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The Wash Bros Podcast
Join The Wash Bros, Matt Jackson and Clay Smith, as they talk friendship, business, and how working together as owner/operators of competing businesses has helped them achieve even greater success.
The Wash Bros Podcast
Season 2: Episode 10: Stop Blaming the Economy and Start Analyzing Your Numbers
Feeling slow in your pressure washing business this spring? Before you panic, let's look at what your numbers are really telling you. In this eye-opening episode, Matt and Clay tackle one of the most common concerns among pressure washing business owners—the perception of slowdown during what should be the busy season.
We break down the crucial difference between being busy and being productive. Many business owners mistake efficiency for slowdown when they're actually earning more while doing less work. As Matt reveals, "We ended up doing a little bit less jobs, so our average ticket went up but our job number went down." This insight highlights why tracking your data matters more than trusting your feelings about business performance.
Drawing from our combined decades of experience, we share how weather patterns, increased competition, and evolving business efficiency all impact your perception of business health. Clay emphasizes how his operation completed 70 houses last month—up 40% from the previous year—despite the feeling that things were moving slower. We provide actionable strategies for analyzing your business data properly, including how to use CRM systems to track year-over-year performance, measure your average ticket price, and recognize when you're actually growing despite doing fewer jobs.
The conversation also addresses the mental game of business ownership. Instead of blaming external factors like the economy or competition, we demonstrate how focusing on what you can control leads to sustainable growth. As Clay puts it, "The biggest thing I see is a lot of people struggling and then looking for things to blame it on." Learn why the most successful pressure washing businesses double down on their strengths rather than chasing every market segment, and how patience and consistency eventually pay off with exponential growth. Ready to transform how you think about slow periods? Listen now and discover if you're actually slow or just getting better at what you do.
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What's up, guys? It's Matt Jackson and Clay Smith and we are the Wash Bros. Welcome to episode 10 of the podcast today, where we're going to be talking about are you slow? And this is kind of a unique topic because we are in the busy season, right. But if you guys are new or if you guys been in the business for a while and you're worried about being slow, what we can do is kind of break down how we're going about the situation and the market and looking at data from the past, the present and then the future to try to work our way through this and kind of how we get through times such as this. So you want to kick this thing off, Clay.
Speaker 2:As always, I'd be happy to yes. So are you slow? I see a lot of guys talking online about being slow. A lot of guys hit me up asking me what am I doing differently? What am I doing to stay busy? We just did 70 houses last month. I think we were up 40%. So I mean, how do you know it's slow, right? So what are you doing to analyze your data? What are you doing to keep up with the numbers from the previous year?
Speaker 2:And, as we've taught before, CRM is a great start with making sure that you're putting all the data in, consistently putting the data in. If you're just doing it every now and then whenever you feel like it or whenever you have time, then it's not going to properly work. So you don't know if you're getting that most accurate data or not. But I highly recommend making sure you're tracking your numbers. It's kind of hard to do that off a pen and notebook and say, okay, I have these customers, I have the phone numbers, I know where they live and I know how much I charge them. But if you're not putting all those numbers together and getting the data and getting reports off of that, it's kind of hard to tell. You may not be slow, it may just seem slow, and that's kind of how me and you have talked about Matt. With the previous month. It seemed slow, but we were actually way ahead of the previous year, Exactly.
Speaker 1:And if you don't measure, you're never going to know if you're slow or you're just getting more efficient. And Clay's been in this game a while and he's getting more efficient, so he's banging out a thousand dollars of work before one o'clock. So of course, if you're doing that, you're going to feel slow. If you're comparing it to years in the past when it would be an all day ordeal, and it's the difference between are you being busy versus are you being productive. And if you're not looking at your numbers and understanding, okay, well, if we're not doing the same amount of jobs, are we making more money? And ultimately, if you're making more money, that's all that matters. So don't get stuck in being busy and the trap of oh, I got to be always hustling, I got to always be working. Track your numbers. If you've optimized your way of doing things in your systems and you're really good at washing and hey, I can knock out a full day's worth of work in half of the day, that's not being slow, that's just being productive and successful. So it's important that you know, with the data of like your numbers, your profitability, revenue, all that stuff. It's important to like, look into everything to make sure that are you really slow or are you just getting really good at what you're doing? And I know for us we looked at our numbers last month in March and our revenues were pretty flat from the year previous but we ended up actually doing a little bit less jobs. So our average ticket went up but our job number went down.
