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This Guy Didn't Sell Shovels, He Bought One Instead (Inspiring!)

3things

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So I recently got to know a guy through something my wife and I did to help out someone he knew (we didn't know him, or have any expectation of getting something - just looked after someone kindly). Turns out this guy is highly successful, and I found his story (and the simplicity of his business idea) very interesting/motivational and figured other people on here would :)

This guy, we'll call him 'Steve' came to Canada in the late 90's from an unstable part of Europe in search of a better life. He came with pretty well nothing, no money, no connections beyond knowing a couple of ordinary working guys from his country, or possessions. Couldn't barely even speak English, no qualifications.

Steve arrived in winter, when there was a lot of snow on the ground. Saw the few guys he knew going door to door doing snow shovelling, driveways, rooves and with no other obvious opportunity, he bought himself a snow shovel and joined in.

Steve took his shovel, and his broken English and went door to door and shovelled snow each day until he couldn't shovel any more. Like 18 hours a day. He was earning good money, (and stashing it) but spotted a better path. The big money wasn't in peoples driveways, it was in commercial properties.

So he scrimped, saved, borrowed (getting a lot of 'no's' along the way) and bought an old truck with a plough. He went to lots of different businesses and after a lot of no's ended up getting a couple of snow removal contracts for some apartment buildings. The guaranteed income from these (he always did/still does minimum 3 year contracts) meant he could go and buy another newer truck, and hire a guy to drive it.

But Steve didn't stop there, he kept on selling, and started to pick up bigger and bigger contracts. Office buildings, a Hospital, apartment and condo buildings - all on annual flat-rate 3-5 year contracts. He bought more trucks, and hired more guys. Some winters he won, when there was less snow and ice, and a couple of bad winter's he lost due to the sheer amount of salt and ploughing they had to do. But mostly overall, he won. He kept on buying trucks, and ended up with about 30+ for snow removal now. He never bought more trucks or hired more guys than he had contracts to pay for.

As an example for some context, a commercial contract just for removing snow, salting walkways etc is maybe, $50k/year. On a 5 year guaranteed contract. This last winter, which was particularly light that building had snow removed maybe, twice and needed salting maybe...10-15 times.

And still Steve didn't stop. He could have just done snow removal and taken the summer off. But instead, he got the summer landscaping contracts for all the buildings he was removing snow for in winter. So now, every spring he and his crews plant vast amounts of flowers and make all these buildings look nice, cut grass etc. (Steve stays for spring and then leaves for his house, boat etc in Europe until early winter). The putting a few flowers in a planter, tidying etc through the summer months is as, or more profitable than the snow removal.

His crews are very loyal as he treats them right - pays well, throws free company BBQ's and stuff. He's no mug, but if you work hard and treat him right, he'll look after you.

With no traditional marketing, and an incredibly simple, well-executed service Steve has an incredibly profitable business turning over many millions of dollars. He literally doesn't need, or even want, any more clients. Now, he doesn't have to look for them or knock on doors, they come to him and pretty much have to beg for him to take them on.

This simple little idea that started with buying a shovel and doing some hard work has mushroomed and scaled and become a cash cow. Steve has a portfolio of property now that he rents out, all paid in cash. Nice cars. Mostly the fastlane lifestyle as his crews do all the work. He doesn't need to work but likes to join in still.

I just found his story really amazing, a guy literally that came from nothing and through sheer hard work and perseverance built a huge business. But off the back of such a simple, simple idea, done in such a way that it covers all the CENTS bases. Just shows us all that you don't need to reinvent the wheel.

The nicest thing? He's still a really good guy who looks after people. One day in spring, long after we did our indirect favour, Steve showed up on a Sunday morning with a crew of guys, and breakfast. They completely made over our garden, put planters in, planted flowers, did a ton of mulch, the whole 9 yards.

I was blown away completely, tbh to the point of shedding a tear - no one ever did something like this for me before, we have no family or anyone here so what we have we do for ourselves. To say thanks, we had Steve over for a meal and I got to hear his full story. That day, he'd got another big contract on an office building, 6 figures/year so just too good to turn down.

tl;dr - guy with nothing buys snow shovel, upgrades to truck, buys 30 trucks, gets commercial snow & landscaping contracts and wins. And is still an awesome guy.
 
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3things

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The hunger of immigrants eh?

Exactly! We had this conversation, about 'Canadians' vs 'immigrants' in terms of hunger/drive. The immigrants (I am one, but very different background to 'Steve'), often have it in spades. Or, shovels I guess in this case lol.
 
