February 23, 2025 • 34 mins
Have you ever pushed yourself to the brink of burnout chasing financial success? We share candid stories from our entrepreneurial journey when the relentless pursuit of growth overshadowed the importance of self-care. Listen as we unpack strategies to reclaim balance, set boundaries, and utilize tools like the "Do Not Disturb" feature to fend off the constant bombardment of notifications. This episode promises insights into the real costs of glorifying overwork and offers practical advice on safeguarding your mental and physical well-being amidst the chaos of peak season.
Navigating business ownership can be a minefield of stress and setbacks, but with a supportive partner and clear personal goals, you can avoid common pitfalls like burnout and strained relationships. We discuss the dangers of unhealthy comparisons and the power of defining a path that aligns with your unique aspirations. You'll hear about our own experiences with managing expectations and the critical role of self-care and community support in achieving both personal and professional success.
Our conversation extends to the world of pressure washing, highlighting the importance of understanding business trends and planning for sustainable success. We explore the art of balancing work and family life, offering perspectives on setting a lasting example for future generations. With the launch of the Wash Bros Group, a new online community for pressure washers, we invite you to join us in fostering industry connections and sharing insights. Whether you're an industry veteran or just starting out, this episode offers valuable strategies to maintain long-term success and well-being.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Matt Jackson (00:05):
Hey, hey, hey.
(00:34):
What's up guys?
It is Matt Jackson, clay Smithand we are the Washburns.
Welcome to episode three of oursecond season, and for this one
, we're going to be talkingabout balancing our work-life
balance with the busy season andhow to manage our stress and
our emotions during the season,because it's pretty hectic and
usually when the season's here,you barely have enough time to
(00:56):
breathe.
So what we do as individuals toprevent burnout and to stay
fresh as we continuously growour businesses and be consistent
.
So you ready to kick this oneoff, clay?
Clay Smith (01:08):
Let's do it.
So the balance in life and workto prevent burnout during peak
season very important.
A lot of things that peopledon't really think about,
especially starting out, becauseI know that that's not
something I thought about evenwhen I started.
I was just focused on the moneyI need to get the money I want
to be a millionaire tomorrowtype thing.
And the biggest thing is wedon't realize we need to focus
(01:30):
on ourselves more than we do thebusiness.
The business is important.
Taking care of your family isimportant, but also you need to
make sure you're taking care ofyourself in the meantime.
Matt Jackson (01:41):
Absolutely.
Yeah, I started the same way andI started it as a side hustle,
so I was kind of used to like,oh, I have to grind myself, I
have to grind my way out of mycorporate job and then you get
used to working two jobs, soit's one of those things you get
used to never turn it off andthen you're just like push, push
, push, but three, four yearsdown the road like if you're
continuously doing that youmight be starting to experience
burnout and you're not puttingyour best self forward and being
(02:04):
there for yourself, yourbusiness.
But not only those two things,but your family, which is we
both have families.
We got kid, I have a kid, youhave kids, and then we're both
married.
So it's like you can be on yourown Island, hustle, hustle,
hustle, 24, seven, like nottaking care of yourself, and
then your wife is upset, yourkids are upset.
Uh, that's just added stressorsto your life that you don't
need.
Uh, because it's stressfulenough to grow a business,
(02:26):
especially businesses that arereally hectic like the ones that
we're in 100.
Clay Smith (02:32):
So, like when I was in the sales industry, in the
car sales industry, I would workand never, honestly, sometimes
not even take a day off.
It wasn't physically demanding,but it was mentally demanding.
So there comes a time where yougot to learn to turn your
brains your brain off too,because I mean, like mine,
believe it or not, it still goeson if I don't, if I let it.
(02:53):
So the biggest thing is putyour phone down, turn your phone
off, put it on do not disturb.
I know that I have the option,I know that you use yours
because I see it all the time.
But, um, I that's.
That's.
The biggest key for me is I cannever get away from work and
when it's time for me to turnwork off, I always make sure I
use that.
That's the best thing thatiPhone ever come out with was
(03:14):
that do not disturb button.
So basically, I will not getanything.
You know, because a lot ofpeople, if you have the systems
in place, like we do, they go toyour website, they go on Google
, they go wherever and fill outa web, you know a lead on your
website and you get thosenotifications.
Well, hell, all you're thinkingabout is oh crap, I gotta get
this job.
I gotta get this job, I gottaget this job.
(03:34):
You never turn your brain off.
All you're thinking about isthat you're stuck in your phone
and, before you know it, it's 10, 11 o'clock at night.
It's time to go to bed exactly.
Matt Jackson (03:42):
And then you're not able to be fresh for the
next day, you're not really ableto sleep that good that night,
and even if you think, oh, I'mfine, I don't need to do this
like every guru talks about,like waking up at 5 am and
hustle, hustle, hustle yeah,that's great.
But like when you've provedyourself in a business and
you're in a stable, stablesituation where, like, you're
not going to fail at this point,it's's up to you to like, just
(04:03):
as we maintain our equipment andour machines, to maintain our
bodies and ourself and our mindand our spirit.
So it's like I see it a lot onthe Facebook groups.
Or I see it a lot with guysthat I know and they like hit it
so hard, so aggressively, andthen, five years down the road,
they're doing somethingcompletely different because
they're like, oh man, I just, Ijust can't do it.
Or like I got divorced, or likeI got injured or something like
(04:24):
that.
They're not, they're not reallymaking sure that they're set up
for the long run of their ownsuccess, whether it be like
their mental health or theirphysical and stuff like that.
And then you see, guys too,they'll, they'll wear, like, the
lack of mental health as abadge of honor, of like oh, look
at me, like I work so hard,like I put myself to the ringer
and at the end of the day it'slike cool, bro, but like don't
(04:45):
kill yourself here.
Like, if you want tocontinuously level up and grow
and not hit these barriers thatwe put on ourselves, you got to
really focus on taking care ofyourself first and then, like
you say clay, put stuff in likewe got our uh, like when, when
we're getting our leads, we wefigure out like how can I give
myself time and how can I likeschedule out my own time and
(05:05):
peace during the day?
So I'm not just responding toconstant stimulation of like
quote requests, customerrequests, facebook notification.
And I've learned that I had toget a virtual assistant to help
delegate stuff.
So my phone is routed throughlike ring central, which is a
voice over ip system, so I can,if I want to enter the phone, I
can, but if not, my virtualassistant's going to pick it up.
And I've also learned to timeblock stuff where like hey,
(05:30):
certain hours I'm going to workand answer my phone and talk to
customers, but other hours it'sgoing to go straight to the
virtual assistant and if it'snecessary I'll hop in and get it
.
But more times than not I thinkwe hold ourselves to a standard
that's not necessary for ourbusiness to run smoothly and
efficiently, and we almost belike that choke point in our
business by trying to doeverything ourselves and not
(05:52):
having the ability to delegate,which is what I've learned.
To make my mental health apriority is to delegate.
Clay Smith (06:01):
Right, yeah, I mean, and your family sees it, they
see you eventually, you know,especially starting out, and
that's that's the whole thingwith with while we're talking
about this, and it may besomebody that's that's four year
, four year, five years inthey're doing it part-time with
a full-time job.
This is not something that youthink about or see, especially
when you get busy and as youcontinue to grow your business.
(06:23):
I think that we, we picked ourbusiness up pretty, pretty, uh,
pretty fast in the in the fouror five years that we've done it
, we do a lot of volume.
So obviously that's a lot ofwork, a lot of moving pieces, a
lot of things you're thinkingabout and it's very important.
Like I know, a lot of peoplementally just can't do it.
Eventually, when you get thestage that we're at, you just
can't do it.
And luckily I had theexperience with dealing with a
(06:44):
high volume type demanding jobbefore this and it grew me to do
this and it's really nothing.
It's just the fact of I'mspending more time with my
family.
But now I have to learn to.
When I'm at home, when I havemy free time to catch up on them
office things, I have to kindof delegate what when I'm doing
it, because if I'm alwaysworking, then what good is it?
(07:07):
You know we all go out and we'reself-employed for a reason.
We have businesses.
For a reason we go out and wedon't work for Uncle Sam anymore
.
For that reason.
You know we don't work for yourregular job.
We don't have a regular job.
We do this for a little bit offreedom and a lot of guys quit
their regular jobs for thefreedom.
(07:27):
But you never get the freedomand then they can't figure out
how to get away from being stuckin it all the time, so they
just go back to regular jobs.
So I think it's very important.
You gotta.
You gotta know when to put yourwork aside from the family,
because the family I mean ittakes a mental toll on you and
then your family has to dealwith the consequences of it.
Matt Jackson (07:42):
Exactly If you're like a small business owner,
you're literally like married toyour business, so it's your
wife's like, you're married tome, we have a family together,
but you're also married and havea family with your business.
So it's important that you'renot prioritizing that business
in the eyes of your family andyour wife, where she's going to
get resentful, or you're justgoing to run into issues where,
like, you're both on the samepage because, like in the
(08:04):
beginning, the first couple ofyears is like, oh yeah, I'm so
excited, proud of you, babe,like you're killing it, I'm
proud of you.
