Today we’d like to introduce you to Isaac Tigges.
Isaac, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My business partner (Brian Bernstein, and I) started detailing cars back in early 2022, we did it as a way to make some extra cash for Brian and myself. We actually both started independently of each-other and we were not really that close to each-other. One day I posted online to my friends that I was starting to detail, and at this point I had maybe $300 worth of supplies and equipment to get started and was using my tiny BMW Z3 to get around to jobs. Although, when Brian saw what I posted online, he messaged me that he was starting to detail as well, and it all really got started from there. Eventually we were talking everyday, where I would come over to his house and we would just sit down and brainstorm our dreams of owning and operating a detailing business. Eventually, we started FR Detailing, and for the past three years we have been building that initial vision we had of owning a successful business, and making a name for ourselves in the Raleigh Durham area.
And we started this business when we were super young- so obviously we had a lot of learning to do. So for around the first three years, it was mainly just discovery. We have been through ups and downs on how to exactly be successful, tried things out that ultimately failed, and even had some pretty big wins, but throughout this journey, we have been able to provide not only a professional service, but have been able to bake ourselves into the community, and be apart of something larger than ourselves.
We are working on expanding further into new regions, hiring more employees, and even looking towards getting a shop to expand our offerings further than we have before.
We are excited about today, but even more excited for whats next to come!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Definitely not! To a couple of naive high-school students, a small service based business seems like the easy choice, but in reality, it was one of the harder ones. In the first year, I will admit we had no idea what we were doing, we did not even know how to detail a car efficiently, or even knew that we had to detail efficiently. All we knew is that we had some (a very little amount) customers walking through the door. Although, over the years little by little we started to piece together what was working and what was not. Although- I would say the biggest hurdle we faced was nothing task related, but in the actual phychology and mentality of actually just going out there and doing it. There were a lot of mental road blocks that Brian and I had. I remember when we were in Highschool we would be scared to answer the phone, probably because we thought we would be annoying, but eventually we came to the realization that these were things that we just needed to do! Having the right or wrong mentality when you are a business owner I think makes or breaks a business, it really all comes down to how serious you are about making sure it all comes together and works well, that everything aligns. But remember that it wont always align, but as long as you are serious and ambitious, nothing will stop you. It definitely held us back for quite a while.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I would say I have an extensive background for being a 21 year old. When I was in highschool, probably when I was around the age of fourteen, I had started my own custom computer building business called Skyline Computer Solutions. (Growing up I was fascinated with tech and business) I learned a lot about building websites, what made people click and not click, and even some basic marketing experience. So I did a complete pivot and started what’s called dropshipping (as any naive 14yr old looking for quick cash does). Although, dropshipping requires extensive knowledge on marketing strategy, marketing research, paid ad campaigns, website building, and more… So I decided to put my head down and learn it. I ended up finding Pinterest to be a very suitable source of revenue, and I sold a lot of cheap automatic fruit peelers! One of my markeitng strategies for gaining instagram followers for my dropshipping business was to just follow as many accounts as I could that were relevant to my page, so I coded a instagram bot using Python. Although, I thought that I could also make some easy money by selling this online. I eventually ran into a small digital marketing agency owner purchased my basic instagram follower bot software, and after talking with him for a while he offered me a job to be a media buyer at his agency running Facebook Ad Campaigns. Unfortuantely, when the IOS privacy update came out, Facebook ads took a turn for the worse, and my services were no longer needed. So I decided to start my own small agency building websites for small business owners. By this time I was also 16 with the real adult expense of a car and gas! So, I ended up getting a job at a local Pizzera called Bennys (I still sometimes work there to this day), and my owner and entrepreneurial spirit didn’t stop there. I ended up helping them plan a renovation, hire around five employees, and helped boost revenue in a store that was going under to a store that was making profit. I learned a lot about turning around a culture, training, and leading others. not to mention I was still running my agency, and making some but very little money off of the endeavor, and I realized that it may be best to try and build a small business. After