‘Starting up my own business has helped me feel integrated within my community’

Since launching his own business, Steve Strong has felt more connected and integrated within his local community.

By having regular face-to-face connections with his neighbours, being outside for the majority of the day and leaving behind the stress related to his previous job, Steve’s newly launched car valeting service has done wonders for his mental and physical health.

The 38-year-old from Bradley Stoke parted ways with his previous job as a mentor for young people who had left education early. Despite enjoying his role and working with a “great team”, he was finding the out-of-hours calls, emergency duty work, and the sense of responsibility and care for the young people “overwhelming” and “hard to switch off” from.

He said: “My partner was noticing I wasn’t happy and I was carrying stress with me outside of work, on reflection I can see that.”

Since launching his own business, Steve Strong has felt more connected and integrated within his local community – photo: Steve Strong

Within one week, Steve had done online research on car valeting, purchased a van with a lot of valeting cleaning equipment included, and posted about his business on his local Facebook community group. Two days after posting about Dead Clean Mobile Valeting, Steve had around 400 direct messages in his inbox from potential customers.

The dad-of-one, who has been running his new business for the past five months, said: “The response to my post was overwhelming. I was surprised there was such a big market for car valeting in the area.

“The way it took off so quickly was a bit scary, I thought I’ve got to do this now. I didn’t have much experience apart from cleaning my own car at the weekend.

“I quickly put together a price list and bought a diary.

“Without knowing it was perfect timing for me to come along as a car valeting service had not long been kicked out of the area to make room for a McDonald’s, and the next nearest one is in Cribbs Causeway.

“The change in jobs has been so good for my mental health. I’m now outside for the majority of the day chatting to people and I’m feeling much healthier.

“Being in this business you really get to know people, I can’t go outside now without someone waving or starting a conversation with me. Whereas beforehand, I had no real reason to get talking to someone.

“Usually, it take years to build up this network with your community and now I have all these handy contacts, like plumbers and mechanics.

“It’s a really nice feeling to be connected to people and to your local community.”

Two days after posting about Dead Clean Mobile Valeting, Steve had around 400 direct messages in his inbox from potential customers – photo: Steve Strong

Steve, who is originally from Plymouth and moved to Bristol 10 years ago to be closer to his daughter, said in the past he has “felt like a bit of an outsider” in society because of his appearance. He added: “It’s such a natural thing to judge people on how they look.

“I’m covered in tattoos, I’ve got them on my hands and my neck, I love them. But I’m aware the look of them does put people off and that’s fair enough.

“People don’t sit next to me when I’m on the bus or on the train, in that way I’ve always felt like a bit of an outsider.

“Someone said to me recently on a job ‘If I didn’t know you and I saw you in a dark alley I’d run away’.

“This job has definitely broken down barriers, especially with older people. It’s nice to feel accepted in the community.”

Having a flexible job and being his own boss has had a positive impact on Steve’s personal life.

The lack of stress has improved his mood and he now has more energy when spending time with his 11-year-old daughter.

“It’s nice not having anyone to answer to, and there’s no anxiety around other people’s expectations.

“If you’re late then it’s on you. I’ve not had a single bad experience so far and people are so understanding if something like the weather gets in the way.

“It’s also great not having to wait until the end of each month to get paid. Now I live per day, and I get out what I put in”.

So far, Steve has valeted over 300 cars, has over 100 five-star reviews on his Facebook page from happy customers and is booked up for the next three weeks.

Steve still does the odd job for his previous employer and one of the young people he used to work with now gets involved once a week with Dead Clean on work experience.

So far, Steve has valeted over 300 cars, has over 100 five-star reviews on his Facebook page from happy customers and is booked up for the next three weeks – photo: Steve Strong

The entrepreneur advises others thinking about doing something similar to “do it”, but to have a plan B just in case. He said: “If you can, keep ties with your current job or some other source of income while you’re getting started.

“Do your research and see if there’s a demand out there. Maybe reach out to other people who are doing something similar and see how they go about it. A lot of people are more open to having that conversation than you think.

“It’s important to have a good support network around you, which I’m lucky to have, to support you emotionally and financially.

“Just try it because you’ll never know if you don’t. If you fail, then at least you’ve tried.

“It’s easy to stay where you are in a job, but it is really liberating to do what you want to do.

“And remember, social media is a powerful thing.”

Steve brings his own water with him which is an added bonus for his customers as they don’t have to worry about their water meter readings going up after getting their car washed.

Steve, who buys the majority of his cleaning supplies from small, local companies, hopes to one day rent an office space and a unit and wants to get training on machine polishing and paint correction to expand his list of services.

Photos: Steve Strong 

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