Gravy's Hustle Thread: $100k/mo or Bust!

[Bobby_italy]

New location in Orange County is not going well.

It requires too much of my time for barely any profit. I realize it's still in it's infancy and people don't know what to do yet... wondering if I should pull the plug until I have more time to focus on it... I'm not even scraping the surface of the SD market yet... decisions decisions.

Employee shitshows have been happening as well. I'm paying these guys really good money (around $25/hr) I'm not sure why I'm still scraping bottom of the barrel guys... I'm talking guys with broken down vehicles that are sloooow. I'm paying by the job as well, not by the hour. So I don't understand why they aren't busting their asses. Or they might be, just need more training...

Maybe I should stop using Craigslist but Idk where else to get semi skilled manual labor quickly... tried FB marketplace and it's the same. Also tried Indeed a few months back. Gonna post another ad there and see what happens. Can't be having these F*ckups.

Man let me tell you we used to have a lot of employees(100+) and rn we have less than 10 times that but they're all top notch.
You just keep trying until you find the best ones and train them, problem is when they become too good and confident they usually run and start their own(may be different in america).

Trust is the biggest thing, having someone who gives his 100% always but isn't as productive is better than a beast who thinks he's a smartass and you have to constantly keep checking him, we got to a point where we were paying "managers" just to watch over people because of how bad it was getting.

One thing that really made them change their attitude was showing them the downs in business because they all think you're making bank on their back while actually it's quite the opposite, they always get their paycheck but most of the time you're running on break even/negative(if they mess up or people don't pay).
We're really transparent now and it's more like a small family, we got their back in everything they do and we have people from other small companies constantly asking to work for us for that atmoshpere we have created(also we pay better).

4 of our competitors are ex-employees and we helped them grow anyway but no one gave back, so little piece of advice if they go out and start their own be friends but don't hand them business.

Little P.S.: to this day I have people coming up to me telling me to greet my dad and that they worked for him, everyone had a great experience but to be honest my dad doesn't even remember half of them, the peak at which we had our most employess was probably the worst time of his life(should've outsourced more stuff).

 

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[GravyBoat]

Just a little update for everyone, I know I've been quiet on here for a while.

I moved to a new part of my city during the beginning of the summer. For the past few years, I always thought I had wanted to live in the party zone, right by the beach. So I did that.

Very quickly, after only a few short months, I've realized that this type of environment is NOT what I want, or need, to continue building businesses and crushing it.

So I am planning on moving either downtown, to immerse myself amongst other hustlers who are actively taking steps to improve their lives, or up north, amongst more wealthy, upper middle class families (where my business does most of it's service).

The "beach life" sure sounds great at first, but it feels like you're on vacation 24/7. Everyone is partying, chilling, with no goals or ambition.

Some probably could have seen this before they moved, but I had to experience first hand in order to have the realization for myself.

I don't regret the move, but I'm now with 100% certainty that I need to be in a hustling, crazy environment, not living the "laptop on the beach" lifestyle. It doesn't work for my personality type.



That being said!

I've gone through 3 more employees, altho this time most of them have stuck around longer. My training is getting better. I'm realizing what is and isn't important.

I also moved into targeting HOAs, and trying to mandate exterior cleaning in their organizations (can be anywhere from 10-1,000 houses). I sold one with 32 houses, which was around 7k profit in a few days of work. So that was awesome.

I am going to continue expanding the home service business, while also working on the consulting/coaching side of things. I currently have 13 people that I teach the same business to. These people are all across the world (since home services are needed everywhere). It has been VERY fulfilling for me to help other people in similar situations to myself go from $0 to making $5k, $10k, $20k/mo.

I always knew part of my mission was to help others, and this is the way that manifested in the past few months.

My goal is to get to 30 clients/students by the end of the year with the coaching/consulting biz.

We are also hosting a seminar here that teaches the biz, so I am having my buddies film it, and I will publish it for my clients to see that couldn't attend. Looking forward to that in a few weeks.