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timmy

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I thought this was a respectful comment.
Me too John....I was proud to call TO my home for 10 yrs. ...... I also arrived arrived there after a huge storm snow storm......Wish I had the mindset of " Steve " back then.
 
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devine

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There is no respect in calling a man's outstanding efforts, his genuinely good attitude and his *use what you have* approach "the hunger of immigrants".
A man has worked hard, it doesn't matter if he's an immigrant or not.

If everything you can say after reading this amazing story is "the hunger of immigrants eh?" - you show disrespect with such a devaluing comment. You devalue 99% of the story and highlight the fact that this man has come from somewhere.

Respect is more than what you mean, it's what you show, it's your touch to the object/subject/person.
 
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jon.a

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There is no respect in calling a man's outstanding efforts, his genuinely good attitude and his *use what you have* approach "the hunger of immigrants".
A man has worked hard, it doesn't matter if he's an immigrant or not.

If everything you can say after reading this amazing story is "the hunger of immigrants eh?" - you show disrespect with such a devaluing comment. You devalue 99% of the story and highlight the fact that this man has come from somewhere.

Respect is more than what you mean, it's what you show, it's your touch to the object/subject/person.
And you made my point for me :)
 

miked_d

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I used to snow shovel when I was a kid. The best money was made in the apartment complexes. The commercial snow removal company would come in and plow the road surfaces. The snow removed from the roads/driveways would often end up against a tenant's car. We would come in and clear out the tenant's assigned space.
 
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happybhoy

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There is no respect in calling a man's outstanding efforts, his genuinely good attitude and his *use what you have* approach "the hunger of immigrants".
A man has worked hard, it doesn't matter if he's an immigrant or not.

If everything you can say after reading this amazing story is "the hunger of immigrants eh?" - you show disrespect with such a devaluing comment. You devalue 99% of the story and highlight the fact that this man has come from somewhere.

Respect is more than what you mean, it's what you show, it's your touch to the object/subject/person.
You would be right if it was "Steve" himself who posted. My reply would have been more personal and complimentary.
In this context it's not disrespectful to open up the thread to a wider debate.
A lot of immigrants have a go-get attitude that is to be admired.

Steve, if you're reading this. You are inspiring!
 

wolfie

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Somebody remove his comment and ban from thread.
It's F*cking cringy to read.

Who pissed in your cheerios. It was a compliment. I don't even know you but it seems you need to reevaluate your mindset if you take a small comment like that that offensively. Grow some thicker skin FFS.
 
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So I recently got to know a guy through something my wife and I did to help out someone he knew (we didn't know him, or have any expectation of getting something - just looked after someone kindly). Turns out this guy is highly successful, and I found his story (and the simplicity of his business idea) very interesting/motivational and figured other people on here would :)

This guy, we'll call him 'Steve' came to Canada in the late 90's from an unstable part of Europe in search of a better life. He came with pretty well nothing, no money, no connections beyond knowing a couple of ordinary working guys from his country, or possessions. Couldn't barely even speak English, no qualifications.

Steve arrived in winter, when there was a lot of snow on the ground. Saw the few guys he knew going door to door doing snow shovelling, driveways, rooves and with no other obvious opportunity, he bought himself a snow shovel and joined in.

Steve took his shovel, and his broken English and went door to door and shovelled snow each day until he couldn't shovel any more. Like 18 hours a day. He was earning good money, (and stashing it) but spotted a better path. The big money wasn't in peoples driveways, it was in commercial properties.

So he scrimped, saved, borrowed (getting a lot of 'no's' along the way) and bought an old truck with a plough. He went to lots of different businesses and after a lot of no's ended up getting a couple of snow removal contracts for some apartment buildings. The guaranteed income from these (he always did/still does minimum 3 year contracts) meant he could go and buy another newer truck, and hire a guy to drive it.

But Steve didn't stop there, he kept on selling, and started to pick up bigger and bigger contracts. Office buildings, a Hospital, apartment and condo buildings - all on annual flat-rate 3-5 year contracts. He bought more trucks, and hired more guys. Some winters he won, when there was less snow and ice, and a couple of bad winter's he lost due to the sheer amount of salt and ploughing they had to do. But mostly overall, he won. He kept on buying trucks, and ended up with about 30+ for snow removal now. He never bought more trucks or hired more guys than he had contracts to pay for.

