Teenagers who turned $400 into a six-figure business share 4 strategies that helped them scale

• Jacob Shaidle started cleaning barbecues in 2021 to fund his university education.
• He and a friend scaled the business, Shaidle Cleaning, to six figures in annual revenue by 2024.
• They leaned on mentors, went digital, automated their systems, and built a strong team.

Jacob Shaidle started cleaning barbecues in the summer of 2021 to fund his education. When he was 16, his parents told him he'd be in charge of paying his way through university, and his job at the time — working on a tree farm for $12 an hour — wasn't going to cut it.

"Being an entrepreneur was my only option," he told Business Insider.

He invested nearly all of his savings, $400, into equipment and landed his first client by knocking on his next-door neighbor's door. His next five jobs were all on his street in Hamilton, Ontario.

The next summer, he picked up right where he left off and earned enough money cleaning grills to buy a car, which expanded his working radius. Before, he was limited to doing jobs within walking distance of his home.

In 2023, with a growing client list and a fine-tuned process, "I did my first $10,000 month," said Shaidle. That's around when he brought his friend and classmate, Aran Giffen, onto the team.

Over the past year, the teens, who are heading into their third year at the University of British Columbia, have grown Shaidle Cleaning to six figures in annual revenue. Business Insider verified this by looking at a sales dashboard showing total transactions for summer 2024 and copies of invoices. By the end of summer 2024, they expect to complete 1,000 barbecue cleanings and generate CA$150,000 (about $109,000) in revenue.

They shared four strategies that helped them scale from a one-man operation to a business that employs 20 students and operates in six cities across southern Ontario.

1. Lean on mentors and build partnerships

The teen entrepreneurs are well aware of their age and experience.

"I'm no lawyer — I'm 19 — and the legal side of running and owning a business is a big portion. We've had a lot of help with that, especially in terms of building out contracts," said Shaidle, thanks to their business mentor, who owns a small home-service business called Insight Pest. "He's basically done everything we're looking to do, so he has insight on everything in terms of growing the business."

As a token of appreciation, Shaidle and Giffen cross-promote Insight Pest by including its logo on the merch they made for their team.

They cross-promote two other companies, whom they consider "sponsors." One is a small business called Strodes, a butcher shop deli that makes its own all-natural, chemical-free degreaser that Shaidle Cleaning buys in bulk.

The other is an insurance company that helps them navigate the world of insurance and understand what coverage they need, said Shaidle: "Barbecue cleaning is not a very common thing you hear about, and so with insurance companies, it's a little bit more challenging to figure out what the cost would be and what the dangers are. We're working with a machine that produces flame, and also pressure washers, drills, and power tools. There are dangers with that, and it's always better safe than sorry."

2. Go digital

During his first two summers in business, Shaidle acquired clients through door-knocking and word-of-mouth. He didn't go digital until Giffen joined the team, set up a website and email account, created a logo, and started posting content on social media.

"When we built our website up, and Aran started doing SEO and Facebook ads, that was when we were really able to expand to different cities," said Shaidle.

Giffen also took it upon himself to contact a few news outlets, including the Hamilton Spectator. The publication ran an article in August 2023, and it immediately impacted business. Shaidle was working at a client's home when the story went live and recalls getting about 50 calls during the three-hour job.

"Jake was getting calls, but we also had a form on our website, and so simultaneously, I had the Shaidle Cleaning email blowing up with 120+ people," recalled Giffen.

It taught them that "there's no geographical boundary to online stories," added Shaidle.

3. Automate

Shaidle, in particular, has freed up a lot of his own time thanks to a software called Jobber, which automatically messages clients about their appointments.

"The past three years, I was messaging everybody individually and then doing back-and-forth with everyone to see when they were around and when I was around," he said. Now, clients can book online and will receive a confirmation email, a reminder closer to their appointment, and a final email after the cleaning with their invoice attached. They'll also be prompted to leave a review.

"It creates really good customer service, but is not something that we have to do directly and spend time messaging 14 clients a day."

4. Build a rock-solid team

Another way Shaidle and Giffen have freed up more time to focus on scaling is by expanding their team.

The work itself is time-intensive: Each cleaning takes about four hours, meaning two jobs would eat up Shaidle's entire day. Now, he and Giffen can deploy one of their "technicians" who they hired and trained ahead of the summer 2024 season.

Shaidle did two cleanings a day for the first two weeks of the season to set an example for his growing team but has since transitioned to more of a manager role.

"One of the things with being a small business, and I knew this right off the jump, is that we need to be competitive in terms of what we offer our employees because they are taking a risk, too," said Shaidle, who pays his technicians an hourly rate. They also keep 100% of the tips that they receive. "It's not like they're getting a Google job where they know they're going to have work every day and everything is super well structured. We're just a group of teenagers still, so we really appreciate everyone who joins the team and we make sure that everyone is loved and appreciated."

As of August 2024, they're entirely student-run and have 20 employees. They expect to grow to 60 employees in 2025.

"What we're trying to do is be as ambitious as possible," said Giffen. "When you've got such a great team putting in a lot of great work, you can do a lot more than people might think."