The 6-Figure Side Hustle Cleaning Up Parking Lots (Greatest Hits)

Summary

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The Side Hustle Show: The 6-Figure Side Hustle Cleaning Up Parking Lots (Greatest Hits)

Host: Nick Loper
Guest: Vladimir Hernandez – Founder, LitterFreeLotsNYC
Episode Date: March 9, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode explores how Vladimir Hernandez transformed a simple, low-barrier side hustle—cleaning litter from commercial parking lots—into a thriving six-figure business in New York City. Nick revisits this audience favorite to dissect the journey from idea to scale, marketing tactics, pricing strategies, recurring revenue, and growth pains. It's a hands-on playbook for turning overlooked chores into lucrative opportunities, packed with actionable insights and relatable hurdles for new and seasoned entrepreneurs alike.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Finding the Idea and First Steps

[01:09–05:21]

• Vladimir discovered the business idea on Nick's “99 Ideas” blog post, specifically a “trash picking service.”
• He researched further, found resources from Brian Winch of Clean Lots (referenced from episode 266), purchased his book, and got personal advice:

  "You want to make sure you get started right away and don’t waste any time." – Vladimir, recounting Brian’s advice [03:25]

• Started as a sole proprietor and opened a business checking account.
• Initial customer acquisition: approached property managers at local plazas, presented business cards/flyers professionally, and secured his first contract (which immediately expanded to more locations).

2. Landing the First Customer & Pricing

[05:21–09:26]

• Vladimir’s first “in” was due to appearing professional and establishing a personal, trustworthy vibe.
• Many locations had no formal litter service—the tenants just handled their areas.
• To price, he “walked” the lot to time the effort needed, then aimed for a $35/hr rate, landing initial recurring contracts at $450–$500/month.
• Reflections on pricing:

  "I sent the proposal through email... when I turned around, he says, when can you start? And it was—the proposal was signed." – Vladimir [08:54]

3. Low Startup Costs and Equipment

[09:27–11:24]

• Startup items: push broom, trash bags, legal formation, and notably, a specialty “litter scoop” from Litter Licker (which streamlined the process).
• Used on-site dumpsters for disposal, avoiding extra hauling.
• Add-ons like a leaf blower and rake make the job easier.

4. Operations: Timing, Recurring Revenue, and Delegation

[12:05–15:30]

• Work is generally performed early morning or late night—when the lot is empty—making it ideal as a “5-to-9” side hustle.
• Began by doing the work personally. As contracts grew (often multiple lots per client), he hired independent contractors, paying 75% to the worker, keeping 25% for himself:

  "Every time I picked up another location, I'd clean it for a month, then I'd bring someone on and train them as I did it." – Vladimir [14:04]

5. Scaling Up: Marketing & Sales Tactics

[17:51–21:14]

• Beyond “just walking in,” Vladimir proactively called local property managers found via Google (“warm calls”).
• Sent concise, service-focused flyers; emphasized persistent follow-up:

  "Just being persistent and having a little script in the beginning. I try to be laid back, not sound like a salesperson." – Vladimir [20:48]

• Learned some clients would need to hear from him 3–4 times before closing the deal.

6. Handling Objections & Expanding Services

[21:14–25:28]

• Addressed questions about rain, who does the work, and frequency.
• Most lots actually needed daily service for true maintenance, not just ad-hoc visits.
• As he built trust, clients asked for add-on services: window cleaning, illegal dumping removal, landscaping, and retail cleanouts.

  "The manager will give you ideas of what you could do...it's unbelievable." – Vladimir [23:18]

7. Invoicing, Team Management, and Technology

[26:53–27:57]

• Uses QuickBooks for accounting; WhatsApp and texts for field communication and job verification (contractors text photos of completed work).
• Client communication streamlined by sending before/after job photos for transparency and proof.

8. Organic Leads & The Late Website

[29:52–31:50]

• Didn’t launch a website until over three years in—early growth was 100% relationship and referral driven.
• Once live, the site immediately began producing inbound leads:

  "I got the site up in January...three days ago someone found me on Google with 3 sites to quote, and that company has 10 more properties." – Vladimir [30:33]

• Suggests taking advantage of local government programs that help small businesses set up simple websites and SEO.

9. Future Plans: Drop Servicing and Potential Expansion

[35:08–36:16]

• Envisions a “drop servicing” platform—clients can order cleaning online, and Vladimir subcontracts the work.
• Considering local to potentially national scale if the platform proves effective.

