How did 26-year-old Spencer Clays use his marketing expertise to start Northwest Pro from scratch and turn it into an $8,000 a month cleaning business? Talk about low cost of entry. Yeah, I mean, I started with a 2003 Toyota Corolla. Well, you're about to find out in this interview. Big thanks to National Business Capital for sponsoring this video.
All right, Spencer, it's good to be here on the roof, actually physically doing the job with you. It's just. keep doing what we're doing but let's start with your story like when did you start northwest pro wash why this particular business what's behind that yeah i mean i started two years ago just out of college um just honestly just wanted to find the quickest way to make money and so i started doing like driveway cleanings and then gutters and it always kind of won back to like roof and gutters up here in the northwest we got a lot of moss that grows yeah it grows like like crazy out here so we're really just generally just getting it off so then we can treat it and then make sure the moss doesn't come back Where is your revenue on average lately?
And what are the profit margins for this kind of industry, this business? Yeah, so the profit margins can be really big. Like all you really have to pay for is just like a little bit of zinc and then really barely any tools.
We can look at 90%. So any typical job is going to be at least like 200 bucks. Like if you're getting up on a ladder, you should be charging at least 200 bucks.
But the average job, you know, from there is for me, it's probably about 400. That's a typical roof gutter. Yeah. That's like a roofing gutter. Usually it's around 300, but then it also goes up to 500, sometimes even a thousand bucks for a roof.
Why would it go up to a thousand? Is it just the square footage that you're covering or? Yeah. Just, just the amount of moss and the square footage, steepness, there's a lot of different factors. You could do one job a day.
If you want to just make 200 bucks. or if you want to do like i've done like last week i did four jobs in a day so it was like over a thousand bucks in a day you just clean the roof so i love it higher profit margins that's what we're after yeah where are we at this is a gorgeous space by the way what job are you doing here what is the client paying just curious yeah we're up here in everett everett washington we're cleaning off his shed we're cleaning off the house cleaning out the gutters we're going to put some roof chemical on it and you know based on the amount of moss and the steepness and stuff. Maybe about 600 bucks for a type of job like this.
How long would it usually take you? Yeah, I mean, it could take anywhere from three to four hours or so, depending on the weather. Like it's a great day today, but-Great in freezing.
Yeah, it's a little cold. A lot of the gutters are cold. A little bit frozen, so. How do we build brand awareness and marketing on day one? shows up.
Getting good reviews online is like one of the biggest things. I've seen people do this all the time. They'll spend hundreds of dollars on running ads and then they don't have a single review. People need to trust you.
They need that trust that you need to build up. So that's probably the best way to get those reviews. But you're a new company, right? So what are you doing to build that awareness of, hey, I'm new in this business and you can trust me? My first few jobs, I remember I did my dad's house and then I quickly just Started walking the neighborhood to my neighbor's houses.
and just going door to door and then once you get those few jobs you know leverage those pictures absolutely start filming recording all your jobs getting before and after pictures that's huge um you can use that for tick tock instagram facebook all that sort of stuff makes great ads facebook ads are probably the quickest way to just blow up like get the get the most amount of eyeballs onto your business filming jobs that's that's a really good definitely the best way to start now in today's day and age so like i'm thinking of those time lapses Right? Yeah. Time-lapse just get a simple, like, you know, it just needs to be like eight, 10, 15 second time-lapse of you doing the work. And that's engaging too, because Facebook, all these platforms, they have one goal that to keep you on the platform, right? If they're running ads that people don't like, they're going to, people are going to leave the platform.
But if people are watching, even if it's an ad, they're still watching it. That tells the platform that it's a good ad and then they're going to show it out for two more people for cheaper. How much does it cost? 10 grand, 5 grand to get started? I mean, literally like a brush, a ladder, and a way to transport it.
Talk about low cost of entry. Yeah, I mean, I started with a 2003 Toyota Corolla. I threw a ladder rack on the top of it.
Oh, wow. And just started doing the work. Truly humble beginning.
So really, what did you spend? A few hundred bucks to get going? Officially start a business for 300 bucks.
I literally, I remember I got a Home Depot credit card because I just finished college and had zero dollars. So I had a Home Depot credit card. card, got the first tools for like 400, 500 bucks total, and then borrowed my dad's ladder and then got after it the next day. Elaborate as much as you can on the world of Facebook and how it's helping you, you know, get to eight grand a month currently. Yeah, so just being really comfortable.