The industry is also grossly underserved in terms of software automation, so that's the next step I will be looking into. If anyone has any feedback on that front, please let me know (I'm clueless where to start in terms of hiring devs for my ideas).

Hope everyone is crushing it, I will be on here more checking in as this forum has been a huge part of my life.

David

 

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[GravyBoat]

Hopefully I can provide some more value for anyone involved in service business:

I have had a lot of success running Yelp ads in the past. I turned them off last year because the ads accounted for only 30% of traffic, and I figured if I could still get 70% for free, I’d allocate the cash elsewhere.

Turns out Yelp is a crooked a$$ company who literally extorts the people paying them, and even those who don’t. (Look up stories all over the internet).

I get a call from them several months after turning off my ads saying I had a bill of $6500 about to go to collections.

I got back to them with proof that I had in fact turned my adspend OFF, and shouldn’t have been charged.
They still sent me to collections. I refused to pay the bill out of principal. I hired a credit repair company to scrub my file of the bill, and told Yelp to blow me.

Fast forward until now... I am trying to scale up and need all traffic sources firing...

I call Yelp as someone else, telling them I had just bought the business, and was “wondering why I couldn’t run ads...?” I told them I am willing to start paying them right this moment, but I didn’t want to be responsible for the previous owners “mistakes” etc.

Knock on wood but I am pretty sure they’re going to put the account back in good standing.

If I felt the least bit bad for Yelp I would gladly pay the bill and bend over... but I don’t. You can do a quick search and find literal hundreds of stories of Yelp extorting businesses right and left. Their CEO is a crooked F*ck and I will do everything in my power to not succumb to their extortion.

Lessons:

I toed the line of Commandment of control here in the past. Had all my eggs in Yelps basket (85% of my leads).
You violate the commandment of control, and you pay the price.

Instead, invest in as many other channels as possible including SEO for your site, Google My Business (Local Service Ads), regular Google ads (tho very expensive), Home Advisor, Thumbtack, Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace and boosted FB posts to your local area.

Do run Yelp ads, because they are wildly profitable. But take some profit and spread yourself out.

Also don’t be afraid to play dirty with these companies. Don’t get jerked around. I think I wrote this in the past but when I need something done from a tech company, I call them 20+ times. If the first customer service person or account rep is unwilling to do what I want, that’s cool. I just hang up and call again. I literally spend DAYS calling these fools because I KNOW at least one person will help me get it done. Just because the first 5 people told me it “can’t” be done, doesn’t mean shit. Just keep calling and don’t get discouraged.

Will report back with the Yelp fix and see if it works. Keep crushing it.

 

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[GravyBoat]

Started Tik Tok today. What a crazy platform. Makes me feel old af. Also sucks you in like no other. Puts IG and YT to shame in this regard. You could stay on there for hours and not even notice the time go by.

Going to target hashtags and trending stuff here as well. Mixing educational content with funny/entertaining stuff to try and catch a trend. Using as more top level funnel to send people to YouTube and get them in my Facebook group.

Stay tuned.

 

[GravyBoat]

Thanks for the reply David, we have been working on construction as well. We have been testing what is the most profitable gigs to then niche it down and go from there. Still lots of testing, right now we are outsourcing 80% of the jobs but once we have our profitable gig we will stick to those.

Me myself was also questionable about should I go the online route, but there is just no money in the

So you flip houses, then got into the construction side of it? That sounds bad a$$.

Sounds like an opportunity you would never have had, had you not been taking action, flipping the houses in the first place!

Anyway, PM me your YouTube, your link is broken. Will definitely check your stuff out. Maybe we can do a collab video.


Today we had a rain storm. My phone was absolutely poppin. Here's some of the income from today:



Also video taped myself working in the rain. If you want it, you godda go get it, rain or shine.

In this business, Rain = money.

