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

Bobby_italy

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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?
I'm pretty confused on this too, like how does @GravyBoat understand who's a person that will nitpick/try to get a better price and his actual costumers, I think that's what makes him money not the jobs per say because many people are doing them for half the money or less, it all boils down to marketing from the info I'm gathering.

So idk how it is in the United States but I guess that if a white blonde man well dressed knocks on your door and proposes you in a professional way to clean your windows you EXPECT to pay for it(?), not to be racist or anything but appareances matter when you have to spend money.
Also by watching him on YT he really seems like the real deal, you know, "I'll get stuff done fast efficiently and you'll have no trouble with me" kind of guy.

BUT then I sometimes look in the facebook group and I see ethnic kids making it work too so I figure maybe everyone else is crazily undercharging their clients?

I've noticed that here a local will ask 45€ to wash/clean your car x hour and usually do it without any hurries(so it's costing you about 30€), you go to the indian guy and he will do the same faster for 10/15€, yet the local one still works like how?
It's the same thing Gravy is doing, he knows someone is willing to pay more and actually have a conversation etc.. you know better costumer service and those costumers actually complain less when the job is finished as gravy said !
 

GravyBoat

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In the group, I have a few guys killing it. One is black, one Mexican, 2 white guys.

Something I've realized is that there are certain people in every race, gender, age, etc that "have what it takes."

Sure, you can generalize with putting labels on people. But in reality, that's just an excuse.

If you want it bad enough, you'll overcome any adversity or whatever you may face. Some might have to work harder than others, is that gonna stop you?

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.

Leave that job for someone else who's at a lower stage in the game, and is willing to deal with more BS to get $.

I'm also not knocking doors. The customer has no clue who is gonna show up at their house. I've thought about this alot, and concluded that it doesn't matter much. Because my name is David, alot of Mexican guys are named David, etc. Doesn't matter.
 

Andy Black

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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.
Exactly.

That’s why I love the phrase:

“Sales is a screening process.” (Blaise Brosnan)
 
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GravyBoat

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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.
 

Andy Black

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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.”
 

Bobby_italy

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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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Bekit

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Wow! Fabulous thread. Excited about your progress. Thanks for posting your updates. Very impressed!

I'd recommend The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes. He shares some great principles for how a carpet cleaning business maximized their repeat business (= bigger Lifetime Customer Value) as well as some excellent principles for time management and running productive meetings with employees.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1591842158/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20
 

GravyBoat

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Thank you all for the replies.

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.”

I haven't talked to him in like 2 years. I will reach out. Thanks a ton.

The last guy that dipped had a bunch of my tools with him so that sucks.

Just trying to document everything it's not all peaches and cream.

All good tho still making money and the ups always outweigh the downs.

Currently have assistant manually texting customers every 6 months for repeat service. Some of them love this. I'd say about 30% of em reply, which isn't bad... but could be better.

Something I've wanted to do from the beginning is sign people up on reoccuring service contracts and take their bank account info so they basically always pay... Might try this going forward.

Not sure what apps to use (or software/service)... the goal is to bring an iPad to the job and sign them up on reoccuring every 6 months or 12 months. I will have 3 buttons. 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months, with "Most Common" on the 6 month button.

Also another idea for some of your SAAS guys: Build a software that auto texts FROM your business number. Meaning, the text actually sits in the inbox, and can be replied to in the inbox. I get notification when they reply just like a standard text... anyone know of anything that does this? Yes I'm well aware of auto text solutions but they all suck (send from a 5 digit number that people can't reply to). I need something that feels to the customer like I personally texted them.
 

The-J

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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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Andy Black

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Thank you all for the replies.



I haven't talked to him in like 2 years. I will reach out. Thanks a ton.

The last guy that dipped had a bunch of my tools with him so that sucks.

Just trying to document everything it's not all peaches and cream.

All good tho still making money and the ups always outweigh the downs.

Currently have assistant manually texting customers every 6 months for repeat service. Some of them love this. I'd say about 30% of em reply, which isn't bad... but could be better.

Something I've wanted to do from the beginning is sign people up on reoccuring service contracts and take their bank account info so they basically always pay... Might try this going forward.

Not sure what apps to use (or software/service)... the goal is to bring an iPad to the job and sign them up on reoccuring every 6 months or 12 months. I will have 3 buttons. 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months, with "Most Common" on the 6 month button.

