Just starting out

Ok I have a question, I started my biz in 2015 part time so 2016 is my first full year in biz, I started this company with $35…bought a starter kit and started doing storefronts and a few commercial, now I’m into residential. My question is this, what should I expect for my first full year money wise? In promoting on Facebook, names on Google, did door hangers and flyers etc…

low expectations…the first year. Focus on getting your name/brand established. Once you’re in it for a year or two you will have a good feel for what you can expect from your market… then you can start getting goals to reach

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Id love to do $50k this year which doesn’t seem to tough.

You could end up working lower than minimum wage or hit it out of the park and make more money than at your old job. The only way to find out is to work the whole year. No one can tell you how much you’re going to make.

God no, I average $75per hr with my resi…

Figure my first year I only need 150 new customers to give me at least 20-25k

I’m in Michigan and my area is a good area

You might bring in $75/h but if you only work 8-10 hours a week cleaning windows that won’t be much overall.

It sounds like you have a good start. But this is the busiest time of the year. The real test comes in July and August.

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The pollen season hasn’t even started yet here and it’s still snowing here, this can’t be the busiest time of the year lol

Couple of jobs I did last season

Working 10hrs a week is like doing 3 residential homes…that’s 900 a week…ill take that

I would say it depends both on your marketing and your level of service provided. Let me explain. When I first started years ago I did not enjoy the work. Starting a business was a lot of work and I really wanted to be doing something else. Cleaning windows for me was temporary until I could do what I really wanted to do. Needless to say it showed in my performance and attitude on the job. I wasn’t bad but I wasn’t great!

When I realized it was effecting my growth I changed my approach. Before my goal was to satisfy the customer. I satisfied all my customers. So what’s the problem isn’t that good? Yes but it wasn’t great so my customers weren’t excited about my service. I was keeping customers but I wasn’t getting very many referrals. My new goal was not to satisfy the customer but to amaze them. My goal was to get them so exited about my service that before I left their house they were on the phone with friends and family telling them about me. When people are excited about something they want to tell someone and that means referrals and more business with less marketing.

My recomemdation in your first year is to give an incentive in your marketing. This way when you go to the job and amaze the customer you can hand them 4 gift certificates for your service. One for their next service and 3 to give away. This gets woman excited. They love to tell their friends about awesome experiences and they love to give their friends gifts! And their friends love to get gifts. This approach will turn every job into multiple jobs. Remember those referrals will produce referrals etc. Taking this approach multiplies the sales off of the limited marketing you can afford to do in your first year.

I would also quickly establish a marketing budget and hold out money each month to keep marketing going.

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Average out your weeks earnings both gross and net by 40 hours a week; after a few months then figure 2,080 hours a year (40 hrs x 52 weeks) even if you only actually work 20 hours a week. Then see what you make.

Most of my advertising budget went into a WFP this year but Iam doing a monthly shopper next month and we’ll be in our Memorial Day parade…I like the idea of gift certificates!!!

Hell my goal this year is to bank 8k so my wife isn’t freaking out about xmas!!! Lol

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Don’t shirk on your advertising budget! Your can’t drive a car anywhere when there is no gas in the tank. Fancy equipment can wait. The simple equipment can get the job done just as well if you know what you are doing (not trying to say you dont). The point is there will always be something you want to buy or try out but you can’t sacrifice your advertising for it. Set a budget and save for new items and fancy things. Without a budget you will be tempted to spend money needed for more important thing on less important things. At least that’s just my approach. :slight_smile:

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Right, my storefront accounts keeps me going and pays for any advertising.

I wish i could like this response 100 times more! :slight_smile:

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