 

[GravyBoat]

Forgot to take pics of the $ today for y'all. Had a hot bank teller raise her eyebrow when she deposited the checks tho. Felt like a boss.

I hope my posts are motivating people to get out there and start doing shit. That's all I'm trying to do here. I've had several people reach out to me so far and I'm trying to help them with what I can. I'd rather you post in this thread tho, so everyone can benefit.

There are no secrets to this business. Just hard a$$ work and not being an idiot. It's one of the most simple businesses I can think of.

The business has NOT slowed down because of the 'Rona. I repeat, HAS NOT SLOWED DOWN. Still going harder than ever. Might actually be the busiest month I've ever had and it ain't even over.

I haven't had a day off in weeks and I'm starting to feel the burn. Been working ALL day, doing nothing but work. That's the price you have to pay for a while to build massive success. Gonna schedule this coming Sunday off to sleep in till 10AM and recover, then work from home for a few hours.

 

[GravyBoat]

What's up everybody!

Proud to announce opening second location in Orange County on Monday. Launching ads, got guys, got secretary.

Time to double up or shut up!

Otherwise, just been working very hard during the virus. Not posting check pictures anymore but been just as busy.

Goal is to have 1 more location up and running in LA by the end of the year. Think it should be more than doable. OC is test subject #1 so we can get all the systems down.

 

[GravyBoat]

Alright the deed is done.

Just wrote a check for $14500 to a film company.

And sent $3500 to a helicopter rental company.

We are on for June 5th/6th.

Stay tuned. This will be legendary.

 

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[GravyBoat]

Still crushing despite the shutdowns.

I highly encourage any newbies or anyone in a slow period right now to take advantage of home owners needing services. People are still spending money, trust me. They NEED your help, and you need theirs.

Checks upon checks still coming in. Here's some from the past 2 days.

Looks like they shut down Cali today. I give zero F*cks. I'll keep scheduling jobs as long as people still need us. They can arrest me on the way.

 

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[GravyBoat]

What's up guys been off here for a while.

Working 15 hours a day on biz. Shit is getting crazy!

Had 2 days over $1200 in the past week. Been working like a dog.

Got myself a summer intern for $12/hr that's coming down in June. Excited for that.

Got myself another employee doing work for me now as well. Excited for that as well. And THANKFUL.

Been beating the COVID crisis and still working. In fact, March was my best month of all time, $ wise.

I need to hire someone else to help me with sales copy. I just posted here as well:

SIDE HUSTLE - Need someone to write me a sales script - TAKEN

The template is all layed out already. It's about 130 slides. I need a GOOD copywriter to help me with my slide deck, and script bullet points for a sales video I'm about to film. Always trying to help other Fastlaners out. I will pay you for your time of course $$$. Went on UpWork but my...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

Trying to give a chance to someone semi new, or up in coming in the copy game. I love to support young hustlers that got talent. I'll pay you of course for helping me.

If anyone knows any good copy writers, send them my way. Please text me 208 907 5357. Don't be shy now! I need a rockstar.

 

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[GravyBoat]

Main employee quit because his dad passed away and he got a shitton of money. Decided to stop working.

Hired another within 2 days who seems even better (faster, better customer communication skills etc). He got a tip already so hopefully it works out.

Been busy man. Whew.

 

[Andy Black]

New location in Orange County is not going well.

It requires too much of my time for barely any profit. I realize it's still in it's infancy and people don't know what to do yet... wondering if I should pull the plug until I have more time to focus on it... I'm not even scraping the surface of the SD market yet... decisions decisions.

Employee shitshows have been happening as well. I'm paying these guys really good money (around $25/hr) I'm not sure why I'm still scraping bottom of the barrel guys... I'm talking guys with broken down vehicles that are sloooow. I'm paying by the job as well, not by the hour. So I don't understand why they aren't busting their asses. Or they might be, just need more training...