But what are you going to do,like four years in, when you're
you've got a multiple six figurebusiness and she's like well,
is this going to be the newnormal?
And like I think it's all.
Like I'm just prioritizingphone calls, I'm prioritizing
the business, I'm prioritizingwork, and then you're going to
(08:33):
hit that limit and you're eithergoing to not accept, like, okay
, I have to figure out how todelegate things and I have to
figure out how to like keep mylife in check and prioritize my
mental health and my likeemotional health, or I'll never
get past this point.
And then to me that was kind ofa hard, like a hard pill to
swallow, because, like you and Iare both the same.
We like the OCD, like, hey, we,we wanted to run this way.
Nobody's going to run as goodas us.
(08:54):
But then you hit that thresholdand I think this year you're
going to find out that thresholdwhere you're just so slammed
that you're like I, I have tolike, allow people to come in
and have another truck on theroad all the time and then have
somebody help me with the phonesand stuff like that.
Otherwise there's a limitedtime of day and you don't want
to sacrifice yourself aboveeverything else.
(09:15):
And then it reflects in yourjob and then you burn yourself
out and your business is burningitself down and it's doing
nobody any good.
Clay Smith (09:23):
Yeah, that burnout comes quick.
I think I went 20 somethingdays last year without even
taking a day off and I just Iliterally was working and I was
so burnt out.
I called my wife, said hey, I'mbooking a cruise I'll let you
know what date it is.
and we ended up going on acruise a few days because I just
had to separate myself from theeverything going on.
I had to get away for just afew days.
That's all I needed so I couldreset my mind, and that that I
(09:45):
mean it's real.
Um, especially when you'reoverwhelmed work's coming in,
the phone calls are nonstop, thequotes are nonstop.
You're watching the house.
You're getting phone calls leftand right.
They don't stop.
You're having to enter in alltheir information, cause if you
don't, you're going to forgetabout it.
You're going to have toremember to do those quotes.
When you get a minute anddefinitely got to take care of
yourself, Burnout comes quick.
(10:06):
You definitely don't want toget to where you hate it,
because then you're not going todo good quality work for your
customers and then you're just Imean, you're not doing any good
for yourself at all whatsoever.
Eventually it's going to allcatch up to you.
Matt Jackson (10:17):
Exactly.
And everybody starts out likedoughy-eyed, like I have this
dream.
I have like an entrepreneur,I'm doing my own business.
This is freedom, this is like Ican control and do what I want
to do.
And if you don't allow yourselfto like, prioritize yourself
first, you're not going to haveany control or freedom and it's
going to be way more of a prisonthat you built for yourself
(10:37):
than just working in anine-to-five job where, yeah,
your boss may suck, but for 40hours a week you just have to
tolerate for that.
You're not having to to carryit for your entire like waking
hours, pretty much, and then gohome and think about it, and
then your wife's not able tospend time with you and your
kids aren't there.
So, like you hit a point.
I think too, like where you'remaking enough, where you're like
(10:59):
, okay, I'm comfortable at thislevel, I'm not going to kill
myself like crossing this line,because you could just pour all
the money in the world intoGoogle ads or social media ads
and just crank it up and say I'mgoing to just obliterate it
this year, but what's the costof that?
You don't want to say, oh, Imade so much money but I had a
(11:19):
nervous breakdown or I ran intohealth issues or you could get
divorced.
It's funny I my previous life Iactually I was married, not for
very long, but I got divorced,and a lot of that was due to me
being focused so much on growingmy business, whereas, like I
was prioritizing my businessover everything.
So, going forward, like my lifenow, I've always like created a
(11:41):
boundary there because I say,okay, know what that
relationship wasn't supposed towork out.
However, going forward, I won'tallow that to be a chance in
this one and this is a very realthing.
Like you see, guys in theindustry, they'll post something
and they're like I'm killing ithustle, hustle, hustle my
business and then all of asudden, it's like feel sorry for
me, I got divorced.
Well, what did you do to allowyourself to be in a position to
(12:03):
get divorced?
Clay Smith (12:05):
Yeah, I think it's very important If you're married
, if you're in that engagementstage, if you're in the
pre-engagement stage.
You just need to lay it all outthere and make sure that you
guys both have an understandingof what's going on and what you
both think is important, becauseyou definitely got to be on the
same page If it wasn't for mywife I mean, there's no telling
(12:27):
what all I'd have been throughand you know where I'd be right
now but she definitely hashelped me out a lot.
She's not very business savvy,but you know what I mean.
She's a good support system andthat's something I believe that
anybody needs, especially withhigh stress, strong top business
type thing.
I don't care who you are, it'sstressful being a business owner
.
There's always going to besomething.
When it's good, it's great, butwhen it's bad, it's terrible.
Matt Jackson (12:51):
Very much so.
Yeah, and that's true.
It's like just because theydon't have that like business
acumen doesn't mean they're nota valuable resource to have in
your corner.
If anything, it's probably goodbecause you're not like talking
business with them all the time, like you can turn your brain
off and be present and be likein a completely different
emotion than say, oh, let's talkabout business when we're
together.
Clay Smith (13:12):
Oh yeah, it's awesome.
I mean, everybody's got thatsame story.
They had a regular job, theywere broke and they had a dream
and they started a business andthen they had a success, and I
think that's what I see.
A lot of the repetitive typestuff on the other podcast is,
and we're all about the same.
You know, it's all about howmuch effort you want to put into
it, how much you want to buildand how much you want to grow
and what your goals are grow andwhat your goals are Like.
(13:37):
I want to be retired when I'm40 years old, so I got some work
to do, but that's a goal that Ihave, you know.
So it's all about how hard youwant to work and what your goals
are in life.
Matt Jackson (13:44):
Exactly.
And and that's why, like, ifyou're just blindly following
people on social media or indifferent businesses, whether
it's like hey, this is the guydown the street, like everybody
has a different goal, so youshouldn't be like, oh, I, I feel
less because I'm not doing whatthat guy's doing, you're not
seeing what's going on, like inbetween his ears, whether it's
like mental health or likewhat's his family life like, or
like it's just, some people aredifferent stages of life.
(14:06):
I was a different stage of lifewhen I was like single.
Then now, when I'm married andI have a son at home, and it's
like not fair for my wife for meto be like on that constant
grind where I'm out of the houseall the time when she has a job
too and we're juggling raisingour son.
So it's not, I'm not out there.
Like pounding my chest saying,oh, I'm going to be like gone 12
(14:26):
, 14 hours a day because itwould be worse.
It would be worse than having asuccessful business is like hey
, not having having, not beingthe dad to your kid at the end
of the day, it's like your, yourkid doesn't care if you're
doing those extra jobs, he'smore just trying to spend time
with you and your wife.
You don't want your wife toleave you for the amazon guy
(14:47):
yeah, right, because the amazonguy comes to my house way too
many times yeah, the kid and thekids they notice it too.
Clay Smith (14:54):
Man, they notice it especially.
You know, mine are eight, eightand five now.
They'll be nine and six thisyear, so they definitely notice
it.
They know that I'm all aboutpressure washing.
They see, they notice whatyou're doing, how you're doing
it, the things you're saying, um, and they know what's important
.
You know, when they're olderthey'll understand a little more
, but um definitely want to makean impact on them while they're
(15:16):
kids, because that childhoodman I remember a lot of a lot of
the main stuff when I was a kidand what my parents went
through as business ownersthemselves.
Matt Jackson (15:24):
So I think that's cool.
Like you're.
You say like your parents werebusiness owners before and then
you can be the same version,pretty much, to your own kids
and like, lead them with, likethe lessons that you've learned
from them slash like how you'vegrown and what you know now, so
like you're putting your kids ona pedestal even greater than
what you had.
Clay Smith (15:41):
It's like third generation right there well,
it's like uh, my oldest camehome with his report card the
other day he had a's and b's hehad one b, which was math.
I'm not even if he had an f, Iwouldn't even be mad at that,
because I sucked at math.
But anyway, he had a, b in mathand he had like a 98 and three
of his scores were perfecthundreds.
So I feel like if you set thoseexpectations when they're young
(16:04):
, all you're doing is settingthem up for success.
Matt Jackson (16:07):
Exactly.
Clay Smith (16:08):
Yeah, way to go, son .
I could never do that Right.
Matt Jackson (16:13):
Yeah, I mean and that's true that they see that
you're pushing and driving andsuccessful and that's a value
that's important to you, likehard work.
They're going to want to like,hey, that's, that's my dad's my
hero.
I want to do what he doesbecause he's my hero.
So you're setting that goodexample and by being a business
owner, like you said, yeah,you're working a lot of hours,
but we're able to be at homewith our families more than hey.
(16:34):
I'm working a lot of hours in adesk in an office somewhere
where my kids can't see it.
Clay Smith (16:40):
Oh, the desk in the office sucks too, man.
