Left a white-collar job 4 years ago to focus on a small "side-gig" commercial cleaning business I had that was grossing $9k/month. This month we will invoice $277k and are growing at a rate of $10k per month. AMA - In 2016 I came across an opportunity on bizbuysell.com to ... See More purchase a commercial cleaning "business” that consisted of three commercial cleaning contracts, which grossed about $7k per month. Over the next three years I slightly grew that business to a whopping $9k per month in 2019. At that point I decided to leave my corporate job and focus on this business full-time.

From 2019 to the point I posted my last post in 2022, I grew the business to $138k per month and was growing at a rate of $6-8k per month in recurring business.

As of last month, August 2023, we invoiced $277k, have 101 facilities under contract and about 150 part-time and full-time employees/contractors working with us.

We are now growing at a rate of around $10k per month and I am looking for an additional sales person as we speak to step on the gas a little more. I am also starting to look around for a potential new branch location out of state.

Our clients and contracts are getting bigger which has been fun to see. For example, we now have 5 clients that have contracts which range from $10k-26k/mo. And we are currently in talks with another prospective business that will have a contract that exceeds $26k/mo.

Things will obviously continue to change as we grow further, but we have figured out an operational structure that has allowed for our fast paced success that I think will scale with the business for a while.

**AMA**

*Since my last post many people have reached out and a good % of those people ask how they can get started, how to find employees, what supplies they need, where to buy supplies, etc. etc.*

*I can't emphasize enough that you need stop analyzing everything and just get started. Like my own story shows, it took me a few years to even figure out what the heck I was doing before I started getting real traction.*

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**\*\*\*I am trying to answer everyone's questions. However, if you ask a question that has already been asked and answered I will no longer respond to those.\*\*\***
**BELOW ARE COMMON QUESTIONS THAT HAVE BEEN ASKED MULTIPLE TIMES IN THREAD**

**Question** \-

What is my take home and/or net profit per month?

**Answer** \-

My company is an S Corp and so I pay myself a $60k per year salary. I live a frugal lifestyle and that is all I currently take out of the company.

Last months net profit % was 9.8%. Until recently my net monthly profit % was fluctuating around 2-4%. Why so low? Because I am in growth mode. I have hired proactively so that we have the infrastructure to handle future growth. If I were to pump the brakes on growth and focus on leaning this out I could probably get my net profit up to 15% (not including my $60k salary).

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**Question # 2 -**What do you pay your cleaners?

**Answer -**We start cleaners at $17/hr. These are hourly positions. Some cleaners work just a few hours per week. Some work 20+ hours per week.

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**Question # 3 -**

How do you get leads?

**Answer -**

We do not use any social media or digital marketing. We only cold call, cold email, and drive around and walk into businesses. My sales person handles the entire sales process from cold leads to signing the contracts. Nothing in this process is outsourced and no automated email blasts or anything that would make our efforts seem unauthentic.

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**Question # 4 -**

How much did you pay for the initial "business" of 3 contracts?

**Answer -**

$50k. This was all my savings.

Is there anyone here who owns a tech-related business that's currently generating revenue of over $20,000 per month? - Out of curiosity, is there anyone here who owns a tech-related business that's currently generating revenue of over $20,000 per month? I'd love to hear about your experiences and insights in ... See More the tech industry.

Could you share some key strategies or factors that you believe contributed to your business's success in reaching that level of revenue?

My Instagram just hit 400k followers. How can I make more money with it? - I have a theme page with 424k followers in the
automotive niche. I've earned about 2000$
from paid promotions and received a couple free products. However this is not a steady income, since I've been going at ... See More it for about 1.5 years.

It feels like I could get a lot more out of it, but I
don't know which direction to take. Any
thoughts?

**Thank you all for your great ideas!**

16 y/o and need to make $7,500 in 5 months - i’m 16y/o and i’d like to know how i can make $7,500 within 4-5 months. i currently have $1.1K saved up. i met this girl and we really like eachother but she lives 3.5 hours away from me so ... See More im looking to buy a decent car. i put 4-5 months because i think that’ll give me adequate enough time to save up and also see if me and the girl can last a decent amount of time long distance. anyways i currently have a job at a restaurant where i make 7.80/hr + tips. typically on weekdays i make like 12-13/hr when i add up tips and on weekends it comes out to around 17-18/hr. they only schedule me 2-3 days a week though. i’m currently trying to pick up another job but it’s very hard with school and having another job, most places need people to work weekends but that’s my money making days at my other job. anyways i’m looking for some legitimate ways to make a good chunk of money, please don’t say droppshipping, affiliate marketing, or social media management. and i don’t have many (if any) “profitable skills”

I make six figures working 2-5 hours a day as a remote closer with one client. AMA - I want to share my journey as a first-year high ticket remote sales closer in hopes i can help others change their situation if you're in a job you dont like, or ... See More you want a part time job so you can focus on building/entrepeneurship. If you want cash flow while having free time to work on other stuff..this is for you


Prior to doing remote closing, I did cold calling for a networking company which made me hate sales lol. But basically I came across the underground world of "High Ticket Sales" where I learned that I could have warm, inbound conversations with scheduled appointments. Typically you handle calls for agencies or influencers who are selling products and services in the range of 3000 to $10,000+ and it is usually 100% commission-based. (In my case i get 15% of each deal I close but the average is 10%). This could be expensive marketing packages, SEO services, info products, coaching services, workout programs etc. People don't wanna just hand their credit card over for these things so it helps to talk to someone aka "a closer"

