207. The "Boring" Business Idea that Prints Casfhlow

0:00Picture this. You're stuck in a sales job you don't love. commuting hours for bathroom remodels and trying to manage your mom's vacation rental with unreliable cleaners. Exhausted and frustrated, you wondered if there's a better way. That was a life for Dan Blaker in Myrtle Beach. He didn't come from money, but with his parents' support, he took a leap into a cleaning franchise called Made This. It wasn't easy. He borrowed money for the franchise fee, took late night training calls in fast food parking lots and just months in, lost his sales job. But that push forced him to go all in. Today, Dan runs a Made This franchise doing over$250 ,000 a year and helps train other franchisees across the country.

0:40I'm Ryan Atkinson, and this is the UpFit Podcast, where we uncover the stories of everyday entrepreneurs building extraordinary businesses. I am super, super excited to welcome Dan to the podcast. Dan, thank you so, so much for being here. Hey, Ryan. It's a pleasure, man. Thanks for having me on. Dan, let's start at the beginning. What was your childhood like growing up? Let's really lay the foundation for the listeners. Did you come for money before starting Made This? Talk not at all. I mean, just regular family, you know, we actually, I think the first house that I remember from a kid, we had a sweet double wide trailer.

1:08So really enjoyed that. It's not that we didn't, we were like poor or anything like that, but, um, yeah, it just wasn't like, you know, I'm not really asking my parents for big loans or anything, or my parents weren't entrepreneurs themselves. So it was kind of new for me. And I think they were pretty excited to support me when I decided, Hey, this is something that I want to do. Yeah. Childhood was awesome, man. I, everyone's a little messed up, I guess. But for the most part, I really had a pretty good childhood. Nice. I love it. And listener, stay tuned because we're going to talk really a lot about Made This and how Dan got started, revenue and all that.

1:41But before we do that, I want to transition this to like college and like post-college as well. You landed in insurance and like real estate. I mean, two very different fields there. Talk to us about what you were doing there, that sales role and like how that progressed into packing up from Phoenix and going over to Myrtle Beach. Yeah, believe it or not, so I went to Arizona State, go Devils. I originally went for jazz performance, and then I switched into a business marketing major that found it was interesting. After that, I was a professional musician for a little bit, but then I got into real estate, and I worked with a team there, and then became a solo agent.

2:16And yeah, I decided to move out. Most of my family was back on the East Coast, so I decided to move back out somewhere not insanely close or anything like that, but decided to move back to the East to be closer to them. and when I was here my parents ended up buying a vacation rental here in Myrtle Beach and they're like hey since you're down there why don't you just manage it for us I was like okay I'll manage it and you know along with what else I was doing one of the big things that pushed me toward this cleaning franchise in general was trying to just manage solo cleaners and thinking like there's got to be a better way to do this for sure because it was the biggest headache about managing it was having the cleaner show up or understanding if something was missing gone or like if it was even going to get cleaned oh interesting well talk to us more about that was it just like you were like so unreliable and i guess my dad he ran like an airbnb as well and like i know he had someone that was like super reliable but he was like in small town like minnesota i mean myrtle beach obviously has a little bit more variety in the people that are there so yeah was it just like unreliable talent i mean yeah talk to us more about that because that is really like an important part of this made this story yeah i guess you know i think a lot of vicki journal hosts can be a little anxious, especially on a turnaround, right?

3:24Where someone's checking out and then checking in same day. So just any kind of communication would be great. What I noticed is the multitude of cleaners that I went through, it was just kind of relying on a text like, Hey, I'm here. Or like the place is good. Or maybe send me a couple of photos, but there was no system. You might get a good cleaning. You might get a bad cleaning. I never knew who was going to be there. Even if it was like one cleaner, maybe they sent their helper because they were busy with something else. so it was just it was a combination of unreliability and general unknown so at that time you were you know helping like cleaning you're dealing with unreliable cleaners but you're also remodeling bathrooms with like long commutes i mean this doesn't sound like the ideal setup for like anybody here did that pressure you at all to like search for other opportunities be like business ownership entrepreneurship like how did those two things do because then we're going to really take off with is made this story.

