The magic is in the details

Also known as Junior, Jose Jimenez never envisioned himself constrained by the four walls of a typical desk job.

“Someone could offer me $40 an hour to work inside somewhere and I would still tell them no. I really prefer working outside,” Jimenez said.

In addition to working with his hands and being outdoors, Jimenez discovered his love for cars during middle school.

“My dad would buy cars and resell them, so cleaning those cars became like my hobby after school,” Jimenez said. “When the cars would sell, my father would give me a cut.”

Soon people took notice of the work Jimenez was doing. In his freshman year he was approached by his first official client: his uncle.

“When I was out cleaning my uncle’s car his neighbor came up to ask me how much I charged, that was really when I started the business,” Jimenez said.

It was then that he began to purchase materials and plan for his car detailing business, Jr’s Magic Touch.

Once creating his business Jimenez found lots of support throughout the Athens community, including his mentor Athens Attorney Blake Ogden. 

“I met Jose when he was a freshman through the Clarke County mentoring program and he has a real entrepreneurial attitude,” Ogden said. “I was excited when he started the business and hired him to do my truck. He did a great job.”

Jimenez’ prices range from $95 for simpler tasks to $325 for larger projects. Some of his services include carpet cleaning, paint correction, buffing and waxing. He cleans cars, trucks and other vehicles. 

After a short span of receiving clients through family connections, Jimenez found that the use of business cards helped him expand his clientele.

“Let’s say I go to Kroger and see a dirty car, I would put my card on the windshield,” Jimenez said.

With customer permission, Jimenez also showcases his completed work on his business instagram account @jrsmagictouch.

“Around 30% of my clients come from my Instagram page,” Jimenez said. “Some of my videos get around 6,000 views.” 

In the Cedar Shoals circle, Jimenez has a growing number of satisfied customers.

“Jose and I would always discuss things like entrepreneurship and stocks, and one day he just walked in and said ‘I started the business’ and handed me the card,” science teacher Randy Greene said. “So that summer when my wife said she needed her car detailed, we gave him a call. I’ve actually told other teachers about his business and they said they would hire him.” 

When Senior Nizia Ventura-Ortiz saw Jimenez’ business on Instagram, she thought his services would be the perfect gift for her boyfriend.

“His car is always dirty. I didn’t want to clean it myself and I knew Jose cleans cars,” Ventura said. “He’s really dedicated and puts a lot of time and effort into what he does. The quality of work was there as well.”

Outside of the school building, Jimenez has a few long term clients, one of which includes the Hadden Estate Blueberry Farm that also serves as a wedding venue.

“I clean their wedding vehicles, personal cars and golf carts. Whenever they send me a message to come over there, I’m always down to go,” Jimenez said. 

He has worked for Hadden for over a year, making sure to be punctual.

“I would definitely recommend him, he’s a great kid that works hard and is always on time,” estate owner John Hadden said. 

To find time for balancing school and business, Jimenez has employed a few older friends to work for him.

“If I have a lot of cars to do on a school day, I’ll just hit one of them up to do the job, and then I pay them afterwards,” Jimenez said. “Since they’re in college, sometimes it’s easier for them to fit the job into their schedule.”

Despite his considerable success with car detailing, Jimenez doesn’t view his business as a permanent endeavor.

“In the future, I’ll probably continue with it on the side, but ultimately, my goal is to become an electrician,” Jimenez said. “Since my younger brother works with me sometimes, I’ll probably end up teaching him about cars and hand off the business to him.”