Maybe I should stop using Craigslist but Idk where else to get semi skilled manual labor quickly... tried FB marketplace and it's the same. Also tried Indeed a few months back. Gonna post another ad there and see what happens. Can't be having these F*ckups.

I think @IceCreamKid mentioned getting good work ethic waiters/waitresses to work for his carpet cleaning biz. His reasoning being that good work ethic transfers, and they often want to move on from waiting on tables.

My favourite hiring quote was from an IT Manager I worked for who said “The person who’ll run with the ball is the person who catches it.”

 

[SteveO]

Way to keep cranking it! I haven't taken a trip to the beach for a while. The season is coming up. Nothing like beer/wine around the campfire!

Makes me feel less old when the youngsters want to hang out.

Looking forward to hearing more details.

 

[GravyBoat]

I'm not a business owner so take this with a grain of salt. It seems like your next step is just working on getting someone to be the CEO of your business. If your hired employee is as passionate about the quality and care then either that person can take over the operations that you are doing and you can oversee from the top or hire another person to follow up with your worker. Your job would be finding other markets to offer this service and hiring more guys to take those areas over. As far as the back-office goes. Those are pretty much app automated and/or you could hire a VA for scheduling / reporting / payments for the future. Best of luck. Great story BTW

Great story and insights! I'm getting started in my second season of Pressure Washing and offer window cleaning as an add on service

Did you find great success with door hangers/flyers long term? I'm getting about 1250 door hangers and targeting the nice neighborhoods with nasty houses, hoping to hit them with the door hangers multiple times

@PaulAaronBaker This is actually a great concept! Although not coming from a place of experience, you're exactly right. I should divorce myself from this business as soon as possible, and hire out/automate every aspect. Hiring a "CEO" might be a little overkill, but a "manager" might be right on point.

I need to build it a little bigger before I hire any more though. This biz is still paying my salary, and in order to fund many more, we need more revenue, which means more marketing $. Slowly bootstrapping my way there.



@DrWumbo nice to see someone in the same industry. When you say "season," what are your seasons like? Probably depends on where you live, I am in San Diego, so we don't really have winter like most places. We do have slow season though, which is Jan/Feb. Had a bit of a dip during this time but it allowed me to focus on YouTube, which was much needed. Just today I booked 4 jobs, 2 of which are over 1k. So I think it's safe to assume that "slow season" is over...

As far as door hangers. I think I dropped around 5k of them total, and got maybe 1 phone call. I haven't dropped a hanger or flyer since the beginning. That shit did not work for me, and after your third week of beating the pavement, you realize there are a LOT better ways to market your services.

I'll make some more posts on this to accompany YouTube videos I create. Yelp, Thumbtack, Home Adviser, Porch, word of mouth are my primary streams of customers, as well as repeat customers.

Feel free to ask any questions in here or post your experiences.

 

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[GravyBoat]

Very motivational post David, my question to you is what made you want to choose the window cleaning business and stick to that one instead of something else? What made you say this is it and this is what is what i am goig to scale ?


Do you have fulltime employees at the moment ?

I have one full time employee plus 2 others "part time."

This business was profitable pretty much from day one. I was in a VERY tough financial place, and the business dug me out of my hole. It's very simple and easy to run, and enjoyable.

I was caught in the drop shipping loop as well as SMMA for a while, which was just like pulling teeth. In this blue collar service biz, people literally beg me to come perform services on their homes. There's no "sales" involved, they already sell themselves. Then I upsell them, but this comes naturally.

Also the profit margins in this business are great. You really can get started for barely any money.

 

[GravyBoat]

Had a FAT day yesterday. Only one or two higher so far.

Came from an upsell. We are also doing more work for this guy next week. Paid $15 for the customer and about $15 in gas.

Went to his house to clean the rain gutters for $275. Told him his roof needed to be pressure washed badly (it did). Was growing mold and moss and shit. Told him I'd come back in a few days to do it all.

Done. Check attached. Feels GOOD.

