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

GravyBoat

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What's up Fastlaners!


I haven't posted on here in quite some time.


I joined the forum in late 2013, before reading MJ's book. I found the Fastlane Forum through a forum called Luxury 4 Play (about cars). Someone had posted a link in the "business" section. I always asked myself, 'how do people afford these crazy cars?!' So I decided to delve down the rabbit hole and find out.


In 2014, I attended the Capitalism and Bacon meetup in Houston, Texas. There, I was introduced to the world of entrepreneurship. We had a blast over the long weekend, and made some life long friends to boot.


I lived in Idaho/Washington for the vast majority of my life. From 2014-2017, I started several online businesses, all of which failed in one way or another. Either I didn't put in enough effort, or the products weren't viable. I learned alot about myself during this time, and don't regret "action faking," since it taught me many invaluable lessons. I also found myself growing stagnant, and comfortable during this time. I partied alot, F*cked around, had an IT job making around 60k/year (age 18-22).


One day, in late 2017, I found myself laying in my girlfriend's bed, Netflix blaring in the background. I was blankly staring at my phone. I wondered how I had gotten to my current position. I wondered what else there was in store for me. I would equate this to my "F*ck this event," only it was a long time coming. I packed up my few belongings into my 87 Honda CRX, called my boss and told him I was quitting on the spot, and decided to move to Southern California.


Thankfully, one of my friends from the 2014 meetup was in a similar position. We ended up getting a house in San Diego, which we deemed the "Entrepreneur Hustle House." Since, we have had 2 other Fastlaners live with us, and countless others come to visit.


I had absolutely no money when I first moved here. We're talking maybe 3 grand saved up. I should have had alot more, but I was still in sidewalk mindset at the time. I started a drop shipping business, which ended up making a few k/mo, and sustaining me for a while. This didn't last, and before I knew it, I had maxed out several credit cards trying to keep this business, as well as others, afloat, alongside paying my rent.


I tried running an ad agency for other businesses as well, but realized it was inauthentic to myself. This floated me for a few more months, but came to a screeching halt one day when I realized I didn't even have enough money to pay rent.


This was possibly the lowest point in my life that I had experienced. I had crushing anxiety, defeating depression, and was overall underachieving in every aspect. I knew I could do much better, which is the reason why I felt so terrible.


The year before, I had met a guy in LA who owns a window cleaning business. I remember posting about it here long ago, he was actually trying to sell it. I asked him if he would let me work for him for a few days (another time where I didn’t know if I was going to be able to pay rent.) Thankfully, he let me, and in doing so, taught me the ropes of what he does. I soaked up information, asked lots of questions, and tried to gain clarity on the situation.


Last year, I decided to bite the bullet, swallow my pride, and start an offline service business, just like he had.



I set up a Yelp page, made my Google listing. Printed out thousands of door hangers and flyers. Spent my last few bucks on a squeegee, mop, and bucket, and began hitting the doors. I had a fire lit under my a$$, and nothing to lose, so I went as hard as I could, every day, until I started getting jobs.


Due to the low startup costs, and low barrier to entry, and insane work ethic driven by necessity, I was profitable within about 48 hours of deciding to start this business. I haven’t let up the gas since. By the end of 2019, I had grown the business to over 20k/mo revenue, around 80% margins. My only expenses were marketing, and a little gas to get to the jobs. I threw two ladders inside my sedan, used a hose, bucket, mop, and squeegee to perform home services for customers.


I realized in order for this business to scale past 20k/mo, I need systems in place. I have since hired a full time secretary to deal with all day to day, and help me create systems. I implemented a CRM, accounting software, and automated lots of daily tasks. I also became legit, finally got insurance, and a business license (LOL). I have also hired another employee to work in the field.


I have done alot of “soul searching” in the past few years. I took alot of time for myself, and really dug deep. What kind of person do I want to be? If I could do anything in the world money aside, what would I be doing? What is AUTHENTIC to my character, and what are things I really love doing?


