After a year of developing their business, seniors Ayden Conlon and Ben Ille have successfully detailed over 200 cars. Their business, ‘Revived Rides,’ is a mobile car washing and detailing business that has allowed the students to pursue their passions of entrepreneurship and business management.

Conlon and Ille established their business in May 2024 after washing cars for fun throughout their childhood. Conlon believes the business has allowed them to pursue their interest in cars.

“Revived Rides is a business that Ben and I started because of our love for cars,” Conlon said. “We both grew up loving cars and we thought this would be a great way for us to be able to clean and see some really cool cars.”

Over the past year, Conlon and Ille have expanded their business by obtaining new, better equipment as well as new clients. Ille believes their development of the business has been difficult, but significant.

“We started the business in [Conlon’s] driveway, and then once we bought a truck, we expanded and went mobile,” Ille said. “Now, we have a bigger water tank, a bigger power generator and new hose reels, as well as business cards and social media accounts that have helped us reach a lot of new clients.”

Revived Rides offers a variety of different packages that are tailored to the customers’ wishes. Through this, Conlon and Ille have learned how to clean cars with a variety of different methods.

“We start off by spraying the car, and then we apply our soap from our foam cannon, and then we wax the car,” Ille said. “After that, we do the interior; we do in-depth vacuuming and steam cleaning, and then we wipe down all the plastics and leathers to make the car look brand new.”

Tom Clemens is a client of Revived Rides and has purchased details for his family’s cars over 20 times. Clemens said that their professionalism and quality of work is notable.

“I once asked them if they could detail my car on a Tuesday morning, and they said, ‘We can’t; we have school,” Clemens said. “I didn’t even realize they were in high school because they’re so professional and do such a thorough job in terms of cleaning the car. I was really impressed.”

Clemens also believes their policy of price-setting is another attribute that makes their business so appealing to those in need of detailing.

“They get to know the car, and then they charge based on how much work they’re doing,” Clemens said. “If my car isn’t very dirty, they don’t charge as much, which is fair and awesome. If my car is more dirty, they’ll be honest and say they’re going to have to charge a little more. They do the right thing by the customer.”

Over time, Revived Rides has allowed Conlon and Ille to improve their business expertise, such as marketing and budgeting, providing them with lifelong skills that will benefit them in college and beyond.

“I’ve developed a lot of great skills to have, such as knowing my worth, being able to communicate and being able to sell myself,” Conlon said. “I think these skills will give me a greater edge when applying for jobs in the future. It’s given me a lot of experience and shows reliability and consistency.”

In order to run their business successfully, Conlon and Ille have had to balance their passion with school, creating road bumps along the way. However, Conlon hopes to solve this problem by expanding the staff of their business. 

“It’s been tough,” Conlon said. “We both play varsity sports, so it’s been hard to find a time when we’re both available, which has pulled us back a little bit. However, hopefully in the future, we will expand to have the business run without us, just in case we’re ever not available.”

Both Conlon and Ille hope to expand their passion for entrepreneurship in college and beyond, but are unsure of the future of the business. 

“If Ayden and I go to different colleges, it’s going to be tricky to continue the business, but hopefully we can come back and work all summer,” Ille said. “I definitely want to own my own business in the future, and this has been a great place to start. It’s helped me see the possibilities of what I can expand into and it has also given me the skills to start a new business later on.”