April 13, 2025 • 38 mins
Feeling slow in your pressure washing business this spring? Before you panic, let's look at what your numbers are really telling you. In this eye-opening episode, Matt and Clay tackle one of the most common concerns among pressure washing business owners—the perception of slowdown during what should be the busy season.
We break down the crucial difference between being busy and being productive. Many business owners mistake efficiency for slowdown when they're actually earning more while doing less work. As Matt reveals, "We ended up doing a little bit less jobs, so our average ticket went up but our job number went down." This insight highlights why tracking your data matters more than trusting your feelings about business performance.
Drawing from our combined decades of experience, we share how weather patterns, increased competition, and evolving business efficiency all impact your perception of business health. Clay emphasizes how his operation completed 70 houses last month—up 40% from the previous year—despite the feeling that things were moving slower. We provide actionable strategies for analyzing your business data properly, including how to use CRM systems to track year-over-year performance, measure your average ticket price, and recognize when you're actually growing despite doing fewer jobs.
The conversation also addresses the mental game of business ownership. Instead of blaming external factors like the economy or competition, we demonstrate how focusing on what you can control leads to sustainable growth. As Clay puts it, "The biggest thing I see is a lot of people struggling and then looking for things to blame it on." Learn why the most successful pressure washing businesses double down on their strengths rather than chasing every market segment, and how patience and consistency eventually pay off with exponential growth. Ready to transform how you think about slow periods? Listen now and discover if you're actually slow or just getting better at what you do.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
What's up, guys?
It's Matt Jackson and ClaySmith and we are the Wash Bros.
Welcome to episode 10 of thepodcast today, where we're going
to be talking about are youslow?
And this is kind of a uniquetopic because we are in the busy
season, right.
But if you guys are new or ifyou guys been in the business
for a while and you're worriedabout being slow, what we can do
(00:53):
is kind of break down how we'regoing about the situation and
the market and looking at datafrom the past, the present and
then the future to try to workour way through this and kind of
how we get through times suchas this.
So you want to kick this thingoff, Clay.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
As always, I'd be happy to yes.
So are you slow?
I see a lot of guys talkingonline about being slow.
A lot of guys hit me up askingme what am I doing differently?
What am I doing to stay busy?
We just did 70 houses lastmonth.
I think we were up 40%.
So I mean, how do you know it'sslow, right?
(01:33):
So what are you doing toanalyze your data?
What are you doing to keep upwith the numbers from the
previous year?
And, as we've taught before, CRMis a great start with making
sure that you're putting all thedata in, consistently putting
the data in.
If you're just doing it everynow and then whenever you feel
like it or whenever you havetime, then it's not going to
properly work.
(01:54):
So you don't know if you'regetting that most accurate data
or not.
But I highly recommend makingsure you're tracking your
numbers.
It's kind of hard to do thatoff a pen and notebook and say,
okay, I have these customers, Ihave the phone numbers, I know
where they live and I know howmuch I charge them.
But if you're not putting allthose numbers together and
getting the data and gettingreports off of that, it's kind
of hard to tell.
You may not be slow, it mayjust seem slow, and that's kind
(02:17):
of how me and you have talkedabout Matt.
With the previous month.
It seemed slow, but we wereactually way ahead of the
previous year, Exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
And if you don't measure, you're never going to
know if you're slow or you'rejust getting more efficient.
And Clay's been in this game awhile and he's getting more
efficient, so he's banging out athousand dollars of work before
one o'clock.
So of course, if you're doingthat, you're going to feel slow.
If you're comparing it to yearsin the past when it would be an
all day ordeal, and it's thedifference between are you being
busy versus are you beingproductive.
(02:47):
And if you're not looking atyour numbers and understanding,
okay, well, if we're not doingthe same amount of jobs, are we
making more money?
And ultimately, if you'remaking more money, that's all
that matters.
So don't get stuck in beingbusy and the trap of oh, I got
to be always hustling, I got toalways be working.
Track your numbers.
(03:09):
If you've optimized your way ofdoing things in your systems
and you're really good atwashing and hey, I can knock out
a full day's worth of work inhalf of the day, that's not
being slow, that's just beingproductive and successful.
So it's important that you know, with the data of like your
numbers, your profitability,revenue, all that stuff.
It's important to like, lookinto everything to make sure
that are you really slow or areyou just getting really good at
(03:30):
what you're doing?
And I know for us we looked atour numbers last month in March
and our revenues were prettyflat from the year previous but
we ended up actually doing alittle bit less jobs.
So our average ticket went upbut our job number went down.
And I think for us it's due toand probably what a lot of
people are seeing is like we'vehad kind of a colder start to
(03:51):
the spring.
Looking at our numbers, lastyear it seemed like middle of
January February we reallystarted ratcheting up, the
warmer weather came in and wewere able to put like consistent
residential numbers up.
But this year we're not seeingthat yet and there's still
pollen out and it's colder.
I know I got plants and stuff,so I still have plants in my
garage because last night Ithink it got to like 36, 37
(04:15):
degrees.
So like factors out of yourcontrol are probably causing it
to be slow and that's kind ofwhere we're at with our numbers.
I was looking at our our numbersfor last April and we did like
55 grand last April.
So it it, it may be tough tohit that this April and uh, it's
just that volume that we'renormally seeing hit hasn't hit
(04:39):
us yet, because I think it'sit's.
It's still pollen, pollendependent, it's still waiting on
the weather to warm up and uh,I'll let you go back to, uh,
what you're talking about clay,um.
But like, if I didn't have thenumbers to back that up, I would
just be like, oh, we're workingfive days a week, I don't know
like it seems the same.
And then I'm looking more intothe data and saying, okay, we're
(05:00):
making more profitability perjob, not the end of the world.
So we're trying to salvage thesituation here versus just
complaining and not having agame plan.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
One of the biggest things I see is a lot of people
are hopping into this business.
It's a very saturated marketand we know it's very saturated
where we're at, so everybody'strying to do it.
They're buying a pressurewasher and then they're freaking
out because they're not havingany work.
They just quit their job.
Some guys are doing itpart-time, whatnot.
But you got to understand it.
(05:33):
Rome wasn't built overnight soand you got to start.
You got to start early withthis analyzing the data stuff.
You got to start early so youunderstand your market better.
You understand what you'redoing.
You're keeping up with whatyou're doing on marketing and
what's working on marketing.
And if it's marketing is notworking, maybe have somebody,
like a professional, take a lookat it, do an audit, say, okay,
(05:54):
this is some things that we canwork on, but that I think the
marketing it plays a big part init too.
But you also got to be careful.
You just got to be smart, yougot to be strategic, you got to
be consistent with it.
But in other words, going backto what you were saying about
the being slow part, I thinkthat a lot of people need to
(06:17):
understand that you can be busyand still be slow.
If you're not moving, then ifyou're staying, if you're doing
jobs just to stay busy, you'renot, and you're not moving the
needle.
That's considered slow to me,because if you're going out and
you're just doing the work,you're just spinning your tires,
you're not getting anywhere.
So what you need to do is youneed to take a step back and say
(06:43):
, ok, this is not working for meand what can I do to make it
better?
And that's where the analyzingthe data comes into play and you
can kind of see, you know, allright, this is what we need to
work on.
Maybe dip a little bit moremoney here, maybe you know, but
tracking numbers is so importantand I think it's very.
I think it's one of the one ofthe main things that you need to
do in your business, especiallyif you're willing to grow year
after year after year after year.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Absolutely, and it's great to look at your numbers.
Maybe on a Sunday like thispodcast, if you're sitting here
listening to us.
Go over your numbers.
Look at your week.
Don't just say how many jobs doI have this week.
Say what did you do last week.
Reflect on that.
Where are you at for the month?
We're at about the midway pointof April.
So this is the busy season.
(07:24):
This is where we need to bereally dialing in.
How are we making our money forthe year?
How are we positioningourselves to finish up May, june
, all that stuff?
What are we doing to get readyfor the July, the August dip and
carry us into the fall season?
So, like, we need to have allsystems go right now and be
dialed in on what we're doing.
That way we're maximizing thisyear's opportunity.
And, um, what we'll do?
(07:46):
Sundays?
I usually look at the numbersand I say, okay, well, I got
this coming in for this comingweek.
This is where we're sitting atmonth to date.
Um, this is where we're at forthe quarter.
So, if anybody, uh, like youshould break stuff down, not
only a yearly goal, but like aquarterly goal where you have
like January, february, marchand then you have, um, april,
(08:08):
may, june, april, may, juneyou're going to have big numbers
there.
And then, uh, you got thesummer and then you got the fall
and the winter again.
So break it down and say, okay,last year we were able to do
this, this year we're doing this.
And uh, try to figure out likepercentages of growth of each
time periods and how many jobsyou've been doing, and look into
(08:28):
like your average job ticket.
That's there's a few KPIs orlike metrics that we like to
look at.
And it isn't just, oh, this onejob I sold for this.
