Podcast Summary: Built Online

Episode: From Door Knocks to $300K Year One: How To Get The First 100 Customers
Host: Cody McGuffie
Guest: Azgari Lipshy
Date: November 11, 2025

Main Theme & Purpose

This episode explores how to start and rapidly grow a local service business—like lawn care—to $300,000 in your first year, even if you have little to no startup capital. Azgari Lipshy shares her journey from starting CPG (consumer packaged goods) businesses in Bangladesh to running service businesses in the U.S., highlighting the power of customer-centricity, simple market research, and leveraging grassroots strategies to get your first 100 customers.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Azgari's Background: From CPG to Service Businesses

• Entrepreneurial Start: Founded her first company at 16, leveraging family manufacturing resources in Bangladesh.
• Key Insight: "Don’t make shit people don’t want. Talk to your customer prior to making anything that you think somebody wants." (Azgari, [01:57])
• Shift to Services: Transitioned to service businesses for lower capital requirements, higher margins, and simpler operations.

2. Building a Product People Actually Want

• Customer Conversations: Success stemmed from participating in distribution conversations before making products.
  • "I started talking to all the large wholesale distributors...asking them about gaps in the market." (Azgari, [06:07])
• Pre-Selling: Got wholesale distributors to pay deposits on new products—before manufacturing.
• Modern Landscape: Today, CPG brands need to prove market demand online (DTC/e-commerce first) before distributors will consider them.
• Influencer Marketing: Powerful grassroots boost; even small-scale influencers provide trust and content for new brands.
  • "If you’re starting off grassroots, your only cost is the product you send to this influencer." (Azgari, [13:37])

3. Why Local Service Businesses are a Massive Opportunity

• Service Franchise Reality:
  • Franchises like McDonald’s are often worth it; small service franchises (lawn care, pool care) usually are not, due to high fees, royalties, and restrictive systems that erode owners’ ROI and autonomy.
  • “With the franchise, you’re basically getting another job because you now work for that franchise... When you use their required tools, they get a cut.” (Azgari, [19:08])
• Local Businesses Win on Trust:
  • For services like lawn care, local trust and personal reputation matter more than national branding.
  • "Do you care if that's a national brand or did you just like the guy and the price he gave you?" (Azgari, [21:04])

4. Which Service Businesses to Start?

• Criteria: Simple, recurring, “clean” businesses are best:
  • Examples: Window cleaning, lawn care, mobile detailing.
  • "Window cleaning. Anything that's recurring revenue. Lawn care." (Azgari, [23:43])
• Market Analysis:
  • Start by analyzing local competitors, their offers, and market saturation.
  • “Let’s do a deep dive and figure out do any [competitors] have specific offers that are going really well?” (Azgari, [25:40])

5. How to Land Your First 100 Customers (Grassroots Strategies)

• Direct Approach:
  • Knock on doors, talk to locals in neighborhoods without “no solicitation” signs.
  • Suggested Script: "Hey, I'm thinking about starting a lawn care company. I live five minutes from here. I just want to ask you some questions so that I can figure out if it's a good business for me to start. Do you have five minutes?" (Azgari, [33:04])
  • Out of 10, you’ll get at least two people willing to talk.
• Feedback Loop:
  • Offer free or discounted first services in exchange for honest feedback and testimonials.
  • "When I open, would you mind if I cut your grass just one time so you can give me feedback? Now you have testimony." (Azgari, [34:13])
• Leverage Visibility:
  • Existing customers, word-of-mouth, and being seen working in the neighborhood are among the strongest trust builders.

6. Revenue Potential and Lifestyle Freedom

• Financial Benchmarks:
  • Year 1: $250K–$300K is reasonable in markets like Austin, with ~20–25% net profit.
  • Year 3: Two trucks can approach $800K; three trucks can surpass $1M with 27–32% profit margins.
  • “If you launch the right way, first year for a lawn care business should do at a bare minimum 250, especially in an Austin market.” (Azgari, [29:40])
• Autonomy & Scaling:
  • First year requires hands-on work, but owners can eventually delegate daily ops, freeing up their time and location.

7. Common Mistakes in Service Businesses

• Ignoring Your Team:
  • Owners overlook training technicians in customer service, which is crucial for client retention and satisfaction.
  • "Anybody who's going to come in contact with your client needs to be trained in how to behave in front of a client." (Azgari, [35:15])
• Neglecting the Business Side:
  • Obsession with the technical side (e.g., buying new mowers) distracts from finances, ops, and systems.
  • “They get obsessed with their craft ... what they don’t do is ... elevate themselves for a second and look down on the business and say ... here’s the management. Here’s the system.” (Cody, [36:43])
• Mindset Issues:
  • Scarcity/DIY mindsets lead to costly mistakes, especially avoiding outsourcing bookkeeping or panicking at early marketing costs.

8. Modernizing the Local Business Model

• Digitization Needed:
  • There’s massive opportunity for modern entrepreneurs to professionalize and digitize local businesses—websites, online marketing, CRM, etc.—to outcompete legacy owners who rely solely on referrals.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Don’t make shit people don’t want. Talk to your customer prior to making anything that you think somebody wants.”
  — Azgari [01:57]

• "If you launch the right way, first year for a lawn care business should do at a bare minimum 250 [thousand], especially in an Austin market.”
  — Azgari [29:40]

• “You really have to fuck up to get somebody to fire you.”
  — Azgari [27:54]

• "It’s a mindset problem, too. People just have this concept like, making this much money should be hard.”
  — Azgari [34:44]

• “They’re good at their job. They may be great at mowing the lawn, but they don’t have the customer service skill set. But it's all things that can be learned.”
  — Azgari [35:15]

• “People are constantly walking over dollars to save pennies.”
  — Azgari [37:41]

• “There are systems and operations and there are people like me who can help you ... so that you’re not making [the same mistakes]. It’s like golf... I got a one-hour lesson ... and my swing improved drastically.”
  — Azgari [44:02]

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |--------------------------------------------------------|------------| | How to start a local service business | 00:00-01:45| | Azgari’s backstory and early business insights | 01:49-09:05| | Today’s CPG/wholesale distribution landscape | 09:05-13:09| | Influencer marketing & content for new brands | 13:09-15:35| | Are franchises worth it for service businesses? | 16:45-21:58| | The real value of local service businesses | 21:58-23:43| | Evaluating and picking the right service business | 23:43-26:15| | Strategies for landing first customers | 32:50-34:44| | Financial benchmarks and scaling to $1M | 29:18-31:08| | Common mistakes in running service businesses | 35:04-38:14| | Mindset, systemization & digitization | 38:14-40:05| | Rapid-fire questions: books, advice, mindset | 40:12-44:02|

Final Takeaways

Anyone can start a lucrative, freedom-enabling business with limited resources if they’re willing to talk to real customers, validate demand, iterate quickly, and build basic business systems. Local service businesses are a massively underutilized path to wealth and flexibility.

Mindset is often the biggest barrier—taking action, seeking feedback, and investing in systems and people lead to sustained success.

• Connect with Azgari Lipshy or get free resources at Zari.com.

For aspiring entrepreneurs: Start with customer needs, prioritize action over perfection, and realize that “simple” businesses can be the most rewarding and scalable of all.