4:13Yeah, it was kind of a combo. So imagine I would travel up to 100 miles each way for my job. And if I wasn't sure someone was going to clean it, I couldn't step in and make sure that it was ready for the next guest. So there was one problem. The other problem was that I hated what I was doing, like traveling that much and then going to like, quote this bathroom job. And then someone would be like, nah, I don't want that. And I'm like, oh, God, here's a two and a half hour ride home. That was awful. So I think both of those things came together to be like, there's got to be a better way. And since I had one problem in the cleaning industry and the other problem was I hate my job, made this kind of perfectly offer a solution to both of those things.

4:51I love it. Well, then let's talk about discovering made this through like an online post. Like where did you find made this and like what initially caught your attention for listeners, the OG, like you listen to upflip, like we've actually had the founder Neil on the podcast before phenomenal episode, but talk to us. Like how did you find made this? Yeah, I just saw it on a forum, like a business forum. And he had shared his story. And I was like, oh, that's super cool. So I went to his website and hit the apply for franchise link. It was broken. So I looked him up on Instagram and just DM him.

5:19I'm like, hey, I'm in Myrtle Beach. He's like, oh, cool. I love Florida. I'm like, not quite. It's South Carolina. So it was just like, honestly, an Instagram connection that I made. And we started talking about it. I was, I think the franchise had been around for one year. And there was only one other franchise at that point. so it was pretty much a sell story online and just took a little bit of action and yeah went through the diligence phase and everything with with neil love it let's talk about what made this is for listeners that haven't checked out the youtube video i would 100 one recommend you do that after you listen to this whole episode but made this what do you guys do and like wide back catch your attention yeah made this is like the only national cleaning franchise that focuses on airbnb or short-term wrinkles which was really cool because i was in the mecca i felt myrtle beach has like 14 ,000 short-term rentals listed here.

6:05So when I saw that, I was like, perfect solution to my problem, right? Maybe I can build the better system with help from a franchise brand. Talk to us about like getting set up with this. Okay. You see this, you're like, okay, I want to consider doing this. I have a broken link. I'll DM Neil. You DM Neil. Kind of how did that progress in like actually starting? Like any stories there? Like talk to us about the fee and all of that. Oh yeah. So it was just a Google meet that we jumped on. he invited me to talk about more more about what the actual franchise was and oh my goodness dude when he told me because again I didn't have a lot of money or anything like that he said here's your initial franchise fee it was probably nothing to some people but it was everything to me I shut the laptop after the meeting of course I didn't just shut it on him when he said it and I just sat back in my chair I was like there's no way like I can't afford to do this like I don't know what I'm doing why did I even reach out I'm stupid he hit me up a little bit later and was like hey man did you have any time to think about it?

6:57And I was like, yeah, I think it's too much money. He's like, let's jump on another call. He walked me through it. We talked about some options and I was like, you know what? I really like this guy and I love this model. What am I afraid of? What's the real risk? So yeah, I had to convince my fiance at the time about like, Hey, I'm going to take this money out. I'm going to take a personal loan and all this stuff. And it worked out, but there was a lot of fear in the beginning, to be honest with you, like just putting that much cash down, even though like i said it's a lot to some people a little to others but it was really everything me i had to make it work i'm curious you know you closed the laptop and it's like that's too much money i mean what thoughts are like going through your head it's like oh my gosh like i need to go back to what i'm currently doing like what are some of those thoughts i mean for me that'd just be so like soul-sucking honestly did it was deflating i felt like okay i have my way out and then i'm like wait i can't afford my way out like maybe i gotta do it on my own or like i don't know what to do.

7:52So it was just like constant unknowns. Like all these questions that I had in my mind, I was like, I thought I had the solution. Then I'm like, well, I don't have enough money. I don't have enough time. How am I going to do this with a job? Everything was just going off in my head at once. And I was just afraid, really. And I think that's why I kind of sat back inside and was like, well, on to the next idea. Most people spend months, sometimes years, just thinking about starting a business. But what if you could do it in just 10 days? That's exactly what the 10-day business launch plan is designed for.