I realized my gifts are along the lines of helping others. I genuinely want to push other people along to achieve their goals and dreams (especially when it relates to my personal story). My long term goals include blowing up my “entrepreneur hustle house” concept, only this time, I will own the houses, and rent them to young people who didn’t go to college, as a sort of “incubator tank” for businesses. I want to push young guys especially, just like myself, because I’ve seen the power of it.


My current goals, in line with my larger goals are:

Scale the offline home service business

Create YouTube videos helping others do the same thing I have done

Network with those people

Get them to move in together

Invest in their businesses (once I have more capital)


I want to create an ecosystem for myself in the future. So I am taking steps to get there today.


I will use this thread as a place to hold myself accountable, but mainly for a place to be able to look back and see my story over the next few years. I miss posting on the Fastlane Forum. It was a huge part of my childhood, and has led me to meeting some really cool people. I owe it to other readers and members to document my journey.


I hope other people can relate to countless business failures, action fakes, and losing lots of $ in the process to find something that actually works for them.


Comments/questions/concerns welcome.


David
 
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minivanman

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

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!
 

fastlanedoll

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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?
 
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The-J

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

What's Tom up to? Still on Amazon?
 
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GravyBoat

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

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.
 

PaulAaronBaker

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What's up Fastlaners!


I haven't posted on here in quite some time.


I joined the forum in late 2013, before reading MJ's book. I found the Fastlane Forum through a forum called Luxury 4 Play (about cars). Someone had posted a link in the "business" section. I always asked myself, 'how do people afford these crazy cars?!' So I decided to delve down the rabbit hole and find out.


In 2014, I attended the Capitalism and Bacon meetup in Houston, Texas. There, I was introduced to the world of entrepreneurship. We had a blast over the long weekend, and made some life long friends to boot.


I lived in Idaho/Washington for the vast majority of my life. From 2014-2017, I started several online businesses, all of which failed in one way or another. Either I didn't put in enough effort, or the products weren't viable. I learned alot about myself during this time, and don't regret "action faking," since it taught me many invaluable lessons. I also found myself growing stagnant, and comfortable during this time. I partied alot, F*cked around, had an IT job making around 60k/year (age 18-22).


One day, in late 2017, I found myself laying in my girlfriend's bed, Netflix blaring in the background. I was blankly staring at my phone. I wondered how I had gotten to my current position. I wondered what else there was in store for me. I would equate this to my "F*ck this event," only it was a long time coming. I packed up my few belongings into my 87 Honda CRX, called my boss and told him I was quitting on the spot, and decided to move to Southern California.


Thankfully, one of my friends from the 2014 meetup was in a similar position. We ended up getting a house in San Diego, which we deemed the "Entrepreneur Hustle House." Since, we have had 2 other Fastlaners live with us, and countless others come to visit.


I had absolutely no money when I first moved here. We're talking maybe 3 grand saved up. I should have had alot more, but I was still in sidewalk mindset at the time. I started a drop shipping business, which ended up making a few k/mo, and sustaining me for a while. This didn't last, and before I knew it, I had maxed out several credit cards trying to keep this business, as well as others, afloat, alongside paying my rent.


I tried running an ad agency for other businesses as well, but realized it was inauthentic to myself. This floated me for a few more months, but came to a screeching halt one day when I realized I didn't even have enough money to pay rent.


This was possibly the lowest point in my life that I had experienced. I had crushing anxiety, defeating depression, and was overall underachieving in every aspect. I knew I could do much better, which is the reason why I felt so terrible.


The year before, I had met a guy in LA who owns a window cleaning business. I remember posting about it here long ago, he was actually trying to sell it. I asked him if he would let me work for him for a few days (another time where I didn’t know if I was going to be able to pay rent.) Thankfully, he let me, and in doing so, taught me the ropes of what he does. I soaked up information, asked lots of questions, and tried to gain clarity on the situation.


Last year, I decided to bite the bullet, swallow my pride, and start an offline service business, just like he had.



I set up a Yelp page, made my Google listing. Printed out thousands of door hangers and flyers. Spent my last few bucks on a squeegee, mop, and bucket, and began hitting the doors. I had a fire lit under my a$$, and nothing to lose, so I went as hard as I could, every day, until I started getting jobs.