Also another idea for some of your SAAS guys: Build a software that auto texts FROM your business number. Meaning, the text actually sits in the inbox, and can be replied to in the inbox. I get notification when they reply just like a standard text... anyone know of anything that does this? Yes I'm well aware of auto text solutions but they all suck (send from a 5 digit number that people can't reply to). I need something that feels to the customer like I personally texted them.
Have a look at the Launch27 software. I know lots of cleaning companies use it. I’m not sure if it’s full functionality.
 

Captain Hoodie

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Very interesting thread. Thanks for documenting your story.

I was wondering how many houses do you have to knock on before you get a job?

Also, when someone answers the door, what is your pitch like?

Thanks
 

GravyBoat

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Very interesting thread. Thanks for documenting your story.

I was wondering how many houses do you have to knock on before you get a job?

Also, when someone answers the door, what is your pitch like?

Thanks
Like I said before bro, I don’t knock doors. I hate doing it so I devolved systems that bring me leads instead. I only knock neighbors doors who have seen me etc
 
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GravyBoat

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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.
 

Andy Black

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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.
Isn’t it amazing how not being late stands out?
 

GravyBoat

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Isn’t it amazing how not being late stands out?
It's very sad but yes.

In this industry, you can be LATE or RESCHEDULE but you HAVE to be communicative!!! If you no call no show or are over 5 minutes late without any correspondence, the customer gets pissed and they have a right to be!

I also had a worker text me at 2AM last night that he couldn't make the 8AM job for this morning after blatantly saying he could around 5PM the previous evening... people man...
 
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CareCPA

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It's very sad but yes.

In this industry, you can be LATE or RESCHEDULE but you HAVE to be communicative!!! If you no call no show or are over 5 minutes late without any correspondence, the customer gets pissed and they have a right to be!

I also had a worker text me at 2AM last night that he couldn't make the 8AM job for this morning after blatantly saying he could around 5PM the previous evening... people man...
Once the "enhanced" unemployment runs out, you should have a lot more options for employees as long as you're paying reasonable wages.

5 months ago it was hard to find good people. With unemployment rates the way they currently are, it seems like a good opportunity to scoop up some better talent.
 

GravyBoat

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This is something consistently said by my customers. Being on time and punctual can easily win you the job
Yeah, they care mostly about getting it done ASAP is what I've found.

They DO care about reviews, but only to make sure the company is semi legit.

You reply first with a good price, you get the job, as long as you have like 2 other reviews. Simple as that.
 
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Andy Black

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Yeah, they care mostly about getting it done ASAP is what I've found.

They DO care about reviews, but only to make sure the company is semi legit.

You reply first with a good price, you get the job, as long as you have like 2 other reviews. Simple as that.
My friend the appliance repairs guy has no reviews on his site. People just need to answer the damn phone, or call back when they send in an enquiry.
 

GravyBoat

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Update:

Home service biz is still crushing. Got a sick deal with a pressure washing biz doing 4m/year to outsource all their window upsell jobs to me and my team. Got two solid guys keeping them busy. Doing less work myself but still alot (every day)...

I've decided it's time to bow out and work ON the biz and not IN it. I've been stuck in this loop for too long, it's really time now. I'm posting for accountability. If I haven't done it by the next 3ish months I'm F*ckin around and need to be called out.
 

GravyBoat

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$4 Million/Year?

Yes, the guy's business does commercial pressure washing. They hit this by casting a wide net, doing things like parking garages, airports, government contracts. You can easily hit 4m/year doing this. He's also been doing it for like 30 years.
 

GravyBoat

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Little update on my stuff: Pretty much cranking the same. Trying still to hire more good people and TRAIN them vs just hope they're decent out the gate. Learning experiences every day. Not much to report but still grinding.
 

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F*cking CRUSHING August already.

I now have 3 SOLID crew members that are fast, don't ask questions that they shouldn't (basically do as they're told), problem solvers, and people pleasers (good with customers). The one guy even upsells for me.

I now have a secretary team taking care of most of the customer back and forth.

Now I just need to get the secretaries and the crew guys communicating.

My job has been meetings, bigger plays, and hustling for lots more work.

It was a huge eye opener becoming "responsible" for other people's work, because if I don't get them solid hours, they don't make $, and get pissed and leave. It's very fair. I hustle, they bust it out, and everyone is happy. I don't hustle? It all goes to shit.

