The $200k Barrier

AC Lockyer said:
Still let's stay on topic.... :)

What are we all doing to grow our sales, systemize our company, attract new or better employees, keep more net profit from our jobs, earn more free time for our family and hobbies? Would improvements in these areas result in company growth? How much yearly production can an owner operator really expect? How much more if they get off the wand and into the sales truck? How much more if they add a sales and management team? Is there room for me to grow? How much do I want to grow? Will growth hurt me or help me? What are my life's goals?

AC
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My wife tells me I am no longer allowed to grow the business. We are at 40 employees, so if we go over 50, we have a whole new set of regulations that we have to comply with. It's all good, because I am very satisfied with my income, and my free time.
What I am doing is maximizing revenues, and systems, so that I can get a larger variety of work, that we can do on our schedule. I still do not go after commercial or residential. I concentrate on the customers I have now, and maximize the revenues from those customers. For instance, this morning, I did a job where I netted more than I made at a previous employer in a month. One guy, me, and no chemicals. Meanwhile, I had leads sending the regular crew out to do their defined tasks. That means I was making even more money, while I was playing. I like to play that way, i.e. work. I think it helps me stay on my game, and I think my guys respect me more when they find out that I am not some old, rich, white dude that owns a business, but that I actually KNOW the business, and can do everything they can, and do it faster. It is a different philosophy than some understand. Trust me, if I didn't do the extra stuff that I enjoy doing, I probably would be a lot less happy. To me, being Happy is important.
 
Mostly health care and Fmla requirements.
 
AZ PowerWash Pros said:
I am pretty sure Obama Care makes it so owners can not do that. If you have 2 businesses that you own with 26 full time employees in each business then you have to provide health care.

I remember reading that, does anyone know for sure?
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Not possible !!!

At least not in my corporation docs. I don't own a business. My corporate entity does!!

They are separate and I only control them not own them.

One thing I know is most business people don't understand these things.

Never personally sign, don't ever say your own the business. CFO CEO yes!!! Not the owner!!

Second it's not your banks business either!!

Get an agent for the business , pay them!

We should have a thread, better a consultant restructuring and teaching you guys to start trusts.

Control everything , own nothing !!


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Ron Musgraves said:
Not possible !!!

At least not in my corporation docs. I don't own a business. My corporate entity does!!
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I agree Ron, I have entities that own businesses as well.

But I was able to find this:

While large employers may think that subdividing into smaller companies may provide some relief from the Employer Mandate, PPACA and its regulations apply the IRS “controlled group” rules found in IRS Code § 414 (b) and 414(c). The controlled group rules essentially state that “all employees of all corporations which are members of a controlled group of corporations" and "all employees of trade or business[es] (whether or not incorporated) which are under common control" are to be treated as employed by a single employer.

http://www.healthlawyersblog.com/PPACA-Employer-Mandate-IRS-Controlled-Group-Rules

What is that saying? Something about Death and Taxes... haha!
 
Ron Musgraves said:
Not possible !!!

At least not in my corporation docs. I don't own a business. My corporate entity does!!

They are separate and I only control them not own them.

One thing I know is most business people don't understand these things.

Never personally sign, don't ever say your own the business. CFO CEO yes!!! Not the owner!!

Second it's not your banks business either!!

Get an agent for the business , pay them!

We should have a thread, better a consultant restructuring and teaching you guys to start trusts.

Control everything , own nothing !!


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Good advice! More information would be helpful
 
Luis Orts said:
AC, I think the first step to having more time for the family is to get from behind the wand and focus on getting your employee's to following a set regime everyday... almost religously. So if you wash a roof, your employee's do it in a certain process everytime. Creating "If..... Then..." scenarios and teaching your employee's how to react, after time, will become automatic. As you do that, your objective is to create marketing through videos, pictures, and demos as they do that. Think about what your customers needs are and not your own needs, and you will prosper.

Then as you progressively grow, getting people to build the business for you through sales & marketing processes and creating a brand that people will follow and recognize very easily. Then all you do is play your business like a chess board. and you're the chess master. Just remember to keep cash in the bank for rainy days and grow nice and slow.

Just my two cents.

It's all about making things easy for yourself.
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Good Post
 
I appreciate that AC. You know, I'm not the most knowledgable person on this forum as far as Pressure Washing and understanding everything about the machine and/or ***SOME*** of the techniques you guys have implemented (Though I am learning everyday)... But I feel like before I went into business, I knew how to grow the business and the thing is to always plan out small goals and simultaneously achieving your milestones, as you plan for larger goals.

Thank God my partner knew more than I did lol
 
AZ PowerWash Pros said:
I agree Ron, I have entities that own businesses as well.

But I was able to find this:

While large employers may think that subdividing into smaller companies may provide some relief from the Employer Mandate, PPACA and its regulations apply the IRS “controlled group” rules found in IRS Code § 414 (b) and 414(c). The controlled group rules essentially state that “all employees of all corporations which are members of a controlled group of corporations" and "all employees of trade or business[es] (whether or not incorporated) which are under common control" are to be treated as employed by a single employer.

http://www.healthlawyersblog.com/PPACA-Employer-Mandate-IRS-Controlled-Group-Rules

What is that saying? Something about Death and Taxes... haha!
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Has not been tested, won't stand up!

Corporations are not people.

If you never own it an abide by the laws an don't mix match an hold personal guarantees or liens. You cannot be penetrated. Most do not follow the corporation structure an often don't realize you have no protection. When you do this all personal assets can be taken. Oh wait!! Even if you get a liability if you have nothing they will never come for it.

It's a riddle !! I'm not a lawyer.

I have already asked these question. I'm also currently a share holder of a over 50 employee business. Trust me I wanted to make sure I'm protected.

