoSpots4Less' growth.

Including Hall, the business has five mobile detailers, and then upward of 10 employees whose job is to work on marketing.

"Their job used to just be setting appointments," Hall said. "Now their job is to pinpoint, market, anytime there's a post on 'I Live in Pueblo West' on Facebook, they flood it with comments. That's how we pinpoint our marketing and my business tactic. Ninety-two percent of all of our business comes from Facebook, and 63% of that comes from the group 'I Live in Pueblo West.'

"I tell everyone in the world, Facebook should be all about business. It's not good if you want to get a lot of likes, but if you want to have actual engagement, people knowing about you, and that word-of-mouth business — I think Facebook is the way to go."

The next step, Hall said, is the business' official 'Truck Launch.'

During a two-week period from June 1-14, Hall is offering 10% off all his products and services for the launch which will be open to all of Colorado.

From there, Hall hopes to franchise the business.

"We are taking it one step at a time, one car at a time," Hall said. "We put our full effort not into only cleaning the cars and treating every car the exact same throughout the detail — which a lot of companies don't do. But the biggest point behind that, is we treat all of our customers with respect."

The best part of this job, Hall said, is the people.

"I get to meet wonderful people all day," Hall noted. "That's always been my biggest thing. It's not about the money. I'm a young kid, who wants to own every type of business. I like connections and the more cars we get to do, it's just a snowball effect. Turning it into more."

Those connections, Hall added, have led him to the motto that three people leave each workday happy.

"I'm happy, I have my company and I get to see it grow," Hall said. "My customers are happy because they have a clean car — they've paid almost a ridiculously cheap price to have it cleaned in the time it was cleaned. And my workers are happy, he had a good day, enjoys his job, work environment.

"That's always been the greatest part, watching those three people be happy. Not a lot of businesses have that. There's usually that flaw in there whether it be an employee who is unhappy, or the customer. I feel like our business has never had one of those weak spots, and if there were I would dismantle it instantly."

Ultimately, Hall said, his driving force in starting this business was to take care of his mother.

"I came from a very poor family," Hall said. "South side, single mother. So, I guess that's always been my real drive trying to start businesses all the time — to take care of my mom, have her live wealthy."

Chieftain and Pueblo West View reporter Alexis Smith can be reached by email at asmith@chieftain.com or on Twitter @smith_alexis27.