Thread by @sweatystartup

A thread on how to turn $100 into a lot more:

People are spending a lot of money on their homes right now. Its time to go get some of that money and help out some of these people.

Sound silly? Good.

It really is this simple sometimes.

Lets go 👇

Get on your computer and buy a web domain.

Get a freelancer (upwork or fiverr) to make you a logo/flyer and get $45 worth of flyers printed at your local print shop.

Buy a box of sidewalk chalk if you really want to grind and get gritty.

Go downtown with the sidewalk chalk and write “pressure washing and home cleaning 888-555-1234” as many times as you can in high traffic areas.

Go to a middle class or high end neighborhood and hand out flyers on porches and wherever else.

Get creative. You might get ran off but its low risk. Target those with dirty payment.

Your cell phone will start ringing. Book all of the jobs for Saturday.

Rent a power washer Saturday morning with the other $50 and go make $300 in one day.

Do the same thing the next weekend and then buy a power washer. Then put $200 into a website and nurture a Google My Business location.

Get reviews, upload photos, make it look nice. 50% of your biz will come through here.

Make sure you pre-treat the concrete with a bleach mixture. It makes the job 2x as easy. Get some $1 gallons of bleach and cut it 1:5 with water in a 5 gallon backpack sprayer for $60 on Amazon.

Ask the customers nicely to use their water. Borrow Gma's Prius to haul the washer.

Make a youtube video introducing yourself and put your town and power washing in the title. Link to your website.

Make posts on Facebook Marketplace (this one is key).

Within a few weeks you'll be bringing in $1,000 every weekend.

When you hit $4k in a month its time to quit your job and get serious.

“On demand” is going to be your competitive advantage so you can charge a higher price. Make sure you can offer next day service or same day service. As soon as you get too busy to do that its time to hire.

Make sure that person is presentable and clean cut. Get a business polo shirt made at your local embroider.

Target students at first because they work hard and are reliable. They have summers off which is your busiest time.

Provide amazing customer service. Answer the phone every time and be in a super eager positive mood.

This along with the “on demand” nature will put you ahead of 99% of your competitors.

Make friends with realtors in town or watch the MLS and visit homeowners the week before an open house. A home looks a lot newer with a clean driveway.

Use google maps to measure concrete area and provide instant quotes over the phone. Put out yard signs with your logo.

Eventually buy a cargo van and have your own generator and water tank inside so you can be mobile and do more jobs and charge more money.

Grow from there. Start power washing entire parking lots for shopping centers.

Get the contract to do it twice a year for $15,000 per service.

You can get one of those big ride on power washers eventually and start doing larger commercial jobs.

As your company grows launch a branch in a neighboring city with a management hire. Then another city.

Sell the company or just cash the checks and sit on the beach with your family. You’ll likely get bored and end up building another business.

Side note:

I hired one of these guys to wash the exterior doors and walls at my Pittsburgh facility two months ago.

1 out of the 10 that I called could bring their own water.

3 weeks later he showed up with a crew of 2 folks. Took them 1.5 hours. Billed me $1,000. I was happy.