8:20It's a step-by-step roadmap that takes you from idea to real operational business in just 10 days. Click the link in the description below and get ready with your business. Tell us what the initial fee was, but like to also like, how did you get the money to do this? Then did you pull out like a loan, like a small business loan for this? Like talk to us about that because I want to also make this actual for listeners that are considering franchising in any ways that they can actually finance like their first ones. I'm curious how you did it. Yeah. So I had to, in total what I wanted to do budget with some extra marketing and stuff.

8:50I wanted to take out like 50 ,000 bucks and I didn't have 50 ,000 bucks. My credit wasn't great or anything at the time. So actually when it asked my mom, I was like, Hey mom, I, uh, check this cool franchise thing out. She's like, Oh, nice. That's great, honey. And I was like, yeah, do you think you can help me go sign alone? And she was like, uh, I don't know. My mom's always been really like stoked on entrepreneurship and stuff. She's always wanted to have a business. She always talked about Lisa's cafe and owning a restaurant. So I think it was kind of cool to her that I was trying to do that.

9:23So she did. She helped me like co-sign on a personal loan. It was like extreme interest, but whatever we took the risk. And I really felt supported when I had somebody that I cared about was on my side. So like that support system was there from day one, too. Oh man. I feel like that is like so important. Like moms will like always be like the biggest fan like in your corner and like will always support you no matter what. I love that. But what were those first like few months and talk to us about like the onboarding as well? Because I know I alluded in the opener. I mean, you're taking calls in a fast food like parking lot, which I just love that entrepreneurship, like the scrappiness of it.

9:54Talk to us more about that. Yeah, it's great. So I had like two to four hours between the points. I forget what it was. I, you know, I try to block that part of my life out. Either way, as I was driving from appointment to appointment, I would turn on my marketing. And if calls were coming in, I'd pull off to the side of the road in rural South Carolina and trying to sell a cleaning, which I knew very little about. Right. So that's crazy. Yeah, it was tough. And that job was Monday through Saturday as well. So Saturday and Sunday days and nights, I would like work on finding a cleaning team to work with or recruiting someone or trying to put together a marketing plan for the week where I could actually answer the phone.

10:30Like it was really crazy and hectic. The reality is I did that for about three or four months before they noticed that I wasn't doing so well at my job anymore. And they ended up firing me from that. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. It wasn't great. So my safety net as like the main provider of the household was also then kind of just cut open. Right. I had no more, no more parachute. Yeah. Well, Dan talks about that. Like, like role playing this, like I'm your boss at the time. Hey, Dan, we're letting you go. Like, good luck. Best of luck. What's going through your mind. Is that for me, like, as you just said, is the safety net of like a family and a marriage like that's tough.

11:06So I mean, what was that like for you? There's a story about it. And it was actually kind of, I don't know, it felt heartbreaking at the time. The reality was before that I went up to the boss and asked him like, hey, just started this business. Can I like work part time here? And that was probably the first stupid move that put it on their radar. But yeah, I think it was probably obvious that I was spending a lot of time doing this versus like putting effort into my full time job. When I got the text, it was a Sunday night and I was having a barbecue at my house with my friends and it's like going to be right after New Year's.

11:38So I was like so excited for the new year, whatever. And I got the text and said, Hey, can you come in before our meeting tomorrow? And I was like, I texted back. I'm like, dude, if you're going to fire me, just tell me right now. That's why I said back to the guy. And I sat on my back porch, everyone was inside having fun. And I kind of looked up and I was like, what am I going to do now? I was terrified. I didn't want to tell my fiance or anything. because our wedding was coming up in a few months. It was really rough, dude. A lot of quick decisions had to be made after that following Monday about what to do with our finances and budgeting and everything.