Speaker 1:And I think for us it's due to and probably what a lot of people are seeing is like we've had kind of a colder start to the spring. Looking at our numbers, last year it seemed like middle of January February we really started ratcheting up, the warmer weather came in and we were able to put like consistent residential numbers up. But this year we're not seeing that yet and there's still pollen out and it's colder. I know I got plants and stuff, so I still have plants in my garage because last night I think it got to like 36, 37 degrees. So like factors out of your control are probably causing it to be slow and that's kind of where we're at with our numbers.
Speaker 1:I was looking at our our numbers for last April and we did like 55 grand last April. So it it, it may be tough to hit that this April and uh, it's just that volume that we're normally seeing hit hasn't hit us yet, because I think it's it's. It's still pollen, pollen dependent, it's still waiting on the weather to warm up and uh, I'll let you go back to, uh, what you're talking about clay, um. But like, if I didn't have the numbers to back that up, I would just be like, oh, we're working five days a week, I don't know like it seems the same. And then I'm looking more into the data and saying, okay, we're making more profitability per job, not the end of the world. So we're trying to salvage the situation here versus just complaining and not having a game plan.
Speaker 2:One of the biggest things I see is a lot of people are hopping into this business. It's a very saturated market and we know it's very saturated where we're at, so everybody's trying to do it. They're buying a pressure washer and then they're freaking out because they're not having any work. They just quit their job. Some guys are doing it part-time, whatnot. But you got to understand it. Rome wasn't built overnight so and you got to start. You got to start early with this analyzing the data stuff. You got to start early so you understand your market better. You understand what you're doing. You're keeping up with what you're doing on marketing and what's working on marketing. And if it's marketing is not working, maybe have somebody, like a professional, take a look at it, do an audit, say, okay, this is some things that we can work on, but that I think the marketing it plays a big part in it too.
Speaker 2:But you also got to be careful. You just got to be smart, you got to be strategic, you got to be consistent with it. But in other words, going back to what you were saying about the being slow part, I think that a lot of people need to understand that you can be busy and still be slow. If you're not moving, then if you're staying, if you're doing jobs just to stay busy, you're not, and you're not moving the needle.
Speaker 2:That's considered slow to me, because if you're going out and you're just doing the work, you're just spinning your tires, you're not getting anywhere. So what you need to do is you need to take a step back and say, ok, this is not working for me and what can I do to make it better? And that's where the analyzing the data comes into play and you can kind of see, you know, all right, this is what we need to work on. Maybe dip a little bit more money here, maybe you know, but tracking numbers is so important and I think it's very. I think it's one of the one of the main things that you need to do in your business, especially if you're willing to grow year after year after year after year.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and it's great to look at your numbers. Maybe on a Sunday like this podcast, if you're sitting here listening to us. Go over your numbers. Look at your week. Don't just say how many jobs do I have this week. Say what did you do last week. Reflect on that. Where are you at for the month? We're at about the midway point of April.
Speaker 1:So this is the busy season. This is where we need to be really dialing in. How are we making our money for the year? How are we positioning ourselves to finish up May, june, all that stuff? What are we doing to get ready for the July, the August dip and carry us into the fall season? So, like, we need to have all systems go right now and be dialed in on what we're doing. That way we're maximizing this year's opportunity. And, um, what we'll do? Sundays? I usually look at the numbers and I say, okay, well, I got this coming in for this coming week. This is where we're sitting at month to date. Um, this is where we're at for the quarter. So, if anybody, uh, like you should break stuff down, not only a yearly goal, but like a quarterly goal where you have like January, february, march and then you have, um, april, may, june, april, may, june you're going to have big numbers there. And then, uh, you got the summer and then you got the fall and the winter again. So break it down and say, okay, last year we were able to do this, this year we're doing this.