Never allow the irs in your books no matter how innocent or honest you think you have been. Without a lawyer!! Trust me if he's good they won't be in them.

Trust me I know about this, lived the nightmare to a tune of over 750,000 in a single years revenue. That didn't include the penalty.

Stay away from CPA , they follow what ever the irs says.


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Ron Musgraves said:
Has not been tested, won't stand up!

Corporations are not people.

If you never own it an abide by the laws an don't mix match an hold personal guarantees or liens. You cannot be penetrated. Most do not follow the corporation structure an often don't realize you have no protection. When you do this all personal assets can be taken. Oh wait!! Even if you get a liability if you have nothing they will never come for it.

It's a riddle !! I'm not a lawyer.

I have already asked these question. I'm also currently a share holder of a over 50 employee business. Trust me I wanted to make sure I'm protected.

Never allow the irs in your books no matter how innocent or honest you think you have been. Without a lawyer!! Trust me if he's good they won't be in them.

Trust me I know about this, lived the nightmare to a tune of over 750,000 in a single years revenue. That didn't include the penalty.

Stay away from CPA , they follow what ever the irs says.


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One word Agent!!

If you noticed they say control!


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Ron Musgraves said:
Has not been tested, won't stand up!

Corporations are not people.

If you never own it an abide by the laws an don't mix match an hold personal guarantees or liens. You cannot be penetrated. Most do not follow the corporation structure an often don't realize you have no protection. When you do this all personal assets can be taken. Oh wait!! Even if you get a liability if you have nothing they will never come for it.

It's a riddle !! I'm not a lawyer.

I have already asked these question. I'm also currently a share holder of a over 50 employee business. Trust me I wanted to make sure I'm protected.

Never allow the irs in your books no matter how innocent or honest you think you have been. Without a lawyer!! Trust me if he's good they won't be in them.

Trust me I know about this, lived the nightmare to a tune of over 750,000 in a single years revenue. That didn't include the penalty.

Stay away from CPA , they follow what ever the irs says.


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Guys, take heed of this post because it's some of the best advise on this forum, or for that matter any biz forum! Never take a knife (CPA) to a gun fight, always take a gun (tax lawyer). There's nothing better to have in your corner than a Snarly, Mean Junk Yard Dog!
 
Ron Musgraves said:
Not possible !!!

At least not in my corporation docs. I don't own a business. My corporate entity does!!

They are separate and I only control them not own them.

One thing I know is most business people don't understand these things.

Never personally sign, don't ever say your own the business. CFO CEO yes!!! Not the owner!!

Second it's not your banks business either!!

Get an agent for the business , pay them!

We should have a thread, better a consultant restructuring and teaching you guys to start trusts.

Control everything , own nothing !!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

This would make for a great class in Orlando.
 
ron musgraves said:
not possible !!!

At least not in my corporation docs. I don't own a business. My corporate entity does!!

They are separate and i only control them not own them.

One thing i know is most business people don't understand these things.

Never personally sign, don't ever say your own the business. Cfo ceo yes!!! Not the owner!!

Second it's not your banks business either!!

Get an agent for the business , pay them!

We should have a thread, better a consultant restructuring and teaching you guys to start trusts.

Control everything , own nothing !!


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Click to expand...
spot on ron
 
Several people said they weren't in business for money. I can guarantee you that's exactly what I'm in business for. Not for the green backs themselves, but for the freedom that they represent. The more money I can create through building systems, the more freedom I have for travel, family, going to the movies, buy cool shit, and drinking copious amounts of delicious beer.

If I decide that I need $200k in net earnings to give myself that life, its not possible until I make at least $200k in revenue.

There are very few variables throughout the country that affect everyone's ability to profit the same. Local Taxes, bleach costs, gas prices...those being the chief culprits. Which means if everyone ran their business with the same principles in mind and made the same gross revenue, the net profit would correlate pretty closely.

That said, you need a baseline goal you wish to achieve before you can chase it. $200k for 1 truck/2 guys is a pretty solid goal.

Tony Shelton said:
I am broke and can't afford gas. Lol.

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AC Lockyer said:
No that was me remember....

AC
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Lol
Tony Shelton said:
I would like to add the value of owning your other business assets also.

There is no better feeling than knowing that your equipment is yours.

We went through a terrible time here in Las Vegas. Customers were going out of business left and right. We would come to accounts to find eviction notices on their doors. You can rest assured that if they can't pay their lease, the next thing you are going to get in the mail is the bankruptcy notices.

We were lucky during that time in that we had a lot of personal assets that we could sell to keep our business above water. We also had enough equity in our heavily financed vehicles that we weren't hurt too bad when we had to unload them and were only a little bit upside down.

Keep in mind we just started officially in 2004, so we were still a fairly new business concept when the economy went south.

We had come to rely on credit as the accepted way of doing business. When customers started closing up shop we had around $4000 per month just in vehicle payments and vehicle insurance alone. The payment on just one piece of equipment, a lift, was over $1500 per month.

After we weathered that storm we went back to the drawing board. I read the book "Business by the book", a Christian based book on business operations. We started to implement a cash only philosophy.

We were amazed at how much money we were throwing away each month in insurance overages and interest payments.

You would be really surprised how much you can save.

I've started a number of businesses from scratch. I didn't fall into the credit trap till some genius sold me on all the tax "benefits".

Those tax benefits don't mean much till you are spending over $175k a year on equipment.
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+1. We're writing the check tomorrow morning that clears our debt 100%. Nothing better than owning everything outright. Tax savings be damned.
 
Rich ≠ happy

If you're miserable because you're broke, you'll be miserable when you're rich.

That said, Shoot for $100k next year, and make it happen at any cost.
 
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