I spent months researching from the outside/honing my skills/conducting outreach and I eventually found a health influencer who sells a $3500 coaching program for people with type 2 diabetes to help them figure out their lifestyle + diet. She needed help handling the inbound inquiries for her coaching and we agreed that I would collect 15% commission for every new client i closed = $525 each closed call.She has 100k+ highly engaged followers who adore her and love her advice and health tips so when i get on the phone with prospects they are already excited about the program and working with the influencer. All i have to do is ask them questions to go over their challenges/obstacles, their goals, and then pitch the program and collect payment (obvi some objection handling involved but surprisingly a lot of people just want to sign up)

I take around 2-5 phone calls a day on average and the calls are 30-60 minutes. I also spend around 30 minutes or so conducting follow-up, organizing CRM etc. If i close a deal a day that's $525 a day (15% of 3500 coaching program) which equates to $10,500 a month.There's a bunch of these influencers and agency owners out there who want to offload their phone calls to a closer...which is where i come in... so they can focus on growing their biz and working with clients. So yeah this is how I can work part time hours and make a healthy living because of the \~leverage\~ and followings that influencers have.It frees up the rest of my day to work on other projects, hobbies and passions.

Let me know what questions you have, I am happy to expand.- Victor (remotesalesguy)

How I built a multi-million dollar window and door replacement company with a $3,000 credit card - Hey everyone,


I started a window and door replacement company in December of 2018. We specialize in residential homes. Previously, I had worked for two other companies of the same type. I started ... See More in the marketing department, learned a great deal about buyer psychology, and then moved into sales, and the rest is history. Eventually, I decided to do it better on my own. We're almost five years in and at 8 million in all-time revenue. Here are a few tips and principles that are steadfast and necessary in growing my service business—all with $3,000 on my credit card.
***1: The tedious but necessary barrier to entry.***


I purchased an LLC $60-$100) and was tasked with trying to get a contractor's license($1,000). I also went overseas to get a logo($60), which saved me a couple hundred. The contractor's license was daunting because I'd never actually replaced or installed a window. However, I know how to ask questions. I called five local contractors. One of them gave me the best information. He mentioned that suppliers don't care about the license type, but as long as you weren't a GC, it had some form of carpentry. He told me the license type and why. If anyone is interested in more details, I can give you the low down, but there’s a lot to explain here, and each state is slightly different.
***2: suppliers***


I needed a supplier. The trades aren’t much different from any other industry. We buy with wholesale prices from a supplier, mark them up, and then sell them. I met with an inside sales rep and relayed my goals. Suppliers call family-owned businesses “ma and pa’s.” They don’t want to hear you have a partner or wife or want to help the community. They want to hear that you’re trying to take over the world.
***3: I copied everything from my previous employers, and they copied their previous employers.***


Having good contracts and agreements is essential. Not only do they protect you, but they can add a sense of credibility to your young business. If you respect processes and procedures, you're likely to be more stable, and customers will perceive this and have more confidence in you.
***3: Marketing is like a sword; you live and can die by it.***


Marketing has been the most challenging part of owning my business (besides operating cash). For a local-based company, use the material world as much as possible. I started by knocking on doors in neighborhoods with homes valued at over 350k on average. People were rude, but surprisingly, most were extremely friendly. I sold 337k my first year by knocking on two or three thousand doors. I was 22 then, so it was easier to stomach the shame of the hard-knock life.
The following year, I started print media and digital ads. Don’t do these unless you know what you’re doing. The biggest pitfall for businesses is low-efficiency marketing; overspending for leads and not having the infrastructure to support them will break the bank.
***4: Overspending is bad, like bad, bad.***
The first year was the hardest. I thought I had more money than I did. Imagine a twenty-two-year-old going from never seeing checks more extensive than $800 to suddenly getting $35,000 deposits. Not only this, I had a partner who liked to party. My partner blew through ten thousand partying one month and lent his dad two thousand due to overspending in a nightclub. He wasn’t my partner much longer. The separation was also expensive, over 40k.
Irresponsibility led to my supplier debts exceeding 150k. At this point, I don’t know how I didn’t go out of business. I worked 16 hours daily doing the marketing and sales, and it took me a year and a half to get out of the hole.
The story's moral is that hawkishness is critical to running any business. Maybe I’m traumatized, but I started saving every dollar I could. I downsized office space, got a cheap warehouse space, and lived more frugally outside the business.
Now, I have a margin of 66% to ensure the business runs smoothly. We maintain a healthy balance of payments to suppliers and allocate capital to improve the business's efficiency.
***5: Pay extra for better work***
Paying more for quality labor should be self-explanatory, but my previous employer's biggest mistake was low-wage pay. When you get the cheapest work, you get the cheapest results. I remember copying their process early on and paying small wages. It ends up costing me so much more. The turnover could have been better. I would spend two thousand on finding an employee that only stayed one month– consistently. The low pay compounded to multiple tens of thousands over time.
Eventually, I did something unheard of in the world of capitalism. I paid people a metric- fuckton of money to work here. Most of my employees make over 100k, and the business is making more money than ever. The turnover is incredibly low, so people are getting way more skilled and doing complex things that abstract above the job I hired them for. My installers are making over 100k as well. It just makes it easier to do the work we need to do. It also justifies our higher cost because the customers benefit from the best product and quality work.

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***To conclude:***
I am still learning daily and studying economics to try to make sense of the world around me. I often have imposter syndrome and feel guilty for my life. But I ensure I deserve it by spreading wealth and competence. While I’m writing this, I can’t help but notice there’s so much more that I don’t have the time to explain, but practical things like managing cash flow were challenging for me because I didn’t know anything, and there are no books about it. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. I’m no guru and don’t have a course to shill, so I’ll try to genuinely help anyone I can if they’re in a similar industry.


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People who are making 100k+/year working for themselves, what do you do? - People who are making 100k+/year working for themselves, what do you do?

**People who are making 100k+/year working for themselves, what do you do? Be specific and share as much detail as possible while answering what helped you ... See More get there.**