12:10But it was really the time where I could go all in on what I was doing, right? Man, I just got like chills hearing that story. I feel like I just put myself in your shoes. That is just like, that would be just so horrifying. So you're not let go. You know, you're okay now. That's the only reason I say that. But you're now let go made this is like that is your safety net in some way. Was it like a mindset shift for you where it's like, OK, well, now I like really need to go on this. Like what really changed after that? Yeah. So I was answering calls in my car beforehand. And if I had the random day off, I'd try to go meet with like businesses in the community.

12:45Now I had pretty much all the time in the world. So I just doubled down on that. I was able to take more like sales calls and close them. I was able to train the team that I had on. Like I had a VA that was helping with some sales and stuff. I had them come on full time because I was going to do more marketing and just kind of double down on what I could. The only thing that was kind of the problem there is I had to pull back on spend because my runway was very quickly running out and then I didn't have any other funds coming in. So that was probably a bigger issue for me just because I didn't have a lot of money going into it.

13:17I didn't have a big bankroll. And then the main way I was financing, you know, anything extra or big marketing plans was going to be for my job. so that was a problem, but also it was good because I was able to get crafty and scrappy and kind of just use me, right? I started attending B &I business meetings and just popping into random property management places and being like, hey, here's your cleaner. So I think it was a blessing and a curse in that way. Oh, yeah. I feel like that's, it's crazy because just like what you said right there, it's like, yeah, my marketing spend is going down, but I also need revenue to go up.

13:52So I want to ask, Like what was like the most like profitable, most revenue generating, like scrappy thing that you did? I want to give that actual tip for listeners. Yeah. Well, a couple of things. There's two things you can invest. It's your money or your time in a business. And I had way more time than I had money. So, um, me going out, no, seriously. So me going out after I was able to actually go out in these meetings, not in my work outfit, not on my work computer. Like they saw a different logo. They're like, that's not a cleaning company. being able to get out into the community really did help kind of accelerate things a little bit for me meeting with property managers making it known like getting out of obscurity i think is what it was up to that point i was just buying leads online which is a completely viable option when you have enough bankroll to do it you can get there just as fast as you can if you're out and about in your community but like i said my time and i guess my personality was good enough but yeah i'd say that was a really impactful moment for me to have the freedom to do that nice i like it let's talk about like that first year in revenue then i know you were just talking about like that first full-time revenue year i know you know you said you released early january where you're like oh man i'm so excited for the new year what did like that first year of like revenue look like for you and your team and like how did you do it was great like the first few months it was like maybe we did like 14 000 bucks or something i was like oh my god when i made my first sale i wasn't even out of training yet and i was like dude my first dollar as an entrepreneur dude it felt so good I had to do my screen but yeah that first full year it took off quickly because it was slow up front and then by like March I didn't realize how busy of a busy season Myrtle Beach had we have this huge curve in the summer because we have so many vacation people coming down here and so many vacation rentals so because the franchise allowed me to like they kind of did the SEO for me.

15:43My name was very quickly climbing the ranks for Airbnb cleaning company, Myrtle Beach near me. So I was getting a ton of inbound calls that were like, hey, can you clean my vacation rental to the point where I was like so overwhelmed with the work? I was like, I can't hire cleaners fast enough. I have to make a wait list, right? So I was a little afraid of the success, but no, it was fantastic. We were able to climb pretty quickly from about March. So there was about a three month time period where I was like, what have I done? This is the worst mistake of my wife to hell. Yeah. You know, so it was really, really good in that way.

16:14Yeah, I know. And you have a really good quote. You said that you've preferred slow, like manageable growth early on. Why was that like kind of like your approach? And like, why do you prefer that instead of just like grow, grow, grow, grow, grow? I'm curious there because I think there are two different ways you can do it. I don't know if one's there than the other, but I'd be curious to add your thoughts on that. I don't know. You know, I, I do remember saying that and looking back on it, I think that was like dumb. if I'm going to be honest with you. I love that take. That's great. Yeah, I mean, because I know I said that all the time, but the reality is just messy, imperfect action.

