How to create a pressure washing company

this simple side hustle can make you thousands

GM. This is Work "After" Work, the newsletter that serves business insights that are so fresh, they make a farmer's market look like leftovers.

Happy Hump Day! Let’s jump in:

  • 🚮 Pressure washing business

  • 😂 Meme of the day

Before we get into it… Last week I sent out a form that will help me get to know you guys a bit more. In case you missed it here it is again! As a thank you, anyone who fills it out will get access to my Exclusive “How To Build Wealth Through Investing” E-Book for FREE!

*It shouldn’t take more than 3 min, and it would mean a lot to me :)

THERE'S REAL MONEY IN THIS DIRTY BUSINESS

You all must’ve heard the phrase, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

Today's side hustle, power washing garbage cans, is going to make that phrase a reality.

Why?
Because it doesn’t require learning new skills, it’s affordable, and can scale (my favorite)!

Here’s a little fun fact: The average American throws away 4.4 pounds of trash every day.

Then as you know garbage day rolls around and it all gets taken away.

And if you're a big procrastinator, this might be you chasing the garbage tuck down in the morning (we’ve all been there)

Sounds about right but is your trash can really clean after the garbage truck empties it? You guessed it, nope. Every week you say hello to leftover gunk in your garbage can.

This gunk invites rats, ants, possums, raccoons, and other rodents to make your garbage can their home, rent-free. Not to mention, it just smells like a garlic and fish market had a food fight inside of it.

That's what this side hustle is solving. Not the rodents, you won't catch me doing that. Preventing them from ever getting there in the first place.

Sell your pressure washing services to clean up your neighborhood's garbage cans. You’d be surprised at how much money people are willing to pay you for a one-time cleaning or a monthly service to clean up those nasty things!

Here’s an example of what a company near me (EcoClean Can) with great reviews charges for pressure washing.

How much can you make?
The real answer is it depends. If you live in a wealthy area where prices are generally higher, you can charge a higher price.

I've done a fair amount of research on pricing and the highest I've seen is $50 for the first can then $20 for every can after that. After all, this is a dirty job that many aren't willing to do so you can charge a higher rate.

A good rule of thumb is to make sure you're getting a high hourly rate because you're not going to be doing this for 8 hours straight. You want to make those 1 or 2 hours a day count.

Try $25 for the first can and $10 for every can after that. If it takes you an hour to clean both, which I don't think it will, that's $35/hr. Do this twice a day and you're washing an extra $500 every week. Not too shabby 💪

Now usually I'd stop there and get into the steps but today I’ve got a 2-for-1 for ya. Kinda like a buy one get one free, but everything's free.

As I was researching about power washing, I found myself constantly watching satisfying shorts of before and afters. And these videos had a ton of views. #powerwashing on TikTok has 1.9B views.

Then the light bulb went off 💡 

There's also a huge opportunity here to create content around the work you're doing.

Here's a YouTube channel called Forever Self Employed who started his channel with a pressure washing business. It's a simple setup - just a tripod and a GoPro.

According to Social Blade this channel pulls in $43k-$687k annually.

And he's gained over 200k subscribers in the past year 👀

Just like this channel does, record yourself washing. In post, talk about how much money you made, and even create a course for your followers (that's what he does).

I can't tell you how many TikTok's I've watched of satisfying cleaning videos. There's a huge audience for this type of content that will allow you to grow a pretty sizable online presence.

Now let's get into it. Here's a step-by-step guide to getting started

1. Buy a pressure washer

The first step is obviously to buy a pressure washer. Don't spend $1000’s on the expensive commercial grade ones.

The pressure washers on Amazon that go for around $150 will do just fine - like this one.

Just make sure whatever pressure washer you buy has a soap attachment that allows you to spray soap on the trash cans before you actually pressure wash them.

For the soap, you can buy any cheap soap solution from Amazon or make a watered-down mixture of Dawn dish soap. Just make sure it smells good!

2. Spread the word, get those customers

When it comes to acquiring customers there are a couple of ways you can go about it.

Joining Facebook groups, posting on Nextdoor, and creating Facebook ads is the best way to get jobs in your area. You can also try Craigslist but I think you'll have better conversions on Facebook & Nextdoor.

If not those, you can go the flyer route but know those will lead to very low conversion rates. If you have the courage, give a knock. The personal touch is never a bad idea.

If you do go this way, stack the deck in your favor when talking to a potential customer.

What do I mean by this? 
When I used to shovel snow to make money when I was younger I would use the fact that I'm a young hustling kid saving for college.

Give people a reason to give you a shot and crush it when they do 👊

You could pitch it like this:

“Hi, my name is Faares and I was wondering if you'd like to have your garbage cans pressure washed. One quality wash can remove all the smelly gunk that attracts pesty rats and possums that can later get into your house. I start with a soapy solution to thoroughly break up the grime and smell and finish with a power washing to leave it clean and pest-free.”

When they ask for the price say what you think is appropriate for your area. Don't go lower than $30 for both cans. Remember it's a dirty job with sometimes years of guck, don't undercut yourself. You can always negotiate lower.

3. Get power washing!

Now that you've got your equipment and clients, it's time to start making those trash cans look like a newborn baby.

(my team thinks they’re real funny 😂)

Create a system that works and saves you time so you can finish as many jobs as possible.

Let's do some quick math on how much you can make
I'm going to assume you'll make $30-$70 for every job you do. It will take time but once you're able to get 2 jobs per day, that's $210-$490 a week. Keep it going and that's $900-$2,100 a month.

When considering the cost of the pressure washer and soap at $200, you'd only have to do 3-6 jobs to break even. I know you can do that.

Whenever you get a booking, set it up for after work, get the pressure washer out and pay for your gas, Netflix subscription, and a good chunk of your grocery bill for the month.
*and don't forget to record it for YouTube!*

Happy hustling! 👊

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.

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