Hey, I tell you, the first yearin pressure washing, after
sitting at a desk for five, six,seven years, I was just like I
was so exhausted, my body was sosore and, believe it or not, I
mean you would think, going froma regular job to doing this, I
was, uh, would be a little morestressed out, but it was
(17:01):
actually less stress.
I was more stressed at myregular job than I was on in the
business.
So, uh, actually I went fromsmoking a pack of cigarettes a
day to nothing.
So, uh, but very slowly aboutthe second year in business I
finally got to quit.
But uh, definitely, you know,when you start getting out there
, spending more time with yourfamily and have the freedom, you
(17:21):
start thinking about stuff andyour physical health, your
mental health and stuff likethat.
So, and I put on a littleweight since then, since I quit
smoking.
Matt Jackson (17:28):
So well, you're the daddy, so you got to be a
little thick I know that's rightyeah, I'm still small though,
but uh, my wife gives me hellabout it.
Clay Smith (17:37):
But anyway, yeah, the, the preventing burnout man,
I think I mean all of it'simportant, but the burnout, the
burnout, I think, is the mostimportant, just because if you
burn out, you're done like itonce.
It's caught up to you.
It's caught up to you I, it'scaught up to you.
I think there was a day that Iactually got dehydrated.
It was a few years ago justbeing stupid, just trying to get
(18:00):
work done, not taking care ofmyself, not taking that 10,
15-minute break to hydratemyself.
Now I've gotten to the pointwhere I'll drink one of those
big bottles.
I'll spend $100, $200 onPedialyte that every week and
just keep myself hydrated, anduh, that's just a little tip tip
that I do to stay hydrated whenit's a hundred degrees outside.
(18:21):
I'll drink one with ice atnight and then I'll take one
with me during the day and, uh,I don't even feel the heat.
Matt Jackson (18:29):
Heck, yeah, that's .
I mean that's it's importantbecause I mean I I had health
issues this past year that likealmost killed me.
So it's important to uh, takecare of yourself.
And it's like it's like a man ahealthy man has like a million
wishes, but a sick man only hasone.
It's like to to get healthy.
So, whether that's a physicalillness or a mental illness, a
(18:51):
lot of guys like you like wesuffer like on this self-imposed
stress for no reason at all andit's like why are we setting
these huge expectations onourselves and over our heads?
And it's like kind of a silentbattle that affects a lot of us
men and I feel like in thebusiness owner community it's
really prevalent because it'slike, oh, I'm going to do this,
this is going to be like I'mforging my own path here, but we
(19:13):
isolate ourselves and then weget stuck in our own head and
then, like before you know it,you're like I'm I'm getting to
the stage of burnout or I'mdrinking too much alcohol to
calm down at night and stufflike that.
So like how you say you like youyou'll hit these points and
then you'll like I'm going tobook a cruise and then you'll do
like a week cruise in theCaribbean and then you come back
super fresh.
Meanwhile that guy who didn'ttake that week off is just kind
(19:36):
of dragging his ass to the restof the season and you're able to
hit it really strong.
So it's important that you'reable to like notice, hey, I'm at
that point, like I'm a hustler,I'm.
I'm at that point where I couldkeep pushing, but it's best for
me to not to recharge and thento hit it hard again.
Clay Smith (19:53):
Well, the coolest thing about the longer you're in
business, you see the trends ofbusiness.
You know what's going to bebusy, you know what's going to
be slow.
You know what it's going to bekind of uh, just kind of.
You know what I mean.
Just kind of right there in themiddle, um, where it's kind of
chill for a minute and thenit'll get back busy again.
You just see the trends.
You have the data from the pastfew years that you've been in
business.
You're actually able to knowwhen you when do things.
(20:14):
So what I do is I try to plan myyear out Like, okay, january,
the first three weeks of January, I know there's not going to be
shit going on, so I'm going totake a vacation and take it easy
and do whatever I need to do.
Then there's nothing at allgoing on, it's crickets.
So during the spring, what I'mgoing to do is I'm going to work
my ass off.
I'm going to work my ass off.
(20:34):
I'm going to put a bunch ofmoney back to get ready for that
winter all the way through theyear, starting in the spring.
You're going to do as much ofthat as you can during the
spring and in the summertime.
End of May, beginning of June,you're dealing with graduation,
so nobody's really thinkingabout you.
So it's going to be kind ofchill, still going to be busy,
but it's going to be chill.
Then June is a pretty goodmonth.
(20:55):
July, it's pretty decent.
Then at the end of July,everybody's getting ready for
school.
Beginning of August,everybody's getting ready for
school it's chill.
And then you know just a trend.
See, I know it off the top ofmy head, just because I've been
through it, I know what toexpect.
But the biggest thing is Ithink that where me and you see
the most success is, we focusmainly on pressure washing.
(21:15):
Find that one good, goodservice that you can do, that
you can ace, that you're reallygood at and that you can
structurally structure yourbusiness.
Structurally structure yourbusiness where you can structure
your business numbers wise to,where you can be successful,
where you can make your moneyand where you can set yourself
up for winter.
And then, once you've done that, you just do exactly what I
(21:38):
told you take the first threeweeks of january off and then
focus on the spring.
Like I said in the last episode, in the spring you're getting
ready, you're prepping yourselffor the winter and then the
winter, you're prepping yourselffor the spring.
Matt Jackson (21:48):
So if you could do both of those and figure out
how you can do both of thosesuccessfully, you're gonna have
a successful business, andthat's my secret formula exactly
and and just by knowing thatand knowing, hey, look, I don't
have to like run around like achicken with my head cut off to
try to make money or I'm notgonna make it.
Like it's just having a planand by having a plan you're not
(22:09):
just relying on like that hustleand grind.
And then that's when we get inour heads and it's funny, funny,
like cause you see pressurewashing, everybody jumps into
pressure washing, cause it'slike a oh, how to make six
figures and get out of your,your day job type of thing.
Everybody views it as like sucha get rich quick scheme.
But they don't understand thatonce you're in it, what do you,
(22:30):
what's, what are you going to do?
Like, how you got to zero to ahundred thousand dollars a year
is a completely different musclethan how you're going to take
yourself from $100,000 to$300,000 or $400,000 or $500,000
plus.
You can't just view it like oh,I'm just going to outwork the
guy next to me.
You got to say, okay, how do Itake care of myself?
How do I know when's the busyseason?
So I know where and when topush really hard.
And then I need to know when Ican plan my break so that three
(23:01):
years into the business you'renot.
Oh, I hung it up because Ican't do it.
And that's the failure I see inpressure washing businesses
isn't to make a hundred thousanddollars a year, it's to be in
it past three to five years,like you.
Look at the failure rates ofthese businesses and they're
huge because people don't planthe seasons, they don't plan for
breaks, they don't take care ofthemselves, they're kind of
just going blindly into it.
They're saying I can make somuch money in a month during the
busy season and then they goback to like stress and starve
(23:21):
and the ups and downs withouthaving a proper plan in place.
And once you get one or twoseasons down, you kind of figure
it out.
So it's like having having afair uh to yourself like goal
and just go about it every yearand not try to kill yourself and
do too much in one year.
Clay Smith (23:38):
Well, I think a lot of guys with regular jobs and
I'm guilty of it because when Ifirst started I was the same way
, but I could literally do twoor three jobs and make what I
was making at my regular job.
So I think that's what draws ina lot of people and what really
lures them in to starting theirown business.
But as I sit back and I thinkabout, when I started my
(23:59):
business, it was really just allpeople that I knew.
It was all people you know,kind of like a word of mouth
type thing.
But eventually you run out ofeverybody that you know like you
, and then that's another kindof stress.
Now you're like oh shit, I'vedone, quit my job, I've done
everything that I need to do andI don't have any work coming in
.
Like what am I going to do?
So then you have to find ways.
Okay, do I need to spend all mymoney that I have a little bit
(24:19):
saved up to advertise?
And then you have to find ways.
Okay, do I need to spend all mymoney that I have a little bit
saved up to advertise?
And then you don't even know ifyour advertisements are going
to even be structured properlyto convert, you know, to get
more customers and bring them in.
So then you've got to paysomebody to set your ads up.
You've got to pay somebody tohelp you with your marketing, to
give you the knowledge.
It's not easy, it's really noteasy, and I think that's why we
(24:45):
see a lot of people come and goin this business.
But and I think that what a lotof people need to understand,
especially for anybody newthat's listening is you need to
probably make at least tripleyour income, starting out weekly
, to be successful.
Doing this.
So could structure, structure,a number, game out, um, to where
you can afford the, the propermarketing and the things to do
(25:07):
to, to get to like we're kind oflike where me and Matt are at
then, uh, it's, it's definitelyeasy to be successful.
Now, it's not easy, it's notperfect.
There's no blueprint.
You just kind of got to takethe kind of take the knowledge
that, uh, we've given you orwherever else you're getting
knowledge, and kind of put it inyour own spin.
