Transcript for:
Lecture: Insights from 18-Year-Old Chase on Growing a Successful Pressure Washing Business

how does 18 year old Chase average 12 000 a month and is about to reach a hundred and fifty thousand dollars of Revenue this year having only started his pressure washing business one and a half years ago well we're about to find out you've got to Market 24 7 and you can't stop when you're young you typically don't have a lot of money anything free I love free exactly the house this size is usually 1000 range or so expected return is about 38 000 or so off of these you got to just do it so many people say it but you have to just do it [Music] guys I'm in beautiful Lake Susie Florida about to introduce you guys to a young ambitious entrepreneur with his solo major operation a thriving pressure washing business Chase good to meet you young man nice to meet you tell us about why and when you started wizard wash and when did you become such a young entrepreneur at this age so I started about a year and a half ago was when I I started this business I knew I wanted something to do something myself that's always been in me that that drive to work for myself and it's amazing and to do something like that but I just didn't know what it was well chase you could have started a hundred other businesses I'm curious why did you settle on a pressure washing business well pressure washing it's it's low investment you can get started with a couple thousand that's that's even a generous number you can get started with less a couple hundred bucks by a machine from Home Depot get going but also I liked working outside it's Friday now because I'm trying to work out of that but but I love working outside I I knew it was a low investment business something I could start not too much risk there is there's liability involved and you don't need a lot of money you don't need a lot of experience to get started it's pretty quick to learn that's awesome Chase what was the biggest challenge when you started learning pricing that that was hard for me because you didn't know what you're doing or yeah well there's not that I didn't know how to do it but there's so many variables when it comes to pricing when it comes to a house or fence how dirty things are that was that was tricky for me and figuring out what that point was where okay I'm losing a few bids here and there but not too many versus I'm getting all my bids you don't want to be out of the way you don't want to lose all your bids you don't want to win all your bids because that that gives you a good gauge on price but figuring out pricing was hard that was definitely hard how did you do that just give us in a nutshell I looked at my close rate I was kind of a little bit cheap I used to be a little bit on the low side because my close rate was in the high 70s sometimes as low as 80 or a size 80 percent but now I'm I'm gearing more towards the 60s the high 60s and I think I want to stay there but my prices are exponentially higher than when I first started so only losing about 10 but having prices that are so much higher than what I had last year I mean that's that's a big accomplishment so you basically just said my close rates too high red light comes on you thought I'm charging too little because I don't know your industry fully like you do so you said okay let's increase prices exactly um it was mainly mainly based off close rate Chase if somebody wants to start a pressure washing business but they have zero money what can you tell our audience teens who are watching right now about how to go about it to get going somewhere you know with zero money I wouldn't just try to start because you need some kind of equipment you need a pressure washer I would what I did was I had a job I use that money from the job to to put towards the business I had a three four thousand when I first started somewhere in that range okay put some of that to equipment some to marketing I did a lot of kind of boots on the ground marketing just walking walking passing out flyers not door knocking because you don't want to scare people but a lot a lot of passing out flyers and things of that nature but let's go back to the money aspect right because a lot of people think I've got zero money therefore I can't start any business get a job get a job okay where did you work I worked at a pizza place I bust tables so you busted yeah but yeah to get going how long do you think it took you to maybe save enough three to four to get going I think I worked there for eight months I want to dig deeper into the cost just say three four grand okay tell us what it cost you to get going and then break that down for us specifically how was the money allocated so a lot of that money went to the logo I negotiated with a graphic designer a couple hundred bucks for the logo some went to equipment I bought a four gallon a minute machine a Surface Cleaner some hose chemicals things like that put a little bit of money aside for for marketing purposes and then that's that's about it that money was went away pretty quick that's what got you started yes yes all right and we'll show you guys all the equipment later on in the video so keep watching it'll be pretty fun what is the biggest one of the biggest mistakes you made initially in the business in the in the first year we do say and how did you realize it fix it move on so there are a lot of minor mistakes you always run into new problems new challenges you've got to learn to problem solve these things but probably my biggest mistake would be marketing marketing marketing spending a lot of money getting some work doing all the work and stop marketing because I'm busy doing the work and then I finish up the work and I have nothing to do see you've got to keep you've got to Market 24 7 and you can't stop whether you're busy or not you've got to keep going I mean you can turn that faucet up or down exactly but your point is make sure it's always make sure it's always on no matter how busy you are you got to make sure it's always on that's if you want to grow if you're happy with where you're at now then you can dial it back or right it all depends on your goals but if you want to grow you've got to keep that faucet going full force what services do you offer just break it down for us like everything in your company and what service do you tend to sell the most maybe and why do