This 20-Year-Old Student Started a Side Hustle With $400 — and It Earned $150,000 Over the Summer Jacob Shaidle launched his barbecue cleaning business Shaidle Cleaning in 2021 when he was just 15.
By Amanda Breen Edited by Jessica Thomas
Key Takeaways
- After Shaidle did a good job cleaning his home barbecue, his mom suggested he take the business door-to-door.
- Shaidle Cleaning has continued to grow over the years, hitting six-figure revenue and more than 700 customers.
This Side Hustle Spotlight Q&A features 20-year-old college student Jacob Shaidle, founder of Ontario-based barbecue cleaning business Shaidle Cleaning. Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Courtesy of Shaidle Cleaning. Jacob Shaidle.
What was your day job or primary occupation when you started your side hustle?
I was a 15-year-old high school student when I started my side hustle, Shaidle Cleaning. I always liked physical labor, so this was a natural fit. Before I started my business, at the age of 14, I worked full-time summers at a tree farm, but when my parents told me I had to pay my way through university, I wanted to make more than minimum wage to ensure I could pay tuition. I was shocked when I found out how expensive school really was! Today, I am a full-time university student during the school year and a full-time business owner during the summer. I plan on pursuing Shaidle Cleaning full-time after I graduate.
When did you start your side hustle, and where did you find the inspiration for it?
I started Shaidle Cleaning in the summer of 2021. My mom asked me to clean our barbecue at home and suggested that I go knocking down the street after I did such a good job. My parents mentioned cleaning neighbors' grills to make more money than what I made at the tree farm. I never would have thought to start a business cleaning grills if they didn't suggest it!
What were some of the first steps you took to get your side hustle off the ground?
I needed the proper cleaning supplies to get Shaidle Cleaning off the ground. Luckily, I already had a pressure washer at home from my Dad, and I spent $400 on other equipment (100% of my savings at the time). That first summer in business, I put everything into two grocery bags and walked about a half-mile radius from my house to clean grills — I didn't have my driver's license or a car, so walking was my only option. By the second summer, I made enough money to buy my own car, which allowed me to expand my service area and double my revenue.
What were some of the biggest challenges you faced while building your side hustle, and how did you navigate them?
My three biggest challenges with the business have been ensuring amazing quality even after hiring people, maintaining a great online presence and managing such a high volume of clients. To ensure quality of service, I found that good, well-planned training was very important. Even more important, though, was hiring hardworking, passionate people — people who had similar goals and mindsets as me and could work toward a shared goal. Having an amazing team has been the driving factor in our business's success.
Maintaining a great online presence is really challenging as a small business competing against all these "sharks" with more clients and money to outspend us on ads. With the help of my friend Aran Giffen, we have been able to establish a great online presence, selling people on the story and our youth, passion and drive rather than the actual service we provide. We want to make it clear that we are all students with the goal of helping other students, and that is how we present ourselves.
Lastly, going from managing 100 clients a summer to more than 700 has been a huge jump. As the owner, I want to have personal conversations with each client, get them excited about the service and make sure they have the best experience every time. Unfortunately, there just isn't enough time in the day for me to do that. Instead, I have utilized the great personalities of my own workers to message, follow up and ensure the happiness of customers. We have also made client management easier with Jobber, which automatically stores all of our clients' information, sends automated messages and keeps everything organized for me as the owner.
How long did it take you to see consistent monthly revenue? How much did the side hustle earn?
Since this is a seasonal business, I work hard each summer to ensure I increase my revenue from the previous season. In my first two months of operation in 2021, I made $5,000. The following summer, when I had my car, I doubled my revenue to $10,000. These were two-month summers in grades 11 and 12. In my first university summer, I hit my first $10,000 month and finished the summer with around $30,000.
This summer, which was my fourth summer in business, we did $100,000 in revenue in 75 days, ending the summer with roughly $150,000 in top-line revenue. As a one-man operation, it wasn't too challenging to see consistent revenue in the summers. This is because I would typically knock on doors for one or two days to fill up my schedule for the week. This past year, we had seven technicians and 20 people in total, so it was much more challenging to stay consistent with the revenue. We had to learn quickly how to train employees, manage our sales team and deal with hundreds more customers. My best friend, Aran Giffen, has been a huge help in ensuring revenue stays consistent by managing our website, reach-out and online ads.
What does growth look like now?
I've been able to expand my one-man side hustle into a thriving business that has allowed me to hire dozens of high school and university students, helping them pay for their own education. With a growing, passionate and hard-working team, we aim to eventually break seven figures in revenue. Automation is a large part of being able to scale a business. We recently automated our customer communications by partnering with Jobber last summer, which has helped us tremendously. This partnership has allowed us to expand our customer base to hit 1,000 grill cleanings and six figures in revenue this year. Before Jobber, I spent a lot of my time scheduling cleanings and manually sending reminder messages to customers about their appointments — it ate up most of my day. Jobber completely takes that over by allowing customers to book their appointments online, automating reminder messages and sending invoices at the end of our service, which has freed up my time to focus on growing the business. We wouldn't have been able to hit six figures in revenue or hire employees without this partnership.
What do you enjoy most about this side hustle?
By far, the most rewarding part of owning Shaidle Cleaning has been enabling my employees to afford their tuition and university costs. I am so proud of my team and happy with what we have accomplished so far, and I sincerely only want what is best for them. We are building a company around hardworking, dedicated and passionate students, and I value their work and effort more than anything else. My business is so much more than just cleaning grills — we're creating a tight-knit community of students and helping them build and grow as people.
What's your advice for others hoping to start successful side hustles of their own?
Find great people to surround yourself with. I used to think it would be so great to reach my big dreams on my own — more rewarding, efficient and impressive. But I was totally wrong. One of my favorite parts of my job is meeting new people who can help and enable me in different ways. It is much more rewarding to gather a group of people around a singular goal and lead them all to success than it is to do it alone. It is way quicker to build off the amazing knowledge of others to propel yourself forward in business, and it is more impressive to stick with the plan with the people around you than to hike up the mountain alone, leaving people behind.
With this message, there are four very important people I would like to mention who have helped me do amazing things in business. Aran Giffen, Brendan Quinlan and my parents. Aran joined along for the ride in year three and has been one of Shaidle Cleaning's biggest assets. Brendan has acted as my mentor for just over a year now and has given me more knowledge, skills and advice than anyone else in business. Along with my mom and dad — who have always been by my side encouraging me no matter what and have had the pleasure of watching this grow since the very first BBQ — I am eternally grateful for these people and only wish to continue growing with them.
This article is part of our ongoing Young Entrepreneur® series highlighting the stories, challenges and triumphs of being a young business owner.