The hardest part right now is finding enough work to keep them all busy every day.

Had my first 1k profit day totally hands off as well (meaning I layed in bed all day, I did absolutely check up on stuff but didn't have to "do" anything).

Time to RUN it up!!
 
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F*cking CRUSHING August already.

I now have 3 SOLID crew members that are fast, don't ask questions that they shouldn't (basically do as they're told), problem solvers, and people pleasers (good with customers). The one guy even upsells for me.

I now have a secretary team taking care of most of the customer back and forth.

Now I just need to get the secretaries and the crew guys communicating.

My job has been meetings, bigger plays, and hustling for lots more work.

It was a huge eye opener becoming "responsible" for other people's work, because if I don't get them solid hours, they don't make $, and get pissed and leave. It's very fair. I hustle, they bust it out, and everyone is happy. I don't hustle? It all goes to shit.

The hardest part right now is finding enough work to keep them all busy every day.

Had my first 1k profit day totally hands off as well (meaning I layed in bed all day, I did absolutely check up on stuff but didn't have to "do" anything).

Time to RUN it up!!

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.
 

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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
 

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Oh man. I get an inductive charge just from reading this thread. Your energy and work ethic is so great. I should have read it in the morning... now I'll be up all night working ;)

I wanna comment of a few things, hope you don't mind, so this might lack cohesion. Well here goes.

With your training, have you put together something in writing that lists the precise skills you want to train each person / position for? I know it sounds basic, but that sort of thing helps a lot. You have "the one guy" who upsells. Could the other guys upsell? The secretaries? If it's a skill, it can transfer. The one guy might even be able to help train the others. If all the people who upsell leave one day, you want something written down, or on video, etc. Make em a video, like you did for your youtube channel :hilarious:

If you pay by the job, eventually you can make going through training refreshers a small job. Could fill in part of a sunny day when all the customers are distracted by politics. I think systemizing the training could help with the second and later locations too, if you haven't already done this.

With some systematic training, you could also work in a few safety systems. That will serve you in the long run. Coming from an insurance background, and also having friends who work on ladders, I can tell you falls are no joke. Find some time to figure out the roof harnesses, ladder harnesses, and/or some other method or device where warranted. And train it. For certain types of accounts, that kind of safety focus and compliance is probably a minimum requirement (and yes, it's a barrier to entry, which gives it some CENTs value). Also, your physical integrity is a huge asset to the business, in addition to being important to you. So guard it. Same with your guys... even a broken arm from a fall is not something you want. You've got worker's comp in place right? Even so, you'd still have to hire someone while the poor guy recuperates, or do the work yourself. Ok, I'll take off my risk management hat.

I can't help commenting about $10 window cleaning, or whatever currency. It does make me wonder if we have more windows here, or moldier ones. But I'm one of those people who would be delighted to pay someone $200 to clean the windows. I assume someone will charge $80 just to drive to my house. If someone told me they would clean my windows for only $10, I would first send them off, then check the security cameras and call the nearest neighbors. What's in it for them? Maybe they want to sneak into the house or something?

A subscription type package would be great. Have you tried this? Get a contract or money up front, and send people 2-4 times per year. Having things like that taken care of takes a load off, from the customer's point of view. I do this with my irrigation system and my AC systems (At the house and the office). And pest control. And probably some other things I'm forgetting. [Edit: And the pool! Very important.]

I pay them a few hundred bucks, and then I know someone's coming twice a year (AC), or once a quarter (irrigation and pest control), and changing filters, inspecting things, repairing, etc. Without this, it would be 3 years before I remembered to re-hire these people to do the things, and by that time I would be a$$ deep in roaches, dust, a broken Ac unit, and brown grass. And questioning my life choices. So I think recurring services could be an easy upsell.

And then, you have regular business, and you know how much is coming up at any given time. You can get better at scheduling and estimating. Your guys will know how much money they'll be making. Just seems like it would be good. I could be wrong though... I don't know your business specifically. If you move to Florida though, hit me up because my windows look terrible, and there are new pine needles on my roof every week.

Hiring... separate it from recruiting in your mind, and always be recruiting... is the advice smart people give me. I don't always follow it successfully. It makes sense though. Those summer interns and high work ethic people you meet at the local hardware store might be employees one day. Either as workers, managers, recruiters, secretaries, etc. Who knows? So try to maintain contact if you can, and be one of the first to know if they're not happy where they are.