Speaker 1:And uh, try to figure out like percentages of growth of each time periods and how many jobs you've been doing, and look into like your average job ticket. That's there's a few KPIs or like metrics that we like to look at. And it isn't just, oh, this one job I sold for this. I know the last podcast we were talking about how to hit a thousand dollars a day. That's, that's great. We're talking about how to hit $1,000 a day that's great. And we go a step farther for that and say, okay, like I'm hitting $1,000 a day, how much are those jobs worth? And then we're zooming out and like, okay, so this month we're doing, say, $50,000. And off of $50,000, how many jobs is that? And then we go deeper into it and say, okay, if each job is 500 bucks, there's like 100 jobs. And break it down into say, how can we be as efficient and profitable as we can? So we're moving the needle.
Speaker 1:And if the volume isn't there because of leads are down, we're going to have to figure out how to raise our prices. Otherwise we're not going to be able to close and we're not going to be able to hit the numbers we want to hit if we're just purely going on volume Cause. That's that's one thing I've noticed. Pricing is is a little bit of a hiccup here and there with certain people, because I've I've had normal people call and they're like do you have any specials this year? I'm like we did your house and driveway for $300 minimum in 2023. It's going to be the same price, it's not going down. And they're like well, I'm going to get some other quotes and those people may have been customers in the past, but they're not customers today. So be selective. Narrow down the amount of people that you're doing business with and try to maximize that average ticket to raise that up. That way you're able to continue to grow your business even if the leads aren't there and the volume isn't there.
Speaker 1:But I'm just high level looking at. I pulled a report on Housecall Pro, which is our CRM. So from January 1st of 2024 to April 30th of 2024, we ended up doing like 239 jobs and that put out a revenue of $112,000. If I'm I haven't like we haven't really booked out, we haven't really booked out April too far and we're looking at like maybe we probably have another $20,000 that we can squeeze into April the end of the month and we might be a little shy of where we were last year if we do that. So we are seeing a little bit less number from the beginning of January to end of April this year.
Speaker 1:But we're getting a lot of communication with customers about, hey, may, we want to push our normal house wash from April to May or from May to June. So we're seeing that push. And what I remember about last year was it seemed like the spring took off like crazy and then once June hit, it kind of died off. So we're going to see a later spring this year. So if you're kind of stressed out and worried, I don't, I don't think you should be worried because once it warms up and the pollen's gone and everything like that, it should be pretty busy and it should carry us through maybe deeper into the summer than it did in the past. That's just kind of my two cents with everything yeah, over where we're at the.
Speaker 2:We're in the on the east coast. Obviously, matt's out on the east coast as well, if you've been following our journey. Um, the weather definitely plays a big factor. I definitely felt like it was busier last year, so I went back and looked at my numbers. Obviously, that's what this episode's all about. So it's just crazy how you can go back and say, okay, wait a minute, we're good.
Speaker 2:But yes definitely felt like there was a lot more lead volume coming through earlier in the year just because, like you say, the spring took off quicker. We had 70 and 80-degree weather I felt like what late February, early March, all the way through and we didn't ever really get another cold front through, but we've had a lot of chilly weather and I think it's scaring a lot of people. Not many people are getting outside, looking at their houses, spending any time outside. We have Easter coming up. This is the weekend before Easter when we're recording this, so the Easter, that kind of gets people ready and excited, obviously, to get their houses cleaned up for their families coming over. Um, so it's about, from this point on, it should, uh, should be hell on wheels. We uh just grab a hold and, uh, hang on tight and hope that, uh, you've done the right things that you need to do to set yourself up for spring.
Speaker 2:It's like we always talk about in the winter we set ourselves up for the spring and the springs we set ourselves up for the winter, and I truly believe that is a good formula for success. You always need to be looking ahead to set yourself up, because three months and six months down the road. You need to be washing houses too, and again, that's just how me and Matt stay successful with just washing. That's the only services we offer. We don't do any other stuff like gutter cleaning, any of that. I've kind of I still have that on my website. I'll do it for some of my old customers, but I'm kind of straying away from that and focusing solely on pressure washing, because I truly believe if you get good at one thing, you master one thing, you study one thing, you can conquer it and you can be that guy in your area Exactly, and it is.
