To those of you new to my page, my name is Chelsea Longabaugh and I own and operate Attention 2 Details. I have been detailing for almost 5 years professionally and strive to go above and beyond on every vehicle that I work on.
This is my first time creating a blog so hang with me as we explore this world together.
So what is auto detailing and how did I get into it? I get asked this question a lot- especially as a woman as most people are surprised when they find out I do what I do for a living. Now while detailing is not gender specific, it is a very male dominated industry (although there are more of us in this industry than you think).
My father was a Marine and my mother was always VERY particular about how she liked things to be done so I learned at a very early age how to clean and my chore was always to wash the car so naturally I had a basic knowledge from an early age on basic car care (let's face it, most women are HORRIBLE at keeping their cars clean so I always knew I was the exception to the rule). Once I had my first car (oh how I LOVED that Chevy Cavalier) I quickly became immersed in car care and wanting to learn how to keep my car/investment looking beautiful. And in 2009 when I married my husband, he introduced me to polishing and taught me the basics of polishing paint and thus began my obsession with auto detailing. Our first years of marriage I worked at Lancaster Bible College as the Housekeeping Supervisor and had to become educated on chemicals, floor care, and various cleaning techniques and that helped create a passion for cleaning in general (which carried over nicely into auto detailing believe it or not).
I started working on any car I could get my hands on (friends and family) and when we had our son in 2011 and then our daughter in 2015, I struggled with the idea of going back to work and putting my kids in childcare. As a now stay-at-home-mom I knew I wanted to help us out financially but wasn't sure how I could do that without sacrificing time with them. Then a neighbor suggested I consider detailing cars for neighbors out of our carport. I thought about it and quickly put together a VERY rough draft of prices and packages, put my information together on the Next Door app and clicked SUBMIT. I didn't think anything would happen but before I knew it, I had started a business and had people messaging me left and right for me to detail their cars. I quickly made my business official and started researching (almost obsessively) products, tools, techniques to create efficient processes and get my customers the best results possible while still keeping my prices affordable. That research led me to forums and groups that I was able to rub elbows with and "sit at the feet" of some of the detailing industries top leaders and learn from them which allowed me the privilege to soak up decades worth of experience. Several of those leaders in fact in turn encouraged me to create a Youtube channel to then help pass that information on and demonstrate those techniques to other budding enthusiasts and detailers as they grow their own business and so 2 years ago Attention 2 Details with Chelsea was born and is a growing community of 13+ thousand followers (at the date of this entry).
I've been open now almost 5 years and have detailed hundreds upon hundreds cars for people near and far. I've been able to culminate my life experiences and personality traits to create a growing business that every year continues to surprise me with how it has grown and helped others. My journey with detailing feels like it's just begun but I've come SO far in these past five years. I am so excited for how this business will continue to grow and look forward to serving the Lancaster community for years to come.
So now that you know how I got my start, stay tuned as we're going to hopefully be able to do future posts that share tips, stories and interesting facts about me and some of the products and companies that I am privileged to work with within the detailing community. Thanks for checking this out and we will see you SOON!