I can remember when I started my pressure washing business, I worked seven days a week. She worked days, nights and weekends, she was a “pressure washer whore”. I did anything and everything I could get my hands on. But when I tore my rotor cuff and then developed carpal tunnel syndrome in my right wrist, I came to the conclusion that I couldn’t do this alone.
Don’t be like me and work so hard, you don’t have to be a workaholic. You just need to start working smarter instead of harder.
Ask yourself this, why am I doing all this, why am I killing myself? All this hard work affects your body, your arms and shoulders, your back, and your whole body begins to fail. Stay out of the workaholic trap and learn how to implement systems and start living the life you want.
One of the biggest challenges we have as pressure washers is that we try to go it alone, you don’t have to be a “lone ranger” or a “superhero” and take over the world for yourself. In fact, a lack of delegating skills, not having a support team, and working alone will limit your ability to generate new ideas, explore different types of pressure washing, or discover those areas of improvement that will streamline your business. By having access to a community of like-minded pressure washers like North American pressure washers who are committed to the success of our industry, you will grow your business ten times faster. Every convention attendee I spoke to said the same thing: “I wish I had come to these conventions sooner.” They all regretted not interfacing with all the successful pressure washers sooner. Join an association today and become part of the successful pressure washers leading our industry.
Why not talk to the people who have already figured it out instead of wasting time and money on things that just don’t work? You don’t have to be bigger to make more money, you just have to work smarter. It’s so easy to add overhead to your business and the next thing you know you’re losing money, which happens all the time. You’re money coming in and you’re adding positions, you want to put someone in the office or add another person to the team, it’s very easy to add the positions, but it’s much harder to get rid of them. You lose a big account and things start to go down, you’re going to be able to cut back and show better profitability. Don’t let your ego get in the way; You should see it as a profit and loss business.
All successful business owners have a team they delegate work to and trust that team to run the business. Learn to let go of control and trust the managers and workers of the company.
The best book you can read to promote your business is E-Myth by Michael E. Gerber; there are currently three different versions of him at the moment. The book talks about systematizing your business and working IN your business and not in your business. I can tell you right now, million dollar pressure washers don’t work in your business, they work IN your business. I know this is a mindset shift that most power washers will have to go through to fully understand this. I know we are all control freaks or we wouldn’t have our own business, but in order for you to grow as a business, you have to let go of control and trust the people you hire.