Speaker 1:It is funny I saw a real. It was. I think it was like Andrew Tate or somebody. So, however you guys think about that, it's kind of that, the mindset of like that, put your head down and grind. And it's like if you want this lifestyle, you have to put your head down for a decade before you say or complain about anything and do this, do the work. And what does it mean by do the work? It doesn't mean do one thing a little bit, do one thing a little bit, do five different things in that decade. Put your head down and grind out on that one thing that you can be the best in your market at, and do that for a decade, and then you're not going to be complaining about it.
Speaker 1:A lot of you guys are in this business for zero to two years and it's almost a crapshoot. Probably for the first five years, like I'm at that point where I'm this will be like my fourth full season of being full time, but I've been in it since 2019 ish. So I've I've had like five years in the business completely and I'm finally feeling like I have footing beneath me and like, if you're stressing out, don't sweat it, don't try to reinvent the wheel every six months Like it's a grind. Keep your head down and keep plowing forward, because you're going to have good months, you're going to have bad months, but overall you're going to average out better. Like our revenues are going to be about in par with where they were this last year from 2024 of january to like end of april, and I'm looking just at our our year to date, from last january to the date today of last year to where we are today, and we were down 42 jobs. So there's a difference in job volume from this year to the past year, but our revenues are probably dancing close to close. So it's like, okay, our revenue is down but our profitability is up because our job tickets are up and that's kind of a natural growth.
Speaker 1:We feel a little slower because we're not as hectically busy as we were in the year past. But we're trying to make it right by keeping our pricing in that right position where, hey, we can do two jobs and it's about the same as doing three jobs previously and that's kind of where you want to, you want to be at. And I've noticed just my marketing approaches have shifted. No longer am I posting a lot in these Facebook groups because I feel like it's a race to the bottom. I I'll.
Speaker 1:I'll see somebody ask question who can wash my house? And then there's 20 people respond and then I respond and then they either ghost or they say can you take $30, $40 off the price? And to us that's not worth our time. So we're really focusing on how do we go from saying a $300 job that we have to do four times a day or five times a day to how can we find those $500 tickets and do two or three of those? And yeah, we're, we're slower because we're not doing as many jobs, but our, our revenue and our ticket size is still there. So the importance of what we're talking about today is like knowing your numbers. Knowing the data like this is what's required to have a healthy business, and when the economy dries up a little bit or when the seasons are slower, it's important to really know your numbers 100%, especially for your mentality.
Speaker 2:Mental game is one of the biggest games in this business. And then, obviously, the numbers. I truly believe, like you said, you got to have all these numbers down, you got to have it documented. I think we originally started back in 23,. I believe so, maybe 22. I can't remember when we actually started. I got tired of dealing with the pen and paper, tired of fumbling stuff, tired of losing people's stuff and losing customers Because, like we've said before, if you are not logging all this stuff, what are you doing? You're basically pissing away money, because each one of these customers costs money.
Speaker 1:Exactly and by keeping track of your records you have where you charge the people last. So if somebody was doing the job for $300 in 2022, throw on $50, $75, you're kind of baking in like that market inflation and market adjustment there. So those people are either going to say yes and then you continue and go forward and then that's allowing you to make an extra 75 bucks a job. And if you're doing three jobs, that's like almost doing another job. So you're able to reduce the amount of like almost doing another job. So you're able to reduce the amount of jobs you can do by just kind of raising that ticket price.
Speaker 1:And if the customers push back and hesitate and they're looking for the cheapest option, well, they might may not be the best fit going forward. So you have to be okay with letting people go, because if they're just price driven, they're going to just go and find the cheapest option. And hey, if I'm hiring somebody to just spray water and clean a driveway, I may be interested in the cheapest option. It may not be the best, best fit for me, but as a business owner you have to look and decide hey, do I want to be a people pleaser and say yes to everybody and kind of just go with whatever people are trying to push on me? Or am I trying to be really selective and grow my business and find those customers that are going to be the most ideal customers as we go through the colder months, where we go through like a slower start to the season and we do what we can to like really position ourselves to grow as much as we can this year? So it's yeah and another.
Speaker 2:Another cool thing um about tracking your numbers is you can kind of see if you're getting your money's worth on your employees. Like your multi-operation business, like you are, matt, with different employees, you can see how many guys, how many jobs these guys are doing as well.