I know the last podcast we weretalking about how to hit a
thousand dollars a day.
That's, that's great.
We're talking about how to hit$1,000 a day that's great.
And we go a step farther forthat and say, okay, like I'm
hitting $1,000 a day, how muchare those jobs worth?
(08:51):
And then we're zooming out andlike, okay, so this month we're
doing, say, $50,000.
And off of $50,000, how manyjobs is that?
And then we go deeper into itand say, okay, if each job is
500 bucks, there's like 100 jobs.
And break it down into say, howcan we be as efficient and
(09:15):
profitable as we can?
So we're moving the needle.
And if the volume isn't therebecause of leads are down, we're
going to have to figure out howto raise our prices.
Otherwise we're not going to beable to close and we're not
going to be able to hit thenumbers we want to hit if we're
just purely going on volumeCause.
That's that's one thing I'venoticed.
Pricing is is a little bit of ahiccup here and there with
(09:36):
certain people, because I'veI've had normal people call and
they're like do you have anyspecials this year?
I'm like we did your house anddriveway for $300 minimum in
2023.
It's going to be the same price, it's not going down.
And they're like well, I'mgoing to get some other quotes
and those people may have beencustomers in the past, but
they're not customers today.
So be selective.
Narrow down the amount ofpeople that you're doing
(09:58):
business with and try tomaximize that average ticket to
raise that up.
That way you're able tocontinue to grow your business
even if the leads aren't thereand the volume isn't there.
But I'm just high level lookingat.
I pulled a report on HousecallPro, which is our CRM.
So from January 1st of 2024 toApril 30th of 2024, we ended up
(10:24):
doing like 239 jobs and that putout a revenue of $112,000.
If I'm I haven't like wehaven't really booked out, we
haven't really booked out Apriltoo far and we're looking at
(10:46):
like maybe we probably haveanother $20,000 that we can
squeeze into April the end ofthe month and we might be a
little shy of where we were lastyear if we do that.
So we are seeing a little bitless number from the beginning
(11:07):
of January to end of April thisyear.
But we're getting a lot ofcommunication with customers
about, hey, may, we want to pushour normal house wash from
April to May or from May to June.
So we're seeing that push.
And what I remember about lastyear was it seemed like the
spring took off like crazy andthen once June hit, it kind of
(11:28):
died off.
So we're going to see a laterspring this year.
So if you're kind of stressedout and worried, I don't, I
don't think you should beworried because once it warms up
and the pollen's gone andeverything like that, it should
be pretty busy and it shouldcarry us through maybe deeper
into the summer than it did inthe past.
That's just kind of my twocents with everything yeah, over
where we're at the.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
We're in the on the east coast.
Obviously, matt's out on theeast coast as well, if you've
been following our journey.
Um, the weather definitelyplays a big factor.
I definitely felt like it wasbusier last year, so I went back
and looked at my numbers.
Obviously, that's what thisepisode's all about.
So it's just crazy how you cango back and say, okay, wait a
minute, we're good.
But yes definitely felt likethere was a lot more lead volume
(12:12):
coming through earlier in theyear just because, like you say,
the spring took off quicker.
We had 70 and 80-degree weatherI felt like what late February,
early March, all the waythrough and we didn't ever
really get another cold frontthrough, but we've had a lot of
chilly weather and I think it'sscaring a lot of people.
Not many people are gettingoutside, looking at their houses
(12:32):
, spending any time outside.
We have Easter coming up.
This is the weekend beforeEaster when we're recording this
, so the Easter, that kind ofgets people ready and excited,
obviously, to get their housescleaned up for their families
coming over.
Um, so it's about, from thispoint on, it should, uh, should
be hell on wheels.
(12:53):
We uh just grab a hold and, uh,hang on tight and hope that, uh
, you've done the right thingsthat you need to do to set
yourself up for spring.
It's like we always talk aboutin the winter we set ourselves
up for the spring and thesprings we set ourselves up for
the winter, and I truly believethat is a good formula for
success.
You always need to be lookingahead to set yourself up,
because three months and sixmonths down the road.
(13:15):
You need to be washing housestoo, and again, that's just how
me and Matt stay successful withjust washing.
That's the only services weoffer.
We don't do any other stufflike gutter cleaning, any of
that.
I've kind of I still have thaton my website.
I'll do it for some of my oldcustomers, but I'm kind of
straying away from that andfocusing solely on pressure
(13:35):
washing, because I truly believeif you get good at one thing,
you master one thing, you studyone thing, you can conquer it
and you can be that guy in yourarea Exactly, and it is.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
It is funny I saw a real.
It was.
I think it was like Andrew Tateor somebody.
So, however you guys thinkabout that, it's kind of that,
the mindset of like that, putyour head down and grind.
And it's like if you want thislifestyle, you have to put your
head down for a decade beforeyou say or complain about
anything and do this, do thework.
And what does it mean by do thework?
It doesn't mean do one thing alittle bit, do one thing a
(14:09):
little bit, do five differentthings in that decade.
Put your head down and grindout on that one thing that you
can be the best in your marketat, and do that for a decade,
and then you're not going to becomplaining about it.
A lot of you guys are in thisbusiness for zero to two years
and it's almost a crapshoot.
Probably for the first fiveyears, like I'm at that point
where I'm this will be like myfourth full season of being full
(14:34):
time, but I've been in it since2019 ish.
So I've I've had like fiveyears in the business completely
and I'm finally feeling like Ihave footing beneath me and like
, if you're stressing out, don'tsweat it, don't try to reinvent
the wheel every six months Likeit's a grind.
Keep your head down and keepplowing forward, because you're
(14:55):
going to have good months,you're going to have bad months,
but overall you're going toaverage out better.
Like our revenues are going tobe about in par with where they
were this last year from 2024 ofjanuary to like end of april,
and I'm looking just at our ouryear to date, from last january
to the date today of last yearto where we are today, and we
(15:16):
were down 42 jobs.
So there's a difference in jobvolume from this year to the
past year, but our revenues areprobably dancing close to close.
So it's like, okay, our revenueis down but our profitability
is up because our job ticketsare up and that's kind of a
natural growth.
We feel a little slower becausewe're not as hectically busy as
(15:37):
we were in the year past.
But we're trying to make itright by keeping our pricing in
that right position where, hey,we can do two jobs and it's
about the same as doing threejobs previously and that's kind
of where you want to, you wantto be at.
And I've noticed just mymarketing approaches have
shifted.
No longer am I posting a lot inthese Facebook groups because I
(15:57):
feel like it's a race to thebottom.
I I'll.
I'll see somebody ask questionwho can wash my house?
And then there's 20 peoplerespond and then I respond and
then they either ghost or theysay can you take $30, $40 off
the price?
And to us that's not worth ourtime.
So we're really focusing on howdo we go from saying a $300 job
(16:19):
that we have to do four times aday or five times a day to how
can we find those $500 ticketsand do two or three of those?
And yeah, we're, we're slowerbecause we're not doing as many
jobs, but our, our revenue andour ticket size is still there.
So the importance of what we'retalking about today is like
knowing your numbers.
Knowing the data like this iswhat's required to have a
(16:42):
healthy business, and when theeconomy dries up a little bit or
when the seasons are slower,it's important to really know
your numbers 100%, especiallyfor your mentality.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Mental game is one of the biggest games in this
business.
And then, obviously, thenumbers.
I truly believe, like you said,you got to have all these
numbers down, you got to have itdocumented.
I think we originally startedback in 23,.
I believe so, maybe 22.
I can't remember when weactually started.
(17:13):
I got tired of dealing with thepen and paper, tired of
fumbling stuff, tired of losingpeople's stuff and losing
customers Because, like we'vesaid before, if you are not
logging all this stuff, what areyou doing?
You're basically pissing awaymoney, because each one of these
customers costs money.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Exactly and by keeping track of your records
you have where you charge thepeople last.
So if somebody was doing thejob for $300 in 2022, throw on
$50, $75, you're kind of bakingin like that market inflation
and market adjustment there.
So those people are eithergoing to say yes and then you
(17:54):
continue and go forward and thenthat's allowing you to make an
extra 75 bucks a job.
And if you're doing three jobs,that's like almost doing
another job.
So you're able to reduce theamount of like almost doing
another job.
So you're able to reduce theamount of jobs you can do by
just kind of raising that ticketprice.
And if the customers push backand hesitate and they're looking
for the cheapest option, well,they might may not be the best
fit going forward.
So you have to be okay withletting people go, because if
(18:17):
they're just price driven,they're going to just go and
find the cheapest option.
And hey, if I'm hiring somebodyto just spray water and clean a
driveway, I may be interestedin the cheapest option.
It may not be the best, bestfit for me, but as a business
owner you have to look anddecide hey, do I want to be a
people pleaser and say yes toeverybody and kind of just go
(18:37):
with whatever people are tryingto push on me?
Or am I trying to be reallyselective and grow my business
and find those customers thatare going to be the most ideal
customers as we go through thecolder months, where we go
through like a slower start tothe season and we do what we can
to like really positionourselves to grow as much as we
can this year?