Due to the low startup costs, and low barrier to entry, and insane work ethic driven by necessity, I was profitable within about 48 hours of deciding to start this business. I haven’t let up the gas since. By the end of 2018, I had grown the business to over 20k/mo revenue, around 80% margins. My only expenses were marketing, and a little gas to get to the jobs. I threw two ladders inside my sedan, used a hose, bucket, mop, and squeegee to perform home services for customers.


I realized in order for this business to scale past 20k/mo, I need systems in place. I have since hired a full time secretary to deal with all day to day, and help me create systems. I implemented a CRM, accounting software, and automated lots of daily tasks. I also became legit, finally got insurance, and a business license (LOL). I have also hired another employee to work in the field.


I have done alot of “soul searching” in the past few years. I took alot of time for myself, and really dug deep. What kind of person do I want to be? If I could do anything in the world money aside, what would I be doing? What is AUTHENTIC to my character, and what are things I really love doing?


I realized my gifts are along the lines of helping others. I genuinely want to push other people along to achieve their goals and dreams (especially when it relates to my personal story). My long term goals include blowing up my “entrepreneur hustle house” concept, only this time, I will own the houses, and rent them to young people who didn’t go to college, as a sort of “incubator tank” for businesses. I want to push young guys especially, just like myself, because I’ve seen the power of it.


My current goals, in line with my larger goals are:

Scale the offline home service business

Create YouTube videos helping others do the same thing I have done

Network with those people

Get them to move in together

Invest in their businesses (once I have more capital)


I want to create an ecosystem for myself in the future. So I am taking steps to get there today.


I will use this thread as a place to hold myself accountable, but mainly for a place to be able to look back and see my story over the next few years. I miss posting on the Fastlane Forum. It was a huge part of my childhood, and has led me to meeting some really cool people. I owe it to other readers and members to document my journey.


I hope other people can relate to countless business failures, action fakes, and losing lots of $ in the process to find something that actually works for them.


Comments/questions/concerns welcome.


David
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
 

DrWumbo

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What's up Fastlaners!


I haven't posted on here in quite some time.


I joined the forum in late 2013, before reading MJ's book. I found the Fastlane Forum through a forum called Luxury 4 Play (about cars). Someone had posted a link in the "business" section. I always asked myself, 'how do people afford these crazy cars?!' So I decided to delve down the rabbit hole and find out.


In 2014, I attended the Capitalism and Bacon meetup in Houston, Texas. There, I was introduced to the world of entrepreneurship. We had a blast over the long weekend, and made some life long friends to boot.


I lived in Idaho/Washington for the vast majority of my life. From 2014-2017, I started several online businesses, all of which failed in one way or another. Either I didn't put in enough effort, or the products weren't viable. I learned alot about myself during this time, and don't regret "action faking," since it taught me many invaluable lessons. I also found myself growing stagnant, and comfortable during this time. I partied alot, F*cked around, had an IT job making around 60k/year (age 18-22).


One day, in late 2017, I found myself laying in my girlfriend's bed, Netflix blaring in the background. I was blankly staring at my phone. I wondered how I had gotten to my current position. I wondered what else there was in store for me. I would equate this to my "F*ck this event," only it was a long time coming. I packed up my few belongings into my 87 Honda CRX, called my boss and told him I was quitting on the spot, and decided to move to Southern California.


Thankfully, one of my friends from the 2014 meetup was in a similar position. We ended up getting a house in San Diego, which we deemed the "Entrepreneur Hustle House." Since, we have had 2 other Fastlaners live with us, and countless others come to visit.


I had absolutely no money when I first moved here. We're talking maybe 3 grand saved up. I should have had alot more, but I was still in sidewalk mindset at the time. I started a drop shipping business, which ended up making a few k/mo, and sustaining me for a while. This didn't last, and before I knew it, I had maxed out several credit cards trying to keep this business, as well as others, afloat, alongside paying my rent.


I tried running an ad agency for other businesses as well, but realized it was inauthentic to myself. This floated me for a few more months, but came to a screeching halt one day when I realized I didn't even have enough money to pay rent.