10. Reflections on Side Hustle Growth

[36:46–39:35]

• Vladimir currently balances his day job and family with the business.
• Anticipates the need to focus full-time as the business grows, thanks to strong recurring revenue and delegation.
• Key: train contractors well, reduce personal workload, and focus on the business—not the grunt labor.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Getting Started and Self-Doubt:

  "If you can get past that little... negative voice that's telling you, 'no, you can't do this,' and set up your business right away—once you get that set up, everything will take off from there." – Vladimir [38:53]

• On Recurring Revenue:
  "One customer, $450–500 a month—six grand a year from one contract. Super quick ROI." – Nick [40:14]
• On Add-on Work:
  "Every manager I come across gives me different ideas...like turnovers, could you go in there once my tenant is vacant and just clean?" – Vladimir [28:58]
• On Training & Delegation:
  "I'd clean for a month, bring someone on, train them while I'm there, and once they're good, I'd move on to the next." – Vladimir [14:04]

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• Origin & Inspiration: 01:09–05:21
• First Client & Pricing: 05:21–09:26
• Tools and Startup Costs: 09:27–11:24
• Operations & Delegation: 12:05–15:30
• Marketing & Outreach: 17:51–21:14
• Objections/Expanding Services: 21:14–25:28
• Billing/Tech: 26:53–27:57
• Website & Organic Growth: 29:52–31:50
• Future Expansion: 35:08–36:16
• Closing Advice: 38:53

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Nick's Top Three Takeaways

1. Be a Lean Startup
   Low investment, low risk—Vladimir launched with minimal upfront expense, testing the market before spending on websites or unnecessary infrastructure. One good customer = near-instant ROI.

2. The Foot in the Door
   Persistently reaching out, following up, and building rapport with decision-makers leads to contracts—often with multiple locations—and lots of add-on work. Relationship wins over every other factor.

3. Recurring Revenue is King
   Maintenance contracts mean stable, predictable cash flow. Upselling related services and being the “go to” problem solver multiplies account value over time.

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Final Words

Vladimir’s story illustrates that overlooked, unglamorous services can be tremendous recurring revenue opportunities. With a strong service mindset, professional approach, and persistence, even a humble “litter picking” idea can become a scalable, lasting business—without massive upfront investment.

"Get past that little voice of doubt and just start. Everybody has doubts. If you can get past that, you'll be all right." – Vladimir [38:53]

Find Vladimir at: LitterFreeLotsNYC

Notes & resources:
Full transcript, show links, and prior episodes: sidehustlenation.com/litter2

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

What's up, what's up?

[C]

Nick Loper here.

[B]

Welcome to the Side Hustle show because your 9 to 5 may make you a living, but your 5 to 9 makes you alive. Today I'm joined by Vladimir Hernandez from litterfreelot nyc, a parking lot litter pickup business that he started back in 2018 as a side hustle with the goal, hey, you know, if I can make an extra thousand bucks a month, that would be pretty cool.

[C]

Fast forward now.

[B]

It is now a six figure business and we're diving into everything that Vladimir did to make that happen. But before that, we got to take it back to the beginning to the idea stage, the inspiration stage. What made you think, you know what, I'm going to go spend my spare time cleaning up litter for parking lots.

[D]

Hey, Nick, how's it going? Thank you for having me on the show. Yeah, actually I was looking at your website and I came across 99 ideas on how to make extra money. So I was going down the list and I came across trash picking service. And I was like, wait. I was like, I took a look at it and was like, wait, let me see what this is all about. I clicked into it and I actually started looking at the article and it was basically saying, hey, you can make money picking up litter on commercial properties.

[B]

So.

[D]

So at that time I was like, hey, this is something I Felt comfortable with that I could do. I wind up seeing his name was Brian, and I wind up reaching out to Brian from Clean Lots and I was like, hey, Brian, hey, by any chance, do you. You think that that service will work in my area? And he got back to me, says, anywhere where it's parking lots. And I was like, wow, okay, yeah.

[B]

So you're thinking, hey, this is a low startup costs, no specialized skills required. Is it going to work in my area? Well, yeah, I got parking around me. This is Brian Winch, you mentioned from Clean lots in episode 266 of the side Hustle Show. So he kind of gives you the green light. I don't see why it wouldn't work.

[D]

Right, right. He had a book that he on his site that he was like selling. And I brought the book and I read it in like in two days. And then at the end of the book, after I finished reading it had a. Had a phone number there and it was like, oh, it said, if you have any questions, please call me. Brian did. And I was like, actually I picked up the phone, I gave him a call and I was like, you know, I started asking him questions and Brian was, you know, it was such of a nice guy. You know, he was straightforward to me. He was telling me how basically he says, you want to make sure you get started right away and don't waste any time. And I was like, wow. With that little talk I had with him, I felt like so much confidence that I felt like, oh, something I could do, you know, in my area.

[B]

Okay, so what was your first step after that?