So it's yeah and another.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Another cool thing um about tracking your numbers is
you can kind of see if you'regetting your money's worth on
your employees.
Like your multi-operationbusiness, like you are, matt,
with different employees, youcan see how many guys, how many
jobs these guys are doing aswell.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Exactly, and if they complain to you and they say,
hey, I need more money, you cansay I'll pay you more money.
This is just what's required,and we do kind of a pay for play
, essentially, where you'regetting compensated based upon
your performance and people.
They like that.
That way it's fully transparentand they say, okay, well, this
is going to be my schedule, thisis how much I'm going to make
(19:36):
this week.
If I need to take a lighter dayon a Thursday, I'll make $150,
$200 less in my paycheck, but Iknow that in advance.
So it kind of helps.
It helps you as the businessowner with figuring out your
numbers to hit your goals, andthen it also helps the employees
you have figure out what theyneed to hit for their personal
(19:56):
goals.
So if they want to take ashorter day, they need to
understand okay, is, is thattrip away worth me making less
paycheck of $200 this week, oris it something that I'll just
do on a weekend?
And that's the thingeverybody's complaining about
money nowadays.
With tracking numbers and withbeing transparent with yourself
(20:17):
and with your employees, you'reable to really say, okay, well,
you want to take two days offthis week.
You're able to really say, okay,well, you want to take two days
off this week.
You're going to get paid $200less or $300 less, is it?
Is it worth it to you?
Are you going to be complainingto me about money?
Or are you going to look andsay, okay, well, I know that I
eat what I kill, just as you do,and this is a transparent way
(20:39):
of doing business, and I alsouse that too with customers try
to push back and they try totake money off the bill.
Oh, can you take 50 bucks off?
I say no, we can't, becausethat not only comes out of my
pocket, that comes out of ouremployees' pockets.
And it's a reframe because thecustomer's thinking I'm trying
to make all the profit and win,but in reality I say, hey, look,
(21:02):
if we're taking $50 off of thisticket, that doesn't come out
of my pockets, only that comesout of my employees pockets.
So it's not fair to my team totake 50 bucks off just because
you want to deal Now, if youwant to deal, there's plenty of
people willing to work forpennies doing this on Facebook.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
And yeah, they're very easy to find, for sure.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Very easy to find because there's a reason that
people start and stop and in thespring, if you're new, you're
seeing what we've seen by beingin business for a few years is
everybody comes out of thewoodworks they buy a pressure
washer.
They say, oh, I can hustle inApril and May and June and
during the summer and I can makea few thousand dollars by doing
(21:40):
$100 house washes.
And those people will always bethere and they will never take
your business.
But don't make sure.
All you got to do is make surethat your business isn't going
after those hundred dollar housewashes.
It's pretty simple.
Like we see in the forums andthe groups, people are
complaining about the $99 guystaking all the business.
It's like why are you goingafter that business?
(22:00):
That business is not yourbusiness and it's.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yeah, that was one of the things.
One of the mistakes I madeearly on was worried about
competition, but best thing Iever did was put my head on
straight, look straight forwardand worry about myself, and once
I started doing that, I startedto take off.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Yep, you're focusing on what you can control and
you're focusing on the directionyou want to go and that's where
you go.
If you're focusing below andyou're looking at people beneath
you undercharging you, notinsured, no equipment you're
going to go down with them.
If you're focused on guys aheadof you, you're going to, you're
going to go up with them andeverybody's going to grow
together.
So you pick that's the greatthing about the Wash Bros
(22:40):
podcast yep, it's pretty coolbecause we can see guys who will
listen to the show, they'llcomment the implement and then
they follow up and they're like,oh actually, this actually
worked.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
It's like shocker that always feels great yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
So it's one of those deals.
If you, if you're thinking itand you're feeling it, you're
not the only one.
It's Clay's been through it,I've been through it.
You're not the only one.
Clay's been through it, I'vebeen through it.
All you guys who are listening,I've been through it and it's
not a solo sport.
So don't isolate yourself anddon't stress out and don't get
stuck in the doom scrolling onFacebook.
Listen to the podcast, followthe group we have, join that
(23:18):
Wash Bros group, and try tonetwork and connect with
like-minded people in here,because you never know, when
somebody says something, it'llresonate the right way with you.
You implement it and it reallychanges your season and the
direction of your business.
And that's what worked with meand Clay and that's why we have
our show and that's why we haveour friendship.
So I mean it's super importantnot to get stuck in these little
(23:39):
isolation booths of fear and oh, we're slow.
What do we do?
Like, oh, it's the economy,like the tariffs or all this
nonsense, and you just keep yourhead down.
Like Clay says, focus on whatyou can control and keep going
forward, and then you look backand then you're killing it.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
The biggest thing is I see a lot of people I mean I'm
guilty of it early on is youstart struggling and then you
start looking for things toblame it on, like just blaming
it on the world stuff going onin the world that does have a
little bit impact.
But if you're consistently doingwhat you're doing, continuing
to continually trying to betteryourself, continually trying to
(24:18):
better your business, doing thethings to be proactive and just
keeping your head down, focusing, analyzing these numbers, like
we're talking about, make sureyou're documenting everything,
everything that you're.
You need to be documenting howmuch you're spending with
Facebook, how much you'respending with whatever marketing
tool or platform you're usingand if it's not working, figure
(24:41):
out what we need to do to makeit work.
Stop just looking and saying,oh well, it's the weather, well,
it's the whatever thepresident's doing or these
tariffs are messing.
That has a little bit of animpact.
Don't let me confuse that.
But if you get in the rightmentality of focusing and saying
, ok, I can do this, I can makemy business better, I can do
(25:05):
whatever I need to do to makethis work, then you will be in a
better state as far as the longrun.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Exactly.
And if and if you look at, weare rewarded in this world via
economics by like the value weprovide to the marketplace.
And if we're just whiny andbitchy like everybody else out
there, we're not providing anypositive value.
We're actually losing value.
So people are viewing us aslike oh, this is just another
guy, this is another hack, thisis another guy who's just
(25:34):
whining and complaining and hewon't be here in a couple of
years.
But if you keep your head down,like Clay and I say, and have
that positive mindset and say,okay, I'm going to let stuff
just roll off my back and keepmoving forward, and whether it's
the economy, the president,whether it's the weather,
whatever these nonsense issuesare, we just keep plowing
(25:55):
forward.
And then, before you know it,you get traction.
And then you get success.
You get word of mouth andpeople say, hey, I respect the
grind, You've been at it for awhile.
And then it catches up to you.
And then you get to a positionwhere you're no longer stressing
about am I busy or am I slow it.
And then you get to a positionwhere you're no longer stressing
about am I busy or am I slow.
It becomes okay.
How's the health of my business.
Like you analyze your numbers,you say, okay, our business may
(26:17):
be less jobs this year, butwe're able to add more profit
with these jobs.
We have better opportunitiescome to us.
We're not stuck chasing allthese $200, $300 house washes
that we used to a couple yearsago.
That kept our schedule filledand busy.
We're doing bigger projectswe're working for like
(26:37):
universities, we're doing biggercommercial jobs and that's
really what's moving the needlein your business.
And if you're sitting herewithout that data and the
clarity, you're going to bestressed out because you're like
, oh man, I see these guysposting the same 10 houses every
day that they're washing, but Idon't know if they're doing
good or doing bad.
They just look busy and I'm notbusy.
So I'm stressed out.
Like you got to look deep intoyourself and deep into your
(26:58):
company and look at your numbersand say, okay, well, this is
what I'm doing.
I may be like the objective isto be more efficient in business
.
The objective is to say, howcan I do the same money for less
work?
How can I do more money forless work?
And then that's how you'remaximizing your business out.
So, like, as stuff shifts, yougot to be creative.
You got to come up with waysand say, okay, my business is
(27:20):
really efficient at doing thistype of cleaning.
I'm really good at cleaning HOAtownhomes.
I'm really good at cleaningcolleges.
I'm really good at cleaningparking garages.
How can I double down on thatand try to be the best at that,
as opposed to how am I trying tochase gutter cleaning?
How am I trying to chaseoxidation removal?
How am I trying to chasewhatever I see going on on
(27:40):
social media that looks likethat guy's making money and I'm
stressed out because I'm notbusy.
Clay and I both focus on thethings that we can control on
and the things that we'reefficient and good at, and we're
really laser focused on gettingthose jobs.
We're not too worried aboutwhat the new guy down the
street's doing, who's chasingall these services, and I think
(28:01):
that comes with maturity,absolutely.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
And, like I said before, social media can be like
your worst enemy.
A lot of people claim to bepeople that are not on the
internet.
Anybody can be anybody peoplethat are not on the internet.
Anybody can be anybody.
They want to be on the internet.
They can do $3 million a yearas a pressure washing company on
the internet but are theyreally, you know?
