Getting Started
As the owner of Big Boys Window Tinting, I’m super excited to show you all the ins and outs of this business. At the end of the day, it’s sales. If you can master sales, you can do anything—including applying everything you’re learning here to another business, just swap out “tinting.”
A little background on myself: I’ve done this across five states and applied the same practices written here to my currently operating companies. Over 10 years of experience are going into making this training. This craft has made me a little over $3 million and counting—you can definitely do the same thing.
Of course, you’re just getting started, but I’ll also show you later in the lessons what to do when (if) you decide you want to hire employees yourself.
Learning The Skill
There are videos or diagrams for every window you can run into. There aren’t that many combinations of windows, so once you master it, it’s just a matter of getting faster. The profit is made once you can cruise through a job quickly while also being clean.
Perfecting the skill will come down to how much you practice and how many jobs you can get. We will cover how to sell/bid a job properly, but in the meantime, while you’re either practicing at home or on a job, bidding the job a little low to get the work/experience is a smart idea. That’s what I did, but you can approach it however you’d like.
Material
I personally use SunTek and LLumar. They’re awesome and super easy to start an account with. The barrier to entry for pretty much all film companies is a business license. THIS IS VERY EASY to get. It’s easier than getting a driver’s license. You can walk into just about any courthouse and have one the same day in as quickly as the employees can get you through the line.
Once you have obtained the business license, you can call any film company and start an account. Some don’t even require it, but I’ve linked some for you to check out:
Insurance
From state to state, the requirements are different, but I would recommend a $1 million policy at a minimum. That’s no more than $75–150 per month, depending on coverage.
I have only ever carried insurance. There are tons of people who say you need special licensing, but the licensing is totally dependent on what your scope of work is. I work on buildings, and they sometimes require proof of licensing, but you can make millions working on homes and small businesses. It all depends on how you’re getting the job, what paperwork they require, etc. Most of the time, these businesses may have you fill out a W-9 form. You can use the same form for paying employees. This would be a 1099 pay structure, where they pay their own taxes. We will cover this in more detail later.
Some insurance providers:
- State Farm
- Farmers
- Progressive
Basic business insurance with liability coverage. Some businesses may ask you to add them as additionally insured. For this, you just give your insurance company the business info of the people contacting you to do the work.
Selling
There are TONS of ways to get business. Getting business is a matter of taking advantage of your resources. Jobs don’t fall into your lap until you’ve been doing it in your area for a little bit—word of mouth travels, and handing out business cards also works when you hand one out at every estimate.
The oldest method in the book: BOOTS ON THE GROUND. This is how I started. Door knocking, door flyers, business cards, walking into businesses, and introducing yourself. This is not an easy method for anyone, although for some, they may be a little more comfortable in person.
A secret people won’t tell you to mastering sales is mastering REJECTION. If someone saying “no” doesn’t faze you, boom, you can hit them with an immediate line to draw them back in, etc. The more comfortable you feel, the better you will do. You can hide insecurities about not knowing what you’re doing, but if you don’t know about your product, that will typically be the determining factor in closing a deal or not. Body language plays a significant role, too. Stand straight up, make eye contact, and offer a proper handshake—these are all so important. Most of the people I sell to are 20–30 years older than me. They’re from a generation of respect and principle. They’re more likely to buy if they like you.
This isn’t necessarily a full sales training, but I definitely want to include some tips to do it right. All of this I had to learn on the job—it’s the best and fastest way to learn.
Running Ads
If you have a budget, running paid ads is one of the best ways to get business. You can run Facebook ads or Google ads for this. I will cover this in more detail later as well.
Running $10 a day ads on Facebook has literally built my companies. It’s all up to how well you can target your audience.
Receiving phone calls or direct messages is the best way to close. It’s interactive for the customer, and they get to talk to someone live. People can fill out a contact form as well; it’s very important you call them back as soon as you see they’ve filled it out. It totally depends on what you want the “call to action” to be for the ad you’re running.