I'm 1.5/10th of my way to my goal of 10k/day. Let's F*ckin GET IT!!!!

 

[GravyBoat]

More craziness today. Two screenshots attached, one more for $325 on the way after I send the guy some pics.

Got a few other guys I'm helping to do the same shit in other cities. Feels GOOD to help others in the same position as me. We bounce ideas off eachother and make shit happen. Trying to surround myself with straight hustlers only. No excuse makers or negativity. Positive vibes only.

 

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[GravyBoat]

DMS:

Delegate

Motivate

Sell

That's all a leader should be doing. Delegating tasks to the RIGHT team member. MOTIVATING that team member. Understanding what makes THEM tick. Why do THEY come to work? What do they WANT in life? How can you mutually benefit eachother? Keeps the morale high and employees motivated, and mutually invested in successful outcome. Sell your product or service, but also sell your employees on the dream. Then deliver.

Also happens to be my initials. DMS

 

[Paul David]

I hope my window cleaner doesn’t see this thread. Here in the U.K. I pay him £8 every two weeks!!

Why are people paying $175 to get their windows cleaned in USA?

 

[GravyBoat]

Man hiring good employees is HARD!!!

I've had a complete shit show of a time hiring good guys. BUT. I think I finally found a good crew of 2.

They haven't been late yet, gotten GREAT feedback from customers they've worked with. Everything seems to be going well.

Fingers crossed.

 

[GravyBoat]

One thing that holds people back is seeing this and thinking "I make nearly that much with my job, and it's easier."

But, what you are doing here is scalable and can expand into a CENTS business.

Very cool video!

This is a valid point. Which is why I said in the video “a salary is JUST enough to make you sell your dreams of working for yourself”

Let’s be real here, what I did in the video was hard a$$ work. It took balls. It was NOT easy even for me, and there were times during the day where I didn’t know if I was going to make the 5 houses.

But the universe saw my action taking and rewarded me with success that day.

It took me quitting my job and going all in to one day have a business that semi runs itself and makes me good money. That’s what it took for ME.

If someone is making $500 profit per day at their job, then by all means, keep the job... IF you can use it to funnel $, buy employees, and work on a side business that will hopefully turn more than $500/day soon.

 

[GravyBoat]

in your opinion do you see value expanding your business to offer similar services?

For example, house cleaning(dedicate staff for this), gutter cleaning, deck and fence pressure washing and staining, car cleaning and car vacuuming, edging small lawns. You could throw a pressure washer, lawn edger, fence stain, shop vacuum, into the back of a van/truck/minivan and pitch clients these services too. Ideally, using the same employees to do these services where you can hire more people as it grows. Do you see potential in this approach? If not what is the approach?

This is entirely possible. Though I’m working on something much bigger. Will post up once it’s done.
I’ve been big on the “show, don’t tell” principal recently after being burned and having friends burned from talking about what they’re “going” to do. By burned I mean the thing never happens, or gets shut down.

I’m a firm believer in this principal and it’s something I need to work on. I am very extroverted, and I think through problems by discussing with others. I am erasing the words “going to” from my vocabulary and only discussing things that have already been done, as to not jinx myself.

 

[GravyBoat]

Yeah, yeah, yeah..... but what about the girlfriend where you was laying in her bed

Great job! I'm confident that before you know it, you will have grown the window cleaning business as large as you want it and be on to your next life! I kind of did the same thing in a way but I didn't know about an after life of my 1st business until I was IN it for almost 2 decades. It sounds like you have a heck of a head on your shoulders and you will do very well. Congratulations! And by the way, I was just saying that if someone would start a window cleaning business, was good at it, treated the workers right and treated the customers right..... they could be rich very fast!

Lol, I also paused when you said you just packed up and moved to Southern California and thought 'well, what about the gf, you just left her right there on the spot'.

Anyway, good for you!!
I've never heard of cleaning business fail (but then I haven't heard a lot, either). I think it's because it's such an inherent need and no-one wants to do the job.

