When to add first employee?

Roy Sanders

New member
Not really sure where to post this so hopefully it fits in here. I started my fleet washing business last July and have slowly added a few accounts so far. All of my accounts are weekends except for one that I can do on Wednesday. I am doing all the washing on my own at this time. However I do a demo tomorrow and look at another account on Monday and both sound promising at this time. If I get these two accounts then it is going to push me to where I am not sure if I can get everything done on the weekends when all of these need washed. I think I can pull it off if everything goes in my favor but knowing there will be times where things just take longer or something comes up is what I worry about.

One issue with these accounts is that they are basically in four different towns. I live in the center of all of these accounts and have to drive each direction to get to one then back and on to another and so forth. With what I have now I don't have the extra funds to buy another skid to put on the truck or anything else. If I get these two accounts I am looking at then I will almost be doubling my sales. So I am wondering if I get these two accounts if I should look into finding a part time helper and start training so I can cut my time per account in half when I get another skid or try to muscle through it myself for awhile. This would be something new to me as far as adding an employee etc.

The only other issue I can foresee is having enough water on certain days. Even if I stopped at home to refill it just takes too long to make is feasible and there are no bulk water facilities to allow me to fill without it being overhead and I am not cutting a hole in my box truck for that.

I just started thinking about all of this yesterday because I can see the need for a helper and worried about a little bit of everything if I get these two accounts which by the sounds of it I will. So I am here just looking for some feedback from everyone. I hope all of this makes sense the way I wrote it. My mind is just full at this time and sometimes works faster than I can type. Lol.
 
I officially hired my first employee 3 months ago, he left me this past week for greener pastures though.

First you need to look at two things, one of them is can you upgrade your equipment to make up that time? Second when hiring an employee you will not get somebody that does 50% of your work at your speed, so keep that in mind.

Here is what I learned in my 3 months.

1. Employee's need time to learn your methods and expectations. During that time you have to basically be washing beside them, or within yelling distance to tell them what to do or answer questions.

2. Try and focus them on quality over quantity at first, if they can't get the quality aspect there is no reason to push them on quantity. Essentially you need them to learn how to balance the two, this last guy did great and picked up things and I was sad to see him go.

3. You will have down days which you look back and shake your head about with an employee. I have days where things with my employee went great, other days where everything went wrong. When you are by yourself those bad days can be solved quickly, when your employee runs into these problems this can put you behind the eight ball pretty quickly for the day. Also if they don't show being sick or car problems ect, you just doubled your work for the day.

Having an employee can make your life easier or harder, depending on the employee.
 
That is why I am wondering about adding a part time guy if I get these accounts. Thinking it would be better to start then instead of wait until I absolutely can not handle the load anymore and then try to train someone. Right now the only thing that I could work on is my speed. Some jobs I can whip through them and others it is just in the way the lot is layed out that slows me down and how tight they are stacked up on each other. I have a two step system so I can't complain about that any.

I agree with getting the quality down first then work on speed later. I may be counting my eggs before they hatch here but I am pretty sure I will get these accounts so just trying to look ahead a little and think about what might be coming at me. Thanks for the reply.
 
I made the mistake of not hiring and over whelmed myself. You need to focus on the business and it's easier to train someone as you go rather than after you're completely swamped. I just hired my 5th guy but have been through tons. There are some great threads on here on the subject. Employees are great but a huge stress as well. TRAIN TRAIN THEN TRAIN AGAIN! And when they perform well let them know and reward them! Just my 2 cents. But my opinion is hire as soon as you can and train them while you have the time.
 
Hire someone to be a helper at first. What I mean by helper is someone to reel up your hoses, hook up to water. Basically set up and take down grunt work for the first few months. They need to shadow you for the rest of the time for at least a month or two be for you let them touch a wand. Just my .02 cents
 
the water issue can be solved with a couple elevated tanks at home set up with hudsons and plumbed with 2 inch discharge. Even better if you have well access. tanks can be constantly filling.
 
As soon as you want to start making more money. For me it has been a huge help


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