[D]

I started as a sole proprietorship. I did. And then I went up getting like a. Also a checking account, opened up business checking account. And then you want to basically drive around to area parking lots that are in your area and see if you could get in contact with one of the tenants there and see if they could have you speak with them. You know, they could give you the number to speak with the manager. So that's what I did. I actually went to one of the plazas that's next to where I live. Basically I walked in and I was like, hey, my name is Vladimir. I'm a local vendor in the area. My company is specialized in cleaning up litter and debris from parking lots. Do you know who's the manager? They were like, well, the manager's not here. I could give you his phone number. You give him a call. So I gave him a call and I was like, hey, my name is Vladimir from Litter Free Lots I'm a local vendor in the area. My company specializes in picking up litter, debris. And are you interested in that type of service? He was like, let's schedule an appointment to come to my office so we could talk. So I did. I actually scheduled an appointment with the manager. I went, sat down with him, and I was like, listen, I have this lot. I have others. I was like, wow. I was like, so from that one lot was he had, like, eight other locations that needed sweeping. So that's how I actually started.

[B]

Wow. So. And he didn't ask for portfolio or references or anything. He's just like, hey, I'll give you. I'll give you a shot on this one, and if you do okay, we'll talk about the rest. Is that how it kind of went down?

[D]

Yeah. When I went to his office, I was. I was dressed professionally, and I walked in, I had my business card, had a little flyer handed over to him, and I said, you know, I gave him a little speech of what I did, and I guess he felt confident and he felt some type of connection with me or the vibe he got from me. He felt like he was comfortable with me. Then from there, he was just. He felt, hey, you know, I'll give this guy a shot.

[B]

You know, did he have an existing service provider? And that's always, you know, with any of these businesses, like, are you coming in?

[C]

Are you displacing some part of the

[B]

process that already exists if the business has been around for any length of time, like. Or have they just been letting the trash pile up for, you know, years and years?

[D]

With this location that I know, it was basically, the tenants were sweeping in front of their areas. So whatever is in front of them, they were sweeping. So they. Let's say there was, like, this five storefronts, and they were just coming out, and they were just doing their area. And as soon as I got on and I started sweeping, you could hear the tenants, like, the wind was blowing over to my end. But now that you're here, it's so much better. I don't have to deal with this stuff. So that's how basically the tenants were doing it themselves. And when I got on and I actually started doing the sweep, and you could see how they. How happy they were. And they were basically happy to see someone on the property actually sweeping up.

[B]

Okay. And so early on, it was you going out there early mornings or late at night doing this sweeping and litter picking. How'd you know how much to charge for that first job?

[D]

Right. So what I did was I walked around the property and I said, how long would it take me to sweep this parking lot? And I just, I walked the sidewalks. I walked inside the parking lot area just like walking and acting like I was sweeping. And just. I was like, all right, okay, okay.

[B]

I can picture you out there with the push broom,

[D]

right? So it was just one of those things where I was just like walking around and I was like, all right. And I had. I remember looking at my phone and I was like, let me see. I. I put a timer on my phone and I was like, let me see how fast I could walk this property. And then I'll hit the stopwatch on the phone. And I was like, all right. To walk this property took me like 15, 20 minutes. And then I times data about how many days they wanted daily. This service, they wanted it daily Monday through Friday. So I was like, all right. It takes me 20 minutes per day to do this lot. Some days, you know, that's the average. I came was like 20 minutes to get it done daily. And at that point, I was able to, like, come up with the. With the numbers and how much to charge them.

[B]

Yeah. What was the hourly rate you were shooting for?

[D]

So at the beginning, I was trying to shoot for like 35 an hour. So that was like my number. And monthly it was coming out to, I'll say, 450, 500 bucks a month. At that time, I felt like, is this worth it at that price? But like, it was my first account. I felt like, you know what, let's get in the door first. I felt like, let's go ahead and. Let's just go in and. At that price.

[B]

Yeah. Did that end up being too high, too low? Just about right. Like, if the guy signs, he's like, shoot, you know, sign me up. Like, oh, I priced too low.

[D]

The reaction was like, I submitted the proposal for five days and I received an email and it was signed. And I was like, wow. Okay. So I went through. It wasn't. No, I didn't get, oh, the price is too expensive. I didn't get no reaction like that. It was more like I sent the proposal through email. When I turned around, he says, when can you start? And it was. The proposal was signed. And I was like, okay. I was like, hey, I could start Monday.

[B]

Hey, let's do it.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

I just added 450 bucks a month to buy a bottom line here. I wanted to ask about startup costs. So I'm imagining a push broom, maybe some trash bags, and the logistics of what do you do with the stuff that you do sweep up? Could you speak to the equipment or other startup costs required?

[D]

I started with LegalZoom and I set up a sole proprietorship with them and then once that was set up got some supplies. I wind up purchasing a blower broom and actually on I went. There's this company too that I wind up calling and I wind up getting this litter scoop. It is. It makes your life much easier when you sweep in a lot. A lot of people use just a regular jumbo dustpan and it takes them forever to like to clean. So Brian mentioned that and his book and he said hey, you want to reach out to this company is it's called Litter Liquor. It was and I was like at the time I was like litter Liquor. And I wind up looking out at their website. They had different equipment to make cleanup much faster and I was like wow. So I went up and went to the site and I looked at the different like equipment they had and they had a like a large litter scoop and I purchased that and it actually did. It made my life much easier. I was able to walk around sweep and once I was done I was able to dump all the, all the litter inside the dumpster right away.