And that's where I see a lot ofpeople fail is they try to
(25:28):
follow these blueprints and theydon't work in certain areas,
like every market's different.
Matt Jackson (25:33):
That's a very good point.
You'll look at guys who maybethey're in Canada, where stuff's
more expensive, or they're inCalifornia, or they're in New
Jersey, new York, and they'relike oh, I charge 20 cents a
square, 30 cents a square forsoft washing, and in our market
(25:55):
you're at like 10 to 15 cents asquare.
So, like, if you're trying tocopy numbers of people who are
in these places that aren't yourlocal market, you're probably
setting yourself up forunnecessary stress and failure.
And, like you say, we alwayslike under, like we're setting
our goals.
Oh, I need to make a hundredthousand a year.
Well, if you're making ahundred thousand in revenue, you
probably should still do thispart-time because that's going
to give you maybe an extra like40 or $50,000 left over If
(26:17):
you're doing all the workyourself and you're pretty lean
on marketing and all that stuff.
So people run into issuesbecause they look at that
revenue number and they're notrealizing well, this is what
it's actually costing me.
This is what I'm truly takinghome.
Clay Smith (26:29):
At the end of the day, you're probably making 30
grand on a hundred.
Matt Jackson (26:32):
Yeah.
Clay Smith (26:33):
Yeah, I mean that's.
That may be a low number, butstarting out because you have to
.
Literally everything you makeyou have to put back in your
company.
Matt Jackson (26:41):
Start now Exactly yeah, I mean you got, you gotta
buy your trucks, you gotta buyall that you gotta.
And then, if you're notstarting out with fancy
equipment, just think about likehow it was when you had your
four gallon a minute compared towhere you got your skid.
Now it's like yeah, you canbang out, work with a four
gallon, but it's nine day fromwhere you're at now.
Clay Smith (27:03):
Yeah, I mean we went from what a $600, $700 machine
to a $30,000 rig set up, youknow.
But I mean we got other stuff,but just very important,
balancing life and work andpreventing burnout during peak
season.
I mean that's just something Ithink was great to go over.
It's something that you just itjust doesn't cross your mind
because you're so busy trying tofigure out how you're going to
(27:25):
get work, how you're going toget these customers rolling in,
and then, year after year, itdoes get easier, but you got to.
I think you got to get overthat two or three year mark.
I think those are the toughest,especially just trying to grow
and create value in your company.
You know, create value for yourbrand.
You know the google reviews Icannot stress, stress enough how
(27:45):
important those are because Iwould say, 85 of my customers
come from google.
So, and that's just having a avery strong google profile.
As you know, me and you both,we do have those.
We're about to hit 300 reviews.
I think you're pushing 500reviews.
So, uh, and that also helpswith seo, because google all
they're doing is looking for themost active profile yep, yeah.
Matt Jackson (28:09):
And then, yeah, like regular postings on google
my business with the relevantkeywords and locations.
So you post a picture sayinghey, uh, here's a, here's a
commercial pressure washing job.
I did say like commercialpressure washing in sim, did say
like commercial pressurewashing in simpsonville,
something like that.
You, you want, you want to findlike these search keywords that
people are going to use.
And uh, same thing with websitepages.
(28:32):
Like if you have a website pageyou're like pressure washing in
simpsonville that's going torank, and then you have a blog
that ties to that website andthen google is just saying oh,
and then you post to your pagewith pictures and you google my
business saying like pressurewashing Simpsonville, they're
going to make a lot ofconnections there and you're
going to have good SEO.
Clay Smith (28:51):
Yeah, the SEO is very important.
Matt Jackson (28:53):
And, too, that comes with time, like we're
saying, and then your cost percustomer acquisition is lower
because you got a lot moreorganic stuff flowing.
Clay Smith (29:08):
Yeah, those are more for advanced, more people.
Uh, if you're new or listeningto this, you'll eventually learn
about all that.
But if you haven't yet, goahead, set up that google my
business, set it up properly,don't cut any corners on it and
take it very serious, because inthe, in the long game, it's
very important.
Matt Jackson (29:18):
Yep yeah, that, and all your directories, like
yelp, all those set up, set upum, your like name, your address
and your contact.
If that all lines up, those aregood things to help keep your,
your uh, google, my business mappack good.
I I'm running into issues oftrying to rebuild my map pack
because I had my profileunfortunately removed for like a
(29:40):
month last year and then sowhen I recreated it, it wasn't
under my personal address, itwas now under like a month last
year and then so when Irecreated it, it wasn't under my
personal address, it was nowunder like a generic, like
service area, so it's like goingback yeah, it's not as terrible
starting over, but I went fromranking fairly well in the maps
to like not really ranking, soit just takes time.
But I don't know if any any ofyou guys on on here ran into
(30:04):
issues with getting yourbusiness profile on Google
suspended.
But it's kind of a bitch initself and you just have to keep
reaching out to Google andhopefully allow them to restore
it.
But the issue I ran into wasbecause I used my personal
address and and google said,since it wasn't a business place
(30:24):
where customers went, Icouldn't have that.
I had to have a service address.
So that was kind of thebullshit reason they had to
suspend my account.
So all the fun things yeah, butthat's kind of one of those
dickhead things that somebodycan do if you're not running it
correctly.
But like clay and I say,sometimes stuff happens and we
like I wonder if that was amalicious act or that wasn't a
(30:47):
malicious act it definitelymakes you wonder it was funny
too, because I was thinking Iwas looking at your website to
try to get an idea for like, uh,like adding pages of stuff like
that on my website, because Isaw you recently added like a
roof washing service on yourwebsite and uh, I was like I
typed in c3washprocom and itdidn't come up to any website
(31:09):
and I said, oh, I forgot the s.
But uh, a dickhead move couldbe to buy c3washprocom for like
seven dollars a month andredirect that to matt the
driveway guy.
Clay Smith (31:21):
hey you could do it.
Matt Jackson (31:23):
I know, I'm just saying it's like, oh, that's
something, that's something thatwould be funny.
Clay Smith (31:27):
But that I mean, that's something, that, that
that you can do to youradvantage.
Matt Jackson (31:31):
It's just things that like you got to view it
Like what was somebody, whatcould somebody possibly do so I
can protect myself in situationsCause, like we both know that
like people can be shitty, likelike myself.
In situations.
Cause, like we both know thatlike people can be shitty, like
like people get weird and theyget stressed out.
It's like, hey, if they don'thave good peace in their life
and they're not confidentconfident in themselves they
(31:52):
look at somebody who'ssuccessful and they try to tear
them down as opposed to beinglike that guy's doing his own
thing.
Clay Smith (31:57):
Respect A hundred percent.
So you got to figure out how toget funnel people to you.
Matt Jackson (32:04):
Yep, yep.
And then, once you're funneledfull of people, you got to
figure out how to find peace andnot kill yourself by like, like
, facilitating all that work,whether you got employees that
you're sending out like.
My stress now isn't am I goingto get burnt out this year.
My stress is like am I going tohave the right employees in
place to be able to likefacilitate work?
And then am I going to haveenough jobs coming in so I can
put the employees with enoughwork?
(32:27):
So it's kind of like adifferent level of stress but,
and then how to minimize heatcases Exactly?
Yeah, and then hey, when, whenstuff happens cause when you got
employees, stuff happens yousay all right, well, when do I
cut this guy and how muchreputational damage is he going
to do to me?
Clay Smith (32:47):
100.
That's what I've beenstruggling with myself, so yeah
but yeah, I mean, it's one ofthose things.
Matt Jackson (32:54):
Everybody's got their own way of doing it.
I've I've kind of ripped off aband-aid to scale and it cost me
some money and I ran into somecash flow issues that I'm
catching up now.
So it's like, hey, you could belike, oh, look at this guy, he
doubled his business.
I was like, yeah, but it costsmoney to double business.
And then there's also thingsthat are unnecessary stressors.
So if you want to be like lean,mean and be like I got a ton of
(33:14):
cash in the bank, or you wantto be like I'm going to rip off
a band-aid and scale quickly andnot have a lot of cash in the
bank, what stress do you want?
Clay Smith (33:22):
Either way, it's going to be stress.
Matt Jackson (33:24):
Exactly.
But I guess that's the beautyof business, as long as you pick
out your stress and you candictate hey, this is my terms,
I'm picking this out, this iswhat I'm going to do.
That's where you're winning.
Clay Smith (33:35):
Definitely art itself.
Matt Jackson (33:37):
Yes, but you got anything you want to add.
We're about 33 minutes.
Clay Smith (33:42):
Yeah, I don't think I have anything.
I appreciate everybodyfollowing us, listening,
downloading our podcast episodes.
Definitely want to keep pushingthese out.
Appreciate everybody.
If you have any questions,anything of that nature, please
be sure to comment and we'll besure to answer anything that you
may have.
So just keep following along.
We're going to keep givinggreat advice and try to set you
(34:05):
guys up for success.
Matt Jackson (34:06):
Yep and check out the group we just made, the Wash
Bros group.