you think in Florida our categorize into two groups really just just paver ceiling and then pressure washing but in in that pressure washing category there's roof cleaning there's concrete cleaning there's house washing there's screen enclosure cleaning there's there's a bunch of things fence cleaning a bunch of bunch of miscellaneous items I guess you could call them and then there's ceiling which is it's just ceiling but that involves cleaning so that involves pressure washing before and then coating coating the pavers and and sealer yeah so we're going to it's Port Charlotte it's a nice gated community and we'll be we'll just be washing the house there cool let's go check it out all right hopping in your truck and hitting the road guys so follow us it's going to be fun hi Chase recap again where we're going curious about this job and how did you get this customer initially so actually originally I had gotten a customer in this neighborhood through Google these people just happened to come up while I was working and ask for an estimate and went from there does that happen often that happens pretty frequent frequently actually yes uh more so when I when I started to build up and things looked a little more professional so you're working out there it's actually a good piece of marketing tool right you're actually doing the job I walk out as a neighbor I notice you and I walk up plus with your branded truck it's pretty easy to do yeah it's much I think it is much easier when you when you appear professional and that's a lot of where the wrap kind of comes in and helps you out a worthy investment for sure exactly yes oh yes for sure foreign neighborhood tell us where we are yeah so we're in Grassy Point Port Charlotte there's less than 100 homes in here and the job tell us about the job what's the ticket price um anything else you want to highlight specifically what we're doing here so we are washed in the house what that includes is the outside of the gutters soffits exterior walls a house this size is usually a thousand range or so all right how long would it usually take you if we weren't here in your way this would take four or five hours or so not bad okay well before we go any further let's go over your trailer because it's a pretty cool setup I mean it's official first question who helped you set this up so actually I set it all up so these this is pressure hose two sets of reels here 300 feet on both both all right what do you think they're worth or what it would cost these reels are about 300 a piece their prices are raising so we've got those two machines up there they hook up to that aluminum gas tank below they feed from that gas sink and here are some water lines they run from the tank the machines pull from the tank got okay good to know what does this setup cost here who helped you build it you as well uh these are the whole setup is probably around 30 between the machines got somewhere in that 30 grand yeah that's about a high between 20 and 30. something on that trailer as well trailer as well yeah between 20 and 30 between signage ladders hose everything on the trailer all right from a Toyota salesman to a 125 000 a month cleaning business as an upflip viewer you are invited to Crystal Bowman dragon's exclusive Master Class what that means is you'll be one of the few people that gets an inside look into Crystal's seven figure business plus he'll uncover an exact blueprint that you and anyone can use to start and scale a ten thousand dollar a month cleaning business in under 60 days and no you don't need any experience in the cleaning industry or any other business Cristobal will lay it out step by step so click the link in our description below and claim your master class for free is your company listed with like HomeAdvisor Craigslist I mean how effective is that for you personally what do you think no what's your take I'm not on how advisor or Craigslist I've heard some negative negative things about home advisors I've seen clear of that route maybe it's good I haven't tried it so I can't speak on it but okay but that's very clear what about social media then what important platforms do you think any business especially pressure washing should have in these days and why why not anything free so that's Facebook good love free exactly Facebook Google my business okay next door all of those you got to be on I like that like all the free platforms so you can still generate a ton of business exactly exactly and which one do you like in favor the most Google my business I mean that's necessary so many people check it out and you don't even you don't even realize it that's very important so we checked it out and you've got 71 as of this moment five star reviews yes how do you ask for reviews how do you get to that point um what's your process in place so usually when I finish the job I'll just ask at the end say hey hey Miss Smith could you do this for me it would really help me out I really appreciate it exactly a lot of times they'll leave a review not a lot of times sorry maybe 30 percent of the time yeah even if they're happy people just forget but just ask and then maybe shoot him a text afterwards too and that works pretty well all right Chase you've got a pretty cool looking truck I bet it gets all the attention on the freeway tell us about the choices of the colors the logo just the story of this branding as a whole so honestly it came more down to what I could have done with the logo rather than the name I like the name because it's WWE wizard wash it it rolls off the tongue easily it's different but it really came down to to the logo I wanted some sort of some sort of mascot something to almost to represent in the business and and The Wizard represents the business anything else you want to touch on when it comes to branding the truck don't be afraid to just have something out there I mean you don't see purple and green trucks when I saw the colors I was like oh man that's that's tacky I mean that's the word literally used but yeah at the same time like it's noticeable it's not what you want to be exactly exactly what are the key skills think of one or two that I would need to be successful in pressure washing what comes to mind technical skills you need to know what kind of surfaces you're cleaning so you don't put too much pressure on something and ruin it sounds like basic but where