Speaker 1:Exactly, and if they complain to you and they say, hey, I need more money, you can say I'll pay you more money. This is just what's required, and we do kind of a pay for play, essentially, where you're getting compensated based upon your performance and people. They like that. That way it's fully transparent and they say, okay, well, this is going to be my schedule, this is how much I'm going to make this week. If I need to take a lighter day on a Thursday, I'll make $150, $200 less in my paycheck, but I know that in advance. So it kind of helps. It helps you as the business owner with figuring out your numbers to hit your goals, and then it also helps the employees you have figure out what they need to hit for their personal goals. So if they want to take a shorter day, they need to understand okay, is, is that trip away worth me making less paycheck of $200 this week, or is it something that I'll just do on a weekend? And that's the thing everybody's complaining about money nowadays.
Speaker 1:With tracking numbers and with being transparent with yourself and with your employees, you're able to really say, okay, well, you want to take two days off this week.
Speaker 1:You're able to really say, okay, well, you want to take two days off this week. You're going to get paid $200 less or $300 less, is it? Is it worth it to you? Are you going to be complaining to me about money? Or are you going to look and say, okay, well, I know that I eat what I kill, just as you do, and this is a transparent way of doing business, and I also use that too with customers try to push back and they try to take money off the bill.
Speaker 1:Oh, can you take 50 bucks off? I say no, we can't, because that not only comes out of my pocket, that comes out of our employees' pockets. And it's a reframe because the customer's thinking I'm trying to make all the profit and win, but in reality I say, hey, look, if we're taking $50 off of this ticket, that doesn't come out of my pockets, only that comes out of my employees pockets. So it's not fair to my team to take 50 bucks off just because you want to deal Now, if you want to deal, there's plenty of people willing to work for pennies doing this on Facebook.
Speaker 2:And yeah, they're very easy to find, for sure.
Speaker 1:Very easy to find because there's a reason that people start and stop and in the spring, if you're new, you're seeing what we've seen by being in business for a few years is everybody comes out of the woodworks they buy a pressure washer.
Speaker 1:They say, oh, I can hustle in April and May and June and during the summer and I can make a few thousand dollars by doing $100 house washes. And those people will always be there and they will never take your business. But don't make sure. All you got to do is make sure that your business isn't going after those hundred dollar house washes. It's pretty simple. Like we see in the forums and the groups, people are complaining about the $99 guys taking all the business. It's like why are you going after that business? That business is not your business and it's.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was one of the things. One of the mistakes I made early on was worried about competition, but best thing I ever did was put my head on straight, look straight forward and worry about myself, and once I started doing that, I started to take off.
Speaker 1:Yep, you're focusing on what you can control and you're focusing on the direction you want to go and that's where you go. If you're focusing below and you're looking at people beneath you undercharging you, not insured, no equipment you're going to go down with them. If you're focused on guys ahead of you, you're going to, you're going to go up with them and everybody's going to grow together.
Speaker 1:So you pick that's the great thing about the Wash Bros podcast yep, it's pretty cool because we can see guys who will listen to the show, they'll comment the implement and then they follow up and they're like, oh actually, this actually worked.
Speaker 2:It's like shocker that always feels great yeah.
Speaker 1:So it's one of those deals. If you, if you're thinking it and you're feeling it, you're not the only one. It's Clay's been through it, I've been through it. You're not the only one. Clay's been through it, I've been through it. All you guys who are listening, I've been through it and it's not a solo sport.
Speaker 1:So don't isolate yourself and don't stress out and don't get stuck in the doom scrolling on Facebook. Listen to the podcast, follow the group we have, join that Wash Bros group, and try to network and connect with like-minded people in here, because you never know, when somebody says something, it'll resonate the right way with you. You implement it and it really changes your season and the direction of your business. And that's what worked with me and Clay and that's why we have our show and that's why we have our friendship. So I mean it's super important not to get stuck in these little isolation booths of fear and oh, we're slow. What do we do? Like, oh, it's the economy, like the tariffs or all this nonsense, and you just keep your head down. Like Clay says, focus on what you can control and keep going forward, and then you look back and then you're killing it.