all, how hard could it be? I have helped numerous small businesses with their marketing efforts and have succeeded. By this time I was 18, and I started my journey in the Auto Detailing industry. Although, at this point in my life I got a little smarter and instead of putting all my eggs into one basket, I decided to also go to college at Virginia Tech and try and more traditional route as well. I thought that Brian could do the detailing, whilst I run the business back end remotely. This seemed to have work very well, and even to this day, its how we operate for 9 months out of the year. While I was in my freshman year of college, I wanted to get the most out of it, so I joined some extracurriculars and one of those was this Student Led Marketing Agency called “PRISM”. It is one of the most extensive and immersive experiences anyone could get as a college student. I got the chance to work with small to large budgets in paid campaigns, work with numerous clients from the Pamplin College of Business, to small local businesses in the Blacksburg area, to big consulting and tech companies. Some of my best and most proud moments is the fact that I have ran consecutively the most successful Paid ad campaigns in history for the Pamplin College of Business, beating out many larger firms from NYC to California, and I am not entirely sure, but I would like to think that I contriuted to Pamplin going from unranked to #47 overall, and #23 amongst public institutions (if other schools wouldn’t accept me like NC State, I thought that I would just have to make my school better than theirs, even if that was making a small impact). More recently I am proud to be the Account Director of PRISM managing a team of around 30 across our entire portfolio. Anyway, lets get back to the timeline- as a freshman for some reason I thought was not doing enough, so I searched for an internship, and found one that went back to my roots of tech. Red Hat! I started as a PMM Co-op for their Partner Portfolio Ecosystem team, and worked from there onwards in the next year into their Artificial intelligence Business unit working on taking Openshift AI to market as a PMM intern, and building an internal amplification framework. This year (2025, now I am 21), I am back at Red Hat in their Artificial Intelligence business unit working on GTM strategy, sales enablement, (some) customer adoption, and more across Red Hat’s entire AI portfolio as a PMM intern. I am also just as of recently joining a startup called “Direct Drive” where we focus on getting students home safely from a night of fun by eliminating the old-school method of “dedicated-drivers” and replacing it with a free uber like alternative that allows students to safely return home, without relying on a drive home when they are at their most vulnerable. I will be taking their product to market across all universities in the nation.
And yes- before you ask- I do all of this while also managing FR Detailing, and FR Detailing has seen the most success it ever has- Its surprising even to me!
Who else deserves credit in your story?
I will give credit to a few people.
1.) my parents, because they raised me to be resourceful, dream big, and to be ambitious. They taught me that society will put you in a box, do everything you can to question that box, and do everything you can to climb out of it.
2.) Sean O’Conner (Owner of Trinity Soccer Academy) an old soccer coach I had that taught me what it looked like to be competitive, and what it took to win.
3.) I will give credit to Kade Finney as he took a chance on me when I was 15 to run Facebook ads for him. I still can’t believe it to this day.
4.). I will give credit to Mike Kight for being one of the best managers I have ever seen, witnessed, etc,, and taught me what it looked like to be a true leader.
5.) I will give credit to Brian Bernstein, who is there by my side every step of the way, and literally put all of his eggs into one basket for the vision of FR Detailing.
6,) I will give credit to Keith Weaver for helping us with our business and helping take us off the ground.
7.) I will give credit to Abby Stewart for being the epiphany of staying out of the box, and showing me that it was always possible.
7.) I will give credit to Donna Wertalik, for understanding that it takes time to learn, and for being such an incredible advocate for experiential learning and incubation.
8.) and Finally- I will give credit to my recently deceased twin sister Kayley Tigges. Whom made me realize that throughout the struggles, and throughout life, its not about the destination, its about the journey, the people you meet and grow with along the way. Its about enjoying life, smelling the roses, and realizing that life itself is incredibly precious. To whom taught me the absolute meaning of life.
I also want to thank friends that have helped me along the way, made me a better person, forced me to reflect, and advocated for me during my continuously challenging, but purposeful journey.
Pricing:
- Owners Choice: $215-315
- Touch Up (Maintenance): $130-185
- Interior: $140-245
- Exterior: $85-140
- Ceramic Coating/ Ceramic Coating – $500 to $2000
Contact Info:
- Website: frdetailing.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/factoryresetdetailing/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/factoryresetdetailing
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jitigges/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/fr-detailing-raleigh
- Other: https://g.co/kgs/W2PU7Zi