I mean, just really knowing your cost per lead. That's crucial. So if you're running Facebook ads or any sort of ads, you want to know how much the lead costs you and then how many messages or people you can close to land a deal.
So what do you usually shoot for? Usually at least one out of three people that reach out, you should be able to book one of those people. When you're running a business, if you're doing some sort of service business like this, you want to be trying to target homeowners as close as you can. So usually people over the age of 35, you can target people who have a little bit more money. Certain neighborhoods.
Yeah, and you can target neighborhoods, certain interests as well that people have. But then really the key is just having a good offer. I see so many people they do, if they're in this business, they're like, oh, 15% off this or 50 bucks off, but that kind of cheapens your service.
I really like to have a 299 roof and gutter special or a 199 gutter clean. Just have a very specific offer. Because every big company does that too.
Domino's Pizza, it's like, you know, buy one, get one free. It's like a very specific offer. It's not just like, oh, 50% off. Like, no one really also wants, like, how good is the job going to be if it's 50%?
Am I only going to get, like, 50% of a good job done? So if I were to start today, Spencer, right, getting the customer is the most challenging part. How do I overcome it? What would you recommend me do day one?
Yeah, so day one, if you're starting out, everything is online. So obviously you want to have your social media is up to date, your website up to date. Honestly, I would say your website is like on the back burner in this day and age.
Like social media is so huge. So obviously, you know, I've talked a lot about Facebook, but I mean, there's even TikTok, Instagram, all sorts of stuff that you need to get your name out there as quickly as possible. So probably just running Facebook ads as quickly as possible with a good offer. That's really the quickest way to get after it.
The game changer. Yeah. So let's break down the tools real quick for somebody watching who wants to get in today. What are we talking about? We get a brush, 15, 20 bucks.
You got a ladder. You can't live without that, right? Unless you borrow it from your dad.
I've seen people even leverage like going to a customer's house and using their ladder. Like it's really however you're willing to work. There's a lot of different tools and equipment you could have because there's so many like crossovers like you could do.
There's window cleaning, solar panel cleaning, gutter cleaning, roof cleaning. drive by your pressure washing. There's a lot of different little things you can do, but I firmly believe, you know, roof and gutters is super quick, super easy.
You don't need many tools at all. Anything else that you want to mention about Facebook and how you run Facebook to generate revenue for the company? Any tips, tricks, golden nuggets, anything come to mind?
The biggest tip that I give people when they're first starting out is being comfortable testing and failing. Sometimes it's 12, 15 offers that you've tried. Like I've literally had to test like dozens of offers sometimes and just just knowing that like maybe it's the 15th ad that's going to work it's kind of like fishing you're not going to catch a fish if you don't you know you're not fishing but you gotta be in the right pond you gotta throw out the right bait it's the right timing so but it just takes time you just gotta you just gotta learn how to do it so and it's not gonna be the same in different markets i would imagine right like whatever's working for you exactly different for me in ferndale or bellingham yeah so yeah be testing testing because like what's working for me might not work for you once you find what your market wants just putting out a good offer better than everyone else ideally and then you should be able to make money where are we going to go next tell us a little bit about that yeah so we're doing I'm doing another roof clean, gutter job.
Putting up some Christmas lights too, because it is that time of the year. All right. Typically, what does it cost for somebody to get the service?
So, I mean, if you already have the lights, which these guys do, the lights typically can run anywhere from like 200 up to like 400 bucks. Okay, is it like per foot that you charge or what? Yeah, so it kind of, yeah, depending on the house, you know, most houses are going to be at least like 150 feet of lights. All around light package, like if I'm bringing lights, can be around, like 750 or so so we're at home depot nothing too fancy but why are we here i know it's kind of an impromptu stop but what are we getting here spencer yeah we just need to get some quick um some roof chemical to put on there keep the moss away and make sure it doesn't come back is this the stuff you typically use and uh yeah you can use this you can use any sort of thing that's like you know zinc or um you can even use laundry detergent anything that raises the alkalinity of the roof interesting okay um just you know moss doesn't like him that's a pretty good picture but you're paying 13 bucks for this thing Yeah. So that's, and like we talked about, and that's, that's really the only cost.
