In over my head?

Hi, my name is Brandon and im new here. currently live in Arizona and I look forward to learning alot from all the experienced vets here. that being said… I recently purchased a Dewalt 3400 psi 2.5 GPM pressure washer. I have had a few jobs here and there but nothing worth it honestly. To cut to the chase im a Texas boy who just moved to Arizona about a yr back and I have had so much trouble finding work. Im a hard working guy who has done everything form welding back home to garbage truck cleaning. I dont mind getting my hands dirty, im just a simple guy who loves his fiance trying to pay the bills and put food on the table but that has been a real struggle lately. I want kids and a family someday but at 29 yrs old im very down on myself becuase im not successful… enough with my sob story now. i do have some past experience PW back home but not much. I came across a good deal on this PW and I want to make it work for me, I have a website, email, fb page, business cards and ive passed out 500 fliers with no calls at all. what am I doing wrong and what else can I do to earn peoples business in this industry? im an honest ad upfront guy, thanks for any help and advice.

A website is great, but you need SEO so people find it. Email is great, but you need a mailing list. FB is great, but you need content and followers. Business cards are great, but you have to have 20 conversations a day and pass them out. Fliers are great, but 500 is nothing. Pass out 500 every morning.

Get some reviews online. Put bandit signs and yard signs up all over. Buy leads through sites like Home Advisor. Get lettering on your truck. Cold call realtors. Ask for referrals. Get shirts made and wear them everywhere.

There are a million things you can do, but there is more to it than showing up and washing houses. It’ll come. Keep working it.

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If you made your website than you can do the SEO stuff your self. Google SEO and SEO for beginners… There is a lot to know but it will help tremendously. It doesn’t happen overnight though.

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You didn’t mention if you had a reserve of funds for advertising but the quickest way I have -found to make your phone ring is Google AdWords. Study how to use AdWords and pick your key words carefully. With a small pressure washer you are going to be limited to what you can do so I would stick with residential. Get a small surface cleaner and learn how to mix bleach. Most important is save a little money out of each job is get a bigger pressure washer. If you want to visit, give me a call.
Robbie Miller
Quality Pressure Washing of Houston
832-792-5420

I’ve had decent success using every door direct through the usps and finding a reasonable printer for postcards. I’ve found that 6"x9" work well. The key here is repeated exposure. I’d advertise to 10,000 ten times instead of sending out to 100,000 different houses. Better exposure and better targeting in higher end neighborhoods. It will also do you well to be as clean cut as possible and put your face right in the ad.

Also, there is no shame in going door to door looking for work. Be direct and brief. It helps a lot to have insurance, not only to cover yourself but also as a selling point, a lot of clients like that— some won’t hire you without it. If you’re going to run your own business, you’re going to need to know sales fundamentals just as much as,maybe even more, so than working on the job.

Also I would like to upgrade to a four GPM unit as soon as you could, it really does make a difference in how fast your work goes but don’t take on too much financially at first. And especially don’t get into debt that you don’t need. There’s a ton of resources on the Internet. We are rooting for you!

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Thank you. I really appreciate your feedback. I will do everything you mentioned and also keep researching. I’m willing to do what I have to do.

All of you haven given me great advise and I really do appreciate it. I didn’t even know what SEO was haha. It’s the stuff like that this page is great for. All of you have lots of experience that is so helpful!!! And at the moment I do not have extra funds for advertising but I can throw a few hundred towards google adwords. Also I do plan on putting money back into the business for bigger and better equipment. Residential is where I figure most of my money can come from right now with being so limited. I also offer window cleaning too.

It’s great to have determination and drive but you are going to need a lot more than that. You will need education in several key areas to be successful and you will need a basic plan with the following areas addressed:

  1. Operations - how do you plan to safely and efficiently clean things, what kind of pressure washing work are you going to do, what chemicals are you going to use? Etc.

  2. Finance - what is it going to take to make a living? How many house washes are you going to need to do per week and how will you price them, what is your overhead costs going to be? Etc.

  3. Marketing - what is your company image, how do you present yourself against your competition, what methods will you use to get new customers? Etc.

  4. Growth - what is your plan for growth, when do you plan to hire a helper, build a trailer, buy a new unit, expand into other services or other areas? Etc.

I’m not trying to make it harder than it has to be but you would greatly benefit from sitting down and figuring a lot of this out before jumping in with both feet first. Every year there are several new start up PW companies in my area who don’t make it past the first winter because they failed to have even the most basic plan.

Some of the most successful companies first plan was on the back of a napkin but they had one.

Steve you are 100% right. “Failing to plan is planning to fail” comes to mind. I will definitely continue doing all the research I can to accurately answer these questions for myself. Thank you for stressing I need a plan because I do.

Find a small business administration office (SBA) near you and take a business plan workshop or meet with one of their advisers one on one to craft a business plan. Trying to do it on your own it’s kind of like peeing into the wind especially when you don’t know much about business. For me personally, I wouldn’t fill one out on my own and needed the accountability anyway. And it’s free, so what have you got to lose?

This is excellent advise. Also there is a book by cleaner times that sells for $149 + shipping. It’s a great starting point.

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Oh man… don’t let @jimluke see this. He might lose his everloving mind if he knew something I said was helpful.

Welcome to my world. Loved or hated. No middle ground lol. Mailed your trigger gun today

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I imagine you’re a lot like me though. Because I don’t give a sh** if anybody likes me or not.

But in other news, you do have a middle ground. I don’t love you or hate you, but I like you a bunch because you’re a straight shooter, you’ve helped me make/save money, and you’re the kind of guy to send me one of your trigger guns.

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The book that was mentioned - I have a copy of it. Message me your address and ill mail it to you for free. When you make your first 10 grand you can send me a surprise gift card from Outback or McDonalds your choice. It will be sent cheap mail so may take 10 days to reach you.

That is awesome Greg755, thank you!!! And you will definitely receive a gift from me once I make my first 10k!

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Link your website and flier so we can see what you’ve got.

I made the shipping labe outl to “Brandon” to the adress you provided it will be in the mail tomorrow or Saturday if I can get to the PO…

Greg755 thanks again!!!

www.azpinnacleproservices.com