As an example for some context, a commercial contract just for removing snow, salting walkways etc is maybe, $50k/year. On a 5 year guaranteed contract. This last winter, which was particularly light that building had snow removed maybe, twice and needed salting maybe...10-15 times.

And still Steve didn't stop. He could have just done snow removal and taken the summer off. But instead, he got the summer landscaping contracts for all the buildings he was removing snow for in winter. So now, every spring he and his crews plant vast amounts of flowers and make all these buildings look nice, cut grass etc. (Steve stays for spring and then leaves for his house, boat etc in Europe until early winter). The putting a few flowers in a planter, tidying etc through the summer months is as, or more profitable than the snow removal.

His crews are very loyal as he treats them right - pays well, throws free company BBQ's and stuff. He's no mug, but if you work hard and treat him right, he'll look after you.

With no traditional marketing, and an incredibly simple, well-executed service Steve has an incredibly profitable business turning over many millions of dollars. He literally doesn't need, or even want, any more clients. Now, he doesn't have to look for them or knock on doors, they come to him and pretty much have to beg for him to take them on.

This simple little idea that started with buying a shovel and doing some hard work has mushroomed and scaled and become a cash cow. Steve has a portfolio of property now that he rents out, all paid in cash. Nice cars. Mostly the fastlane lifestyle as his crews do all the work. He doesn't need to work but likes to join in still.

I just found his story really amazing, a guy literally that came from nothing and through sheer hard work and perseverance built a huge business. But off the back of such a simple, simple idea, done in such a way that it covers all the CENTS bases. Just shows us all that you don't need to reinvent the wheel.

The nicest thing? He's still a really good guy who looks after people. One day in spring, long after we did our indirect favour, Steve showed up on a Sunday morning with a crew of guys, and breakfast. They completely made over our garden, put planters in, planted flowers, did a ton of mulch, the whole 9 yards.

I was blown away completely, tbh to the point of shedding a tear - no one ever did something like this for me before, we have no family or anyone here so what we have we do for ourselves. To say thanks, we had Steve over for a meal and I got to hear his full story. That day, he'd got another big contract on an office building, 6 figures/year so just too good to turn down.

tl;dr - guy with nothing buys snow shovel, upgrades to truck, buys 30 trucks, gets commercial snow & landscaping contracts and wins. And is still an awesome guy.
Nice to see a counterpoint to the "Sell shovels" advice. Thanks for sharing this story @3things.

Why sell shovels when you can use them to mine gold (and then maybe sell the gold)?
 
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devine

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Who pissed in your cheerios. It was a compliment. I don't even know you but it seems you need to reevaluate your mindset if you take a small comment like that that offensively. Grow some thicker skin FFS.
It's not about having a thicker skin, I explained things clearly in my previous posts.
 

Goldman snacks

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I relate to that gary vee vid, I'm from the UK.

the main difference to me is that there is the equivalent of the uk population in one state, which means if i had a scaleable offline business, it can grow many times bigger than in the uk.

think of a number one hit song in downloads in the uk compared to the us charts.

As to immigrants from other countries they probably see it differently, as there are far worse conditions that are not present in the us that exist in their home country.

And yes I see that alot of people ignore the amount of money there is to be made and their goals are small, its like people are chasing crumbs on the floor, when I just see a whole cake that the crumbs fell from.
 
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Crossroads

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So I recently got to know a guy through something my wife and I did to help out someone he knew (we didn't know him, or have any expectation of getting something - just looked after someone kindly). Turns out this guy is highly successful, and I found his story (and the simplicity of his business idea) very interesting/motivational and figured other people on here would :)

This guy, we'll call him 'Steve' came to Canada in the late 90's from an unstable part of Europe in search of a better life. He came with pretty well nothing, no money, no connections beyond knowing a couple of ordinary working guys from his country, or possessions. Couldn't barely even speak English, no qualifications.

Steve arrived in winter, when there was a lot of snow on the ground. Saw the few guys he knew going door to door doing snow shovelling, driveways, rooves and with no other obvious opportunity, he bought himself a snow shovel and joined in.

Steve took his shovel, and his broken English and went door to door and shovelled snow each day until he couldn't shovel any more. Like 18 hours a day. He was earning good money, (and stashing it) but spotted a better path. The big money wasn't in peoples driveways, it was in commercial properties.