would I learn that just on YouTube Just on your Channel or Facebook form there's a there's Facebook groups forts there's pressure washing resource that's a uh that's a forum website or even just reaching out to people who who know a lot more than you don't be afraid to ask exactly when you don't know something a lot of people are willing to help okay awesome guys I want to give a quick shout out check out episode 28 on our uplift podcast 19 year old who started a trucking business making 75k a month if you want to hear more tips and advice from teenage entrepreneurs you'll be incredibly blessed what software do you use to manage a workflow what does it cost to you what are the names so I use Market it's 30 a month but there's also some some add-ons for for text messaging Automation and so on but that'll get you you can do estimates you can set invoices scheduling you can track your Revenue with it and and so on but also I I originally started out without a CRM I would I would use canva it's a free design tool to to draft out estimates oh well now it was it was tedious um weren't super professional looking but but it got the job done and then I'll just track revenue and Excel spreadsheet I still use Excel for a lot of things do you communicate with customers within Marquee as well it depends so sometimes when I send out a quote people will communicate back through Market there's a messaging system there sometimes they'll message back on on Facebook or they'll text me or they'll call me it it's it honestly is all over the place sometimes and it can be hard to to manage in that sense when people are reaching out through different ways as a wannabe entrepreneur I'm 15 16 17 whatever the case I'm a teenager watching this episode right now inspired by you you're only 18. how do I build the sales skills the confidence to make those sales how would you go about that chase honestly when I first started I wasn't I wasn't super confident in my ability but I had that almost almost transferred into me by a mentor so I'd reach out to a owner of a larger company and location about 45 minutes north of me and he just not just pressure washing but business in general he taught me a lot and kind of transferred that confidence into me like yes you can do it just keep going just keep going right keep chopping wood that's a that's a saying I've heard a lot you keep chopping wood and then it then it works out you get some momentum and you keep going that's amazing was he your friend or did you just approach a stranger and said hey can you get me under your wing I don't have the confidence don't have the sales skills but I want to get that achieved actually my father had met him and then told me hey you should probably reach out like yeah I should reach out to him through through email firstly I went there and I actually shattered his sales people that was invaluable it was like holy cow so were you like still 16 17 then I was 17 I was 16. I was 16 then I think and it was it was a crazy experience because I realized how much like how far I had to go and it was terrifying but at the same time being able to to see those steps that helps a lot when you see it's possible you know okay someone else has gotten there I can do the same thing you got it sounds like you got to face the terror of the lack of confidence or something exactly exactly like even this interview I'm terrified to be here but I'm here but it's awesome um so just just facing that fear and doing things that you're scared to do just you got to do it how does you know wizard wash provide that ideal customer service what really makes you stand out you think it depends on the customer um there's always those people who are who just want the cheapest price I mean we're all guilty of that yeah absolutely something we don't care sometimes we don't care about having the best of the best we just want the cheapest but then some people they want the best of the best they want the company who answers their phone within two rings with a with a friendly voice and then shows up on the estimate dress well they don't quote over the phone and you go over the service you tell them how you're gonna do what you're gonna do then when you leave you thank them genuinely thank them you don't just say oh thanks for the business bye all those key little little things they add up and people appreciate that a lot of people do what do you focus on like visual experience experience it's all experience related that plays a role in it too not even not even consciously for people subconsciously like if you if your company shows up in a full rap track all the trailer is signage all over it versus the truck that's not wrapped um they may have a nice setup but that their truck isn't wrapped it's it just feels different everything about it it feels different or if they miss your call they didn't have a voicemail set up or just little things like that it feels different let's quickly recap the must-haves and equipment to get started and the cost of them so of course they need a machine pressure washer pressure washer yes now those machines are probably 18 1900 a piece what I started with they were 14 15 when I got it and that was not that long ago you'll need a Surface Cleaner cleans concrete pavers whatever you can't do that with a wand or just not efficient you can do that with a wand but it's going to take you forever so it's a machine and a Surface Cleaner it's a must-have that's pretty cool man a business that you can start obviously the paperwork aside but you basically buy one or two pieces of equipment and you can do a lot of jobs exactly exactly exactly man I like that so you put in almost four grand into the business at which point did you get the return on that money how many jobs probably around 10 or so 10 jobs or so maybe a little bit more time wise how long is that that was maybe a month or two two months two months I mean it was a it was a very slow start for me it was a very two months is not a lot to get your money back you yeah but during that time it feels like an eternity because you're doing so much you feel like you're not yeah nothing's working but you got to keep chopping wood and just hope it works and eventually it does sure does we're here it's proof proof is in the pudding Revenue last year versus what you expect this year so last year was right around 53 000 or 54. this year it's