Got laid off. In desperation mode!

[thejacobhouse]

Hi all,

Some quick background.
I’m a 26 year old male with a wife and two young kids.
I worked a full time job making $60k/year. My wife does not work (big family value for us that she can be full time at home with the kiddos).

Last year I started a cleaning business and have run it on the side. I followed a “remote cleaning business” model where I hire subcontractors for the work because it seemed like something I could make work on the side. The hope was to replace my wife’s previous income and then eventually replace my income.

The business has not been very successful. We’ve done about 11k in revenue since our first job in September 2023.
I have not profited at all from the business as I pay a large percentage to subs and then wasted a lot of money on ads that didn’t work (but I learned a lot from the experience).

I recently got laid off very unexpectedly. We don’t have much money at all saved, just enough for about a month of expenses.

I recently added window cleaning as a service of my business and have started doing the work myself rather than subbing it.

Now I’m in a hard spot. I don’t gave much time before my family runs out of money.
I’d much rather make my business work and grow than find another 9-5 office job.

I’d like to focus heavily on window cleaning, but it seems hard to get leads and jobs. Im also equipped to do office and house cleaning.

I just need jobs!

My wife is very anxious and would prefer I just for another full time job, but I believe growing my business is the right move for our family long-term. I think this could be the right time to make it work.

I’m willing to work hard. I’m willing to grind. I just don’t have much time before we run out of money.

What would you do?

 

[natk]

@thejacobhouse Providing for your family comes first. Hedge your bets and start looking for another full time job. It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to scale a business in a month to support your family. That being said I would definitely work on your business as well. You can always quit your FT job once the business becomes profitable. Best of luck.

 

[savi]

@natk I would even say a lower paying job with more free time that you can devote to your business. The best of both worlds.

 

[ciprian]

@natk Agreed: I feel like OP can balance spending an hour a day applying for new jobs with running his current business.

 

[liz1019]

@thejacobhouse No my dude. You might not even have time to find a 9-5! You’ll need to do three things:

1-immediately gig work. This is quick and will put money in your pocket immediately which you need

2-look for 9-5. Even if you found one today and started Monday it would be a month before getting your first check.

3-in the limited time you’ll have left to focus on business growth, try to find one big contract on the windows and cleaning. Something recurring but that will put a lump in your account. Focus your prospecting this way until you have the stability of a 9-5 and can pull back a bit to find the smaller customers you’ve had before

 

[lennonali]

@liz1019 I agree. 4 weeks to gain a full time job (2 week minimum, likely much longer) and get paid (2 weeks after starting) is too tight.

Also, have you looked into unemployment eligibility?

 

[613jono]

@lennonali Definitely look into unemployment. 9-5 also is the best path to health insurance for your family which is critical. Counter intuitive but if you want to save your hopes for self employment the best course of action is to become an employee again right away.

 

[wadetheophan]

@liz1019 I agree with 1 and 2 but not 3. A big contract will likely be something commercial and could be a long time to get paid, often net 30 or net 60 terms

 

[samuelg29]

@thejacobhouse The smart move would be to grab another 9-5 with the family - but if you can commit you could run a stack of gig services at once (uber, instacart, grubhub, etc) at once. Also apply to see if there is Amazon Flex in your region. It can be real good money. Typically it doesn't last, you get burned out, etc - but you could potentially make more in 6 months than what you would with your 60k salary.....and most importantly this would give you the flexibility to run your cleaning business too at the same time. It sounds like if you really push it you could do 20k just with the cleaning biz yourself on top of what you bring in with the other gig jobs.

As someone who has spent over 250k on ads over the years - don't ever let up and don't be afraid to lose $. The only difference between you and the other guy is someone decided to turn their ads off. Learn it, watch courses online, etc - and invest every extra $ you have back into it....even if it feels like you're burning it in the short term. Think about the value of a client too. You might waste $300 to get $200 back, but if it leads to a repeat customer then you should be calculating it at getting $600 back or something like that.

 

[tuur]

@thejacobhouse Secure the homefront. Then worry about the business.

 

[momwifeandeverythingelse]

@thejacobhouse I was in the same boat. Started the whole remote cleaning business model. I started out doing residential myself at first though. It was tough. So I then switched to the remote business model and hired subcontractors, the whole nine yards.

To be honest, everyone teaching that model, I believe they were the lucky earlier ones because now it has become saturated. Google, Yelp, and Thumbtack have all substantially increased their prices when it comes to advertising, and others in your city that are doing the work themselves will always beat you out on price because they dont have anyone to pay, but you do.

I quit my job (had a nest egg saved up) and ended up having to go back to work because jobs were coming through, but I made no profit and my money was getting low. I went back to work but then quit my job again trying it again, this time I targeted commercial. Big mistake. My business all but died aside from the ONE contract I've had for the past 2 years cleaning a church for $946.40/month. That's it.

I decided to put my big boy pants back on and get a job. I have benefits again, healthcare for my family, and I know for a fact that when I go to work, I'm getting paid 100% of the time for the work I do there. Much less stress on my wife and children, and yes, she's a stay-at-home mom as well so I can highly relate.

I now clean the church twice a week at night, and go to my 9-5 Monday-Friday during the day. The extra money is nice but I'm currently taking a course to get into the tech industry which will replace BOTH incomes combined, the warehouse job AND the one cleaning account that I have.

It started out as a nice business idea initially, but I know when to hang up my hat. It's going on 3 years and I've lost the passion for it. My wife and I are 32, I just want to make our lives easier. My job gives me vacation days as well, with the cleaning business I was constantly stressed out with ZERO days off.

 

[amm]

@momwifeandeverythingelse Thanks for sharing your experience. This kind of nudging me in the right direction .

 

[momwifeandeverythingelse]

@amm Yeah man, it's ok to pivot. If you keep the business, just know that the hard times will come and go. If you have a huge enough "why" to keep your business, by all means stick it out with the 9-5 AND the business if you're really that passionate about it. Otherwise, just know that it's ok to fail in business, and start a new one, start an online business, etc.

Don't look at it as a "failure" per se, look at it as recognizing the wrong road you went down, and stopping the bleeding before it gets worse. It will take a toll on your marriage as well should you continue the more stressful path. Your family is more important. Your first duty is to those that love you most.

 

[martin2017]

@momwifeandeverythingelse I really needed to read this, thank you.

 

[cooljay]

@momwifeandeverythingelse What course gets you into tech?

 

[momwifeandeverythingelse]

@cooljay I'm currently taking CourseCareers. Here's a link https://account.coursecareers.com/ref/42320/.

And you can even type in this code: HM6GNQDAX7 to get $50 off any of the courses you purchase if you ever decide to do so.

 

[judyperalta]

@thejacobhouse get a full time job.

 

[rhapsodyoftheheart]

@judyperalta he just lost his job and it's not exactly easy to get another that quickly

 

[judyperalta]

@rhapsodyoftheheart You didn’t read the post did you.

 

[rhapsodyoftheheart]

@judyperalta I did