So he scrimped, saved, borrowed (getting a lot of 'no's' along the way) and bought an old truck with a plough. He went to lots of different businesses and after a lot of no's ended up getting a couple of snow removal contracts for some apartment buildings. The guaranteed income from these (he always did/still does minimum 3 year contracts) meant he could go and buy another newer truck, and hire a guy to drive it.

But Steve didn't stop there, he kept on selling, and started to pick up bigger and bigger contracts. Office buildings, a Hospital, apartment and condo buildings - all on annual flat-rate 3-5 year contracts. He bought more trucks, and hired more guys. Some winters he won, when there was less snow and ice, and a couple of bad winter's he lost due to the sheer amount of salt and ploughing they had to do. But mostly overall, he won. He kept on buying trucks, and ended up with about 30+ for snow removal now. He never bought more trucks or hired more guys than he had contracts to pay for.

As an example for some context, a commercial contract just for removing snow, salting walkways etc is maybe, $50k/year. On a 5 year guaranteed contract. This last winter, which was particularly light that building had snow removed maybe, twice and needed salting maybe...10-15 times.

And still Steve didn't stop. He could have just done snow removal and taken the summer off. But instead, he got the summer landscaping contracts for all the buildings he was removing snow for in winter. So now, every spring he and his crews plant vast amounts of flowers and make all these buildings look nice, cut grass etc. (Steve stays for spring and then leaves for his house, boat etc in Europe until early winter). The putting a few flowers in a planter, tidying etc through the summer months is as, or more profitable than the snow removal.

His crews are very loyal as he treats them right - pays well, throws free company BBQ's and stuff. He's no mug, but if you work hard and treat him right, he'll look after you.

With no traditional marketing, and an incredibly simple, well-executed service Steve has an incredibly profitable business turning over many millions of dollars. He literally doesn't need, or even want, any more clients. Now, he doesn't have to look for them or knock on doors, they come to him and pretty much have to beg for him to take them on.

This simple little idea that started with buying a shovel and doing some hard work has mushroomed and scaled and become a cash cow. Steve has a portfolio of property now that he rents out, all paid in cash. Nice cars. Mostly the fastlane lifestyle as his crews do all the work. He doesn't need to work but likes to join in still.

I just found his story really amazing, a guy literally that came from nothing and through sheer hard work and perseverance built a huge business. But off the back of such a simple, simple idea, done in such a way that it covers all the CENTS bases. Just shows us all that you don't need to reinvent the wheel.

The nicest thing? He's still a really good guy who looks after people. One day in spring, long after we did our indirect favour, Steve showed up on a Sunday morning with a crew of guys, and breakfast. They completely made over our garden, put planters in, planted flowers, did a ton of mulch, the whole 9 yards.

I was blown away completely, tbh to the point of shedding a tear - no one ever did something like this for me before, we have no family or anyone here so what we have we do for ourselves. To say thanks, we had Steve over for a meal and I got to hear his full story. That day, he'd got another big contract on an office building, 6 figures/year so just too good to turn down.

tl;dr - guy with nothing buys snow shovel, upgrades to truck, buys 30 trucks, gets commercial snow & landscaping contracts and wins. And is still an awesome guy.

Very inspiring! Thanks for sharing.
 
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tflfguy

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My favorite line:
"He went to lots of different businesses and after a lot of no's ended up getting a couple of snow removal contracts for some apartment buildings."

To me, sales seems more often to be how effective/efficient you are at sorting prospects (ready now / not ready now) vs. a super-slick sales process (or presentation).
 
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Somebody remove his comment and ban from thread.
It's F*cking cringy to read.

There is no respect in calling a man's outstanding efforts, his genuinely good attitude and his *use what you have* approach "the hunger of immigrants".
A man has worked hard, it doesn't matter if he's an immigrant or not.

If everything you can say after reading this amazing story is "the hunger of immigrants eh?" - you show disrespect with such a devaluing comment. You devalue 99% of the story and highlight the fact that this man has come from somewhere.

Respect is more than what you mean, it's what you show, it's your touch to the object/subject/person.

I feel bad that this kind of behaviour is considered normal.

It's not about having a thicker skin, I explained things clearly in my previous posts.

ztsvV7K.gif
 

Nick The New Guy

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This is the very first post I saw when logging in to the forum for the first time today. This is precisely what I've been looking for. I feel like I have found the right community.
It is truly inspiring to hear about someone who had 0 exposure to something, learned the ropes and expanded it. My perception is that prior to seeing others shoveling snow, he had no interest in going that route. He saw an opportunity, and seized it. This further sends home that "Make a living doing what you love" is for the most part hogwash.
 

