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- š Driving School Business making $326k/yr!
š Driving School Business making $326k/yr!
The Corporate Pivot
March 24, 2025
Welcome Back to The Corporate Pivot!
Your bracketās already busted, your Final Four is in shambles, and Janet from HR is somehow leading the office pool after picking based on team colors.
But for once, the office actually feels alive. People are fired up. Talking about something other than how āQ2 is shaping up.ā
Now imagine bringing that energy into your actual lifeāwhere youāre not just passing time until Friday, but building something that could buy your freedom way before 65.
Thatās what The Corporate Pivot is all about. Finding the right opportunity to start or buy a business, create real momentum, and stop trading 30+ years of your life for 3% raises and leftover pizza parties.
The goal isnāt just moneyāitās time. Time to golf on a Tuesday. Time to take the trip without waiting for approval. Time to live life on your terms.
Letās go find that freedom.
Hereās what we have for you today:
Pivot Perspectives: Sam talks about taking another swing at business buying with two new leads: a high-earning wedding venue and a simple, steady indoor air quality biz. Tyler talks about how seasonality impacts his home service businessāespecially rising summer costsāand why maintaining quality means finding creative ways to protect margins. | Acquisition Alerts:
| Bare Minimum Bulletin: This week in Bare Minimum Bulletin: Vinny runs 12 miles, loses five brackets, and questions the legality of office poolsājust your average March Madness meltdown. |
Cool Business Idea:
Truck fleets spend thousands a month on inefficient washesāwhat if you brought the brushes to them? šš§¼
This weekās Cool Business Idea breaks down a portable, high-profit wash system that could make you $200K+ per year with just one rig.
Read more below. ā¬ļø
If you havenāt already, go subscribe to this newsletter here!
Confusing Corporate Sayings:
āDonāt worry, leadership is aware.ā
Professional Translation
āTheyāve escalated the issue to the appropriate decision-makers.ā
Corporate Pivot Translation
āAbsolutely nothing is happening, and no one plans to fix it.ā
Samās Perspective (1st Time Buyer)
š Status Update: Two businesses caught my eye this week. Weāve been through this process a bunch nowācalls with owners, brokers, digging into numbersāand while weāve looked at everything from tree services to boat tour companies, nothingās really clicked yet. The upside? Experience. Weāre a lot better now at spotting whatās too good to be true and what the real numbers areānot just the shiny ones on BizBuySell.
This time around, there are two new targets that feel different. First up: a wedding venue thatās doing really well. The industry is solid, the location is great, and it lines up perfectly with our other business, Simply Silk Flowers. Weddings are basically a permission slip to spend moneyāand I say that as someone who had one last year. Budgets are more of a suggestion. NDA is signed and Iām really pumped about this one.
The second is an indoor air quality business. Itās a simple model, has recurring contracts, and operates in a space thatās only becoming more important as people care more about their environment and health. The team is small (4 employees), and the work isnāt super technicalāso if someone quits, itās not a disaster to backfill or train. That kind of simplicity is underrated.
Anyway, here we go againāanother round of NDAs and unsolicited confidence.
"You miss all the shots you donāt take." ā Some basketball guy, I think.
Tylerās Perspective (Experienced Buyer)
š Status Update: One thing thatās tricky about running a home service business is the cyclical nature of it all. Thankfully, our revenue is generally predictableāespecially with a route-based model where billing happens on a regular schedule. But the expenses? Thatās where it gets unpredictable.
Like most businesses, weāve got fixed and variable costsābut in our case, the variable ones swing hard depending on the season. Summer is the toughest stretch for us because material usage spikes big time. We try to prep our operators for it, but when youāre focused on delivering high-quality service, thereās only so much room to cut without sacrificing standards.
That means weāve got to find other ways to protect margin. Stay tunedāweāre working on a few ideas to help even things out.
š° Deals < $500k š°
Business Name: Power Washing Business
Revenue: $336,332
Asking Price: $345,000
Profit: $172,643 (Profit Margin = 51.3%)
Location: Saint Lucie County, FL
Established: 2021
ā Pros:
High ROI with Premium Equipment: Comes with $100k+ in FF&E, including trucks, trailers, and vanāsaving the buyer upfront startup costs.
Prestigious Clientele Base: Contracts include estate homes, government work, and HOAs, reducing customer churn and boosting reliability.
ā ļø Con:
Newer Business with Limited Operating History: Started in 2021, which may be a concern for buyers seeking multi-year financial performance trends.
š Growth Opportunities:
Expand B2B Services & HOA Maintenance Contracts: Regular servicing packages for commercial buildings and gated communities can boost recurring revenue.
Improve Internal Systems: Implementing cash flow tracking and CRM software can streamline operations and make it easier to scale.
š°š° Deals $500k - $1m š°š°
Business Name: Driving School
Revenue: $910,230
Asking Price: $599,000
Profit: $325,654 (Profit Margin = 35.8%)
Location: Fort Myers, FL
Established: 2018
ā Pros:
High Tuition per Student ($7k): Premium pricing model, especially with CDL training and financing programs already in place.
Not Owner-Dependent: The seller does not teach and primarily handles admin and marketing, making this easier to delegate or scale.
ā ļø Con:
Relies on Lending/Grant Partnerships: With Mia Share and grant-funded students, revenue could fluctuate based on external funding cycles.
š Growth Opportunities:
Add Night & Weekend Courses: Targeting working adults or bilingual programs could unlock new student demographics.
Franchise or License Model: Could replicate this successful format in other Florida markets where truck driving demand remains high.