[B]

Okay. So you use the on site dumpster versus having to haul it away yourself.

[D]

A lot of these plazas they have like dumpsters on the site. So when you sweep it up you only picking up like you know little items like paper cups, soda cans, cigarette buds. Hopefully they you know they put out before you throw them in there. But you know just small trash you and then it's not. It doesn't accumulate when you're there daily. It's like a maintenance so it's not going to be that much litter.

[B]

Yeah, litter liquor products.com I see them and actually Brian site Clean Lots is the second result on Google for. For litter liquor. So there you go. He's got the insights coupon the tools of the trade there anything else helpful on the equipment side of things?

[D]

Blower does does great when like sweeping blowing the dirt and on on the sidewalk. So like you will use the blower to like blow all the debris onto a corner of the lot and then you have that area you could be able to just like sweep all the accumulate. Once it accumulates you'll be able to sweep it up. So that's very helpful. Rake 2 is also helpful.

[B]

And are you going out in the after work hours to get this done? Talk to me about the timing of Okay, I got this Deal signed. I'm in business now, but now I got to go and do it once.

[D]

The service is important to clean the parking lot when there's no vehicles. And what I did was it was service either really late at night or early in the morning. The parking lot that I was at first had like a 24 hour business, like seven, it was like a 7 11. It had 24 hours. I said that some as I went there, like around 11 o' clock at night, I seen that there were still cars there. So that lot alone, I had to be there, I'll say around 6 in the morning. And they weren't that. So basically the service wants to. The service needs to get done either early in the morning or once the businesses are closed. That's when you want to service the property. So it depends on per location.

[B]

Gotcha. It makes sense. And that's why Brian pitched it as an ideal side hustle. Because it's like, well, you got to do it either before or after hours. And so who does this appeal to?

[C]

It appeals to people looking for some extra income.

[B]

So what happens next? So you get this one lot signed up, you're going out there five days a week and do you say, well, I've got extra capacity or if I could find somebody else to do this work or this guy is happy with me and he's got these other half dozen lots that he wants help with. What happens next?

[D]

I was actually doing the work myself for quite a while. And then as soon as he started giving me more work and then at that point I felt like, wait a minute. I felt at that point I had to start bringing people on. I want to bring in independent contractors to give me a hand. Basically what I did was I'll take a percentage from whatever I was making. So let's say if I was charging 500, I'll take, you know, I was looking for, reaching for like 25% from that. That was my next step, was to get other people to help me out. Because at one point it was getting to, it was getting, it was becoming a little overwhelming because I was like doing all the work myself. And I thought I was like, oh, I. I'm gonna need a. At least extra someone to give me a hand. So I went on getting someone to give me a hand and it really helped out. Then it got to a point I was like, wait a minute, I could just, I'll just hire another person and I'll just step back away from it. So what I want them doing was every time I picked up another location. It would be more like I'll clean it for a month, then I'll bring somebody on, train them while I was doing it for like, I'll say a week and then I'll bring the person on and be like, hey, this is what needs to get done. If you do it the way I'm doing it now, you'll be all right. And so far, every person I got on, I did it that way and it's been good. They've been doing what they supposed to and the lot, you know, is always maintained litter free.

[B]

That's great. So your split is aiming for 75. 25. 75 to the contractor doing the actual picking, 25 to you as the business owner to cover marketing, overhead, profit, all the rest of that stuff.

[D]

Correct? Yes. And I felt that was my number. It depends on the location, but that's my 25%. 21%. That was my range.

[A]

Okay, more with Vladimir in just a moment, including how he's grown from one lot to 30. Coming up right after this. In the next 60 seconds, 23 entrepreneurs are going to find their next team member on Indeed. I'm excited to partner with Indeed for this episode because when you need to find amazing candidates fast, you need the powerful matching technology and unmatched reach of our sponsor, Indeed. Stop struggling to get your job. Post seen on other job sites and get the help you need fast. Plus, Indeed's sponsored jobs help you stand out and hire even faster. It'll make your post jump to the top of the page for your relevant candidates, and the proof is in the results. Sponsored jobs posted directly on indeed get 45% more applications. That's why for my next hire, I'm using Indeed. There's no need to wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed side Hustle. Show listeners will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility@inn Indeed.com Sidehustleshow just go to indeed.com Sidehustleshow right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com Sidehustleshow terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need. Look, payday is awesome, but when you're the one running the payroll, like calculating the taxes and the deductions, trying to stay compliant, it's not always as simple as it was when you're just on the receiving end. Unless, of course, you have our sponsor. Gusto. Gusto is the online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses like yours. It's all in One, it's remote, friendly and it's incredibly easy to use, so you can pay, hire onboard and support your team from anywhere. Recommended by many a side Hustle show guest. Gusto automatically handles your payroll tax filing, direct deposits, health benefits, 401 s and more. You're going to love the simple, intuitive interface, all with no hidden fees and no surprises. And if you run into any trouble, you've got direct access to Gusto's certified HR experts. Now's the time to get out of admin mode and into growth mode. Try gusto [e-mail] sidehustle and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free [e-mail] Sidehustle one more time, it's augusto.com side hustle.