So a lot of people are justgood at marketing, making
themselves look bigger than theyreally are.
(28:25):
You know making, making youfeel like you're not doing
anything.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Exactly Don't let don't let people's egos get
ahead of them and and affect you.
And, like Clay and I, we dosimilar things but we do
different things.
Like there's areas where hekicks butt at that I'm not
competitive in and I said, hey,run with that a hundred percent.
Like there's reasons that, likeI have teams doing things and
(28:52):
then he's he's, he's runningthat, knocking it out of the
park at seven, 30 in the morningand being done by 12.
And I'm like I'm I'm good, it'slike I'm not every day.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
I wish I was every day.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Yeah, yeah.
But like, there's differentthings that I don't want to
compete with you at because youare way better at it than I am.
So it's like, how do I figureout what are my strengths and
kind of build a team, build mybusiness around that, so it's
not killing me, so it's notsetting myself up to like lose
to you if I'm competing likehead to head on that and find
that with, like, if you'rebeating yourself up over
(29:25):
something because you're tryingto compete with somebody else,
you can change your approach.
You don't have to necessarilyfollow exactly that blueprint
that somebody's saying.
If you're watching guys onYouTube say, hey, I'm making
$5,000 for a house wash by mycourse.
Like, you don't have to do that, that's not everybody.
There's no problem going downthe street and doing a $300
(29:47):
townhome community and beinghappy with that.
Like, find what works with youand find your peace.
And that all comes down toknowing your numbers Because,
like we've mentioned before,like I've done commercial jobs
where we make $10,000 and ittakes three days and it takes me
six months to get paid and atthe end of the day I'm like this
is not even worth it, orthere's costs associated with
(30:08):
certain things or I got to payfor a lift, or I got to pay for
a lift, or I got to pay for thisor like the downtime of my guys
not in the field doingresidential.
Like when you start lookinginto your numbers and you start
really analyzing your businessfor what it is, you stop caring
so much about the influences ofsocial media or the influences
of what you're seeing yourfriends do and you can like just
double down and focus on whatyou're doing and that's how you
(30:30):
become a successful business.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Absolutely, 100% agree.
Make sure you're analyzing yourdata tracking numbers, knowing
when it's slow, knowing whenit's busy.
Try to get rid of that pen andpaper.
Know the important things, likemarketing your business and
knowing the important numbers.
Not down, like Matt said, it'sall a number game.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
And it's okay to be bored with your business.
I know Clay and I will talk andhe's like man, I'm like getting
really good at this and likethat's the objective, isn't it
Like in the beginning.
It's the struggle, it's thehustle, it's the grind, we're
like rolling that boulder up themountain and then you get to
the point where you're gettingreally good at it and you're
like you know what?
Like this isn't as difficultand as hard and as challenging
(31:12):
and it's like so much of like anexciting thing as it used to be
, because, hey, we're efficient,we're good at it.
That doesn't mean ourbusinesses are failing.
That means that we're gettingbetter at what we do.
So don't get don't get stuck onthat trap of like it's no longer
as like a grind and exciting asit was in that first year or
first two years, and be okay,look at your numbers and say,
(31:32):
okay, it's gonna require lesseffort if I wanna maintain this,
I'm cool with this, I'm able toget more of a lifestyle out of
it, or I can double down, I canreinvest and I can grow my
business.
So like the beauty of whatwe're doing is we can kind of
set the pace to whatever we haveand that's kind of something
that I'll go in and out of,because if you're sitting here
(31:54):
and you're like I have memoriesof the past, of the grind of sun
up to sun down, and then, asyou're in business longer and
say you have teams or you'remore efficient, you're like if I
can knock out the same revenuedoing half the jobs, or I have a
team doing it, I'm not going tofeel as stressed, I'm not going
to feel as satisfied, I'm notgoing to feel as like satisfied
with the day's work than if,than than me doing it back in
(32:16):
the day all solo, because it waslike I was so busy, I was so
stressed.
As you get better, you get moresystems in place, it gets
boring and it's okay to feelthat way.
So that's just kind of another,another side of the coin,
whereas, like, we're looking atour numbers and I'm saying, okay
, like, should we be stressed?
Our job tickets or our jobnumber of jobs are down.
(32:38):
Well, the percent growth isthere, based upon the amount of
jobs we've done, and the seasonhasn't really hit yet.
So, like it'll come and like,if I didn't have all that data,
we didn't have all the numbersor we didn't have the insights
of like years in the past, wewould be stressed out, thinking,
oh my gosh, like is it doom andgloom?
Like the economy, or all thenews, or or all these 99 guys
(33:02):
killing my market?
So, like it's just thinkthere's multiple, multiple
things that you should bethinking of to get yourself
through tough times and slowtimes, and it gets better as you
go the middle state could killyou 100 and uh, I've been there,
I've been depressed, I've youknow, trying to figure out what
am I doing wrong.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
But that's just part of entrepreneurship yep, yep,
and it's always changing.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
And that's what growth comes in.
Like you hear, you hear growth,personal growth, and it's one
of those things.
Like you won't be ready forthat next level until, like, the
better version of yourselfappears.
And that's something that'shard to, it's hard to hear
because you kind of have toexperience and grow into it.
And it's like you're not readyfor that next thing until until
(33:49):
you level up as a person and youdon't know when it happens.
And then one day you wake up asa person and you don't know
when it happens.
And then one day you wake upand you just have like an
epiphany moment and you say, oh,that makes sense.
And then, like a floodgate opensup and then stuff comes in.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
So it's it's weird how that works, it's very weird
how it is, whether you want tocall it the universe, you want
to call it God.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
It's like God's not gonna he's not ever gonna leave
you in a situation where you'renot prepared for it.
You're just in the lesson tobuild yourself to that man.
You need to be to to receivethat lesson.
And don't view lessons asdefeat.
View them as just a part of thechapter, because I agree with
that.
100 like stuff just comes toclay and I now, whereas like
(34:28):
years ago we would.
We wouldn't even know how to goabout it, but we weren't ready,
it would just ruin our dayExactly, especially mine.
Yeah, but that's all growth.
And then you look back andyou're like, oh, this stuff is
just normal, it's a normal dayin the life, so just comes with
time.
So have patience.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Yeah, we all deal with the same things, we can
assure you.
Yeah, we all deal with the samethings.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
We can assure you, no doubt.
But we're at our what are we?
35-minute mark.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
So you got any closing statements or anything
you'd like to talk about.
Well, I just like I say Ireally think this is really
important.
This subject it's really been asuccess of my business really
helped me understand my business, really helped me understand
the seasons of my business,knowing when I can do vacation,
knowing when to give my wife aheads up.
(35:19):
I think communication with yourfamily is very important when
it comes to this.
It's something that I'velearned over the few years that
I've done this.
I can, like I say, communicatewith my family and be like, okay
, I may be busy for a few weeks,this is what's going to happen.
Try to be less on the schedulefor me.
That way it helps me outmentally, whatever.
(35:39):
And then they're mentallyprepared as well.
Like, okay, dad's told us thathe's working for the next few
weeks.
He's going to be working hardand he'll he'll be there when we
need him, but he's going to bea little busy and maybe a little
tired.
But, uh, I think that's veryimportant.
Communicate with your family,um, especially if, uh, you're
(36:00):
busy as busy as I am anyway, um,and then, just like I say, huge
part of success for yourbusiness.
If you want to be successful.
You'll find a way to get that.
Crm.
Me and and matt, we both usehouse call pro highly recommend
doing whatever it takes, maybespeaking with an agent.
Um, with house call pro, theycan tell you what you need.
Tell them you listen to thewash bros.
They that we recommended,recommended you and, um, yeah, I
(36:24):
think that's uh, I think Ithink this is a great episode.
Um, hopefully, everybody that'slistening can uh take away from
what we had to say today.
And, uh, make sure you followus on YouTube.
Uh, join our wash bros groupand the Facebook group.
It's called the wash bros.
Uh, the Facebook group iscalled the wash bros.
And then you have, um, the washbros podcast page where you can
(36:47):
see all of our content, all ofour reels and stuff like that.
You can follow Matt MatthewJackson on Facebook, his
personal page.
He posts some stuff there.
And then my page, clay Smith.
Matt owns Matt the driveway guy.
You can follow his businesspage.
And I own C3 Wash Pros.
You can follow my business page.
We're on every platform you canthink of.
And then one last thing Iforgot I am the pressure washer
(37:11):
guru on TikTok, so give me afollow, give me a shout.
Appreciate all you guyslistening.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
And if you guys want to buy some awesome surface
cleaners and turbo tips Clay'syour guy on his TikTok store.
He's been killing that game.
And yeah, if you guys want freecontent or free learning stuff,
(37:36):
go to the powerwashingcoachcomwebsite.
You can also check out thepressure washing book I have on
Amazon.
We're over 300 reviews on thisthing In our Facebook page.
There's a free link to the PDF.
There's also a free audio bookonline too.