3things

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This is the very first post I saw when logging in to the forum for the first time today. This is precisely what I've been looking for. I feel like I have found the right community.
It is truly inspiring to hear about someone who had 0 exposure to something, learned the ropes and expanded it. My perception is that prior to seeing others shoveling snow, he had no interest in going that route. He saw an opportunity, and seized it. This further sends home that "Make a living doing what you love" is for the most part hogwash.

Yup, he had no prior history of shovelling snow, and harboured no pent up passion for it hehe. At the time it was just the simplest most obvious way of earning money to live/eat, and he spotted a bigger opportunity. He actually kind of hates snow, when it snows it costs him money :)

Also consider when he got off the plane on day 1, he had no money behind him, barely spoke English, had no 'skills' as such and had no connections or network. He just worked hard and persevered, and quickly figured out the real money was in commercial contracts, and started going after them, door to door fashion. He's never advertised or marketed, has a website for the sake of it, doesn't really even use email. Pretty old school.

It still blows my tiny mind that there's just so much money/profit in something that is in principle at least so simple - clearing snow and spreading salt. Really highlights that you don't need to reinvent the wheel or come up with some amazing new 'thing'.

He's also been smart as his business grew and produced profit, with RE investments, investment in better and more niche equipment for his core business and stakes in other diverse companies here and abroad. And all that, from one guy with a shovel. :)
 
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Why sell shovels when you can use them to mine gold (and then maybe sell the gold)?


Alternately, it's proof that CENTS is so powerful that even a small play, that fails many of the commandments, can leave the person better off than a lifetime of the best slow-lane work. Sure, this guy could have made more by manufacturing plows, mining salt, creating the factory that made plow trucks, etc., but he did great just executing hard on a project with low levels of control, moderate entry, moderate need, high time requirements, and decent scale.

The take away I saw from this, as a guy who lives in any area where everybody has a lawn service, is that the guy in OP's story stayed hungry. My guess looking from the outside is that most of the guys around here get a crew, get 3-4 trucks, get maybe $60,000 worth of gear, and they're taking home $80K/yr with a high school diploma, so they figure that's great, and this is taking a lot of their time, so they get complacent and stop.

With scale, they could become the guy in the OP.
 

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Alternately, it's proof that CENTS is so powerful that even a small play, that fails many of the commandments, can leave the person better off than a lifetime of the best slow-lane work. Sure, this guy could have made more by manufacturing plows, mining salt, creating the factory that made plow trucks, etc., but he did great just executing hard on a project with low levels of control, moderate entry, moderate need, high time requirements, and decent scale.

The take away I saw from this, as a guy who lives in any area where everybody has a lawn service, is that the guy in OP's story stayed hungry. My guess looking from the outside is that most of the guys around here get a crew, get 3-4 trucks, get maybe $60,000 worth of gear, and they're taking home $80K/yr with a high school diploma, so they figure that's great, and this is taking a lot of their time, so they get complacent and stop.

With scale, they could become the guy in the OP.
You left out an app or SaaS for snow-plowing firms.
 

3things

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Alternately, it's proof that CENTS is so powerful that even a small play, that fails many of the commandments, can leave the person better off than a lifetime of the best slow-lane work. Sure, this guy could have made more by manufacturing plows, mining salt, creating the factory that made plow trucks, etc., but he did great just executing hard on a project with low levels of control, moderate entry, moderate need, high time requirements, and decent scale.

The take away I saw from this, as a guy who lives in any area where everybody has a lawn service, is that the guy in OP's story stayed hungry. My guess looking from the outside is that most of the guys around here get a crew, get 3-4 trucks, get maybe $60,000 worth of gear, and they're taking home $80K/yr with a high school diploma, so they figure that's great, and this is taking a lot of their time, so they get complacent and stop.

With scale, they could become the guy in the OP.

I'd say the major difference is in your example maybe the guys are doing residential gardens. "Steve" in my op went after commercial buildings instead, on annual flat rate 3 to 5 year contracts. It's I'd guess, harder to scale, manage and much less lucrative with much less security in residential garden maintenance.

Time wise last winter his crews worked maybe about 15 nights only, as it was a very light winter, so he won big. The property pays x per year flat whether it snows 1 day or 50, and it's priced on worst case basis.

30 snow and gardening maintenance contracts for him is just the equivalent of having about 500 residential customers. And he has relative security of contracts that allows him to buy trucks and hire people much more reliably.