This is going to be something.
That way we can interact witheverybody, and what I like to do
is just kind of, when we're inthe field, post about hey, this
is a job we're doing, likeinformation, and just share and
introduce yourselves.
There's so many groups onfacebook with pressure washers
in it, so like, if you guys wantto be part of the wash bros
(34:28):
group, make sure to give us ajoin and follow, and we'll
appreciate that.
So, but yeah, if that'severything, I guess we can kick
this off and I'll uh, go throughthe, uh, the outro and then
we'll see you guys next week.
Clay Smith (34:42):
We'll see you in the next one.
Matt Jackson (34:43):
Sweet, appreciate it.
Hey, hey, hey.
(00:34):
What's up guys?
It is Matt Jackson, clay Smithand we are the Washburns.
Welcome to episode three of oursecond season, and for this one
, we're going to be talkingabout balancing our work-life
balance with the busy season andhow to manage our stress and
our emotions during the season,because it's pretty hectic and
usually when the season's here,you barely have enough time to
(00:56):
breathe.
So what we do as individuals toprevent burnout and to stay
fresh as we continuously growour businesses and be consistent
.
So you ready to kick this oneoff, clay?
Clay Smith (01:08):
Let's do it.
So the balance in life and workto prevent burnout during peak
season very important.
A lot of things that peopledon't really think about,
especially starting out, becauseI know that that's not
something I thought about evenwhen I started.
I was just focused on the moneyI need to get the money I want
to be a millionaire tomorrowtype thing.
And the biggest thing is wedon't realize we need to focus
(01:30):
on ourselves more than we do thebusiness.
The business is important.
Taking care of your family isimportant, but also you need to
make sure you're taking care ofyourself in the meantime.
Matt Jackson (01:41):
Absolutely.
Yeah, I started the same way andI started it as a side hustle,
so I was kind of used to like,oh, I have to grind myself, I
have to grind my way out of mycorporate job and then you get
used to working two jobs, soit's one of those things you get
used to never turn it off andthen you're just like push, push
, push, but three, four yearsdown the road like if you're
continuously doing that youmight be starting to experience
burnout and you're not puttingyour best self forward and being
(02:04):
there for yourself, yourbusiness.
But not only those two things,but your family, which is we
both have families.
We got kid, I have a kid, youhave kids, and then we're both
married.
So it's like you can be on yourown Island, hustle, hustle,
hustle, 24, seven, like nottaking care of yourself, and
then your wife is upset, yourkids are upset.
Uh, that's just added stressorsto your life that you don't
need.
Uh, because it's stressfulenough to grow a business,
(02:26):
especially businesses that arereally hectic like the ones that
we're in 100.
Clay Smith (02:32):
So, like when I was in the sales industry, in the
car sales industry, I would workand never, honestly, sometimes
not even take a day off.
It wasn't physically demanding,but it was mentally demanding.
So there comes a time where yougot to learn to turn your
brains your brain off too,because I mean, like mine,
believe it or not, it still goeson if I don't, if I let it.
(02:53):
So the biggest thing is putyour phone down, turn your phone
off, put it on do not disturb.
I know that I have the option,I know that you use yours
because I see it all the time.
But, um, I that's.
That's.
The biggest key for me is I cannever get away from work and
when it's time for me to turnwork off, I always make sure I
use that.
That's the best thing thatiPhone ever come out with was
(03:14):
that do not disturb button.
So basically, I will not getanything.
You know, because a lot ofpeople, if you have the systems
in place, like we do, they go toyour website, they go on Google
, they go wherever and fill outa web, you know a lead on your
website and you get thosenotifications.
Well, hell, all you're thinkingabout is oh crap, I gotta get
this job.
I gotta get this job, I gottaget this job.
(03:34):
You never turn your brain off.
All you're thinking about isthat you're stuck in your phone
and, before you know it, it's 10, 11 o'clock at night.
It's time to go to bed exactly.
Matt Jackson (03:42):
And then you're not able to be fresh for the
next day, you're not really ableto sleep that good that night,
and even if you think, oh, I'mfine, I don't need to do this
like every guru talks about,like waking up at 5 am and
hustle, hustle, hustle yeah,that's great.
But like when you've provedyourself in a business and
you're in a stable, stablesituation where, like, you're
not going to fail at this point,it's's up to you to like, just
(04:03):
as we maintain our equipment andour machines, to maintain our
bodies and ourself and our mindand our spirit.
So it's like I see it a lot onthe Facebook groups.
Or I see it a lot with guysthat I know and they like hit it
so hard, so aggressively, andthen, five years down the road,
they're doing somethingcompletely different because
they're like, oh man, I just, Ijust can't do it.
Or like I got divorced, or likeI got injured or something like
(04:24):
that.
They're not, they're not reallymaking sure that they're set up
for the long run of their ownsuccess, whether it be like
their mental health or theirphysical and stuff like that.
And then you see, guys too,they'll, they'll wear, like, the
lack of mental health as abadge of honor, of like oh, look
at me, like I work so hard,like I put myself to the ringer
and at the end of the day it'slike cool, bro, but like don't
(04:45):
kill yourself here.
Like, if you want tocontinuously level up and grow
and not hit these barriers thatwe put on ourselves, you got to
really focus on taking care ofyourself first and then, like
you say clay, put stuff in likewe got our uh, like when, when
we're getting our leads, we wefigure out like how can I give
myself time and how can I likeschedule out my own time and
(05:05):
peace during the day?
So I'm not just responding toconstant stimulation of like
quote requests, customerrequests, facebook notification.
And I've learned that I had toget a virtual assistant to help
delegate stuff.
So my phone is routed throughlike ring central, which is a
voice over ip system, so I can,if I want to enter the phone, I
can, but if not, my virtualassistant's going to pick it up.
And I've also learned to timeblock stuff where like hey,
(05:30):
certain hours I'm going to workand answer my phone and talk to
customers, but other hours it'sgoing to go straight to the
virtual assistant and if it'snecessary I'll hop in and get it
.
But more times than not I thinkwe hold ourselves to a standard
that's not necessary for ourbusiness to run smoothly and
efficiently, and we almost belike that choke point in our
business by trying to doeverything ourselves and not
(05:52):
having the ability to delegate,which is what I've learned.
To make my mental health apriority is to delegate.
Clay Smith (06:01):
Right, yeah, I mean, and your family sees it, they
see you eventually, you know,especially starting out, and
that's that's the whole thingwith with while we're talking
about this, and it may besomebody that's that's four year
, four year, five years inthey're doing it part-time with
a full-time job.
This is not something that youthink about or see, especially
when you get busy and as youcontinue to grow your business.
(06:23):
I think that we, we picked ourbusiness up pretty, pretty, uh,
pretty fast in the in the fouror five years that we've done it
, we do a lot of volume.
So obviously that's a lot ofwork, a lot of moving pieces, a
lot of things you're thinkingabout and it's very important.
Like I know, a lot of peoplementally just can't do it.
Eventually, when you get thestage that we're at, you just
can't do it.
And luckily I had theexperience with dealing with a
(06:44):
high volume type demanding jobbefore this and it grew me to do
this and it's really nothing.
It's just the fact of I'mspending more time with my
family.
But now I have to learn to.
When I'm at home, when I havemy free time to catch up on them
office things, I have to kindof delegate what when I'm doing
it, because if I'm alwaysworking, then what good is it?
(07:07):
You know we all go out and we'reself-employed for a reason.
We have businesses.
For a reason we go out and wedon't work for Uncle Sam anymore
.
For that reason.
You know we don't work for yourregular job.
We don't have a regular job.
We do this for a little bit offreedom and a lot of guys quit
their regular jobs for thefreedom.
(07:27):
But you never get the freedomand then they can't figure out
how to get away from being stuckin it all the time, so they
just go back to regular jobs.
So I think it's very important.
You gotta.
You gotta know when to put yourwork aside from the family,
because the family I mean ittakes a mental toll on you and
then your family has to dealwith the consequences of it.
Matt Jackson (07:42):
Exactly If you're like a small business owner,
you're literally like married toyour business, so it's your
wife's like, you're married tome, we have a family together,
but you're also married and havea family with your business.
So it's important that you'renot prioritizing that business
in the eyes of your family andyour wife, where she's going to
get resentful, or you're justgoing to run into issues where,
like, you're both on the samepage because, like in the
(08:04):
beginning, the first couple ofyears is like, oh yeah, I'm so
excited, proud of you, babe,like you're killing it, I'm
proud of you.
But what are you going to do,like four years in, when you're
you've got a multiple six figurebusiness and she's like well,
is this going to be the newnormal?
And like I think it's all.
Like I'm just prioritizingphone calls, I'm prioritizing
the business, I'm prioritizingwork, and then you're going to
(08:33):
hit that limit and you're eithergoing to not accept, like, okay
, I have to figure out how todelegate things and I have to
figure out how to like keep mylife in check and prioritize my
mental health and my likeemotional health, or I'll never
get past this point.