Like one of these can do a whole roof. So, so how many of these do you stock or do you usually just stop before any job and get what you need? You don't use stock anything at the office or I'll try and buy, you know, as many as I can, you know, maybe like five or six of them and keep them in the truck. And then, but yeah, if I need more, I'll just run to the store. Here, let me help you.
Yeah. How many are we grabbing? Um, just go two, three, three, three.
Okay. Let's get this done. We're all stocked up. All right, let's head out.
I've asked you this probably earlier on but challenges in what we learn from them when we get started in this business. What were they for you when you started this company? Yeah, just getting those consistent customers making sure you have that revenue coming in every single day because if you run a business you need money coming in. Yeah, just getting those consistent leads, consistent jobs.
But like, if you don't know something, you know, who to go to, documents, insurances, to get things up and running. Did you learn all that by yourself or did somebody help you? Yeah, I mean, there's definitely, I mean, there's a lot of resources online that you can figure out and like, there's quite a few resources.
I mean, the internet, so it's a great place. And there's definitely some good people out there you can follow. Okay.
Well, if you want a step-by-step guide on how to start your own cleaning business, you guys make sure to check out our course that we've developed with Queen Bee Cleaning founder Chris. He makes $120,000 a month teaching his students on his path to success. So if that sounds something that you want to pursue, make sure to check it out. Click the link in the description below.
You're a one-man show for now. Do you plan to hire anybody at some point, or what's your goal? Yeah, I mean, I kind of made that decision a while ago, like, to kind of keep it small and then, like, keep this more as, like, a side hustle. Because, I mean, I got the other stuff that I'm really trying to build, like the YouTube and the books and stuff and the courses and the coaching that I also do for other businesses. So that's been growing.
really well so that's i'm really happy about that but What kind of coaching are you doing? It's pretty incredible again for you to give back your time and create that content and help others. Basically all the stuff that I post about like doing roofs and stuff like this and then any other businesses like pressure washing, roof cleaning, like all that stuff like I help them with their ads. I actually have like several people that I'm running their ads for across the country. Oh wow.
So like the whole like the marketing thing because it's once you once you nail that down then you can pretty much scale unlimited if you have like employees if you know how to get cheap leads so. Right. What would somebody get paid if you hired somebody today? Any idea?
I've done both. I've had a few people work for me. You can make at least, you know, $25 an hour. It's kind of what I paid in the past. And then I know one company that pays per job.
They do like a percentage split of each job. I guess anything's on the table if it's fair. All right, let's fly through Blitz. Thank you guys for submitting your questions.
First one's by Jamie Alvarez. What sets you apart from other similar businesses? And how do you come up with pricing?
It's having the best social media presence, I think. And then pricing, you really get comfortable with what feels right. It's kind of a weird answer to say, but you'll get to kind of a place where you're like, okay, I feel like this job should be like 300 bucks or 500. If you get to a spot where you're like, ah, I'm not making enough, you can kind of gauge how much you're charging there. Different per market.
Okay. Yeah. This is from JK Nokel.
Do you have special insurance for going on roofs? If so, what are the costs? Yeah. So there's, for every state, it kind of varies, but you have...
you know your business license your insurance um your general liability insurance and then what do you spend on that you think i think it depends it's usually like at least a hundred it might be up to like 150 a month or so and then you need to have like a business bond as well so um license bond a couple grand a year yeah nothing nothing crazy you know pays for itself with with one job so right yeah okay and the last one here is by uh dream actual dream is asking What's the best book you read and what's the most famous YouTube channel that you like to watch? Obviously, UpFlip. We didn't pay him to say that.
No. My favorite book is actually called How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis. He founded Maxim Magazine and it's actually a really good book.
It's not necessarily just about money, but it's just a really good wholesome read. That's probably my favorite book. All right. And what is your pricing strategy?
I guess maybe we've touched on it already, but if anything else you want to highlight, pricing strategy. I mean, yeah, we could dive into that a little bit more. I got this from one of my mentors. When you get to a job, it should feel good.
You should be like, oh yes, I got another job. That's how it should feel. You want to chase that like, oh yes, I got another one.