16:46I know this now. It's just always going to beat out cautious and just dipping your toe into things, dabbling here, dabbling there, whether it be marketing or starting a business or whatever you want to do. Just go. Take that messy, imperfect action and go with it because slow manageable growth is kind of like a myth. You're going to grow or you're not going to grow. either way like you're gonna manage it you can you got it in you yeah when i started my own company when we were like the video marketing space when we started i legit didn't know anything about video marketing i don't know how we landed on like this business idea but we're just like like we'll kind of just like figure it out and go and like that's like truly like it's scary to think about but that's like truly like how you do is just like go go go and take action and it's gonna be imperfect but like that's how you get your first business off the ground when you don't even know anything A hundred percent.

17:33If you don't have time to be scared of the decisions you're making, you're just going to grow, right? It's going to be better that way. The more you can think about will this work or not, the worse off you're going to be. That's my personal opinion now, but it used to be, I'm afraid was basically what I was saying there. I'm curious, like how does your mindset shifted towards like entrepreneurship since you started this? Cause like, I know you mean, you just said it right there instead of like grow mindfully, it's not like imperfect, like messy action beats that. I'm just curious, like how does your mindset like shift towards entrepreneurship.

18:02Like I'm sure it's so cool to reflect on. It is. And it's not just entrepreneurship. It's everything in life. I met a woman and within a year, within three months, I asked her to move in with me. And within that same year, I asked her to marry me. It's just taking action when it feels right and doing it and making it work. That's maybe a bad analogy. That's not relationship advice for everyone. But like the reality is it's made me, I wouldn't say fearless. there's still spiders and stuff out there but it has made me more open-minded to possibilities when someone's like oh that'll never work i'm like that's not something that you want to say like you can do anything look at what you've built right and look at what i've been able to build through that made this franchise and look at what people are building every single day there are kids 16 year old kids that are out there making millions of dollars you know and they have no idea what they're doing they're basically just born you know what i mean that's exactly you just said it.

18:53You hit the nail on the head. Nobody knows what they're doing. And it's not even a fake it till you make it. Just try and you'll surprise yourself. No, I love that. That is really good. That'll be in my takeaways that we'll have at the end of the episode. I absolutely love that. Speaking of that, I mean, everyone tries, you're going to have the ups and like the lows of entrepreneurship. That's just frankly how it is. I mean, you said your first three months were a little bit lows and it just highs, highs, highs, highs, highs, highs, which is great. How do you like manage that stress? Do you meditate or doing like the ice baths every day?

19:20Like how do you manage that stress to like the ups and downs of a business because for first-time founders they might not know what's coming their ways but holy smokes there are highs but there are the lowest of lows i'm curious how you manage it dude i um cannot agree with that more it's a roller coaster i always thought that was a joke but it really does feel like up and down the reality is it balances out over time like you don't feel those extreme highs and extreme lows but when you're first starting you will i heard something within the franchise system actually within made this that the business has a set of needs that doesn't really care about your emotions, right?

19:54So if you look at data over like, let me give an example. Oh no, this cleaner quit today and they had two jobs and those customers are gonna cancel on me. Cool, people are gonna cancel on you anyways. You're gonna fight attrition. You have to out-market it, right? How many leads are you getting in versus how many you're closing versus how many people are you losing per month? If that's still good, that small emotional thing of the day doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. So it's hard to be data-driven when you don't have data and you just start it. But the more you can track, the more you can separate your emotion from the business needs and take action more decisively.

20:26I think that's kind of where I'm at now. It's something where like, I feel like the entrepreneurship is like, as I said, you have the highs and like you've had the lows. You can't have small things like impact you. I feel like advice that I give to like first time founders is like, find your like baseline level. Like this is what you are. And when it, when stuff's good, don't go too high. And when stuff's bad, like don't go like too low, like try and manage your emotion. I feel like that's like one of the hardest parts of entrepreneurship is like early on, especially like managing your emotions and not letting that small thing like impact the rest of the week or the rest of the day.