And then to me that was kind ofa hard, like a hard pill to
swallow, because, like you and Iare both the same.
We like the OCD, like, hey, we,we wanted to run this way.
Nobody's going to run as goodas us.
(08:54):
But then you hit that thresholdand I think this year you're
going to find out that thresholdwhere you're just so slammed
that you're like I, I have tolike, allow people to come in
and have another truck on theroad all the time and then have
somebody help me with the phonesand stuff like that.
Otherwise there's a limitedtime of day and you don't want
to sacrifice yourself aboveeverything else.
(09:15):
And then it reflects in yourjob and then you burn yourself
out and your business is burningitself down and it's doing
nobody any good.
Clay Smith (09:23):
Yeah, that burnout comes quick.
I think I went 20 somethingdays last year without even
taking a day off and I just Iliterally was working and I was
so burnt out.
I called my wife, said hey, I'mbooking a cruise I'll let you
know what date it is.
and we ended up going on acruise a few days because I just
had to separate myself from theeverything going on.
I had to get away for just afew days.
That's all I needed so I couldreset my mind, and that that I
(09:45):
mean it's real.
Um, especially when you'reoverwhelmed work's coming in,
the phone calls are nonstop, thequotes are nonstop.
You're watching the house.
You're getting phone calls leftand right.
They don't stop.
You're having to enter in alltheir information, cause if you
don't, you're going to forgetabout it.
You're going to have toremember to do those quotes.
When you get a minute anddefinitely got to take care of
yourself, Burnout comes quick.
(10:06):
You definitely don't want toget to where you hate it,
because then you're not going todo good quality work for your
customers and then you're just Imean, you're not doing any good
for yourself at all whatsoever.
Eventually it's going to allcatch up to you.
Matt Jackson (10:17):
Exactly.
And everybody starts out likedoughy-eyed, like I have this
dream.
I have like an entrepreneur,I'm doing my own business.
This is freedom, this is like Ican control and do what I want
to do.
And if you don't allow yourselfto like, prioritize yourself
first, you're not going to haveany control or freedom and it's
going to be way more of a prisonthat you built for yourself
(10:37):
than just working in anine-to-five job where, yeah,
your boss may suck, but for 40hours a week you just have to
tolerate for that.
You're not having to to carryit for your entire like waking
hours, pretty much, and then gohome and think about it, and
then your wife's not able tospend time with you and your
kids aren't there.
So, like you hit a point.
I think too, like where you'remaking enough, where you're like
(10:59):
, okay, I'm comfortable at thislevel, I'm not going to kill
myself like crossing this line,because you could just pour all
the money in the world intoGoogle ads or social media ads
and just crank it up and say I'mgoing to just obliterate it
this year, but what's the costof that?
You don't want to say, oh, Imade so much money but I had a
(11:19):
nervous breakdown or I ran intohealth issues or you could get
divorced.
It's funny I my previous life Iactually I was married, not for
very long, but I got divorced,and a lot of that was due to me
being focused so much on growingmy business, whereas, like I
was prioritizing my businessover everything.
So, going forward, like my lifenow, I've always like created a
(11:41):
boundary there because I say,okay, know what that
relationship wasn't supposed towork out.
However, going forward, I won'tallow that to be a chance in
this one and this is a very realthing.
Like you see, guys in theindustry, they'll post something
and they're like I'm killing ithustle, hustle, hustle my
business and then all of asudden, it's like feel sorry for
me, I got divorced.
Well, what did you do to allowyourself to be in a position to
(12:03):
get divorced?
Clay Smith (12:05):
Yeah, I think it's very important If you're married
, if you're in that engagementstage, if you're in the
pre-engagement stage.
You just need to lay it all outthere and make sure that you
guys both have an understandingof what's going on and what you
both think is important, becauseyou definitely got to be on the
same page If it wasn't for mywife I mean, there's no telling
(12:27):
what all I'd have been throughand you know where I'd be right
now but she definitely hashelped me out a lot.
She's not very business savvy,but you know what I mean.
She's a good support system andthat's something I believe that
anybody needs, especially withhigh stress, strong top business
type thing.
I don't care who you are, it'sstressful being a business owner
.
There's always going to besomething.
When it's good, it's great, butwhen it's bad, it's terrible.
Matt Jackson (12:51):
Very much so.
Yeah, and that's true.
It's like just because theydon't have that like business
acumen doesn't mean they're nota valuable resource to have in
your corner.
If anything, it's probably goodbecause you're not like talking
business with them all the time, like you can turn your brain
off and be present and be likein a completely different
emotion than say, oh, let's talkabout business when we're
together.
Clay Smith (13:12):
Oh yeah, it's awesome.
I mean, everybody's got thatsame story.
They had a regular job, theywere broke and they had a dream
and they started a business andthen they had a success, and I
think that's what I see.
A lot of the repetitive typestuff on the other podcast is,
and we're all about the same.
You know, it's all about howmuch effort you want to put into
it, how much you want to buildand how much you want to grow
and what your goals are grow andwhat your goals are Like.
(13:37):
I want to be retired when I'm40 years old, so I got some work
to do, but that's a goal that Ihave, you know.
So it's all about how hard youwant to work and what your goals
are in life.
Matt Jackson (13:44):
Exactly.
And and that's why, like, ifyou're just blindly following
people on social media or indifferent businesses, whether
it's like hey, this is the guydown the street, like everybody
has a different goal, so youshouldn't be like, oh, I, I feel
less because I'm not doing whatthat guy's doing, you're not
seeing what's going on, like inbetween his ears, whether it's
like mental health or likewhat's his family life like, or
like it's just, some people aredifferent stages of life.
(14:06):
I was a different stage of lifewhen I was like single.
Then now, when I'm married andI have a son at home, and it's
like not fair for my wife for meto be like on that constant
grind where I'm out of the houseall the time when she has a job
too and we're juggling raisingour son.
So it's not, I'm not out there.
Like pounding my chest saying,oh, I'm going to be like gone 12
(14:26):
, 14 hours a day because itwould be worse.
It would be worse than having asuccessful business is like hey
, not having having, not beingthe dad to your kid at the end
of the day, it's like your, yourkid doesn't care if you're
doing those extra jobs, he'smore just trying to spend time
with you and your wife.
You don't want your wife toleave you for the amazon guy
(14:47):
yeah, right, because the amazonguy comes to my house way too
many times yeah, the kid and thekids they notice it too.
Clay Smith (14:54):
Man, they notice it especially.
You know, mine are eight, eightand five now.
They'll be nine and six thisyear, so they definitely notice
it.
They know that I'm all aboutpressure washing.
They see, they notice whatyou're doing, how you're doing
it, the things you're saying, um, and they know what's important
.
You know, when they're olderthey'll understand a little more
, but um definitely want to makean impact on them while they're
(15:16):
kids, because that childhoodman I remember a lot of a lot of
the main stuff when I was a kidand what my parents went
through as business ownersthemselves.
Matt Jackson (15:24):
So I think that's cool.
Like you're.
You say like your parents werebusiness owners before and then
you can be the same version,pretty much, to your own kids
and like, lead them with, likethe lessons that you've learned
from them slash like how you'vegrown and what you know now, so
like you're putting your kids ona pedestal even greater than
what you had.
Clay Smith (15:41):
It's like third generation right there well,
it's like uh, my oldest camehome with his report card the
other day he had a's and b's hehad one b, which was math.
I'm not even if he had an f, Iwouldn't even be mad at that,
because I sucked at math.
But anyway, he had a, b in mathand he had like a 98 and three
of his scores were perfecthundreds.
So I feel like if you set thoseexpectations when they're young
(16:04):
, all you're doing is settingthem up for success.
Matt Jackson (16:07):
Exactly.
Clay Smith (16:08):
Yeah, way to go, son .
I could never do that Right.
Matt Jackson (16:13):
Yeah, I mean and that's true that they see that
you're pushing and driving andsuccessful and that's a value
that's important to you, likehard work.
They're going to want to like,hey, that's, that's my dad's my
hero.
I want to do what he doesbecause he's my hero.
So you're setting that goodexample and by being a business
owner, like you said, yeah,you're working a lot of hours,
but we're able to be at homewith our families more than hey.
(16:34):
I'm working a lot of hours in adesk in an office somewhere
where my kids can't see it.
Clay Smith (16:40):
Oh, the desk in the office sucks too, man.
Hey, I tell you, the first yearin pressure washing, after
sitting at a desk for five, six,seven years, I was just like I
was so exhausted, my body was sosore and, believe it or not, I
mean you would think, going froma regular job to doing this, I
was, uh, would be a little morestressed out, but it was
(17:01):
actually less stress.
I was more stressed at myregular job than I was on in the
business.
So, uh, actually I went fromsmoking a pack of cigarettes a
day to nothing.
So, uh, but very slowly aboutthe second year in business I
finally got to quit.
But uh, definitely, you know,when you start getting out there
, spending more time with yourfamily and have the freedom, you
(17:21):
start thinking about stuff andyour physical health, your
mental health and stuff likethat.