š°š°š° Deals $1m+ š°š°š°
Business Name: Portable Toilet & Fence Rental Business
Revenue: $1,793,462
Asking Price: $1,950,000
Profit: $675,252 (Profit Margin = 37.6%)
Location: Miami-Dade County, FL
Established: 2017
ā Pros:
Two Complementary Revenue Streams: Combines portable sanitation with temporary fencing, allowing for larger bundled contracts.
Manager in Place: Operations are not fully owner-dependentāideal for investors or absentee ownership with oversight.
ā ļø Con:
Heavy Logistics & Maintenance: Managing cleaning, drop-offs, and routing for toilets and fencing can be labor-intensive and require dispatch efficiency.
š Growth Opportunities:
Expand Event-Based Services: Partnering with concert venues, wedding planners, or sports leagues could capture premium clients.
Pursue FEMA/Disaster Contracts: The business has experience with emergency servicesācould go after state/federal disaster response RFPs.
Bare Minimum Bulletin: The Sweet 16
ā ļø If you take this seriously, we are genuinely concerned for you. Please close your laptop, touch some grass, and come back later.
No, I'm not talking about getting your driverās licenseā¦ Iām talking about the 16 most important teams left in the NCAA tournament. I only have to run 12 miles, but Sam has to run 16ā¦ such a nerd. Too bad our wives picked based on āfeelingsā and not strategy. Weirdly, they both picked Drake over Mizzou because they liked the song Controlla.
Not only do we have to run more miles this week than weāve run in the last decade, we also have to live with the fact that our wives and our admins are beating us in our March Madness pools. I made five different brackets, and all my winners have been eliminated. I even used ChatGPT to make educated picksāand still got it wrong.
Question time:
You put $20 into your companyās March Madness pool. You know nobody else actually pays attention. What do you do?
Take your losses like an adult?
Lie, since you know nobody else actually pays attention?
Scream?
Do nothing, because youāre worried your boss might actually fire you for running an unofficial office pool that technically violates the company handbook?
If your answer is #4, I suggest going to your boss and requesting a fully remote position. If youāre not on company property, you canāt get in trouble for gambling on company timeā¦ I think.
Note: This portion of the write-up is intended to be satirical. No one should ever listen to or follow this type of behavior. Weāre frankly surprised anyone even reads these things.
š” Cool Business Idea: Portable Commercial Vehicle Wash Rig šš§¼
Most fleet owners send their vehicles off-site to get washedāor worse, pay employees to pressure wash by hand for hours.
But now thereās a new type of portable machine that mimics a full-size car wash system: spinning brushes, soap spray, and water containmentāall in one rig you can push along the sides of a truck.
Itās faster, cleaner, and cheaperāand itās a six-figure business waiting to scale.
ā¬ļø Letās break it down.
š The Problem: Washing Commercial Vehicles is Painfully Inefficient
ā Pressure washing is slow, messy, and inconsistent.
ā Off-site truck washes take time and fuel to reach.
ā Most mobile detailers can't efficiently handle large vehicles.
š” Solution:
A walk-along wash machine that:
ā
Uses spinning brushes, soap, and high-pressure rinse in one motion.
ā
Is operator-controlled (no need for a tunnel or setup time).
ā
Can clean a semi-truck in 10ā15 minutes, on-site.
Perfect for:
Trucking companies
Bus fleets (schools, tour companies, transit)
RV parks and dealerships
Distribution centers
š° Monetization & Pricing Model
šµ Service Model:
$50ā$100 per vehicle wash
$500ā$3,000/month fleet contracts (10ā50 vehicles)
š§½ Add-Ons:
Tire shine
Interior cab wipe-downs
āBefore 8 AMā wash surcharge
š ļø Startup Costs (Lean but Serious Rig) š°
Item | Estimated Cost |
|---|---|
Commercial Push-Through Wash System | $12,000 ā $18,000 |
Water tank, soap, hoses, generator | $4,000 ā $6,000 |
Trailer & basic branding | $5,000 |
Website, booking system, insurance | $2,000 |
Total Startup Cost | $23,000 ā $31,000 |
š Revenue Projections
Scenario | Vehicles/Day | Revenue/Month (20 days) | Profit (after $3K expenses) |
|---|---|---|---|
Bad | 5 | $5,000 | $2,000 |
Good | 15 | $15,000 | $12,000 |
Great | 30+ | $30,000+ | $27,000+ |
š” A single operator could clear six figures annually with strong fleet contracts.
š Business Plan & Scaling Strategy
1ļøā£ Start With Local Fleets ā Offer free trial washes to trucking companies, RV parks, and school bus lots.
2ļøā£ Secure Long-Term Contracts ā Focus on weekly/monthly wash cycles, not one-offs.
3ļøā£ Streamline With Routing + Booking Software ā Use Cursor to build a simple app that automates scheduling by location and fleet.
4ļøā£ Add More Rigs ā Hire operators, duplicate the system, and expand city by city.
5ļøā£ Eventually Sell or License the System ā Create your own branded setup and sell to others as a business-in-a-box.
š Why This Works
ā
Saves fleets time and money.
ā
Requires no large installationājust roll it out and get to work.
ā
Recurring revenue model + upsells = high margins.
ā
Low labor needs = high scalability.
š° ROI & Payback Period
At 15 trucks/day, you break even in 2ā3 months.
After that, itās all profitāand your route becomes a cash cow.
Corporate Memes: Click below to play the video on our Instagram account! |
Hope you enjoy this week's insights and happy deal hunting! Remember, if you find these updates helpful, share this newsletter with a friend!
š USEFUL TOOLS š
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