So if you guys want thepaperback, you can buy it on
Amazon.
If you like it, give us areview there.
That helps us stay in the topof the search.
If you're searching likepressure washing book on Amazon
(37:59):
and we're working on likeredoing our Power Washing Coach
website, trying to put like somematerial up there coursing make
it more simple, as we havepeople who follow and like our
page.
It's just easier for us tocommunicate directly if we can
kind of put everything on onepage, and I was trying to get an
Amazon store set up for merch,but I'm going to do a
print-on-demand service, so staytuned.
(38:21):
We'll get some cool shirts andstuff here in the future, but if
that's everything, make sure togive us a follow.
Like Clay said, follow uspersonally.
Follow our pages and we'll seeyou on the next one.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
Peace out, guys.
See you guys.
What's up, guys?
It's Matt Jackson and ClaySmith and we are the Wash Bros.
Welcome to episode 10 of thepodcast today, where we're going
to be talking about are youslow?
And this is kind of a uniquetopic because we are in the busy
season, right.
But if you guys are new or ifyou guys been in the business
for a while and you're worriedabout being slow, what we can do
(00:53):
is kind of break down how we'regoing about the situation and
the market and looking at datafrom the past, the present and
then the future to try to workour way through this and kind of
how we get through times suchas this.
So you want to kick this thingoff, Clay.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
As always, I'd be happy to yes.
So are you slow?
I see a lot of guys talkingonline about being slow.
A lot of guys hit me up askingme what am I doing differently?
What am I doing to stay busy?
We just did 70 houses lastmonth.
I think we were up 40%.
So I mean, how do you know it'sslow, right?
(01:33):
So what are you doing toanalyze your data?
What are you doing to keep upwith the numbers from the
previous year?
And, as we've taught before, CRMis a great start with making
sure that you're putting all thedata in, consistently putting
the data in.
If you're just doing it everynow and then whenever you feel
like it or whenever you havetime, then it's not going to
properly work.
(01:54):
So you don't know if you'regetting that most accurate data
or not.
But I highly recommend makingsure you're tracking your
numbers.
It's kind of hard to do thatoff a pen and notebook and say,
okay, I have these customers, Ihave the phone numbers, I know
where they live and I know howmuch I charge them.
But if you're not putting allthose numbers together and
getting the data and gettingreports off of that, it's kind
of hard to tell.
You may not be slow, it mayjust seem slow, and that's kind
(02:17):
of how me and you have talkedabout Matt.
With the previous month.
It seemed slow, but we wereactually way ahead of the
previous year, Exactly.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
And if you don't measure, you're never going to
know if you're slow or you'rejust getting more efficient.
And Clay's been in this game awhile and he's getting more
efficient, so he's banging out athousand dollars of work before
one o'clock.
So of course, if you're doingthat, you're going to feel slow.
If you're comparing it to yearsin the past when it would be an
all day ordeal, and it's thedifference between are you being
busy versus are you beingproductive.
(02:47):
And if you're not looking atyour numbers and understanding,
okay, well, if we're not doingthe same amount of jobs, are we
making more money?
And ultimately, if you'remaking more money, that's all
that matters.
So don't get stuck in beingbusy and the trap of oh, I got
to be always hustling, I got toalways be working.
Track your numbers.
(03:09):
If you've optimized your way ofdoing things in your systems
and you're really good atwashing and hey, I can knock out
a full day's worth of work inhalf of the day, that's not
being slow, that's just beingproductive and successful.
So it's important that you know, with the data of like your
numbers, your profitability,revenue, all that stuff.
It's important to like, lookinto everything to make sure
that are you really slow or areyou just getting really good at
(03:30):
what you're doing?
And I know for us we looked atour numbers last month in March
and our revenues were prettyflat from the year previous but
we ended up actually doing alittle bit less jobs.
So our average ticket went upbut our job number went down.
And I think for us it's due toand probably what a lot of
people are seeing is like we'vehad kind of a colder start to
(03:51):
the spring.
Looking at our numbers, lastyear it seemed like middle of
January February we reallystarted ratcheting up, the
warmer weather came in and wewere able to put like consistent
residential numbers up.
But this year we're not seeingthat yet and there's still
pollen out and it's colder.
I know I got plants and stuff,so I still have plants in my
garage because last night Ithink it got to like 36, 37
(04:15):
degrees.
So like factors out of yourcontrol are probably causing it
to be slow and that's kind ofwhere we're at with our numbers.
I was looking at our our numbersfor last April and we did like
55 grand last April.
So it it, it may be tough tohit that this April and uh, it's
just that volume that we'renormally seeing hit hasn't hit
(04:39):
us yet, because I think it'sit's.
It's still pollen, pollendependent, it's still waiting on
the weather to warm up and uh,I'll let you go back to, uh,
what you're talking about clay,um.
But like, if I didn't have thenumbers to back that up, I would
just be like, oh, we're workingfive days a week, I don't know
like it seems the same.
And then I'm looking more intothe data and saying, okay, we're
(05:00):
making more profitability perjob, not the end of the world.
So we're trying to salvage thesituation here versus just
complaining and not having agame plan.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
One of the biggest things I see is a lot of people
are hopping into this business.
It's a very saturated marketand we know it's very saturated
where we're at, so everybody'strying to do it.
They're buying a pressurewasher and then they're freaking
out because they're not havingany work.
They just quit their job.
Some guys are doing itpart-time, whatnot.
But you got to understand it.
(05:33):
Rome wasn't built overnight soand you got to start.
You got to start early withthis analyzing the data stuff.
You got to start early so youunderstand your market better.
You understand what you'redoing.
You're keeping up with whatyou're doing on marketing and
what's working on marketing.
And if it's marketing is notworking, maybe have somebody,
like a professional, take a lookat it, do an audit, say, okay,
(05:54):
this is some things that we canwork on, but that I think the
marketing it plays a big part init too.
But you also got to be careful.
You just got to be smart, yougot to be strategic, you got to
be consistent with it.
But in other words, going backto what you were saying about
the being slow part, I thinkthat a lot of people need to
(06:17):
understand that you can be busyand still be slow.
If you're not moving, then ifyou're staying, if you're doing
jobs just to stay busy, you'renot, and you're not moving the
needle.
That's considered slow to me,because if you're going out and
you're just doing the work,you're just spinning your tires,
you're not getting anywhere.
So what you need to do is youneed to take a step back and say
(06:43):
, ok, this is not working for meand what can I do to make it
better?
And that's where the analyzingthe data comes into play and you
can kind of see, you know, allright, this is what we need to
work on.
Maybe dip a little bit moremoney here, maybe you know, but
tracking numbers is so importantand I think it's very.
I think it's one of the one ofthe main things that you need to
do in your business, especiallyif you're willing to grow year
after year after year after year.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Absolutely, and it's great to look at your numbers.
Maybe on a Sunday like thispodcast, if you're sitting here
listening to us.
Go over your numbers.
Look at your week.
Don't just say how many jobs doI have this week.
Say what did you do last week.
Reflect on that.
Where are you at for the month?
We're at about the midway pointof April.
So this is the busy season.
(07:24):
This is where we need to bereally dialing in.
How are we making our money forthe year?
How are we positioningourselves to finish up May, june
, all that stuff?
What are we doing to get readyfor the July, the August dip and
carry us into the fall season?
So, like, we need to have allsystems go right now and be
dialed in on what we're doing.
That way we're maximizing thisyear's opportunity.
And, um, what we'll do?
(07:46):
Sundays?
I usually look at the numbersand I say, okay, well, I got
this coming in for this comingweek.
This is where we're sitting atmonth to date.
Um, this is where we're at forthe quarter.
So, if anybody, uh, like youshould break stuff down, not
only a yearly goal, but like aquarterly goal where you have
like January, february, marchand then you have, um, april,
(08:08):
may, june, april, may, juneyou're going to have big numbers
there.
And then, uh, you got thesummer and then you got the fall
and the winter again.
So break it down and say, okay,last year we were able to do
this, this year we're doing this.
And uh, try to figure out likepercentages of growth of each
time periods and how many jobsyou've been doing, and look into
(08:28):
like your average job ticket.
That's there's a few KPIs orlike metrics that we like to
look at.
And it isn't just, oh, this onejob I sold for this.
I know the last podcast we weretalking about how to hit a
thousand dollars a day.
That's, that's great.
We're talking about how to hit$1,000 a day that's great.
And we go a step farther forthat and say, okay, like I'm
hitting $1,000 a day, how muchare those jobs worth?
(08:51):
And then we're zooming out andlike, okay, so this month we're
doing, say, $50,000.
And off of $50,000, how manyjobs is that?
And then we go deeper into itand say, okay, if each job is
500 bucks, there's like 100 jobs.
And break it down into say, howcan we be as efficient and
(09:15):
profitable as we can?
So we're moving the needle.
And if the volume isn't therebecause of leads are down, we're
going to have to figure out howto raise our prices.