Speaker 2:The biggest thing is I see a lot of people I mean I'm guilty of it early on is you start struggling and then you start looking for things to blame it on, like just blaming it on the world stuff going on in the world that does have a little bit impact.
Speaker 2:But if you're consistently doing what you're doing, continuing to continually trying to better yourself, continually trying to better your business, doing the things to be proactive and just keeping your head down, focusing, analyzing these numbers, like we're talking about, make sure you're documenting everything, everything that you're. You need to be documenting how much you're spending with Facebook, how much you're spending with whatever marketing tool or platform you're using and if it's not working, figure out what we need to do to make it work. Stop just looking and saying, oh well, it's the weather, well, it's the whatever the president's doing or these tariffs are messing. That has a little bit of an impact. Don't let me confuse that. But if you get in the right mentality of focusing and saying, ok, I can do this, I can make my business better, I can do whatever I need to do to make this work, then you will be in a better state as far as the long run.
Speaker 1:Exactly. And if and if you look at, we are rewarded in this world via economics by like the value we provide to the marketplace. And if we're just whiny and bitchy like everybody else out there, we're not providing any positive value. We're actually losing value. So people are viewing us as like oh, this is just another guy, this is another hack, this is another guy who's just whining and complaining and he won't be here in a couple of years.
Speaker 1:But if you keep your head down, like Clay and I say, and have that positive mindset and say, okay, I'm going to let stuff just roll off my back and keep moving forward, and whether it's the economy, the president, whether it's the weather, whatever these nonsense issues are, we just keep plowing forward. And then, before you know it, you get traction. And then you get success. You get word of mouth and people say, hey, I respect the grind, You've been at it for a while. And then it catches up to you. And then you get to a position where you're no longer stressing about am I busy or am I slow it. And then you get to a position where you're no longer stressing about am I busy or am I slow. It becomes okay. How's the health of my business. Like you analyze your numbers, you say, okay, our business may be less jobs this year, but we're able to add more profit with these jobs. We have better opportunities come to us. We're not stuck chasing all these $200, $300 house washes that we used to a couple years ago. That kept our schedule filled and busy. We're doing bigger projects we're working for like universities, we're doing bigger commercial jobs and that's really what's moving the needle in your business. And if you're sitting here without that data and the clarity, you're going to be stressed out because you're like, oh man, I see these guys posting the same 10 houses every day that they're washing, but I don't know if they're doing good or doing bad. They just look busy and I'm not busy. So I'm stressed out.
Speaker 1:Like you got to look deep into yourself and deep into your company and look at your numbers and say, okay, well, this is what I'm doing. I may be like the objective is to be more efficient in business. The objective is to say, how can I do the same money for less work? How can I do more money for less work? And then that's how you're maximizing your business out. So, like, as stuff shifts, you got to be creative. You got to come up with ways and say, okay, my business is really efficient at doing this type of cleaning.
Speaker 1:I'm really good at cleaning HOA townhomes. I'm really good at cleaning colleges. I'm really good at cleaning parking garages. How can I double down on that and try to be the best at that, as opposed to how am I trying to chase gutter cleaning? How am I trying to chase oxidation removal? How am I trying to chase whatever I see going on on social media that looks like that guy's making money and I'm stressed out because I'm not busy. Clay and I both focus on the things that we can control on and the things that we're efficient and good at, and we're really laser focused on getting those jobs. We're not too worried about what the new guy down the street's doing, who's chasing all these services, and I think that comes with maturity, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And, like I said before, social media can be like your worst enemy. A lot of people claim to be people that are not on the internet. Anybody can be anybody people that are not on the internet. Anybody can be anybody. They want to be on the internet. They can do $3 million a year as a pressure washing company on the internet but are they really, you know? So a lot of people are just good at marketing, making themselves look bigger than they really are. You know making, making you feel like you're not doing anything.
Speaker 1:Exactly Don't let don't let people's egos get ahead of them and and affect you. And, like Clay and I, we do similar things but we do different things. Like there's areas where he kicks butt at that I'm not competitive in and I said, hey, run with that a hundred percent. Like there's reasons that, like I have teams doing things and then he's he's, he's running that, knocking it out of the park at seven, 30 in the morning and being done by 12. And I'm like I'm I'm good, it's like I'm not every day.
