Bend 12-year-old does auto detailing to fund e-bike dream

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A 12-year-old Bend resident, Alder Gonzales, really wants his own e-bike. But instead of asking his parents or saving up birthday and holiday cash for years to buy it, he decided to earn it for himself.

Gonzales has started his own auto detailing service. He goes door to door, knocking asking if people need their car cleaned. He manages the business while balancing his schoolwork.

The venture has seen a significant increase in business recently, after he was posted in a local facebook group. He's started traveling directly to clients' homes to work on their cars.

Alder isn't just a kid with a hose and some dish soap. He's got proper cleaning equipment. He also utilizes specific products designed for both the interior and exterior of vehicles. He tries his best to re-create the high-quality results of a real auto detailer for his customers.

Gonzales still need to balance school and his side hustle, but he's looking to the future, where this could become a proper job for him

"I see a lot of people who do this for, like, a full time job and they get like a bunch of clients," Gonzales said. "They have, like, a big business."

Gonzales has an idea for how he wants his future auto detailing business.

"All this stuff would go in the van and have and it would just be ways to do so because I could drive to people like from anywhere and I could just work out of the van," Gonzales said.

He's still a long ways from getting his e-bike though. And will have to clean a lot more cars to achieve his dream.

If you want to hire Alder, you can contact him through his professional email: crystalcascades6@gmail.com