Otherwise we're not going to beable to close and we're not
going to be able to hit thenumbers we want to hit if we're
just purely going on volumeCause.
That's that's one thing I'venoticed.
Pricing is is a little bit of ahiccup here and there with
(09:36):
certain people, because I'veI've had normal people call and
they're like do you have anyspecials this year?
I'm like we did your house anddriveway for $300 minimum in
2023.
It's going to be the same price, it's not going down.
And they're like well, I'mgoing to get some other quotes
and those people may have beencustomers in the past, but
they're not customers today.
So be selective.
Narrow down the amount ofpeople that you're doing
(09:58):
business with and try tomaximize that average ticket to
raise that up.
That way you're able tocontinue to grow your business
even if the leads aren't thereand the volume isn't there.
But I'm just high level lookingat.
I pulled a report on HousecallPro, which is our CRM.
So from January 1st of 2024 toApril 30th of 2024, we ended up
(10:24):
doing like 239 jobs and that putout a revenue of $112,000.
If I'm I haven't like wehaven't really booked out, we
haven't really booked out Apriltoo far and we're looking at
(10:46):
like maybe we probably haveanother $20,000 that we can
squeeze into April the end ofthe month and we might be a
little shy of where we were lastyear if we do that.
So we are seeing a little bitless number from the beginning
(11:07):
of January to end of April thisyear.
But we're getting a lot ofcommunication with customers
about, hey, may, we want to pushour normal house wash from
April to May or from May to June.
So we're seeing that push.
And what I remember about lastyear was it seemed like the
spring took off like crazy andthen once June hit, it kind of
(11:28):
died off.
So we're going to see a laterspring this year.
So if you're kind of stressedout and worried, I don't, I
don't think you should beworried because once it warms up
and the pollen's gone andeverything like that, it should
be pretty busy and it shouldcarry us through maybe deeper
into the summer than it did inthe past.
That's just kind of my twocents with everything yeah, over
where we're at the.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
We're in the on the east coast.
Obviously, matt's out on theeast coast as well, if you've
been following our journey.
Um, the weather definitelyplays a big factor.
I definitely felt like it wasbusier last year, so I went back
and looked at my numbers.
Obviously, that's what thisepisode's all about.
So it's just crazy how you cango back and say, okay, wait a
minute, we're good.
But yes definitely felt likethere was a lot more lead volume
(12:12):
coming through earlier in theyear just because, like you say,
the spring took off quicker.
We had 70 and 80-degree weatherI felt like what late February,
early March, all the waythrough and we didn't ever
really get another cold frontthrough, but we've had a lot of
chilly weather and I think it'sscaring a lot of people.
Not many people are gettingoutside, looking at their houses
(12:32):
, spending any time outside.
We have Easter coming up.
This is the weekend beforeEaster when we're recording this
, so the Easter, that kind ofgets people ready and excited,
obviously, to get their housescleaned up for their families
coming over.
Um, so it's about, from thispoint on, it should, uh, should
be hell on wheels.
(12:53):
We uh just grab a hold and, uh,hang on tight and hope that, uh
, you've done the right thingsthat you need to do to set
yourself up for spring.
It's like we always talk aboutin the winter we set ourselves
up for the spring and thesprings we set ourselves up for
the winter, and I truly believethat is a good formula for
success.
You always need to be lookingahead to set yourself up,
because three months and sixmonths down the road.
(13:15):
You need to be washing housestoo, and again, that's just how
me and Matt stay successful withjust washing.
That's the only services weoffer.
We don't do any other stufflike gutter cleaning, any of
that.
I've kind of I still have thaton my website.
I'll do it for some of my oldcustomers, but I'm kind of
straying away from that andfocusing solely on pressure
(13:35):
washing, because I truly believeif you get good at one thing,
you master one thing, you studyone thing, you can conquer it
and you can be that guy in yourarea Exactly, and it is.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
It is funny I saw a real.
It was.
I think it was like Andrew Tateor somebody.
So, however you guys thinkabout that, it's kind of that,
the mindset of like that, putyour head down and grind.
And it's like if you want thislifestyle, you have to put your
head down for a decade beforeyou say or complain about
anything and do this, do thework.
And what does it mean by do thework?
It doesn't mean do one thing alittle bit, do one thing a
(14:09):
little bit, do five differentthings in that decade.
Put your head down and grindout on that one thing that you
can be the best in your marketat, and do that for a decade,
and then you're not going to becomplaining about it.
A lot of you guys are in thisbusiness for zero to two years
and it's almost a crapshoot.
Probably for the first fiveyears, like I'm at that point
where I'm this will be like myfourth full season of being full
(14:34):
time, but I've been in it since2019 ish.
So I've I've had like fiveyears in the business completely
and I'm finally feeling like Ihave footing beneath me and like
, if you're stressing out, don'tsweat it, don't try to reinvent
the wheel every six months Likeit's a grind.
Keep your head down and keepplowing forward, because you're
(14:55):
going to have good months,you're going to have bad months,
but overall you're going toaverage out better.
Like our revenues are going tobe about in par with where they
were this last year from 2024 ofjanuary to like end of april,
and I'm looking just at our ouryear to date, from last january
to the date today of last yearto where we are today, and we
(15:16):
were down 42 jobs.
So there's a difference in jobvolume from this year to the
past year, but our revenues areprobably dancing close to close.
So it's like, okay, our revenueis down but our profitability
is up because our job ticketsare up and that's kind of a
natural growth.
We feel a little slower becausewe're not as hectically busy as
(15:37):
we were in the year past.
But we're trying to make itright by keeping our pricing in
that right position where, hey,we can do two jobs and it's
about the same as doing threejobs previously and that's kind
of where you want to, you wantto be at.
And I've noticed just mymarketing approaches have
shifted.
No longer am I posting a lot inthese Facebook groups because I
(15:57):
feel like it's a race to thebottom.
I I'll.
I'll see somebody ask questionwho can wash my house?
And then there's 20 peoplerespond and then I respond and
then they either ghost or theysay can you take $30, $40 off
the price?
And to us that's not worth ourtime.
So we're really focusing on howdo we go from saying a $300 job
(16:19):
that we have to do four times aday or five times a day to how
can we find those $500 ticketsand do two or three of those?
And yeah, we're, we're slowerbecause we're not doing as many
jobs, but our, our revenue andour ticket size is still there.
So the importance of what we'retalking about today is like
knowing your numbers.
Knowing the data like this iswhat's required to have a
(16:42):
healthy business, and when theeconomy dries up a little bit or
when the seasons are slower,it's important to really know
your numbers 100%, especiallyfor your mentality.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Mental game is one of the biggest games in this
business.
And then, obviously, thenumbers.
I truly believe, like you said,you got to have all these
numbers down, you got to have itdocumented.
I think we originally startedback in 23,.
I believe so, maybe 22.
I can't remember when weactually started.
(17:13):
I got tired of dealing with thepen and paper, tired of
fumbling stuff, tired of losingpeople's stuff and losing
customers Because, like we'vesaid before, if you are not
logging all this stuff, what areyou doing?
You're basically pissing awaymoney, because each one of these
customers costs money.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Exactly and by keeping track of your records
you have where you charge thepeople last.
So if somebody was doing thejob for $300 in 2022, throw on
$50, $75, you're kind of bakingin like that market inflation
and market adjustment there.
So those people are eithergoing to say yes and then you
(17:54):
continue and go forward and thenthat's allowing you to make an
extra 75 bucks a job.
And if you're doing three jobs,that's like almost doing
another job.
So you're able to reduce theamount of like almost doing
another job.
So you're able to reduce theamount of jobs you can do by
just kind of raising that ticketprice.
And if the customers push backand hesitate and they're looking
for the cheapest option, well,they might may not be the best
fit going forward.
So you have to be okay withletting people go, because if
(18:17):
they're just price driven,they're going to just go and
find the cheapest option.
And hey, if I'm hiring somebodyto just spray water and clean a
driveway, I may be interestedin the cheapest option.
It may not be the best, bestfit for me, but as a business
owner you have to look anddecide hey, do I want to be a
people pleaser and say yes toeverybody and kind of just go
(18:37):
with whatever people are tryingto push on me?
Or am I trying to be reallyselective and grow my business
and find those customers thatare going to be the most ideal
customers as we go through thecolder months, where we go
through like a slower start tothe season and we do what we can
to like really positionourselves to grow as much as we
can this year?
So it's yeah and another.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Another cool thing um about tracking your numbers is
you can kind of see if you'regetting your money's worth on
your employees.
Like your multi-operationbusiness, like you are, matt,
with different employees, youcan see how many guys, how many
jobs these guys are doing aswell.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Exactly, and if they complain to you and they say,
hey, I need more money, you cansay I'll pay you more money.
This is just what's required,and we do kind of a pay for play
, essentially, where you'regetting compensated based upon
your performance and people.
They like that.
That way it's fully transparentand they say, okay, well, this
is going to be my schedule, thisis how much I'm going to make
(19:36):
this week.
