This year im going to hit over 100k. Sounds great for about 8 months of work but then you count expenses, taxes, payroll for helper etc… and I’m left with basically less than half. Still not bad…but also not enough.
so anyway im starting to think about how to make things work differently next season… How did you guys successfully shift from window cleaner to business owner? What do you find grew your business the most? What do you wish you had done sooner?
Talk to your accountant about filing as an S corp.
we decided to become an INC this year hoping it would be time lol - I’m assuming its the same?
I don’t know all the different tax categories. I’m set up as an LLC. My accountant says this year we file as an S corp to save me money.
Nice, congrats.
I’m an LLC Sole Proprietor and that’s as far as I intend to go. Nobody here is remotely interested in being a window cleaning employee so it’s just me. Thankfully I took up pressure washing.
formed as LLC, taxes filed as S-corp. But you need to talk to your accountant to get it right for your location, and future plans…
Start frequenting relevant podcasts that will help you learn more about all those things than you’ll ever want to know.
yeah it seems like we have a similar problem here where the majority work for a couple of months and then go, set up their own businesses and become subcontractors for others. I’m happy for them that they get to go and make more money for the same amount of work but obviously doesn’t work to my advantage lol
yup! do you have any favourites?
There’s a bunch of good ones out there…I’ll send you a few I know of in PM as I think of them. I’m at the convention this week, so I’ll probably get turned onto a few more good folks while I’m here.
EDIT: I try to keep these sort of recommendations in PMs so people don’t think I’m shilling for anyone… but I guess I’m not active enough on this side of the forums to have PM privleges just yet…so here’s the first couple that came to mind:
thanks! really appreciate it!
Just listen to everything you can from Brandon Vaughn and Jim Dubois… to start with… they have a good amount of interviews on different podcasts
I am a window cleaner first, business owner second. At no point will I ever be a business owner first and a window cleaner second, never ever.
Why not?
Probably because that is not his goal(s)…everyone has their own goals, and not everyone’s are right for everyone else.
A couple more good names for sure. The 2 I named were because they specifically address mostly the OP question about getting off the truck. One key part of that equation is what are you paying yourself as a technician, and what do you make as a business owner. Those need to be 2 different things, especially if you ever hope to replace yourself.
First all, congrats. Like others said talk to a CPA find out tax advantages disadvantages of going llc or s corp. Second if only doing 100k a helper probably is an additional expense you shouldn’t have as of yet. Obviously how long you have been cleaning windows and what you are charging plays a huge role, but I would say an individual working full time should have no issue hitting 100k by themselves. Too many variables to give you any real advice. You can also look into getting a business coach.
I’m curious why you take that stance?
If you are netting 1/2 of your gross in any business you are at the top of your game. Depending on where you look, cleaning services are at the top of the most profitable businesses. I would imagine because of low overhead and startup costs, more consumers are looking for in-home services, and quite frankly the demand is out pacing the supply of quality service providers. My most profitable years were when I had one extremely good employee that could out work me.
If you’re netting 50% after paying yourself a “reasonable” salary, then yes, 50% is awesome. But most small guys mistakenly count their take-home pay as part of their profit, and that greatly skews the overall picture.
