As a beginner who’s yet to start his own business. I would like to hear about your first year! Yours up and downs, lessons, misfortunes, any and everything really.
Thank you!!
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What can I say? I laughed. I cried. I fell down. It changed my life. The end.
Don’t buy a bunch of junk your first year. Watch reviews but don’t waste money while you’re still trying to figure out the business.
Go buy The Emyth by Michael Gerber.
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Nice. Did you get a band aid?
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Spend as little as possible. Network your ass off. Put yourself in a position to meet potential customers. Stay patient, on the job and with the business.
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Say yes to every opportunity and figure it out later.
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Then you’ll realize how bad of an idea that was in your second year lol
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Some will be bad and some will be great. If you’re too cautious you’ll be left in the dust.
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More important than buying a squeegee.
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Monthly revenues were up and down. Would have loved continuous increases but learned to have reserves for slow times.
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Learned to hate insurance costs.
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Learned that hiring and training and learning how to train with patience is more of an investment than an expense.
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Learned (slowly) that marketing expenses eventually pay off (I prefer to spend $ on tangible assets such as tools and equipment).
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Learned the value of networking with other service providers and realtors.
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Ups? learned plenty about all aspects of business. Made some coin and built a solid client base. We started in Oct so we were after gutters/holiday lights.
Downs? As many, winter is the dead/slow season if you live up north. I guess I did not know what to do with the down time and probably wasted it.
Lessons:
no matter what your price is you are going to hear “My last guy was half the price”
I did, as one mentioned, looked for any opportunity to make money. Money was money back then, but in the long run we stopped this as quickly as we could.
I did not learn this, I just remember staring at a phone that would not ring. You need to market your business. Networking is great, providing great customer service is crucial. Do some form of marketing, be wise about it but do it. When we started marketing what do you know we grew sales!
If you plan to hire, start the process early and be wise. Probably was the most profitable with 1 employee. Tools and clients were cared for.
Think long term. If you underprice the job cause you’re slow and she is sweet and old, she is probably going to expect that price next year. Know where you want to go and plan accordingly.
Also, start saving for 2018 winter ASAP. Build your nest egg
Misfortunes? Not thinking enough about the business or working ON it in slow times cost me long term.
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Few more thoughts and some questions which might help.
thoughts:
While I am strong supporter I do not make this suggestion lightly. “window cleaners marketing blueprint”. Only $99. Frankly the entire book is directly applicable, very well organized and simple. I primarily suggest it cause I wish I could blow things up and start fresh. So many little mistakes made when setting things up myself. In the long run those little things are annoying.
Don’t believe all the hype. Get the basic tools, maybe some nice things here or there, but don’t go crazy till you know this is what you want. Cash flow is huge.
Questions
Where are you located?
What do you plan on targeting?
What other services do you plan to offer?
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I am located in between Fort Lauderdale and Miami in a town called Hollywood, FL
I plan on targeting homes because I know its much more money involved. Also, plan on doing storefronts for a steady monthly income source.
I want to offer gutter cleaning, pressure washing,and a few high rise window cleaning (10 stories or less)
Also thanks for all you have said. I really appreciate your feedback
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Happy to help. This place was huge for me when I stumbled upon it.
Food for thought, I do know that area has massive competition but pressure washing is good, “easy” money. With your humidity I hear there is plenty to do.
Best of luck.
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The best advice I can give from “past experience” is let everyone know what you do, and purchase the Window Cleaners Marketing Bllue Print it’s a guide to building a great business.
Good luck out there!
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