This was possibly the lowest point in my life that I had experienced. I had crushing anxiety, defeating depression, and was overall underachieving in every aspect. I knew I could do much better, which is the reason why I felt so terrible.


The year before, I had met a guy in LA who owns a window cleaning business. I remember posting about it here long ago, he was actually trying to sell it. I asked him if he would let me work for him for a few days (another time where I didn’t know if I was going to be able to pay rent.) Thankfully, he let me, and in doing so, taught me the ropes of what he does. I soaked up information, asked lots of questions, and tried to gain clarity on the situation.


Last year, I decided to bite the bullet, swallow my pride, and start an offline service business, just like he had.



I set up a Yelp page, made my Google listing. Printed out thousands of door hangers and flyers. Spent my last few bucks on a squeegee, mop, and bucket, and began hitting the doors. I had a fire lit under my a$$, and nothing to lose, so I went as hard as I could, every day, until I started getting jobs.


Due to the low startup costs, and low barrier to entry, and insane work ethic driven by necessity, I was profitable within about 48 hours of deciding to start this business. I haven’t let up the gas since. By the end of 2018, I had grown the business to over 20k/mo revenue, around 80% margins. My only expenses were marketing, and a little gas to get to the jobs. I threw two ladders inside my sedan, used a hose, bucket, mop, and squeegee to perform home services for customers.


I realized in order for this business to scale past 20k/mo, I need systems in place. I have since hired a full time secretary to deal with all day to day, and help me create systems. I implemented a CRM, accounting software, and automated lots of daily tasks. I also became legit, finally got insurance, and a business license (LOL). I have also hired another employee to work in the field.


I have done alot of “soul searching” in the past few years. I took alot of time for myself, and really dug deep. What kind of person do I want to be? If I could do anything in the world money aside, what would I be doing? What is AUTHENTIC to my character, and what are things I really love doing?


I realized my gifts are along the lines of helping others. I genuinely want to push other people along to achieve their goals and dreams (especially when it relates to my personal story). My long term goals include blowing up my “entrepreneur hustle house” concept, only this time, I will own the houses, and rent them to young people who didn’t go to college, as a sort of “incubator tank” for businesses. I want to push young guys especially, just like myself, because I’ve seen the power of it.


My current goals, in line with my larger goals are:

Scale the offline home service business

Create YouTube videos helping others do the same thing I have done

Network with those people

Get them to move in together

Invest in their businesses (once I have more capital)


I want to create an ecosystem for myself in the future. So I am taking steps to get there today.


I will use this thread as a place to hold myself accountable, but mainly for a place to be able to look back and see my story over the next few years. I miss posting on the Fastlane Forum. It was a huge part of my childhood, and has led me to meeting some really cool people. I owe it to other readers and members to document my journey.


I hope other people can relate to countless business failures, action fakes, and losing lots of $ in the process to find something that actually works for them.


Comments/questions/concerns welcome.


David

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
 
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SteveO

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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

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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.

Text me when you plan a trip. Got a LOT to share.
 

GravyBoat

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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

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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.
 

DrWumbo

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@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.

It's still fluctuating between below freezing temperatures (about 70% of the time) and about 50 degrees here. We are supposed to get snow tomorrow!

Great to hear that you are booking jobs!! Keep it up.
 

GravyBoat

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Went to a YouTube meetup last night. Met some dude with 510k subs. He gave me a ton of tips to think about.

Having my assistant do lots more SEO work. We will follow a formula until something "trends." Then it should take a few "trending" videos in order to "blow up" meaning, once you get something that trends, a % of people will follow you. Once you have a few K subs, all your new content will get lots of views because everyone gets the notification.

Also got an interview on someone's podcast. Just gonna keep networking and pushing. I'm FAR ahead of 95% of people at that meetup. Most have zero plan of action and are just posting random vlog stuff or art stuff, with no aim.

The guy said me and this other guy would figure it out, because we're doing it professionally, meaning, we have no choice BUT to figure it out. He's right.
 
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GravyBoat

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Just switched my background music as well as the intro, and format of the videos.

MODS: Is it okay if I post links to two videos in here, so I can get some feedback on which one people think is better?

