Brian Winch grew a side hustle in 1981 into a successful business of 40+ years. He started with little money, skills and education, but plenty of passion, patience and persistence.
The idea for his business came from his dad who did various side gigs to supplement his income as a full-time janitor with the public school system. One such gig was cleaning up litter material outside a shopping plaza in the early morning hours before the shops opened. He took Brian along a couple of times when he was a teen to assist him. They would walk the parking lot, sidewalks and landscape and sweep up discarded drink cups, cans, bottles, fast food and candy wrappers and cigarette butts into their collection tools. When their tools were full they emptied the contents into a waste dumpster on site.
Parking lot litter cleanup is a service performed on-foot using simple hand tools. It’s best performed in the hours before businesses open so all litter material can be clearly seen and cleaned up without vehicle interference. Property management companies need to maintain their properties litter-free just as they need to provide other services for the up-keep of their properties.
Years later when Brian was 21 and determined to start his own business he recalled those times working alongside his dad. Brian enjoyed working outdoors, seeing the immediate results from his work and feeling good about the service he provided in his community. Sadly, his dad passed away unexpectedly at the age of 61 just prior to Brian starting up. He was now more determined to make his dad’s side hustle his own and grow it into a successful business.
Brian began cold-calling property management companies to find out if they were interested in his services. He quickly learned how to pitch the benefits of his service rather than attempting to sell his service in his initial contact with a prospect.
He found an interested prospect after making a few calls and acquired his first client to maintain two shopping plazas. He soon quit his full-time job when he started making more money from his part-time side gig than from his job.
He successfully scaled to a full-time, one-man operation and then into one that has an army of cleaners all over his city.
Brian has shared his parking lot litter cleanup opportunity with many other like-minded people across the country. He’s not motivated to make as much money as he could by franchising his simple business, but to honor his dad by helping as many others searching for an affordable environmental service business opportunity get started. He even provides free support!
To learn more about Cleanlots, America’s Simplest Business go to: https://www.cleanlots.com