expected 150 with last month doing 20. that was November of 2010. and we'll talk about how he got to this point and how you'd plan to achieve probably double the digits as well I want to talk about the importance of mentors support right you didn't officially have a mentor but you went to someone who then gave you the confidence tell us a little bit about that person that relationship and how it helped boost your business and how important is it to have a mentor especially being as young as you are extremely important I think that's that's almost a deciding factor um that is the reason I'm at where I'm at now was there's a there's a owner of a company 45 minutes north of me his name is John Cloud he owns accompanied Gorilla clean up to you yeah shout out to John um but he kills it he taught me I mean he would help me with equipment issues when I first started out he would help me with sales he would help me with just help me Chase you're on the right track or chase you're not on the right track so knowing that I'm on the right track and all I have to do is is keep doing what I'm doing that was very important now if somebody watching young or older doesn't matter where can they get started what's your advice I know you're just kind of in in the beginning stages as well but you've got some experience under your belt already yeah so I didn't even I didn't I never paid him a dime he's just giving person there's a lot of them out there so I've talked to a lot of people yeah a lot of people and so many people who are who are at that level are willing to help but you also have to be careful and kind of vet the information coming in because not all of it is always true but there are those people who are just truthful and just really willing to help but make sure you share your appreciation as well right and I'm sure at some point you're going to start giving back to those I'm about to be that same person if someone comes up to me I would be I would be honored to help someone okay you guys you heard it directly from Chase's mouth reach out via comments we respond to them we we read all of them I'm sure Chase will do as well margins where are they for you now in this industry what are you shooting for I know it changes when you get more employees but let's just focus on you right now so if I were to didn't put money like I do back into the business it would it's between the 50s and 60s wow um so it's just a solo operation it's pretty up there yes yes and that could be fine-tuned but it can be as low as as 20 if you're if you're not keeping track of these things and if you screw up somewhere and kind of just throw money at the wall which I used to do I used to do that um give us an example I used to just throw money into to Google Google ads when I when I first started not knowing exactly I was just hoping oh yeah this will take off it's not how it works you can almost make any marketing method work if you put the time in but I was I was doing too many things at once that's really well said yeah not being good at any of them doing too many things at once and just relentlessly throwing money thinking it should work but that's okay quickly learn that's not how it works all right guys this is something new we're gonna do Blitz in the truck on our way to the job site Chase you've got 10 seconds to answer each question so out of all the businesses why did you choose pressure washing low investment um not much experience required all right how does work interfere with your studies I mean comfortably College school what's your status because I invest a lot more in the business it sometimes I can tend to to put a lot less effort into my school work did you quit school Basics that this month yes I just actually this is my last semester um and I won't won't be going to school after that I'm like yes you know why because that's true entrepreneurship you're pursuing your goals and dreams and you know you can do it all right building your credit are you doing anything to do that I just gotta I got a credit card right a couple months after I turned 18 and I'll probably be financing a truck soon another one which bank did you get the credit card with uh that it was discovered and then last but not least if there was someone you look up to and would like to reach his or her level of success who would it be and why there's a lot I mean John Cloud the one who mentored me he okay there's so many people that are looking oh and Joshua Latimer Joshua podcaster he has growth Vault podcast gotcha awesome that's it for Blitz thanks guys for watching so what is your biggest challenge right now factoring post covid inflation costs right amazing I mean everything everything what are you personally experiencing as a business owner that would be hiring learning how to hire someone who you aren't friends with and and knowing these scripts what to ask how to check their references how to create a job listing that's enticing and and makes people want to interact with it and even setting up interviews recently I've been having issues with people not showing up to them or things of that nature so are you in the position right now too high or so how many people are you looking for yes probably somebody watching me call you today from the video and you're like hey hire me yeah I'm looking for probably two or three part-time benefits of that would be I wouldn't have to have to keep them on full time just in case something happened I could have multiple people in case Bob and Jill left or yeah or whatever it may be so so having a couple part-timers would allow me some some leeway in case someone left because I couldn't keep 3 every full-time people busy right now that's a three part-timers two part garbage would be would be awesome I want to go back to ticket price I mean it ranges from three to six what's what's changed when you started you said it was around 300 average now it's about what it's about 600 now so when I first started I underpriced things I didn't understand I didn't have much value so I didn't I didn't have that I didn't have that fully understood I've added on paver sealing that's a very high ticket service and I've I've upsold a lot more recently I've been focusing on doing a lot of upsells and that helps a lot awesome so and you're understanding your value but the fact that you can ask for more exactly raise raise prices as well all those