Versus like, oh, I have to do another job like this. Then so-The mindset. Yeah, so how does it feel? How's that mindset feeling like, and you, cause you should be making the money that, Like if you're doing the work, like, and you're doing a great job, you should be paid very well or accordingly.
So, I mean, it sounds like this business is so cheap to get into, Spencer, that somebody watching with no money right now, what would you advise to them? They have zero to their name, but they want to get started. Depending on where you live, you need to see what the demand is in your area, what problems people need. And here, there's just so much moss, gutters that need cleaning.
I know someone down in Nevada, they clean pigeon poop off solar panels. That is their business. So really just seeing what is the little niche stuff in your city. So just seeing what problems are in your own city.
We've interviewed a ton of businesses, right? Some require a huge amount of investments. Profitability doesn't happen until a year. Sounds like that's not the case here.
You invest a few hundred bucks, your first job is what? 500, 600, 400 at a minimum? Yeah. No, you can absolutely get started, be making money tomorrow or today if you wanted to hit the streets.
Yeah, start making money. That is pretty cool. So that is something to consider if you want to get into the roof and gutter cleaning business.
What kind of content do you think is most engaging, you know? Yeah, so definitely if it's a job that's a really dirty job or, you know, if you're making a lot of money, people like to learn about that because, I mean, who doesn't like making more money? Right, you mean like if the job is extremely dirty and you have a before and after picture, that can be quite engaging?
Yeah, exactly. Like the dirtier ones, the more money, like those ones are definitely pretty engaging for people. You kind of get familiar with what people like to see in your business.
You know, we all know like people that just post like a cat video could go viral. Right. But those aren't really like valuable like followers that you get from that versus like a really engaging story that helps people. Like, so it's kind of entertainment versus education is something that I think is important.
to know what you're trying to do. With regards to solar panels, since we're on the roof, do you need any additional equipment to get the job done right? I mean, technically you should have water filtration system to make sure there's no mineral spots, but-Interesting. Honestly, I don't even know if you really need that. Like, I think that's just something that-Like a myth or something or-Yeah, I think it's-Unofficial rule.
Yeah, because technically, like there's always stuff coming down on the solar panels. That's right. They lose 0.05 efficiency per day.
Oh, wow. So like, let's say, you know, the best water is going to make them 100% efficient if you could. Then the next day, they're still going to go down to 99 point something and then down there. So it's, maybe you're buying yourself a few days, but.
Okay. How much would that cost that filtration system? My system was like four or 500 bucks. And then for a roof washing system, you can go a big tank and a pump.
for about another 500 bucks. So if you really want to go all in, you know, you could be looking at 1500 bucks for all the equipment, but if you want to start really quickly, start making money with gutters, that's what I would recommend. Or even if you had like trying to do landscaping, you'd get a lawnmower, just start getting that money in.
And then, then you'll see like naturally where the market is going to take you. So you could start doing something, but then people are going to start asking you like, Hey, you do this and then expand gravitate towards what people want. So that's the best advice I'd say. In terms of supplies, and equipment what's your place what's your go-to pretty much any most of the stuff can be at any hardware store so i mean it's hardware home depot lows and like supplies the best stuff same same stuff just home depot lows yeah i mean it's pretty neat like it's anything specific that only certain manufacturers provide or Yeah, not overly.
I mean, any good solid leaf blower, brush, and the latter. So if you want to get more into it, like I have a soft wash system, solar cleaning system, like, and a pressure washer and stuff. You can go deep into it too.
There's all lots of different equipment that you can get, but this is just the basics that we're kind of going over today. If you want to invest in yourself and your business, but just don't know where to begin, National Business Capital has something in store for you. They exist to help small businesses.
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Make sure you click the link in the description below and apply today. Work-life balance though, that's important. How do you handle that, right? Yeah, I mean-Obviously you're choosing to not work as much as some other people probably.
Why is that important to you? You know, this obviously, no one grew up and like, oh, I wanna be a roof cleaner when I grow up, but you know, making the money real quick right now and then investing that into other avenues, other assets, you know, online stuff. That's pretty cool. Other ventures?
Yeah, because no matter what you're trying to do, you're going to need money. So, whether you're trying to build a YouTube channel or go social media or write a book or something, we all know you're not going to make money right away. So, you need money.