Speaker 2:I wish I was every day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. But like, there's different things that I don't want to compete with you at because you are way better at it than I am. So it's like, how do I figure out what are my strengths and kind of build a team, build my business around that, so it's not killing me, so it's not setting myself up to like lose to you if I'm competing like head to head on that and find that with, like, if you're beating yourself up over something because you're trying to compete with somebody else, you can change your approach. You don't have to necessarily follow exactly that blueprint that somebody's saying. If you're watching guys on YouTube say, hey, I'm making $5,000 for a house wash by my course. Like, you don't have to do that, that's not everybody.
Speaker 1:There's no problem going down the street and doing a $300 townhome community and being happy with that. Like, find what works with you and find your peace. And that all comes down to knowing your numbers Because, like we've mentioned before, like I've done commercial jobs where we make $10,000 and it takes three days and it takes me six months to get paid and at the end of the day I'm like this is not even worth it, or there's costs associated with certain things or I got to pay for a lift, or I got to pay for a lift, or I got to pay for this or like the downtime of my guys not in the field doing residential. Like when you start looking into your numbers and you start really analyzing your business for what it is, you stop caring so much about the influences of social media or the influences of what you're seeing your friends do and you can like just double down and focus on what you're doing and that's how you become a successful business.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, 100% agree. Make sure you're analyzing your data tracking numbers, knowing when it's slow, knowing when it's busy. Try to get rid of that pen and paper. Know the important things, like marketing your business and knowing the important numbers. Not down, like Matt said, it's all a number game.
Speaker 1:And it's okay to be bored with your business. I know Clay and I will talk and he's like man, I'm like getting really good at this and like that's the objective, isn't it Like in the beginning. It's the struggle, it's the hustle, it's the grind, we're like rolling that boulder up the mountain and then you get to the point where you're getting really good at it and you're like you know what? Like this isn't as difficult and as hard and as challenging and it's like so much of like an exciting thing as it used to be, because, hey, we're efficient, we're good at it. That doesn't mean our businesses are failing. That means that we're getting better at what we do.
Speaker 1:So don't get don't get stuck on that trap of like it's no longer as like a grind and exciting as it was in that first year or first two years, and be okay, look at your numbers and say, okay, it's gonna require less effort if I wanna maintain this, I'm cool with this, I'm able to get more of a lifestyle out of it, or I can double down, I can reinvest and I can grow my business. So like the beauty of what we're doing is we can kind of set the pace to whatever we have and that's kind of something that I'll go in and out of, because if you're sitting here and you're like I have memories of the past, of the grind of sun up to sun down, and then, as you're in business longer and say you have teams or you're more efficient, you're like if I can knock out the same revenue doing half the jobs, or I have a team doing it, I'm not going to feel as stressed, I'm not going to feel as satisfied, I'm not going to feel as like satisfied with the day's work than if, than than me doing it back in the day all solo, because it was like I was so busy, I was so stressed. As you get better, you get more systems in place, it gets boring and it's okay to feel that way. So that's just kind of another, another side of the coin, whereas, like, we're looking at our numbers and I'm saying, okay, like, should we be stressed?
Speaker 1:Our job tickets or our job number of jobs are down. Well, the percent growth is there, based upon the amount of jobs we've done, and the season hasn't really hit yet. So, like it'll come and like, if I didn't have all that data, we didn't have all the numbers or we didn't have the insights of like years in the past, we would be stressed out, thinking, oh my gosh, like is it doom and gloom? Like the economy, or all the news, or or all these 99 guys killing my market? So, like it's just think there's multiple, multiple things that you should be thinking of to get yourself through tough times and slow times, and it gets better as you go the middle state could kill you 100 and uh, I've been there, I've been depressed, I've you know, trying to figure out what am I doing wrong.
Speaker 2:But that's just part of entrepreneurship yep, yep, and it's always changing.