things contribute to to that raising ticket price okay so what unique business challenges come with being a young business owner a young entrepreneur you think so I think a lot of that boils back down to money when you're young you typically don't have a lot of money maybe you just got a job you're not so good with saving or you haven't even had a job before and you also don't have experience you don't have experience you don't you don't have a good sense of direction so all those things are kind of kind of working against you and I think if not consciously they're subconsciously getting in your head so getting that first deal it's like can I do this can I do this but then you get it yeah you get it and it all works out just fine I mean you keep you keep going and then you get more and more deals and it's like oh that's I mean that's cool that's awesome but it's not it's not scary anymore okay it really just boils down to that so it boils down to just just do it get started let's do it you got to just do it so many people say it but you have to just do it you have to force yourself to do it all right Amen to that if I just got started in the pressure washing business Chase what is the best way for me to build my customer base what would you do to start going from zero you've probably got no money and you've got a lot of time got the equipment if you've got a good question yeah what I did it right out some on write out some some letters I'll make it pretty personable just say exactly what you want to do exactly what you are doing and walk like put them in envelopes with a business card walk neighborhoods and set them at the doorsteps don't knock on doors because let's look down upon in in today's age don't I wouldn't personally door knock that's a non-soliciting signs on the houses yes and just walk around and pass out those those envelopes it doesn't cost you anything besides your time right exactly exactly and printing out a piece of paper and envelopes are cheap tell us how you got your first customer so that was actually through next door one of the things I had done at first was was post all along next door it's free so that was one of the things I did and actually it was a fence it was a 125 dollar job and I I think it took me six it took me six hours it's for 125 dollars but I was determined I I had hoes I had hose break on me I had no idea what was going everything's going wrong 125 jobs exact job exactly but okay but it worked out in the end they were happy the fence came out great and I had some experience at that point so it's over your career you guys keep watching to hear more about Chase's story on how he built this customer base it's gonna be incredible you're gonna enjoy it last but not least a few more questions this has been incredible inspiring um what's next for wizardwash of course employees then it'll be a second vehicle Revenue wise which would go after 150. at 400 for for the following year which I don't think it's a stretch I know it's absolutely achievable but it'll be hard but everything's hard so do you guys think you can do it if so comment below tell them how he can achieve that what next steps he can take I'd love to hear your comments I'm sure you would appreciate that I would appreciate those as well I would I see you got some marketing stuff on the table can you show us what that's all about how you use it how effective is it so here are some mailers one thing I do is I do a lot of mailing check it out yep there you go you can hold a couple man this is you know this is like cartoon exactly exactly that's that's my whole brand it's just it's fun it's playful and it stands out and it's Unique our magic keeps the mold monsters out but how do you use this what does it cost you to print give us all the insights so of each of these designs there's 5 000 uh PCS these are card stock you can't yeah and the design is about a thousand between the three of these so not too bad for design but the male pieces were right around three for fifteen thousand total five thousand of each so not not terrible but then then comes the mailing costs at 19 cents a piece the whole campaign for all 15 it's we're looking eight eight eight range or so what's your expected return on that expected return is about 38 000 or so off of these eight spots direct not including the organic right organic volume that that comes from this if I'm a teenager watching this what would you tell them do today if you want to get to where you are as a team talk to people who do what you want to do if you want to start a pressure washing business a pest control company reach out to anyone in the service business and just just try to learn from them and listen listen to what they have to say don't don't try to object what they say just listen do what they have to say and go for it man that's amazing I'm inspired because it just tells you you don't have to be 30 years old 25 with experience under your belt to start any kind of business especially in this country would you agree exactly I mean this country we have freedom to do a lot of things you'll see foreigners come into this country and be very successful because they're not they're not used to that opportunity they right they don't have the opportunity that that we have and we take advantage of it all of us do to some extent but we all take advantage advantage of the opportunity Jason in conclusion uh any final advice to our viewers whether they're a teenager who's 15 and inspired by you or somebody who's in the business already learned some new tactics some ideas what do you want to conclude with just get uncomfortable and and do hard things just just go for it um you know figure out your first step and it's scary it's terrifying but take that first step because once you take that first step that first step is really easy after all just just go for it that's what makes everything happen my friend thank you so much thank you take care well that's a wrap you guys with Chase the owner of wizard wash I hope you truly enjoy the episode and we're inspired he's 18 years old and he's already on the right track make sure to check out other episodes in power washing companies that we've done you'll enjoy them learned a lot we appreciate you a ton take a second to like subscribe and hit that Bell so that you don't miss any of our videos we love you a ton take care thank you [Music]