[B]

And then from there, what was the fact, I mean, just walking into more to more stores, asking if the manager's around, asking if you can have contact information for the manager, just kind of lather, rinse, repeat on this marketing process?

[D]

No. So what I wound up doing was basically, I did actually do a Google search and I was like, commercial property managers in my area. I did. And basically what happened from, you know, a bunch of property managers came up and I picked up the phone and I started just going down the list and making warm, I'll call them warm calls. I'll say people call them cold calls, but it was more like warm calls to me because it was more like pick up the phone and like, hey, I'm a local vendor in the area. I specialize in picking up litter and debris. Are you interested in this service or. And they were like, oh, send me some information. A lot of you'll get that. Send me some information. So what I started doing was basically, I'll send them information. Then there was more following up with that same person being persistent and just going down the list and basically giving people calls and, and out of like several calls in and just following up with them. That's how I was able to pick up more accounts from there. And once I'll get them in, usually one manager will have one more than one property. Like if you have, if you get in the door and be like, hey, you finished cleaning this property? I have two other sites and can you check a look at them and get back to me on a price? I'm like, yeah, sure.

[B]

When somebody's polite on the phone and says, yeah, possibly could you send me some information on that? What specifically do you send them? If you're unable to, you know, you don't want to commit yourself to a quote like over email or something like that.

[D]

There's a flyer that I'll send out. I had a flyer set up explaining my service and I'll put it as an attachment and I'll say, oh, it was pleasure speaking with you. I wasn't too long on the email. Short and sweet. And I'll put a flyer there explaining what the service I did and please call for an estimate. So I was doing that for a while. Once I was submit that it was just.

[B]

It's.

[D]

It's also like following up. There's one manager, it was like I had to call him like three or four times to like close the deal. So it's always just like being persistent, following up and keep working the list, keep calling people. The other method is just going out there. If you see a plaza next to you or a building that you interested in cleaning is usually those stores. That plaza will have like a Mom and Pops. You have the franchise. And I'll go to the one where the mom and pop sign speak to them like listen, do you know the manager's number? The owner? I'm interested in cleaning this parking lot here and there. Some of them will turn around and be like, hey, this is the owner's name or the manager. Give them a call.

[B]

Okay? Okay.

[D]

So on the follow up aside, it's just being like giving them being persistent and having a little script in the beginning. You always want to introduce yourself and be more. I try to like be laid back. When I'm like making the phone calls. I didn't want to sound like a salesperson, more like I'm at ease and. But let them know what I want. I'm here to help them. Basically I'm here. If you reach out.

[B]

Did you find a lot of people are, you know, price shopping the service or the way that they're currently dealing it with it is kind of like you describe. Well, it's each tenant's responsibility to sweep in front of their specific store. But then nobody is necessarily in charge of the lot itself. Or you know, hopefully the landscaping company will come and do that. Or just, you know, wishful thinking and this stuff blows off into some neighboring thing with the next storm. What kind of maybe objections or price shopping stuff did you end up getting during those follow ups?

[D]

I'll get things like if it rains, would you still be out there? I'll tell them the work will still get done. If it's. You'll get objections like all right, I don't think My property needs that much, you know, date, you know, it'll mean it'll need daily maintenance, but it might need three days a week. And you know, I'll try to like let, let them know like, you know, I'm daily is better because it's a better maintenance. It becomes, you know, maintenance and over period if you only doing twice a week, you know, litter accumulates and then basically it will be, you know, the next time that you, you know, if you're doing it twice a week, it's better off you could being on the property five days than two days. You know, people will like, they'll say are you doing the work? They were like, are you doing or you have somebody on the property? I will get that too. They wanted to know who will be on their property. Would you be able to, I guess if it rains and stuff. They wanted to know if you were still service their property. Even though it's more like rain or shine, we still out there. We'll get the work done.

[B]

Yeah. Unless it's buried under a foot of snow in the winter, then there's not so much we can do. But we'll come back out once it melts and we'll take care of it.

[D]

Right. So once the mouse. Right. Correct. We'll be, we'll get back on the property and we'll just, we'll do what we got to do.

[B]

How many accounts are you up to these days?

[D]

30 right now.

[B]

30 different lots that you're responsible for?