EDIT: What's your youtube channel?

Very cool. Hope to see you at a meetup in the future.

What's Tom up to? Still on Amazon?

@minivanman I actually left the poor girl back at home in Idaho hah! She's a sweetheart but I had to go my own way and she understood that. That part was rough but all things happen for a reason.

I want to scale the offline biz as much as possible, and obviously won't stop any time soon. BUT. I also realize this biz isn't gonna get me an 8 figure exit, possibly ever. So my goal is to branch out with more income streams, all related to the same biz.

@fastlanedoll I've known several guys in the maid and interior cleaning business. I've never seen anyone make a SERIOUS amount of money from this, but know several that have gone into the 6 figures, 100-300k revenue. I know of one guy who does millions, but haven't met him.

I think the services I provide are much higher margin, which is a part of the reason I chose them. Also slightly higher barrier to entry since you have to use ladders and lots of people aren't okay with that.

My YouTube is in my signature. Don't want to post it on here since I don't want it to come across as spam, or trying to filter people into my subs. Sub if you want but I don't want to post it without explicit OK from the mods.

@The-J Good to hear from you man. Remember us chilling at C&B back in the day. Shit was legendary. What are you up to these days?? Should PM me.




Otherwise, update. Doing batches of videos all at once, then having a VA edit them. So, I film 3-5 videos all in one sitting, so I can make sure my mind is clear, I'm fasted, and have good energy.

My energy at the beginning was terrible, and I had zero plan, didn't think through the videos. Tried to spit them off the dome, which ended up terrible. Digging into this, I have serious respect for GOOD YouTube channels. Wasn't aware of the time and effort it takes to create engaging, VALUE driven content.

Getting better as time goes on though. Planning out videos with bullet points now. Also not doing "one take" style, the VA edits out when I mess up. This takes pressure off me and makes it go a little faster, since I don't have to restart the camera each time.

I'm filming off my iPhone right now, with a lightning cable mic that cost $15 bucks on Amazon. I have a much nicer audio setup on the way, but will have to film video/audio separately. Still looking into this. Never done it before. Hopefully the VA can match them up seamlessly.

 

[sonny_1080]

Nice you’ve hired @sonny_1080 for your copy as he’s running Google Ads campaigns too.

Stayed busy, made new friends, and learned a ton during my quarantine lol. Most productive 6 weeks of my life.

 

[GravyBoat]

Once the video drops, I am going to give away the $500 made yesterday to a new, aspiring entrepreneur who DMs me the best pitch, the best reason WHY they deserve the $500, on Instagram.

The goal with this is to drive potential leads to consulting biz, as well as grow personal brand as a “Hustle Pornstar” on IG and Tik Tok.

I think this is a powerful tool because I can then retarget those who followed me with many years of dope content, providing them insane amounts of value.

If anyone has experience with giveaway campaigns like this please DM me as well.

 

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[GravyBoat]

Decided to add some flavor to my channel instead of boring info videos. Will be using alot more charisma and authenticity in the coming weeks, along with practicing story telling. Also gonna make sure I hit people with value within the first 30 seconds of the vid instead of waiting till the middle.

 

[JAJT]

To clarify further: this business is nowhere near "set up correctly" or scaled, or systemized. I'm still going through the mad dash of trying to train a guy to take over what I've been doing (quoting, scheduling, customer back and forth, job applications, etc.

Why wouldn't you be focusing on doing the exact reverse - keep doing the quoting, scheduling, customer back and forth, job applications, etc and hire someone to do the customer visits?

This keeps you working on the business while getting your employees to work within it.

The downside is that I won't be up on a ladder in order to take pictures for the customer, which I ALWAYS do, so they can see the difference we made.

A selfie stick would pretty easily solve this.