So, and I put on a littleweight since then, since I quit
smoking.
Matt Jackson (17:28):
So well, you're the daddy, so you got to be a
little thick I know that's rightyeah, I'm still small though,
but uh, my wife gives me hellabout it.
Clay Smith (17:37):
But anyway, yeah, the, the preventing burnout man,
I think I mean all of it'simportant, but the burnout, the
burnout, I think, is the mostimportant, just because if you
burn out, you're done like itonce.
It's caught up to you.
It's caught up to you I, it'scaught up to you.
I think there was a day that Iactually got dehydrated.
It was a few years ago justbeing stupid, just trying to get
(18:00):
work done, not taking care ofmyself, not taking that 10,
15-minute break to hydratemyself.
Now I've gotten to the pointwhere I'll drink one of those
big bottles.
I'll spend $100, $200 onPedialyte that every week and
just keep myself hydrated, anduh, that's just a little tip tip
that I do to stay hydrated whenit's a hundred degrees outside.
(18:21):
I'll drink one with ice atnight and then I'll take one
with me during the day and, uh,I don't even feel the heat.
Matt Jackson (18:29):
Heck, yeah, that's .
I mean that's it's importantbecause I mean I I had health
issues this past year that likealmost killed me.
So it's important to uh, takecare of yourself.
And it's like it's like a man ahealthy man has like a million
wishes, but a sick man only hasone.
It's like to to get healthy.
So, whether that's a physicalillness or a mental illness, a
(18:51):
lot of guys like you like wesuffer like on this self-imposed
stress for no reason at all andit's like why are we setting
these huge expectations onourselves and over our heads?
And it's like kind of a silentbattle that affects a lot of us
men and I feel like in thebusiness owner community it's
really prevalent because it'slike, oh, I'm going to do this,
this is going to be like I'mforging my own path here, but we
(19:13):
isolate ourselves and then weget stuck in our own head and
then, like before you know it,you're like I'm I'm getting to
the stage of burnout or I'mdrinking too much alcohol to
calm down at night and stufflike that.
So like how you say you like youyou'll hit these points and
then you'll like I'm going tobook a cruise and then you'll do
like a week cruise in theCaribbean and then you come back
super fresh.
Meanwhile that guy who didn'ttake that week off is just kind
(19:36):
of dragging his ass to the restof the season and you're able to
hit it really strong.
So it's important that you'reable to like notice, hey, I'm at
that point, like I'm a hustler,I'm.
I'm at that point where I couldkeep pushing, but it's best for
me to not to recharge and thento hit it hard again.
Clay Smith (19:53):
Well, the coolest thing about the longer you're in
business, you see the trends ofbusiness.
You know what's going to bebusy, you know what's going to
be slow.
You know what it's going to bekind of uh, just kind of.
You know what I mean.
Just kind of right there in themiddle, um, where it's kind of
chill for a minute and thenit'll get back busy again.
You just see the trends.
You have the data from the pastfew years that you've been in
business.
You're actually able to knowwhen you when do things.
(20:14):
So what I do is I try to plan myyear out Like, okay, january,
the first three weeks of January, I know there's not going to be
shit going on, so I'm going totake a vacation and take it easy
and do whatever I need to do.
Then there's nothing at allgoing on, it's crickets.
So during the spring, what I'mgoing to do is I'm going to work
my ass off.
I'm going to work my ass off.
(20:34):
I'm going to put a bunch ofmoney back to get ready for that
winter all the way through theyear, starting in the spring.
You're going to do as much ofthat as you can during the
spring and in the summertime.
End of May, beginning of June,you're dealing with graduation,
so nobody's really thinkingabout you.
So it's going to be kind ofchill, still going to be busy,
but it's going to be chill.
Then June is a pretty goodmonth.
(20:55):
July, it's pretty decent.
Then at the end of July,everybody's getting ready for
school.
Beginning of August,everybody's getting ready for
school it's chill.
And then you know just a trend.
See, I know it off the top ofmy head, just because I've been
through it, I know what toexpect.
But the biggest thing is Ithink that where me and you see
the most success is, we focusmainly on pressure washing.
(21:15):
Find that one good, goodservice that you can do, that
you can ace, that you're reallygood at and that you can
structurally structure yourbusiness.
Structurally structure yourbusiness where you can structure
your business numbers wise to,where you can be successful,
where you can make your moneyand where you can set yourself
up for winter.
And then, once you've done that, you just do exactly what I
(21:38):
told you take the first threeweeks of january off and then
focus on the spring.
Like I said in the last episode, in the spring you're getting
ready, you're prepping yourselffor the winter and then the
winter, you're prepping yourselffor the spring.
Matt Jackson (21:48):
So if you could do both of those and figure out
how you can do both of thosesuccessfully, you're gonna have
a successful business, andthat's my secret formula exactly
and and just by knowing thatand knowing, hey, look, I don't
have to like run around like achicken with my head cut off to
try to make money or I'm notgonna make it.
Like it's just having a planand by having a plan you're not
(22:09):
just relying on like that hustleand grind.
And then that's when we get inour heads and it's funny, funny,
like cause you see pressurewashing, everybody jumps into
pressure washing, cause it'slike a oh, how to make six
figures and get out of your,your day job type of thing.
Everybody views it as like sucha get rich quick scheme.
But they don't understand thatonce you're in it, what do you,
(22:30):
what's, what are you going to do?
Like, how you got to zero to ahundred thousand dollars a year
is a completely different musclethan how you're going to take
yourself from $100,000 to$300,000 or $400,000 or $500,000
plus.
You can't just view it like oh,I'm just going to outwork the
guy next to me.
You got to say, okay, how do Itake care of myself?
How do I know when's the busyseason?
So I know where and when topush really hard.
And then I need to know when Ican plan my break so that three
(23:01):
years into the business you'renot.
Oh, I hung it up because Ican't do it.
And that's the failure I see inpressure washing businesses
isn't to make a hundred thousanddollars a year, it's to be in
it past three to five years,like you.
Look at the failure rates ofthese businesses and they're
huge because people don't planthe seasons, they don't plan for
breaks, they don't take care ofthemselves, they're kind of
just going blindly into it.
They're saying I can make somuch money in a month during the
busy season and then they goback to like stress and starve
(23:21):
and the ups and downs withouthaving a proper plan in place.
And once you get one or twoseasons down, you kind of figure
it out.
So it's like having having afair uh to yourself like goal
and just go about it every yearand not try to kill yourself and
do too much in one year.
Clay Smith (23:38):
Well, I think a lot of guys with regular jobs and
I'm guilty of it because when Ifirst started I was the same way
, but I could literally do twoor three jobs and make what I
was making at my regular job.
So I think that's what draws ina lot of people and what really
lures them in to starting theirown business.
But as I sit back and I thinkabout, when I started my
(23:59):
business, it was really just allpeople that I knew.
It was all people you know,kind of like a word of mouth
type thing.
But eventually you run out ofeverybody that you know like you
, and then that's another kindof stress.
Now you're like oh shit, I'vedone, quit my job, I've done
everything that I need to do andI don't have any work coming in
.
Like what am I going to do?
So then you have to find ways.
Okay, do I need to spend all mymoney that I have a little bit
(24:19):
saved up to advertise?
And then you have to find ways.
Okay, do I need to spend all mymoney that I have a little bit
saved up to advertise?
And then you don't even know ifyour advertisements are going
to even be structured properlyto convert, you know, to get
more customers and bring them in.
So then you've got to paysomebody to set your ads up.
You've got to pay somebody tohelp you with your marketing, to
give you the knowledge.
It's not easy, it's really noteasy, and I think that's why we
(24:45):
see a lot of people come and goin this business.
But and I think that what a lotof people need to understand,
especially for anybody newthat's listening is you need to
probably make at least tripleyour income, starting out weekly
, to be successful.
Doing this.
So could structure, structure,a number, game out, um, to where
you can afford the, the propermarketing and the things to do
(25:07):
to, to get to like we're kind oflike where me and Matt are at
then, uh, it's, it's definitelyeasy to be successful.
Now, it's not easy, it's notperfect.
There's no blueprint.
You just kind of got to takethe kind of take the knowledge
that, uh, we've given you orwherever else you're getting
knowledge, and kind of put it inyour own spin.
And that's where I see a lot ofpeople fail is they try to
(25:28):
follow these blueprints and theydon't work in certain areas,
like every market's different.
Matt Jackson (25:33):
That's a very good point.
You'll look at guys who maybethey're in Canada, where stuff's
more expensive, or they're inCalifornia, or they're in New
Jersey, new York, and they'relike oh, I charge 20 cents a
square, 30 cents a square forsoft washing, and in our market
(25:55):
you're at like 10 to 15 cents asquare.
So, like, if you're trying tocopy numbers of people who are
in these places that aren't yourlocal market, you're probably
setting yourself up forunnecessary stress and failure.
And, like you say, we alwayslike under, like we're setting
our goals.