Keep up the great work, and best of luck. I'll be looking forward to these updates!
 
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GravyBoat

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Find some time to figure out the roof harnesses, ladder harnesses, and/or some other method or device where warranted.

I haven't successfully found a way to increase safety in these jobs, while still making it worth while time wise. Attaching a roof anchor is a huge pain in the a$$ and doesn't even work on tile roofs. Are there ways to be safe? Of course. But it's definitely not a SAFE job...

Thankfully knock on wood we haven't had a fall yet. I do NOT want to see the day where that happens and I don't think about it much tbh... but that's because the guys I have now are a certain way... if this scales any more it will need to become a huge concern of mine.

Half the allure of this is that you can bust out these jobs so quickly if you're fast and know what you're doing, that each guy can be bringing in 1k/day revenue. I need a QUICK, PAINLESS way (I'm talking 5 mins tops) to maximize safety. Haven't found one yet but not looking very hard. If you know any, I'd love to hear em.

With your training, have you put together something in writing that lists the precise skills you want to train each person / position for?

I have full video training that I sell to other service businesses to train on rain gutters, windows, solar panels, roof cleans, pressure washing, etc. I'm focused on selling that as well as helping train new guys. My guys now are self starters, they just "figure it out" kind of like I do... they know they aren't getting paid if they walk away so that option isn't even in their minds. It took WORK to find guys like this.

A subscription type package would be great. Have you tried this?
Absolutely but I need to be better about it. Definitely a weak point. I need an iPad application I can send with techs to sign up every customer right then and there for re-occuring... suggestions??
 

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I haven't successfully found a way to increase safety in these jobs, while still making it worth while time wise. Attaching a roof anchor is a huge pain in the a$$ and doesn't even work on tile roofs. Are there ways to be safe? Of course. But it's definitely not a SAFE job...

Thankfully knock on wood we haven't had a fall yet. I do NOT want to see the day where that happens and I don't think about it much tbh... but that's because the guys I have now are a certain way... if this scales any more it will need to become a huge concern of mine.

Half the allure of this is that you can bust out these jobs so quickly if you're fast and know what you're doing, that each guy can be bringing in 1k/day revenue. I need a QUICK, PAINLESS way (I'm talking 5 mins tops) to maximize safety. Haven't found one yet but not looking very hard. If you know any, I'd love to hear em.



I have full video training that I sell to other service businesses to train on rain gutters, windows, solar panels, roof cleans, pressure washing, etc. I'm focused on selling that as well as helping train new guys. My guys now are self starters, they just "figure it out" kind of like I do... they know they aren't getting paid if they walk away so that option isn't even in their minds. It took WORK to find guys like this.


Absolutely but I need to be better about it. Definitely a weak point. I need an iPad application I can send with techs to sign up every customer right then and there for re-occuring... suggestions??

I'm not an expert on fall safety devices, just informed of some of the liabilities and laws related. Talk to an OSHA consultant and some people whose careers are focused on workplace safety, consulting or equipment. Keep your eyes peeled for them. The sales pitch from a consultant in that area will give you more good information than I can, probably. They'll know what devices are out there. If a "safety device" isn't possible in some situation, you can still have standardized processes and training to reduce the risk of falls. Ain't nobody a billy goat.

Video training - good. Keep that going. So valuable for your business. That alone gives you an advantage, and it's working "on the business."

iPad app - I don't have a specific suggestion. I'm pretty confident there are service quoting and contracting and billing apps out there. And web services that work with mobile devices. There might be some really good ones that are already compatible with your process. Ultimately, it's always going to be up to your guy standing in the doorway though. He either will or will not ask the customer for recurring business and upsells. You can increase his probability of pulling that off with training and automation, but you'll always need at least some training. He's overcoming a perceived social hurdle; reduce his fear of asking and add an incentive for doing the right thing.

You can do the same things with a paper checklist and quote sheet as you can with an app, if not as efficiently... have people initial or check off whether they want the upsells. Even with a mediocre sales presentation, some people sell to themselves when they see the option. I've tended to start things off cheap and simple (paper forms and a method for presenting them), then eventually hire someone to make things electronic and automated. One advantage to that is you capture what works in your market. One disadvantage is that it requires investment to hire a developer and spend time explaining the business to them. Right now paper forms might be enough to get the job done, with 1-2 locations.
 

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