If I need to take a lighter dayon a Thursday, I'll make $150,
$200 less in my paycheck, but Iknow that in advance.
So it kind of helps.
It helps you as the businessowner with figuring out your
numbers to hit your goals, andthen it also helps the employees
you have figure out what theyneed to hit for their personal
(19:56):
goals.
So if they want to take ashorter day, they need to
understand okay, is, is thattrip away worth me making less
paycheck of $200 this week, oris it something that I'll just
do on a weekend?
And that's the thingeverybody's complaining about
money nowadays.
With tracking numbers and withbeing transparent with yourself
(20:17):
and with your employees, you'reable to really say, okay, well,
you want to take two days offthis week.
You're able to really say, okay,well, you want to take two days
off this week.
You're going to get paid $200less or $300 less, is it?
Is it worth it to you?
Are you going to be complainingto me about money?
Or are you going to look andsay, okay, well, I know that I
eat what I kill, just as you do,and this is a transparent way
(20:39):
of doing business, and I alsouse that too with customers try
to push back and they try totake money off the bill.
Oh, can you take 50 bucks off?
I say no, we can't, becausethat not only comes out of my
pocket, that comes out of ouremployees' pockets.
And it's a reframe because thecustomer's thinking I'm trying
to make all the profit and win,but in reality I say, hey, look,
(21:02):
if we're taking $50 off of thisticket, that doesn't come out
of my pockets, only that comesout of my employees pockets.
So it's not fair to my team totake 50 bucks off just because
you want to deal Now, if youwant to deal, there's plenty of
people willing to work forpennies doing this on Facebook.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
And yeah, they're very easy to find, for sure.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Very easy to find because there's a reason that
people start and stop and in thespring, if you're new, you're
seeing what we've seen by beingin business for a few years is
everybody comes out of thewoodworks they buy a pressure
washer.
They say, oh, I can hustle inApril and May and June and
during the summer and I can makea few thousand dollars by doing
(21:40):
$100 house washes.
And those people will always bethere and they will never take
your business.
But don't make sure.
All you got to do is make surethat your business isn't going
after those hundred dollar housewashes.
It's pretty simple.
Like we see in the forums andthe groups, people are
complaining about the $99 guystaking all the business.
It's like why are you goingafter that business?
(22:00):
That business is not yourbusiness and it's.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Yeah, that was one of the things.
One of the mistakes I madeearly on was worried about
competition, but best thing Iever did was put my head on
straight, look straight forwardand worry about myself, and once
I started doing that, I startedto take off.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Yep, you're focusing on what you can control and
you're focusing on the directionyou want to go and that's where
you go.
If you're focusing below andyou're looking at people beneath
you undercharging you, notinsured, no equipment you're
going to go down with them.
If you're focused on guys aheadof you, you're going to, you're
going to go up with them andeverybody's going to grow
together.
So you pick that's the greatthing about the Wash Bros
(22:40):
podcast yep, it's pretty coolbecause we can see guys who will
listen to the show, they'llcomment the implement and then
they follow up and they're like,oh actually, this actually
worked.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
It's like shocker that always feels great yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
So it's one of those deals.
If you, if you're thinking itand you're feeling it, you're
not the only one.
It's Clay's been through it,I've been through it.
You're not the only one.
Clay's been through it, I'vebeen through it.
All you guys who are listening,I've been through it and it's
not a solo sport.
So don't isolate yourself anddon't stress out and don't get
stuck in the doom scrolling onFacebook.
Listen to the podcast, followthe group we have, join that
(23:18):
Wash Bros group, and try tonetwork and connect with
like-minded people in here,because you never know, when
somebody says something, it'llresonate the right way with you.
You implement it and it reallychanges your season and the
direction of your business.
And that's what worked with meand Clay and that's why we have
our show and that's why we haveour friendship.
So I mean it's super importantnot to get stuck in these little
(23:39):
isolation booths of fear and oh, we're slow.
What do we do?
Like, oh, it's the economy,like the tariffs or all this
nonsense, and you just keep yourhead down.
Like Clay says, focus on whatyou can control and keep going
forward, and then you look backand then you're killing it.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
The biggest thing is I see a lot of people I mean I'm
guilty of it early on is youstart struggling and then you
start looking for things toblame it on, like just blaming
it on the world stuff going onin the world that does have a
little bit impact.
But if you're consistently doingwhat you're doing, continuing
to continually trying to betteryourself, continually trying to
(24:18):
better your business, doing thethings to be proactive and just
keeping your head down, focusing, analyzing these numbers, like
we're talking about, make sureyou're documenting everything,
everything that you're.
You need to be documenting howmuch you're spending with
Facebook, how much you'respending with whatever marketing
tool or platform you're usingand if it's not working, figure
(24:41):
out what we need to do to makeit work.
Stop just looking and saying,oh well, it's the weather, well,
it's the whatever thepresident's doing or these
tariffs are messing.
That has a little bit of animpact.
Don't let me confuse that.
But if you get in the rightmentality of focusing and saying
, ok, I can do this, I can makemy business better, I can do
(25:05):
whatever I need to do to makethis work, then you will be in a
better state as far as the longrun.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Exactly.
And if and if you look at, weare rewarded in this world via
economics by like the value weprovide to the marketplace.
And if we're just whiny andbitchy like everybody else out
there, we're not providing anypositive value.
We're actually losing value.
So people are viewing us aslike oh, this is just another
guy, this is another hack, thisis another guy who's just
(25:34):
whining and complaining and hewon't be here in a couple of
years.
But if you keep your head down,like Clay and I say, and have
that positive mindset and say,okay, I'm going to let stuff
just roll off my back and keepmoving forward, and whether it's
the economy, the president,whether it's the weather,
whatever these nonsense issuesare, we just keep plowing
(25:55):
forward.
And then, before you know it,you get traction.
And then you get success.
You get word of mouth andpeople say, hey, I respect the
grind, You've been at it for awhile.
And then it catches up to you.
And then you get to a positionwhere you're no longer stressing
about am I busy or am I slow it.
And then you get to a positionwhere you're no longer stressing
about am I busy or am I slow.
It becomes okay.
How's the health of my business.
Like you analyze your numbers,you say, okay, our business may
(26:17):
be less jobs this year, butwe're able to add more profit
with these jobs.
We have better opportunitiescome to us.
We're not stuck chasing allthese $200, $300 house washes
that we used to a couple yearsago.
That kept our schedule filledand busy.
We're doing bigger projectswe're working for like
(26:37):
universities, we're doing biggercommercial jobs and that's
really what's moving the needlein your business.
And if you're sitting herewithout that data and the
clarity, you're going to bestressed out because you're like
, oh man, I see these guysposting the same 10 houses every
day that they're washing, but Idon't know if they're doing
good or doing bad.
They just look busy and I'm notbusy.
So I'm stressed out.
Like you got to look deep intoyourself and deep into your
(26:58):
company and look at your numbersand say, okay, well, this is
what I'm doing.
I may be like the objective isto be more efficient in business
.
The objective is to say, howcan I do the same money for less
work?
How can I do more money forless work?
And then that's how you'remaximizing your business out.
So, like, as stuff shifts, yougot to be creative.
You got to come up with waysand say, okay, my business is
(27:20):
really efficient at doing thistype of cleaning.
I'm really good at cleaning HOAtownhomes.
I'm really good at cleaningcolleges.
I'm really good at cleaningparking garages.
How can I double down on thatand try to be the best at that,
as opposed to how am I trying tochase gutter cleaning?
How am I trying to chaseoxidation removal?
How am I trying to chasewhatever I see going on on
(27:40):
social media that looks likethat guy's making money and I'm
stressed out because I'm notbusy.
Clay and I both focus on thethings that we can control on
and the things that we'reefficient and good at, and we're
really laser focused on gettingthose jobs.
We're not too worried aboutwhat the new guy down the
street's doing, who's chasingall these services, and I think
(28:01):
that comes with maturity,absolutely.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
And, like I said before, social media can be like
your worst enemy.
A lot of people claim to bepeople that are not on the
internet.
Anybody can be anybody peoplethat are not on the internet.
Anybody can be anybody.
They want to be on the internet.
They can do $3 million a yearas a pressure washing company on
the internet but are theyreally, you know?
So a lot of people are justgood at marketing, making
themselves look bigger than theyreally are.
(28:25):
You know making, making youfeel like you're not doing
anything.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Exactly Don't let don't let people's egos get
ahead of them and and affect you.
And, like Clay and I, we dosimilar things but we do
different things.
Like there's areas where hekicks butt at that I'm not
competitive in and I said, hey,run with that a hundred percent.
Like there's reasons that, likeI have teams doing things and
(28:52):
then he's he's, he's runningthat, knocking it out of the
park at seven, 30 in the morningand being done by 12.
And I'm like I'm I'm good, it'slike I'm not every day.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
I wish I was every day.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Yeah, yeah.
But like, there's differentthings that I don't want to
compete with you at because youare way better at it than I am.