And I look at this as kind of a very well-paid job. I mean, you can absolutely do those other things with a job, but I like this a little bit more, a little more freedom. So, for sure. What are you spending on ad per month?
What's your budget right now? Yeah, right now, I mean, I'm only spending like five bucks a day on ads. That's it?
Yeah, once you learn how to get leads for cheap and you have all your profiles optimized, you got your website, bring in leads. I'm booked out for like two plus weeks at least. And all these leads came from Facebook?
Facebook, Google, and then some of them even from TikTok and such. So your budget for advertising is 150 bucks a month? Yeah, yeah.
And I can probably shut off right now if I needed to. I'm a little too busy than I need to be right now. Is it because the niche you're in?
I don't understand. Or is it because of what you're doing and how you're advertising it? I don't know. Yeah, I mean, just kind of what we talked about.
Just being a really great, like having a really great customer experience. I've been doing this route for the past three years. So like he's called me back every year. He's referred other people to me. Like, and it just snowballs.
Like once you, one good person, like when you do a job once, right, that can turn into more jobs down the line. What would your advice be to someone who wants to start this thing tomorrow and succeed? Yeah, just...
What comes to mind? Absolutely, like, figure out what people need. And then, like, you might need to talk to people, go door to door in the beginning.
The best way, if you're going to start tomorrow, I would say go to Craigslist. See what other services people are offering in your area. So, like, I've seen guys who do junk hauling, you know, cleaning pigeon poop off of solar panels. Like, really anything.
Like, literally anything that you could think of. And then just... starting to do that, like seeing other people that need it done and then just start getting the ball rolling, start getting that money in your pocket and then investing that back into the business, getting better tools, running ads, running your marketing from there.
So you've been a consultant to other businesses in one shape or another, right? That's pretty cool that you're willing to help and encourage others that you could literally start anything and succeed. And that's partly what we do.
But what have you learned in terms of the biggest mistakes that prevent them from reaching their full potential? I mean the biggest thing is getting started obviously everyone always says that but um I mean, more than that, like, you gotta really know your market very well. Like a lot of people, like, they see me doing roofs and stuff, and like, okay, well I'm gonna do roofs too.
And it's like, you know, maybe, but it also, it might not, it might not work. Like find the starving crowd. Don't try and find, like, don't try and start a business, see what people need. And then like-Oversaturated markets or something.
Yeah, so I mean, and then once you, once you do that, that's why we've been able to just stay super busy and spend almost no money on advertising, because there's just such a need for it. So finding that, yeah. So in terms of coaching, you've coached others. but have you had coaching yourself initially when you started the business or really maybe before that time even, what can you say with regards to coaching overall?
Yeah. I mean, I've definitely had some good coaches in the past. I've had some not so good ones, but I mean, I've invested, you know, probably about 20 grand on coaching.
So. they can help you get from a to b a lot quicker a to z or wherever you're trying to go so yeah any advice from them that you remember that you can share with us as well i mean the pricing was big and then just what do you mean by pricing was big like um like knowing how to charge like how much to charge so but also yeah just just really the belief and the confidence in doing something is like if you pull up to a roof and you're like just off the side so you could do this this roof for 50 bucks but if you have the confidence you know okay i can do this you can do that same roof for 500 bucks. The customer is going to pay you whatever you ask of them.
So just having that belief, confidence, knowing your value, just because like you can absolutely charge when you provide a good result for somebody, they're going to pay, they're happy to pay it when you do a good job. So. All right, my friend, in conclusion, what else do you want to tell our audience?
What's on your heart? What's on your mind? Any advice, any gold nuggets, anything like that?
I mean, just you got this. Get after it. There's so much money to be made out there.
People need you. People need your help. There's.
money out there with your name on it, you just gotta go get it. So, and work hard for it. Yeah, work hard. Man, this has been a pleasure. Yeah.
Thank you so much, Spencer. Sure, thanks Paul. Rolling? Okay. What are some more...
We're on the roof! This is pretty fun stuff. Anyway, you don't have to use that.
This business will blow your hats off! Sorry, sorry. It's not working. Okay. Take three.
That's how you do it. Well, that's a wrap with Spencer, the owner of Northwest Pro Wash. Hope you guys really enjoyed it. Learned a few things here and there. We appreciate you for watching.
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