From what he's said the snow business is similar though, some guys end up with a truck or two, but for whatever reason never take the leap to the next level and just stick where they are.
 
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So I recently got to know a guy through something my wife and I did to help out someone he knew (we didn't know him, or have any expectation of getting something - just looked after someone kindly). Turns out this guy is highly successful, and I found his story (and the simplicity of his business idea) very interesting/motivational and figured other people on here would :)

This guy, we'll call him 'Steve' came to Canada in the late 90's from an unstable part of Europe in search of a better life. He came with pretty well nothing, no money, no connections beyond knowing a couple of ordinary working guys from his country, or possessions. Couldn't barely even speak English, no qualifications.

Steve arrived in winter, when there was a lot of snow on the ground. Saw the few guys he knew going door to door doing snow shovelling, driveways, rooves and with no other obvious opportunity, he bought himself a snow shovel and joined in.

Steve took his shovel, and his broken English and went door to door and shovelled snow each day until he couldn't shovel any more. Like 18 hours a day. He was earning good money, (and stashing it) but spotted a better path. The big money wasn't in peoples driveways, it was in commercial properties.

So he scrimped, saved, borrowed (getting a lot of 'no's' along the way) and bought an old truck with a plough. He went to lots of different businesses and after a lot of no's ended up getting a couple of snow removal contracts for some apartment buildings. The guaranteed income from these (he always did/still does minimum 3 year contracts) meant he could go and buy another newer truck, and hire a guy to drive it.

But Steve didn't stop there, he kept on selling, and started to pick up bigger and bigger contracts. Office buildings, a Hospital, apartment and condo buildings - all on annual flat-rate 3-5 year contracts. He bought more trucks, and hired more guys. Some winters he won, when there was less snow and ice, and a couple of bad winter's he lost due to the sheer amount of salt and ploughing they had to do. But mostly overall, he won. He kept on buying trucks, and ended up with about 30+ for snow removal now. He never bought more trucks or hired more guys than he had contracts to pay for.

As an example for some context, a commercial contract just for removing snow, salting walkways etc is maybe, $50k/year. On a 5 year guaranteed contract. This last winter, which was particularly light that building had snow removed maybe, twice and needed salting maybe...10-15 times.

And still Steve didn't stop. He could have just done snow removal and taken the summer off. But instead, he got the summer landscaping contracts for all the buildings he was removing snow for in winter. So now, every spring he and his crews plant vast amounts of flowers and make all these buildings look nice, cut grass etc. (Steve stays for spring and then leaves for his house, boat etc in Europe until early winter). The putting a few flowers in a planter, tidying etc through the summer months is as, or more profitable than the snow removal.

His crews are very loyal as he treats them right - pays well, throws free company BBQ's and stuff. He's no mug, but if you work hard and treat him right, he'll look after you.

With no traditional marketing, and an incredibly simple, well-executed service Steve has an incredibly profitable business turning over many millions of dollars. He literally doesn't need, or even want, any more clients. Now, he doesn't have to look for them or knock on doors, they come to him and pretty much have to beg for him to take them on.

This simple little idea that started with buying a shovel and doing some hard work has mushroomed and scaled and become a cash cow. Steve has a portfolio of property now that he rents out, all paid in cash. Nice cars. Mostly the fastlane lifestyle as his crews do all the work. He doesn't need to work but likes to join in still.

I just found his story really amazing, a guy literally that came from nothing and through sheer hard work and perseverance built a huge business. But off the back of such a simple, simple idea, done in such a way that it covers all the CENTS bases. Just shows us all that you don't need to reinvent the wheel.

The nicest thing? He's still a really good guy who looks after people. One day in spring, long after we did our indirect favour, Steve showed up on a Sunday morning with a crew of guys, and breakfast. They completely made over our garden, put planters in, planted flowers, did a ton of mulch, the whole 9 yards.

I was blown away completely, tbh to the point of shedding a tear - no one ever did something like this for me before, we have no family or anyone here so what we have we do for ourselves. To say thanks, we had Steve over for a meal and I got to hear his full story. That day, he'd got another big contract on an office building, 6 figures/year so just too good to turn down.

tl;dr - guy with nothing buys snow shovel, upgrades to truck, buys 30 trucks, gets commercial snow & landscaping contracts and wins. And is still an awesome guy.

Great story, this guy was chasing needs from day one, not the money

Nobody would have thought there was big money in removing snow from a doorstep
 
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