So it's like, how do I figureout what are my strengths and
kind of build a team, build mybusiness around that, so it's
not killing me, so it's notsetting myself up to like lose
to you if I'm competing likehead to head on that and find
that with, like, if you'rebeating yourself up over
(29:25):
something because you're tryingto compete with somebody else,
you can change your approach.
You don't have to necessarilyfollow exactly that blueprint
that somebody's saying.
If you're watching guys onYouTube say, hey, I'm making
$5,000 for a house wash by mycourse.
Like, you don't have to do that, that's not everybody.
There's no problem going downthe street and doing a $300
(29:47):
townhome community and beinghappy with that.
Like, find what works with youand find your peace.
And that all comes down toknowing your numbers Because,
like we've mentioned before,like I've done commercial jobs
where we make $10,000 and ittakes three days and it takes me
six months to get paid and atthe end of the day I'm like this
is not even worth it, orthere's costs associated with
(30:08):
certain things or I got to payfor a lift, or I got to pay for
a lift, or I got to pay for thisor like the downtime of my guys
not in the field doingresidential.
Like when you start lookinginto your numbers and you start
really analyzing your businessfor what it is, you stop caring
so much about the influences ofsocial media or the influences
of what you're seeing yourfriends do and you can like just
double down and focus on whatyou're doing and that's how you
(30:30):
become a successful business.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Absolutely, 100% agree.
Make sure you're analyzing yourdata tracking numbers, knowing
when it's slow, knowing whenit's busy.
Try to get rid of that pen andpaper.
Know the important things, likemarketing your business and
knowing the important numbers.
Not down, like Matt said, it'sall a number game.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
And it's okay to be bored with your business.
I know Clay and I will talk andhe's like man, I'm like getting
really good at this and likethat's the objective, isn't it
Like in the beginning.
It's the struggle, it's thehustle, it's the grind, we're
like rolling that boulder up themountain and then you get to
the point where you're gettingreally good at it and you're
like you know what?
Like this isn't as difficultand as hard and as challenging
(31:12):
and it's like so much of like anexciting thing as it used to be
, because, hey, we're efficient,we're good at it.
That doesn't mean ourbusinesses are failing.
That means that we're gettingbetter at what we do.
So don't get don't get stuck onthat trap of like it's no longer
as like a grind and exciting asit was in that first year or
first two years, and be okay,look at your numbers and say,
(31:32):
okay, it's gonna require lesseffort if I wanna maintain this,
I'm cool with this, I'm able toget more of a lifestyle out of
it, or I can double down, I canreinvest and I can grow my
business.
So like the beauty of whatwe're doing is we can kind of
set the pace to whatever we haveand that's kind of something
that I'll go in and out of,because if you're sitting here
(31:54):
and you're like I have memoriesof the past, of the grind of sun
up to sun down, and then, asyou're in business longer and
say you have teams or you'remore efficient, you're like if I
can knock out the same revenuedoing half the jobs, or I have a
team doing it, I'm not going tofeel as stressed, I'm not going
to feel as satisfied, I'm notgoing to feel as like satisfied
with the day's work than if,than than me doing it back in
(32:16):
the day all solo, because it waslike I was so busy, I was so
stressed.
As you get better, you get moresystems in place, it gets
boring and it's okay to feelthat way.
So that's just kind of another,another side of the coin,
whereas, like, we're looking atour numbers and I'm saying, okay
, like, should we be stressed?
Our job tickets or our jobnumber of jobs are down.
(32:38):
Well, the percent growth isthere, based upon the amount of
jobs we've done, and the seasonhasn't really hit yet.
So, like it'll come and like,if I didn't have all that data,
we didn't have all the numbersor we didn't have the insights
of like years in the past, wewould be stressed out, thinking,
oh my gosh, like is it doom andgloom?
Like the economy, or all thenews, or or all these 99 guys
(33:02):
killing my market?
So, like it's just thinkthere's multiple, multiple
things that you should bethinking of to get yourself
through tough times and slowtimes, and it gets better as you
go the middle state could killyou 100 and uh, I've been there,
I've been depressed, I've youknow, trying to figure out what
am I doing wrong.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
But that's just part of entrepreneurship yep, yep,
and it's always changing.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
And that's what growth comes in.
Like you hear, you hear growth,personal growth, and it's one
of those things.
Like you won't be ready forthat next level until, like, the
better version of yourselfappears.
And that's something that'shard to, it's hard to hear
because you kind of have toexperience and grow into it.
And it's like you're not readyfor that next thing until until
(33:49):
you level up as a person and youdon't know when it happens.
And then one day you wake up asa person and you don't know
when it happens.
And then one day you wake upand you just have like an
epiphany moment and you say, oh,that makes sense.
And then, like a floodgate opensup and then stuff comes in.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
So it's it's weird how that works, it's very weird
how it is, whether you want tocall it the universe, you want
to call it God.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
It's like God's not gonna he's not ever gonna leave
you in a situation where you'renot prepared for it.
You're just in the lesson tobuild yourself to that man.
You need to be to to receivethat lesson.
And don't view lessons asdefeat.
View them as just a part of thechapter, because I agree with
that.
100 like stuff just comes toclay and I now, whereas like
(34:28):
years ago we would.
We wouldn't even know how to goabout it, but we weren't ready,
it would just ruin our dayExactly, especially mine.
Yeah, but that's all growth.
And then you look back andyou're like, oh, this stuff is
just normal, it's a normal dayin the life, so just comes with
time.
So have patience.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Yeah, we all deal with the same things, we can
assure you.
Yeah, we all deal with the samethings.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
We can assure you, no doubt.
But we're at our what are we?
35-minute mark.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
So you got any closing statements or anything
you'd like to talk about.
Well, I just like I say Ireally think this is really
important.
This subject it's really been asuccess of my business really
helped me understand my business, really helped me understand
the seasons of my business,knowing when I can do vacation,
knowing when to give my wife aheads up.
(35:19):
I think communication with yourfamily is very important when
it comes to this.
It's something that I'velearned over the few years that
I've done this.
I can, like I say, communicatewith my family and be like, okay
, I may be busy for a few weeks,this is what's going to happen.
Try to be less on the schedulefor me.
That way it helps me outmentally, whatever.
(35:39):
And then they're mentallyprepared as well.
Like, okay, dad's told us thathe's working for the next few
weeks.
He's going to be working hardand he'll he'll be there when we
need him, but he's going to bea little busy and maybe a little
tired.
But, uh, I think that's veryimportant.
Communicate with your family,um, especially if, uh, you're
(36:00):
busy as busy as I am anyway, um,and then, just like I say, huge
part of success for yourbusiness.
If you want to be successful.
You'll find a way to get that.
Crm.
Me and and matt, we both usehouse call pro highly recommend
doing whatever it takes, maybespeaking with an agent.
Um, with house call pro, theycan tell you what you need.
Tell them you listen to thewash bros.
They that we recommended,recommended you and, um, yeah, I
(36:24):
think that's uh, I think Ithink this is a great episode.
Um, hopefully, everybody that'slistening can uh take away from
what we had to say today.
And, uh, make sure you followus on YouTube.
Uh, join our wash bros groupand the Facebook group.
It's called the wash bros.
Uh, the Facebook group iscalled the wash bros.
And then you have, um, the washbros podcast page where you can
(36:47):
see all of our content, all ofour reels and stuff like that.
You can follow Matt MatthewJackson on Facebook, his
personal page.
He posts some stuff there.
And then my page, clay Smith.
Matt owns Matt the driveway guy.
You can follow his businesspage.
And I own C3 Wash Pros.
You can follow my business page.
We're on every platform you canthink of.
And then one last thing Iforgot I am the pressure washer
(37:11):
guru on TikTok, so give me afollow, give me a shout.
Appreciate all you guyslistening.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
And if you guys want to buy some awesome surface
cleaners and turbo tips Clay'syour guy on his TikTok store.
He's been killing that game.
And yeah, if you guys want freecontent or free learning stuff,
(37:36):
go to the powerwashingcoachcomwebsite.
You can also check out thepressure washing book I have on
Amazon.
We're over 300 reviews on thisthing In our Facebook page.
There's a free link to the PDF.
There's also a free audio bookonline too.
So if you guys want thepaperback, you can buy it on
Amazon.
If you like it, give us areview there.
That helps us stay in the topof the search.
If you're searching likepressure washing book on Amazon
(37:59):
and we're working on likeredoing our Power Washing Coach
website, trying to put like somematerial up there coursing make
it more simple, as we havepeople who follow and like our
page.
It's just easier for us tocommunicate directly if we can
kind of put everything on onepage, and I was trying to get an
Amazon store set up for merch,but I'm going to do a
print-on-demand service, so staytuned.
(38:21):
We'll get some cool shirts andstuff here in the future, but if
that's everything, make sure togive us a follow.
Like Clay said, follow uspersonally.
Follow our pages and we'll seeyou on the next one.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
Peace out, guys.
See you guys.
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