Or even easier - get an elastic band and strap your phone to the gutter hook you're already going to be using. Just set it to record, do a few slow sweeps, look at the footage, pause on the money shot, take a screenshot and send it to the customer.

 

[BellaPippin]

Love this!! You're the Gary V of Windows. Crush it crush it crush it!!

Also I would get a used truck, maybe, don't end up in some sort of Final Destination situation in case of car accident lol

 

[The-J]

Finding the right customers is a learned skill. Most people that I get calling/texting are fine. 95% I'd say. It's recognizing red flags thru communication. If you have a hunch the person is gonna be a pain in the a$$ to deal with, it's literally better to just cease communication, than to try and get the job.

The biggest lesson I learned from freelancing (and now from this agency I'm starting) is that all you gotta do is name a price and you'll get a yes, no, or a haggle.

Most people aren't worth haggling with.

 

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[GravyBoat]

Great thread! Thank you so much for posting and documenting your success (I read through the entire thread).

I started a residential cleaning company in NYC summer of 2018 (after leaving from a company of 10yrs doing customer service and business development). I worked on getting the business set up and running ads on yelp for 3 months until I decided that I needed income to survive and pay my bills. During those3 months I got a couple of jobs and reviews on yelp.When I knew I needed money to surviveI went back into corporate America as an executive assistant at a hedge fund. I’m still there and I absolutely hate my life draining job.

Right before the pandemic I wanted to start up the business was again and see if I can gain more traction...then the pandemic happened and I lost my father. My mind has been distracted and I’ve reached the point that I want to leave my job ASAP. My hours at my job now are 7am- 8/9pm. Basically nonstop. And now thatwe are living in the pandemic, for safety reasons, don’t want people coming in and out of their homes. If I’m working all these hours at this job how can I give my business another chance?

The cleaning business uses all natural homemade cleaning solutions (that I make myself) that are chemically free. We pride ourselves in providing exceptional customer service.

First off, congratz on your venture. That's a leap most people will never take. So props to you.

The issue was you couldn't produce enough income to replace coorporate America salary in time, and had to go back.

The cleaning biz, commercial and residential, has to be one of the hardest service businesses to run right now. I have multiple friends that have gotten out of the cleaning business (commercial and residential). Some last year, more this year.

I still know a few that are functioning in the commercial sector, but they have pivoted. They're doing COVID cleans, window cleaning, pressure washing (exterior cleaning) which is what we do.

Like anything, you just have to adapt to the current climate. There will always be changes that destroy businesses. Most don't survive because they get lazy.

If you're intent on running the cleaning biz (I think you can still make tons of $ here, more than enough to replace salary), I would first focus on hiring. Because you can do the back end work (scheduling, customer back and forth, quotes etc) from your coorporate job. Then you can send employees on the jobs and collect the $ off top.

You're actually in a further ahead position than I was when I started, because when I started, I had zero dollars to my name. I literally could not afford to hire someone to do the job for me, I had to do it myself. I would have failed if I had hired off the bat. But you can use your coorporate salary, ESPECIALLY if you're working from home, as a sort of "passive income" to work on your cleaning biz. You can easily multi task.

Get on Google Guarenteed (Local Services). Get on Yelp, start running Yelp ads @$750/mo. If you can't close jobs in the first month there's something wrong. You should go in the green within a few weeks.

If you can't, I would pivot to exterior cleaning in your city. Basically the same biz I'm doing. We have not had an issue with COVID at all this year. In fact, if anything, it's helped us immensely. People are home. Working on projects they've put off for 2, 5, 10 years. We wear a mask when greeting the customer, or do a contactless service (person stays inside, communicate by phone). Either way works for us! Collect the $ through check under door mat, cash, or in your case, Venmo, PayPal, Credit Card (stripe). Use whatever you can to figure it out. If you need more help let me know. Go watch my YT vids on how to perform the services so you can make sure your contractors know what they're talking about.

Best of luck. Hope you crush it. Time to get this biz off the ground once and for all.

David