Oh, I need to make a hundredthousand a year.
Well, if you're making ahundred thousand in revenue, you
probably should still do thispart-time because that's going
to give you maybe an extra like40 or $50,000 left over If
(26:17):
you're doing all the workyourself and you're pretty lean
on marketing and all that stuff.
So people run into issuesbecause they look at that
revenue number and they're notrealizing well, this is what
it's actually costing me.
This is what I'm truly takinghome.
Clay Smith (26:29):
At the end of the day, you're probably making 30
grand on a hundred.
Matt Jackson (26:32):
Yeah.
Clay Smith (26:33):
Yeah, I mean that's.
That may be a low number, butstarting out because you have to
.
Literally everything you makeyou have to put back in your
company.
Matt Jackson (26:41):
Start now Exactly yeah, I mean you got, you gotta
buy your trucks, you gotta buyall that you gotta.
And then, if you're notstarting out with fancy
equipment, just think about likehow it was when you had your
four gallon a minute compared towhere you got your skid.
Now it's like yeah, you canbang out, work with a four
gallon, but it's nine day fromwhere you're at now.
Clay Smith (27:03):
Yeah, I mean we went from what a $600, $700 machine
to a $30,000 rig set up, youknow.
But I mean we got other stuff,but just very important,
balancing life and work andpreventing burnout during peak
season.
I mean that's just something Ithink was great to go over.
It's something that you just itjust doesn't cross your mind
because you're so busy trying tofigure out how you're going to
(27:25):
get work, how you're going toget these customers rolling in,
and then, year after year, itdoes get easier, but you got to.
I think you got to get overthat two or three year mark.
I think those are the toughest,especially just trying to grow
and create value in your company.
You know, create value for yourbrand.
You know the google reviews Icannot stress, stress enough how
(27:45):
important those are because Iwould say, 85 of my customers
come from google.
So, and that's just having a avery strong google profile.
As you know, me and you both,we do have those.
We're about to hit 300 reviews.
I think you're pushing 500reviews.
So, uh, and that also helpswith seo, because google all
they're doing is looking for themost active profile yep, yeah.
Matt Jackson (28:09):
And then, yeah, like regular postings on google
my business with the relevantkeywords and locations.
So you post a picture sayinghey, uh, here's a, here's a
commercial pressure washing job.
I did say like commercialpressure washing in sim, did say
like commercial pressurewashing in simpsonville,
something like that.
You, you want, you want to findlike these search keywords that
people are going to use.
And uh, same thing with websitepages.
(28:32):
Like if you have a website pageyou're like pressure washing in
simpsonville that's going torank, and then you have a blog
that ties to that website andthen google is just saying oh,
and then you post to your pagewith pictures and you google my
business saying like pressurewashing Simpsonville, they're
going to make a lot ofconnections there and you're
going to have good SEO.
Clay Smith (28:51):
Yeah, the SEO is very important.
Matt Jackson (28:53):
And, too, that comes with time, like we're
saying, and then your cost percustomer acquisition is lower
because you got a lot moreorganic stuff flowing.
Clay Smith (29:08):
Yeah, those are more for advanced, more people.
Uh, if you're new or listeningto this, you'll eventually learn
about all that.
But if you haven't yet, goahead, set up that google my
business, set it up properly,don't cut any corners on it and
take it very serious, because inthe, in the long game, it's
very important.
Matt Jackson (29:18):
Yep yeah, that, and all your directories, like
yelp, all those set up, set upum, your like name, your address
and your contact.
If that all lines up, those aregood things to help keep your,
your uh, google, my business mappack good.
I I'm running into issues oftrying to rebuild my map pack
because I had my profileunfortunately removed for like a
(29:40):
month last year and then sowhen I recreated it, it wasn't
under my personal address, itwas now under like a month last
year and then so when Irecreated it, it wasn't under my
personal address, it was nowunder like a generic, like
service area, so it's like goingback yeah, it's not as terrible
starting over, but I went fromranking fairly well in the maps
to like not really ranking, soit just takes time.
But I don't know if any any ofyou guys on on here ran into
(30:04):
issues with getting yourbusiness profile on Google
suspended.
But it's kind of a bitch initself and you just have to keep
reaching out to Google andhopefully allow them to restore
it.
But the issue I ran into wasbecause I used my personal
address and and google said,since it wasn't a business place
(30:24):
where customers went, Icouldn't have that.
I had to have a service address.
So that was kind of thebullshit reason they had to
suspend my account.
So all the fun things yeah, butthat's kind of one of those
dickhead things that somebodycan do if you're not running it
correctly.
But like clay and I say,sometimes stuff happens and we
like I wonder if that was amalicious act or that wasn't a
(30:47):
malicious act it definitelymakes you wonder it was funny
too, because I was thinking Iwas looking at your website to
try to get an idea for like, uh,like adding pages of stuff like
that on my website, because Isaw you recently added like a
roof washing service on yourwebsite and uh, I was like I
typed in c3washprocom and itdidn't come up to any website
(31:09):
and I said, oh, I forgot the s.
But uh, a dickhead move couldbe to buy c3washprocom for like
seven dollars a month andredirect that to matt the
driveway guy.
Clay Smith (31:21):
hey you could do it.
Matt Jackson (31:23):
I know, I'm just saying it's like, oh, that's
something, that's something thatwould be funny.
Clay Smith (31:27):
But that I mean, that's something, that, that
that you can do to youradvantage.
Matt Jackson (31:31):
It's just things that like you got to view it
Like what was somebody, whatcould somebody possibly do so I
can protect myself in situationsCause, like we both know that
like people can be shitty, likelike myself.
In situations.
Cause, like we both know thatlike people can be shitty, like
like people get weird and theyget stressed out.
It's like, hey, if they don'thave good peace in their life
and they're not confidentconfident in themselves they
(31:52):
look at somebody who'ssuccessful and they try to tear
them down as opposed to beinglike that guy's doing his own
thing.
Clay Smith (31:57):
Respect A hundred percent.
So you got to figure out how toget funnel people to you.
Matt Jackson (32:04):
Yep, yep.
And then, once you're funneledfull of people, you got to
figure out how to find peace andnot kill yourself by like, like
, facilitating all that work,whether you got employees that
you're sending out like.
My stress now isn't am I goingto get burnt out this year.
My stress is like am I going tohave the right employees in
place to be able to likefacilitate work?
And then am I going to haveenough jobs coming in so I can
put the employees with enoughwork?
(32:27):
So it's kind of like adifferent level of stress but,
and then how to minimize heatcases Exactly?
Yeah, and then hey, when, whenstuff happens cause when you got
employees, stuff happens yousay all right, well, when do I
cut this guy and how muchreputational damage is he going
to do to me?
Clay Smith (32:47):
100.
That's what I've beenstruggling with myself, so yeah
but yeah, I mean, it's one ofthose things.
Matt Jackson (32:54):
Everybody's got their own way of doing it.
I've I've kind of ripped off aband-aid to scale and it cost me
some money and I ran into somecash flow issues that I'm
catching up now.
So it's like, hey, you could belike, oh, look at this guy, he
doubled his business.
I was like, yeah, but it costsmoney to double business.
And then there's also thingsthat are unnecessary stressors.
So if you want to be like lean,mean and be like I got a ton of
(33:14):
cash in the bank, or you wantto be like I'm going to rip off
a band-aid and scale quickly andnot have a lot of cash in the
bank, what stress do you want?
Clay Smith (33:22):
Either way, it's going to be stress.
Matt Jackson (33:24):
Exactly.
But I guess that's the beautyof business, as long as you pick
out your stress and you candictate hey, this is my terms,
I'm picking this out, this iswhat I'm going to do.
That's where you're winning.
Clay Smith (33:35):
Definitely art itself.
Matt Jackson (33:37):
Yes, but you got anything you want to add.
We're about 33 minutes.
Clay Smith (33:42):
Yeah, I don't think I have anything.
I appreciate everybodyfollowing us, listening,
downloading our podcast episodes.
Definitely want to keep pushingthese out.
Appreciate everybody.
If you have any questions,anything of that nature, please
be sure to comment and we'll besure to answer anything that you
may have.
So just keep following along.
We're going to keep givinggreat advice and try to set you
(34:05):
guys up for success.
Matt Jackson (34:06):
Yep and check out the group we just made, the Wash
Bros group.
This is going to be something.
That way we can interact witheverybody, and what I like to do
is just kind of, when we're inthe field, post about hey, this
is a job we're doing, likeinformation, and just share and
introduce yourselves.
There's so many groups onfacebook with pressure washers
in it, so like, if you guys wantto be part of the wash bros
(34:28):
group, make sure to give us ajoin and follow, and we'll
appreciate that.
So, but yeah, if that'severything, I guess we can kick
this off and I'll uh, go throughthe, uh, the outro and then
we'll see you guys next week.
Clay Smith (34:42):
We'll see you in the next one.
Matt Jackson (34:43):
Sweet, appreciate it.
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Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.