[D]

Correct? Right. So we had 30 now and still growing. And but besides the lots is what the manager's office, they offer so many other things besides that. They all come like, hey, do you do this? And I'm like, yes, we do. So they'll ask you, do you do window cleaning? Do you clean common areas inside the plaza? So those are like extra work that you could get while you are on these properties. So the income just. It goes from where you were getting monthly to what other additional services could be added from illegal dumping to window cleaning storefronts. The the manager will give you ideas of what you could do to it. Some is unbelievable.

[B]

Okay. Yeah. You become the go to person for this type of thing. You're already out here anyway. What else can you do while you're here? Do you have a rule of thumb as to, you know, what you say yes to versus like, you know, that's really kind of outside of my comfort zone or outside of my area of expertise?

[D]

Yes, of course there's some things like I'm not doing Any snow removal, I do more landscaping. But snowball removal, that's something. I'm thinking about it. But maybe in the future I'll look into it. But that's something right now that I'm not actually doing.

[B]

Yeah. So you mentioned illegal dumping, for example. This is when somebody just comes and puts a bunch of garbage into one place and it's like, is that even going to fit in the dumpster that's on site? Like, what do you do in.

[D]

In that case, people come by, they will drop off mattresses. You can name it. Basically what we do is we'll take a picture, we'll send it over to the managers, like, list. This is what they left here in the lot. And they were like, please get rid of it. They'll send me an email, right? They don't wanna, because I just get rid of the property. And now, right at that point, I was like, all right, it's gonna cost you this much. And they're like, all right, just get rid of it. And then I'll just build them. Once I send the invoice, I'll build them on illegal dumping was removed. And I'll put the item. What it was, and the date it got removed and the time, and I'll actually attach a picture to what was removed.

[B]

Okay. So they remember what it is or what the extra charge is for.

[D]

Right. It will be added to the invoice. You'd be surprised. Like, so much on these properties, you come across all these illegal dumpings. People just. They just dump things I next to these dumpsters. And. And the company is not going to take it. So they have to pay extra, the managers, to get rid of that.

[B]

And so then you're. You're a contractor or you have to somehow get this mattress or whatever else it is to the transfer station or to the dump or like, so what do you like, how do you handle that?

[D]

I'm at a point now that I have, like, different contractors that do that. I get rid of the trash. So at this point, I'm more like playing more like the third man.

[B]

Oh, okay. So you got somebody like a specialist you can call somebody who has a truck. Like, if your guy's just showing up in a sedan or something or. Okay, right.

[D]

Yeah. So they already. They do this for a living, build a relationship with these guys. So at this point, I could call them up at any time and be like, hey, I have this location. Could you get rid of that for me? I'll be there shortly. You know, and if that person can't make it, I'll call the next one and be like, oh, I have another. This location I have like they dump this at the site. Can you take care of that for me? So I wind up building a little, a little list of people I could call that specialize in removing junk.

[B]

Are there any software tools or other technology that you're using to dispatch your team or manage, you know, who's going to what location on what day at what time and manage the billing and invoicing for all these different management companies and just across the different locations, like at a certain size it becomes, I imagine, a reasonably time consuming job just to manage the beast.

[D]

So like accounting purposes, I'm using QuickBooks. Other than that, it's just been more emailing. It's funny, I use a lot of WhatsApp for some reason, like to communicate

[B]

with different team members.

[D]

Right. Team members that way. And my subcontractors, they love using that and they send me pictures through that. So that's one of stuff I've been using. So it's mostly just text messaging and it's fairly consistent.

[B]

Like if somebody is on this particular job site or they have this particular route, they're doing that, you know, week after week versus oh, today I need you over here like trying to juggle all these different chess pieces.

[D]

They're already out there and they're, they're probably going to be in the area. So it's more like, oh, I'm making a stop at this location, I should be there shortly, you know, or be like, oh, I could take care of it tomorrow morning. So it's one of those things where I'll follow up with them too through like a text to see if it got done and, and I'll let them know to send me pictures once they finish the job. And that's been also working the pictures in this way. I could send over the managers, I'll send them all the owners, I'll send them the pictures of what got done so they can see. That's like the best proof right there, you know.

[B]

Yeah, right. Because they're managing it from likely not necessarily on site either. They're just, we just want to have some level of confidence that this work is getting done that we're paying for. You mentioned these additional service requests. Hey, while you're out there, could you wash the windows or can you take care of this other thing? Anything else that's surprised you as you've built this thing over the last four years?

[D]

Every manager I come across, they give me different Ideas. Like the last manager I spoke to, he was like, do you do retail clean outs? And I was like, like I was like, clean out size. And he's like, yeah, like turnovers. Could you go in there and just like once my tenant is vacant, you go in there and just clean everything out and give it all that trash and clean it out for me. And I was like, wow, that's. I actually never thought about that. You know, I'm at these properties, you know, but I never actually even thought about that you could go in that once the property goes vacant, they all need somebody to go in there and clean everything out of there. So the next person or when they rent it, they do rent it out down the field in the future that it will be just, you know, it'll be nice and clean. So that's a manager not too long ago told me about that. So that's something that now I'm looking into now.

