Entrepreneurship

In early spring 2014, I was travelling in the passenger side seat of my dad’s old 2001 Jeep Cherokee. We were out on a Sunday afternoon, driving casually through beach neighborhoods and marveling at how well the homes were being maintained. This was the case even when many of the homeowners were only part-time residents. As we drove from neighborhood to neighborhood however; we noticed there was one detracting element that took away from the homes’ beauty. A sizeable number of them had a severe mildew, dirt, and algae issue; especially those which were in older communities. In Erie, Pennsylvania where I grew up, this wasn’t as prevalent. It became incredibly obvious to us that there was a severe need for power washing services in Sussex County, Delaware. Within the month, I had registered the company, R & R Power Washing Services, created a flyer design, and was out going door-to-door distributing them. At the time, I was working part-time as a loan analyst at County Bank in Rehoboth. It provided a steady paycheck while I secured accounts for the newly created power washing company. I now perform power washing services full-time.

Next year will mark the third season R & R Power Washing Services has been in operation. Many lessons have already been learned, some encouraging others challenging, over the course of this short journey. There will be many more to come. It’s no surprise, I find the assigned article: “Ten Reflections on Entrepreneurship, Three Years into the Journey,” to contain very relatable text. I’m very fortunate that this small business, started solely from a small investment in door flyers, has expanded into a functional source of income. Through the remainder of this reflection, I seek to capture the similarities between the lessons and gained knowledge I have received as a small business owner and that which is described in our text.

I first became interested in entrepreneurship around the age of 14. I made art pieces and would either put them on consignment or sell them outright to art galleries, country clubs, and occasionally at art festivals. I took joy in personal interaction with other business owners and their experiences; however, the most rewarding aspect for me was to see the great reaction and interest customers invested in my work. In fact, I very quickly learned that the most important aspect of selling my art pieces was to evoke feelings of emotion and attachment between potential customers and my products. Even though I’m now part of the services industry; I still find that creating a bond with customers is key. In addition, I’ve found myself not immediately turning down potential work opportunities suggested by customers, even if they fall somewhat outside of my comfort zone. This is my way of not becoming too attached to the principle of how I picture the company to grow, but instead, allowing customers to have influence in what direction it takes. In other words, I haven’t completely fashioned this business around the idea of what I wanted it to be, but instead it’s greatly been directed by what the customers have developed it to be.

One of the lessons that’s been hard for me to learn this year is knowing when to ask for help. This is also outlined in our article. Until June, 2016, I had solely been using power washing equipment that could be found in box-office department stores. It wasn’t until I began looking at my competitors’ systems that I realized I’ve been running an amateur operation in comparison. As it turned out, there is far more expertise to power washing than I could have ever imagined. Pumps, engines, hose reels, dilution ratios, chemicals, injectors, flow rates, pressures, hot vs. cold water, and so much more all have become so crucial to maximizing the potential of this company. I’ve gained knowledge on these topics through a few different sources: reaching out to privately owned specialized power washing stores in my community, using reliable internet sources, and through customer product reviews. Operations management is an ongoing process, especially in power washing, due to how fast technology in this industry is advancing.