Speaker 1:And that's what growth comes in. Like you hear, you hear growth, personal growth, and it's one of those things. Like you won't be ready for that next level until, like, the better version of yourself appears. And that's something that's hard to, it's hard to hear because you kind of have to experience and grow into it. And it's like you're not ready for that next thing until until you level up as a person and you don't know when it happens. And then one day you wake up as a person and you don't know when it happens. And then one day you wake up and you just have like an epiphany moment and you say, oh, that makes sense.
Speaker 1:And then, like a floodgate opens up and then stuff comes in.
Speaker 2:So it's it's weird how that works, it's very weird how it is, whether you want to call it the universe, you want to call it God.
Speaker 1:It's like God's not gonna he's not ever gonna leave you in a situation where you're not prepared for it. You're just in the lesson to build yourself to that man. You need to be to to receive that lesson. And don't view lessons as defeat. View them as just a part of the chapter, because I agree with that. 100 like stuff just comes to clay and I now, whereas like years ago we would. We wouldn't even know how to go about it, but we weren't ready, it would just ruin our day Exactly, especially mine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but that's all growth. And then you look back and you're like, oh, this stuff is just normal, it's a normal day in the life, so just comes with time. So have patience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we all deal with the same things, we can assure you. Yeah, we all deal with the same things.
Speaker 1:We can assure you, no doubt. But we're at our what are we? 35-minute mark.
Speaker 2:So you got any closing statements or anything you'd like to talk about. Well, I just like I say I really think this is really important. This subject it's really been a success of my business really helped me understand my business, really helped me understand the seasons of my business, knowing when I can do vacation, knowing when to give my wife a heads up. I think communication with your family is very important when it comes to this. It's something that I've learned over the few years that I've done this. I can, like I say, communicate with my family and be like, okay, I may be busy for a few weeks, this is what's going to happen. Try to be less on the schedule for me. That way it helps me out mentally, whatever. And then they're mentally prepared as well. Like, okay, dad's told us that he's working for the next few weeks. He's going to be working hard and he'll he'll be there when we need him, but he's going to be a little busy and maybe a little tired. But, uh, I think that's very important. Communicate with your family, um, especially if, uh, you're busy as busy as I am anyway, um, and then, just like I say, huge part of success for your business. If you want to be successful. You'll find a way to get that. Crm. Me and and matt, we both use house call pro highly recommend doing whatever it takes, maybe speaking with an agent. Um, with house call pro, they can tell you what you need. Tell them you listen to the wash bros. They that we recommended, recommended you and, um, yeah, I think that's uh, I think I think this is a great episode.
Speaker 2:Um, hopefully, everybody that's listening can uh take away from what we had to say today. And, uh, make sure you follow us on YouTube. Uh, join our wash bros group and the Facebook group. It's called the wash bros. Uh, the Facebook group is called the wash bros. And then you have, um, the wash bros podcast page where you can see all of our content, all of our reels and stuff like that. You can follow Matt Matthew Jackson on Facebook, his personal page. He posts some stuff there. And then my page, clay Smith. Matt owns Matt the driveway guy. You can follow his business page. And I own C3 Wash Pros. You can follow my business page. We're on every platform you can think of. And then one last thing I forgot I am the pressure washer guru on TikTok, so give me a follow, give me a shout. Appreciate all you guys listening.
Speaker 1:And if you guys want to buy some awesome surface cleaners and turbo tips Clay's your guy on his TikTok store. He's been killing that game. And yeah, if you guys want free content or free learning stuff, go to the powerwashingcoachcom website. You can also check out the pressure washing book I have on Amazon. We're over 300 reviews on this thing In our Facebook page. There's a free link to the PDF. There's also a free audio book online too. So if you guys want the paperback, you can buy it on Amazon. If you like it, give us a review there. That helps us stay in the top of the search.
Speaker 1:If you're searching like pressure washing book on Amazon and we're working on like redoing our Power Washing Coach website, trying to put like some material up there coursing make it more simple, as we have people who follow and like our page. It's just easier for us to communicate directly if we can kind of put everything on one page, and I was trying to get an Amazon store set up for merch, but I'm going to do a print-on-demand service, so stay tuned. We'll get some cool shirts and stuff here in the future, but if that's everything, make sure to give us a follow. Like Clay said, follow us personally. Follow our pages and we'll see you on the next one.
Speaker 2:Peace out, guys. See you guys.