[B]

Okay, adding that to the menu of services, do you find that at this point people are finding you organically through your, you know, local Google exposure, local Google Google listings? Or you find like, nah, it's really about this proactive outreach, getting in front of the decision makers and being persistent with the follow ups.

[D]

You know what's funny about like a couple of days ago I had a website, website set up like in January. And I remember I was like, I have to get a website now. You know, it got to a point that I was like, I have to get a website. I didn't need it in the beginning, but now it's more like I have to, to get a set up a website. So I set up a website in January.

[B]

Oh just, just this year. So you were, you were three and a half years deep into it before setting up the site.

[D]

Right? So that's something that, you know, you don't need to be honest. Like I didn't need a website. I was able to get things done through, you know, making phone calls and stuff like that. But going back to, I was got the site up in January and I'll say three days ago, somebody found me on Google and was like, hey, senior website, we have three sites, can you please take a look at them? So now just saw for the idea and I asked him, how did you know? I was just curious. I was like, how did you find my number? And it was like, well we did a Google search and we came across your number, we came across your website and we want to know if you could come check out on three parking lots we have and I was like, yeah, sure. So not too long ago, I just, yeah, I went and I took a look at him, gave him a quote. So it looks like we're going to be in contract and moving forward with them. And that same company is like, we have 10 other properties that we need also clean. I was like, wow. So just off of that, off of having this website.

[B]

Yeah. See, come on, people put your website up earlier.

[C]

On the one hand, I'm glad, like,

[B]

you didn't let it hold you back from getting started.

[C]

It's like, oh man, how many leads

[B]

like that could have been coming in over the last few years? That's awesome though.

[D]

I know. Yeah, it's unbelievable. I was like, yes, get your site up if you could get it. It doesn't cost much. I was looking at the newspaper and I came across there's basically the city had a program where they help you get a free website up and running and they'll help you also set up a SEO for like a year. They'll help you out with that. And it's crazy. I don't know how many people, if they take advantage of that, but that service is out there, you know, to help people out, you know, at least in my area.

[B]

Yeah, that's kind of cool. Look, look around for what potential services may be out there. If that's, if that tech stuff is a bottleneck for you or if it's intimidating. Yeah, there's lots of, lots of ways to get that done. So that's, that's awesome. I'm happy people are, are discovering you now and maybe take a break from the, you know, the cold calling or the warm calling outreach.

[A]

More with Vladimir in just a moment, including his future plans for the business. And my top takeaways from our call

[B]

coming up right after this.

[A]

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[B]

But where are you taking this thing? You're still doing it as a side hustle. You got these 30 lots, you know, are you going to expand outside of the boroughs? What's going on? What's next for litter free lots?

[D]

I'm looking into like drop servicing where people could come onto my website and ordered from the site and then I'll be able to, we could be able to like get a match and get them out there to service the property. So I'm working on that now. I'm trying to see if they want an area or sidewalk swept. They'll just go onto my website. I'll have the pricing there ready and they'll have a, they'll know like an estimate, it'll have a recurring price on there or have a one time price there. So that's what I'm looking at for more on to getting done.

[B]

Okay, locally or I guess you could be nationwide if you can eventually play matchmaker between a service provider and a customer.

[D]

Right. Right now so far I'm trying local, see how it goes and if I could take this nationwide, why now? I'll shoot for it, you know, you never know until give it a try. But I'll start locally and see how it goes from there.

[B]

Yeah, I think it's one of these examples that we've talked about in the past of a really kind of localized, fragmented type of service business where there isn't a well known like national brand that does this, at least to my, that I'm aware of. And so there's a chance to become that or build that even on a local level and say, oh, you know, become the go to player in this space, become the market leader and then you know, by default you can start to expand in a lot of ways.

[C]

Do you see it becoming a full time thing?

[B]

Is there a revenue target that you're trying to hit for or is like, yeah, you know what, I got a good thing going, I can manage it in my spare time. I might as well bank the day job while I'm at it.

[D]

I feel like I could still continue the way I'm doing it now, but if the way it's going, the accounts are coming in this way, it looks like it's going to get to a point that I'm eventually going to have to, you know, and even speaking to like my family, they were saying, you know, it'll get to a point where how will you be able to manage both of them? So far I'm able to handle it. But then, you know, yeah, it's one of those things.

[B]

And you got a one month old sleeping downstairs. It was, you're right.

[D]

So right now it's one of those things like if it continues to, you know, build accounts, I think eventually it'll get to a point that I'm going to have to like focus on one thing then, you know, but so far it's been, it's working and the reason why is because I, my goal is I'm trying not to do the cleaning myself. So it's important to get people and the right people to get the job done. And I think if you could get, if you could start doing that, focusing on getting the right people in there, it makes your life much easier. It's just getting the right people on the property and they're out there, there's responsible people that will get the job done.