Personally, I like the old style better... but the new intro is much shorter, so helps people not drop off.
 

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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.
 

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Nobody makes 20K a month washing windows by themself.

Why not?

Let's math it out:

- 30 days in a month
- $666 per day
- Let's assume he does 4 houses in a day
- That's $166 per house.

This.... doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

In his youtube video he offers some numbers as well:

Basic washing service - $175 per house (above my $166 estimate)
Upselling additional services - $275

He also finds houses where he can hit that $275 number in 45 minutes worth of work where possible.

He also says he was working non-stop with no weekends and it took him 8 months of grinding to get there.

He was also spending roughly $3k per month on adspend.

So.....

Why is this impossible?
 

AgainstAllOdds

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Nobody makes 20K a month washing windows by themself.

I can confirm that @GravyBoat 's numbers are real.

I spent a week out in San Diego and during that time was able to see exactly what he was doing. The numbers are very much real and in my opinion should be growing with time.

If you want to knock @GravyBoat for anything, it shouldn't be his business, but his idiotic spending on stupid shit like diamond rings that he ends up trading when drunk for a ride home from Mexico.
 

GravyBoat

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Nobody makes 20K a month washing windows by themself.
Why not?

Let's math it out:

- 30 days in a month
- $666 per day
- Let's assume he does 4 houses in a day
- That's $166 per house.

This.... doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

In his youtube video he offers some numbers as well:

Basic washing service - $175 per house (above my $166 estimate)
Upselling additional services - $275

He also finds houses where he can hit that $275 number in 45 minutes worth of work where possible.

He also says he was working non-stop with no weekends and it took him 8 months of grinding to get there.

He was also spending roughly $3k per month on adspend.

So.....

Why is this impossible?


Correct, I have a guy who helps me some days. And I should have clarified. Not just washing windows.

Doing "full exterior house cleaning." So this means, $275 for rain gutter cleaning, $275 for windows, $275 for pressure washing, $125 for solar panels, all on the same house.

What has allowed me to make this work is upselling, and customer LTV.

Also doing rain gutter installs which can be ~$700 profit for half a day of work. Go hit one of those, go hit another window job for $225 in a day.

Another thing I've done a bit of so far is commercial, where you hit a bunch of apartments all in a row for less margin, but more volume.

The services this business offers go hand in hand with eachother. We also do Christmas lights installs in the winter months, done that for 2 years now. Those can make over 1k/ea profit, for a few hours of work.





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.

I'm absolutely terrible at accounting, math, system esque shit. My strong suit lies in fast paced hustle, resourcefulness, and people skills IRL.

Goal is to double down on strengths and outsource weaknesses.
 
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GravyBoat

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Found this dope tool today:


Ordered and will test.

If this saves me even a few mins on a house, it pays for itself in 1-2 jobs.

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.
 

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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.
 

miraman

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Why not?

Let's math it out:

- 30 days in a month
- $666 per day
- Let's assume he does 4 houses in a day
- That's $166 per house.

This.... doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

In his youtube video he offers some numbers as well:

Basic washing service - $175 per house (above my $166 estimate)
Upselling additional services - $275

He also finds houses where he can hit that $275 number in 45 minutes worth of work where possible.

He also says he was working non-stop with no weekends and it took him 8 months of grinding to get there.

He was also spending roughly $3k per month on adspend.

So.....

Why is this impossible?
Maybe not impossible but- not likely. I mean who can work 30 straight days -all day long, with no hiccups, you would need around 120 customers just for one month in your example, and not sure if everyone needs windows washed monthly, so you would need a ton of customers. It just seems unrealistic to me as a solo operation anyway.
 
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Raoul Duke

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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.



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.

Or a small drone. Taking 4K videos or photos.
 

GravyBoat

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Maybe not impossible but- not likely. I mean who can work 30 straight days -all day long, with no hiccups, you would need around 120 customers just for one month in your example, and not sure if everyone needs windows washed monthly, so you would need a ton of customers. It just seems unrealistic to me as a solo operation anyway.

Ya man. Makes total sense. It could never work out. Just don't even bother starting anything. Keep sitting on the sidelines.