20:57It absolutely is. And, you know, I meet with other business owners on a daily basis where they'll spend half an hour talking about this thing that in the reality is like that's not driving you toward your goal. Right. That's distracting you. And it's hard to talk to people about, hey, your emotions are getting in the way because humans are emotional. Right. That's what makes us unique. So, yeah, it's look, I haven't solved it. I think that sentence I said earlier is like, oh, yeah, I'm good. I just look at the data. Not true. The reality is it still bothers me. It's just it's less because I've been through it.

21:25Right. It's similar to going through your childhood or getting your first bad grade in school. It's like, OK, well, I can fail the rest of my classes now because I already got that one. You get it out of the way. You know what I mean? Mm hmm. I feel like that's honestly where like so last Q4, so Q4 2024, absolute lowest of lows, like we had nothing coming in, nothing coming in. we get to January we have one of our best months we get to February we have our best month ever and like now it's like when we get to those really like low points now it's like well I went through that in quarter four like I know I can get through this I feel like it's just building that muscle of like resilience and that's like truly where like entrepreneurs are made in my eyes it's like those low points where like you keep going like you make it through yeah no I love it I we had a new franchisee come into the system and I started working with them in January and they were doing I don't know, very low four figures.

22:16And four months later, they hit their first, like multiple five figure months and they like 10 X their business so quickly. I was like, how great does that feel? It's almost like they don't even remember what it was like. Cause you are, you're riding those highs and you're riding those lows. But yeah, it's crazy to think about that. It happens all the time in entrepreneurship where you're just in the dumps and then you're like, well, what happened? Well, you did what you were doing right the whole time, right? You never gave up on what had got you there in the first place. And it's repeatable.

22:45Most businesses are. That's why the franchise works so well, because it's a system and you can just stick to the script whenever your emotion gets in the way or like there's a problem in your life. As long as you're doing these couple of things, it's going to keep doing well. One question that came to mind that you talked about earlier, where you obviously you coached a lot of people that are going to like the made this franchise system. One thing you said that took out to me is like people think that they're going towards something, but it's actually distracting you towards their main goal, just to kind of summarize that.

23:12What's like something that a lot of people focus on that doesn't actually help them like with their main goal, if that makes sense? Yeah, what I see a lot of people doing is they'll chase after like, oh, this is the big money clean, like$500 one time cleaning, right? Something might go wrong, you have to discount that or something of that nature. And they're like, oh, man, I my margins aren't good on that. When it comes to these recurring customers are like, I don't want to discount anymore, because I just took a hit on this one. That's pennies compared to what a customer will spend with you over the lifetime of the account with you, right?

23:42They might be worth 3 ,600 bucks a year to you. They might be worth$36 ,000 a year to you. I have a customer that's paid me over$45 ,000 since I've been in business here. If it weren't for like me giving some discounts and being flexible upfront, like not letting those small little margins or like I need to make money as quick as possible and focus on the future bank is what I call it, right? Not just how much I'm making today, but how much does this work to me over the lifetime? That's how you're going to build that recurring book of business and that repeatable, dependable income. Yeah, I love it.

24:15Yeah, I think I like the customer lifetime value over just like this one project. That's a really good takeaway. Going to the systems of like a franchise has in place, because I feel like a lot of people don't hear franchises and they're like, okay, like, I've heard it like, but you know, what do you guys do? I know you have systems like, what has been like the one of the most surprising things franchising for you or like for clients that you or like people that you coach? Is it like, oh, I didn't know I was going to get XYZ. I'm curious what comes to mind for you. Well, I've never been in another franchise network, but with Made This specifically, I was surprised by how much support you get.

24:47I thought it was kind of like, here's the playbook, go for it. There's like an insane amount of coaching. There's an insane amount of training and you have access to like your support team all the time. It's great. They're always hosting like, and it's all digital too. That's the other thing. Like you don't have to go into an office or fly anywhere. the support is really ridiculous all the franchisees are in one slack channel together and we can all communicate like i've heard of other franchises where it's like we don't want them all fraternizing with each other so yeah they made the system in that way like i was actually blown away by how much support i thought i was going to get thrown a playbook and be like okay stick to this and if you have any questions just keep reading you know so yeah the access to the help and support because that's what most people need when they buy a franchise it's like i don't want to do it myself.