[B]

Yeah, it sounds like you've built it in a really smart way for recurring revenue to not require your direct day to day boots on the ground. Involvement in a lot of cases, providing this training up front, this over the shoulder, like, look, this is how I get it done. And then finding those reliable people to do it. I think it would be, you know, a potentially attractive business to acquire for somebody else who is looking for that recurring revenue stream or to continue to expand it. But I'm really excited with everything that you built and what you'll continue to build. So I appreciate you joining me on this edition of the Side Hustle Show. You can find Vladimir at litterfreelots nyc. Let's wrap this thing up with your number one tip for side Hustle Nation.

[D]

You come across that there's doubts and sometimes those doubts will be like, oh, you have like that little voice telling you, oh, I can't do this. Then you will go two or three days and you still haven't gotten nothing done. But what I say is get past that little voice as that little negative voice that's telling you, no, you can't do this. Or if you could get past that doubt in that little voice and just try, just move past that and just start setting up either is the business right away or setting up your business account. Once you get off that point, I think it'll take off from there. It's just getting past that little. Everybody has doubts. If you could get past that, you'll be all right.

[B]

Yes, Quiet the doubts. My friend Jared hosts a podcast for years and years called Starve the Doubts. But yeah, we all face the same fears and questions and we second guess all these decisions. Those are probably totally valid, but I just push them aside for a little bit, move forward, keep moving that ball forward. And good things come from that. So Vladimir, really appreciate you joining me and we'll catch up with you soon.

[D]

Thank you, Nick, for having me. It was a pleasure.

[C]

All right, hope you enjoyed that chat with Vladimir. My top three takeaways from the call number one is to be a lean startup. This is naturally a low overhead, low

[B]

startup cost business picking up litter.

[C]

And that equates to low risk. Vladimir didn't say specifically how much he spent before he landed his first customer, but between Brian's clean lot ebook, between his legal Zoom sole proprietorship setup that he mentioned, his business cards, his flyers, his equipment, I've got to imagine it was less than 500 bucks. And then he goes out and books his first job for 450 to 500 bucks a month, six grand a year in revenue from one customer. Super quick ROI. And didn't stress about putting up a website until he was Already well established, start Lean, validate the idea with real dollars, and then reinvest creating a pretty sizable business from scratch on the side. Turning trash into treasure in this case. Really inspiring stories. That's takeaway number one for me. Be a lean startup. Number two is this foot in the door idea. And not only that, but keeping it in the door. I don't know if Vladimir had a sales background before this business, but you can tell, you know now over the course of four years of doing it, he's really well practiced in talking to strangers. He knows his script, he knows his value prop building rapport, dealing with the common objections that come up, and just presenting himself as a helpful service provider. And just because somebody tells you no today, or more likely they kind of punch you down the road, they give you a non answer. It doesn't necessarily mean no forever, just means not yet.

[A]

Not right now.

[C]

Keep following up and a couple things that were really cool about this foot in the door takeaway. First, one contact can add thousands of dollars to your bottom line because they manage several different locations in this specific business. That carrot I imagine helps you work through all the rejection sticks that you might face in order to get it. And second, once you're in, once you've got a yes and Vladimir mentioned this, you start to get these requests for all these add on services. So as you build your network and you do good work, the snowball really

[B]

starts to pick up momentum. And we've seen that in a bunch

[C]

of different examples on the side Hustle show. But that's takeaway number two for me. This foot in the door and keep

[B]

it in the door.

[C]

Takeaway number three is recurring revenue. And this is a cool model because it's predictable recurring revenue week after week, month after month. Which means the lifetime value of a customer can be huge, especially if they've got multiple lots, multiple locations. So whether or not you're interested in picking up litter from parking lots, think of what kind of maintenance service you

[B]

could offer your customers.

[C]

What's going to keep them coming back? After all, I think it's a lot easier to do more business with somebody who already knows likes trusts you than it is to get a new customer to pay you for the first time. Notes and links for this episode, along with the full text summary of our call are at side hustlenation.com litter2L I T T E R and the number 2 or you can just follow the link in the episode description of your podcast app. And if you do like this model, check out my original episode with Brian Winch from Clean lots that inspired Vladimir's business. You can scroll down to episode 266. Got to go way back in the archives to find that one. Episode 266 in your podcast app or side hustlenation.com litter will get you right over there. But big thanks to Vladimir for sharing his insight. It's Vladimir with a B. My Spanish teacher in high school would always say Vedibaca or Mediburo or Veri burro, and I don't know if she made that up, but Beriburo in this case Vladimir, that is it for me. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you're finding value in the show, the greatest compliment is to share it with a friend. Until next time, let's go out there and make something happen and I'll catch you in the next edition of the Side Hustle Show.

[B]

Hustle on.