I wish I had 120 customers per month. Taking LTV and upselling into consideration, might even make enough to hire your a$$ and put you to work.
 

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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.



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.
Or a small drone. Taking 4K videos or photos.


Good ideas as well. All depends on the layout of the roof/house but def saves time in some cases. Moving the ladder around is the slowest part, thus costing me the most $.

The work itself is being outsourced as well, but the reason why I'm still doing alot of it is because of margins... an assistant costs me $3.50/hr while a worker costs $15-20. Trying to build a little bit more before I make the jump. I know this is an excuse but I'd rather have the cash right now to build myself a safety net, after not having one for many years.

So stay tuned for that!
 
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Maybe not impossible but- not likely. I mean who can work 30 straight days -all day long, with no hiccups, you would need around 120 customers just for one month in your example, and not sure if everyone needs windows washed monthly, so you would need a ton of customers. It just seems unrealistic to me as a solo operation anyway.


2NGTo.gif
 

DrWumbo

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Maybe not impossible but- not likely. I mean who can work 30 straight days -all day long, with no hiccups, you would need around 120 customers just for one month in your example, and not sure if everyone needs windows washed monthly, so you would need a ton of customers. It just seems unrealistic to me as a solo operation anyway.

I know a business owner here who nets $75K cleaning windows part time and is his only employee. Mind you, my entire state is pretty small population wise as well. He also only focuses on commercial, not even residential!
 
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Getting into rain gutter installs as well. Found a guy who does seamless. Going to outsource to him / partner with him on those jobs. Discussing further on Monday.

Employee and I working very well together. Assistant is also doing awesome.

Also have another meeting with a property management company on Monday AM, to do all of their apartment complexes.

Pushing this angle as I'm now legit, so at least some barrier to entry there. Meaning I have licenses and insurance and shit (which I didn't for a long time).

Overall everything is going well but I feel the need to grow faster.

YouTube is going ok. Still making hella videos. Just upgraded studio. Boom lights, studio monitors, legit mic, sound box, big a$$ whiteboard behind me. Chair is still shit. Trying to be as authentic as possible in videos.

IMG_2252.jpg

Gonna crush this shit. Stay TUNED.
 
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GravyBoat

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To elaborate on my previous post.

I've been installing SEAMED rain gutters straight up from Home Depot and Lowes. Been sticking them out the window of my shitbox car, since I don't have a truck or van yet. Check it:

IMG_2253.PNGIMG_2255.PNG

Anyway, I've been getting lots of requests for SEAMLESS rain gutters, and been having to turn them down, since I don't have the machine that can make them out of raw material, nor do I have a truck or trailer to carry it. So I'm basically pissing away thousands of dollars per week in revenue I could be getting.

I called every rain gutter installer in San Diego and they're all booked out for 3-6 months, and wouldn't take on any new projects. I was BLOWN AWAY by this. I can't believe not a single company would take my leads at least.

So I'm at Lowes one day bitching to the guy at the Pro desk about my problems. Suddenly, some random passerby overhears my convo (I think I was being obnoxiously loud, but I digress), and says "bro, my dad does seamless rain gutters, he's been doing them himself for 30 years. Has the machine, truck, and trailer!"

I get his number immediately.

Going to send him at least 2 jobs per week. These jobs can range from 1k - 5k gross. Let's say they average 2.5k... that means I can charge this guy $300-$700 per job commission, OR, help him and split it 60/40 or 70/30 or something. We still haven't discussed, but either way, that's an extra 1k/week in my pocket MINIMUM if I pull some deals off. Each of these leads costs me around $14 bucks... LOL

The point of this story: If you SIT ON THE SIDELINES like mister miraman over here, you would never get yourself into these situations. When you're in the action, balls deep, doing things and playing out scenarios, THAT is when the universe bestows you some opportunities.

When you don't do shit, and "wait for the golden opportunity," you lose. When you take any opportunity you can, then jump to better and better ones, that's when you win.

Installs are proving to be a good supplement to regular business. I set up a second Yelp page just for them. Today's job, took around 8 hours:

IMG_2247.PNG
 

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