learn everything about marketing fundamentals, not advertising, marketing
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Understand taxes if I had been an Scorp instead of Sole Proprieter the last 7 years I’d have saved a shit ton of money. Get a top notch CRM from day 1. Focus on learning how to operate a business and not weather you are using Glass Gleam or Dawn or weather your squeggee is brass, stainless steel or a widebody
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- Don’t f around with the IRS
- The quicker you learn to delegate responsibility, the faster you will become successful
- Marketing should be your number one priority (sorry @Bruce )
- Don’t pay attention to the gurus and their get rich quick schemes
- Be friendly with your competition. It pays dividends over time.
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In addition to the above:
- Be the type of business that you would hire and trust yourself. Word of mouth matters.
- Drum up 5 star google ratings - Then Google will work for you passively.
- Explore waterfed options sooner than later.
THIS!!! 
I’m going to use @ChrisTripleC to explain how I’m doing this…or not.
IRS: they already know 99.99% of what you have done, even unreported. Get your licenses and insurance correct. Ignorance does not work. And not learning is negligence.
Most people want to be helpful when working with/for you. Give them a chance but have a system to ensure they are successful and take their input too. SYSTEMS will dictate how to advance in every facet of the business.
Marketing: I’ve built a very good volume of clients, 1998, to date but I have done no marketing and it would have gotten me here in a much lower time frame. Also, I’m very slow right now as it is our rainy season and residential stops cleaning and it is 90% of my work.
Gurus: gurus are buy my system and you’ll succeed vs helpful folks teaching you and brain storming with you to be successful without huge $$$ input. These folks on here are helpful, and there are several YT videos/channels (plug WCR YT with Steve-O and Jersey).
We are a weird bunch! I talk to everyone I see and try to meet more. I’ve had a few bad run ins with grumpy guys thinking I’m going to poach but the vast majority are friendly and helpful. I’ve worked helped and been helped by several local guys ( @GenaroGuzman and Mark Shramek). It allowed me to increase my knowledge and work load significantly.
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[Insert mic drop here]
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I see a huuuuuuge difference between “gurus” and “experts”
Jersey and the rest of that crowd are in a league of their own 
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I say this without any snark, but I would have started pressure washing years ago.
And yes get a good CPA.
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Agree with this. Not half-ass pressure washing either, a real setup. Its about 45% of our revenue now and so easy to cross-upsell.
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Same. Four years in and it’s replacing me having to do 3rd story window cleaning.
This is something I wanted to get into more but got too busy with the WC to implement it correctly. I am like you, I do not want to half-butt any of it either. I feel I need a lot more training and practice.
How would Scorp have saved you money?
15% additional tax
I moved across the country to start over again. My best advice is don’t panic when it gets slow in the summer, it’s normal.
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I know guys that have been in business for decades and don’t understand this concept lol
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so long story short, ive been WC for 10 years, had a lot of early success but then was involved in an accident that blew things up.
im trying to get back into it, but dont have capital for advertising a ton.
thinking of investing in pressure washing set up, which i think sells more easily, and i can tack on WC from those contacts…
what would be a decent setup that wouldnt break the bank, to get into?
Well, that’s a tough question. PW equipment compared to WC is 'spensive so a lot of washers start out with a basic belt drive unit, do a few jobs and upgrade to a bigger machine and trailer. I certainly followed that mantra.
Fortunately WCR has a fantastic sister site PWR, read hours of posts on there to get a feel for correct techniques.
PW has enabled me to crack down on doing taller houses that I just can’t do anymore.
I would tell myself to only work 4 days a week from the very beginning.
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