Episode 05: JT Automotive Detailing
Think your car’s clean now? JT’s Automotive Detailing brings high-quality, convenient auto care right to your doorstep.
In this episode of the Small Business Voice, Jeanette Forni is joined again by guest co-host Cassandra Augusto, publisher of Neighbors of East Turlock, for a spring-themed episode celebrating young entrepreneurship in the Central Valley. The energy is high, the conversation is warm, and the guest is someone both women have a personal connection to.
The featured guest is Jayden Lebsack, 19 years old and owner of JT's Automotive Detailing — a fully mobile detailing operation based out of Oakdale that travels throughout the surrounding Central Valley. Jayden launched his business just one year before this episode, marking his one-year anniversary right around the time of the interview. Cassandra has known Jayden since he was nine years old through his mother's entrepreneurial community, making this a particularly meaningful conversation.
Jayden's story starts with a young man who knew college wasn't his path. He considered firefighting, then becoming a lineman for PG&E — but somewhere along the way, he discovered automotive detailing, bought his supplies, and the rest, as he puts it, is history. He funded his startup entirely on his own, saving money from four years of working at a local Italian restaurant in Oakdale where he started at 15. He spent roughly $2,500 on chemicals, an air compressor, pressure washer, hoses, buckets, and all the small essentials. His dad helped him purchase his first trailer (a four-by-six he later outgrew) and made payments back to him. He has since upgraded to a six-by-twelve trailer as the business has grown.
The episode covers the full range of services JT's Automotive Detailing offers, including interior and exterior detailing, paint correction, and ceramic coating — which Jayden explains in simple terms as making your car work like a nonstick pan, bonding to the clear coat so dirt, bugs, and debris wash right off. He also discusses the challenge of dog hair (Jeanette's Husky-riding truck comes up more than once), water spot removal, and how ceramic coating can protect fresh paint jobs and custom striping from the Central Valley sun.
Jayden works almost entirely solo, with a few friends who help occasionally, and books jobs typically about a week out. He's fully mobile — bringing his own power and water — and has traveled as far as four and a half hours for a high-value ceramic coating job, even staying overnight. He recently made one of the biggest decisions a new entrepreneur faces: quitting his restaurant job to go all-in on the business. Jeanette and Cassandra celebrate this as the pivotal moment that separates those who go for it from those who don't.
To book with Jaden, visit JTSAutomotiveDetailing.com or call/text 209-596-1373
Left to Right: Co-Host Cassandra, Guest Jayden Lebsack, Host Jeanette Lorentz-Forni