{"id":10879,"date":"2015-03-17T09:42:59","date_gmt":"2015-03-17T14:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=10879"},"modified":"2015-03-17T09:42:59","modified_gmt":"2015-03-17T14:42:59","slug":"window-washers-on-wheels-do-the-dirty-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/window-washers-on-wheels-do-the-dirty-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Window washers on wheels do the dirty work"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Meredith Wilson<\/p>\n

Soon after launching their window washing business, Urban Street Window Works<\/a>, Scott Baermann and his partner Ryan Hoban couldn\u2019t find a place to park their van to do a job.<\/p>\n

\u201cMan, we should really do this on bikes,\u201d Scott said to Ryan.<\/p>\n

The pair of cargo bikes they purchased a few days later became their trademark, and the resulting low-overheard, high-profile strategy helps the\u00a0tiny firm stand out in the market.<\/p>\n

\u201cBuying the bikes was our marketing,\u201d Hoban said. \u201cWe thought we could position ourselves in the market, be a little sexier than the homeless guys you see washing windows.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Hoban, people were drawn in by the spectacle of guys washing storefront windows from their bicycles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe spent a lot of times on jobs just talking to people,\u201d Hoban said.<\/p>\n

They would hand out business cards, and after six months, they had gone from eight clients to 30.<\/p>\n

Tim Taylor, the owner of Bucktown-based coffeeshop Ipsento, and Urban Street Window Works\u2019 first client, appreciates their branding and enjoys being associated with their business.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, who else is driving those bikes around washing windows? They brought some coolness factor,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n

Taylor appreciates their reliability and their\u00a0relationship beyond the job. He thinks of their businesses as mutually supportive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really is the season of craft. Craft coffee, craft cheeses, craft grains, craft wine\u2026why not craft window washing?\u201d Taylor asked.<\/p>\n

Baermann has been cleaning windows for 10 years. He began with a franchise of Window King in Indiana, and when the parent company dissolved, he opted to continue, renaming his business Baermann Window Cleaning.<\/p>\n

When he brought Hoban on in 2011, both men had young families and were living in Chicago, commuting to Indiana every day to clean windows.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said to Scott, \u2018Why are we driving all the way to Indiana when there\u2019s a lot of glass in the city we live in?\u2019\u201d Hoban said.<\/p>\n

They launched Urban Street Window Works \u2013 a name Hoban came up with while he and Baermann were walking to a bar \u2013 in August of 2012.<\/p>\n

\"Urban<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Scott Baermann sits on his cargo bike.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Urban<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Over half of Scott Baermann’s business comes from cleaning local storefronts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Urban<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
“The bar is so low to get into the game, it’s $100, $200,” co-founder Ryan Hoban said.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Urban<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Each cargo bike was an initial investment of $4,000.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Urban<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Baermann’s wife, a floral designer, picked out the colors for the logo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Urban<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Baermann works on the windows at Art of Chicken in Bucktown.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Urban<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Urban currently has 80 regular storefront clients. <\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Urban<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Baermann says he made $94,000 in revenue in 2014 washing windows.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n

It didn\u2019t take long for other people to get interested in their business. A month after they launched, Phil Tadros, entrepreneur and CEO of Chicago-based marketing company Doejo, offered to partner with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a quick mover, that\u2019s what he does, he starts businesses. He was like \u2018do you guys need money? What do you guys need?\u2019 It was very flattering,\u201d Baermann said.<\/p>\n

Hoban and Baermann weren\u2019t ready to share ownership of their business, so they turned Tadros down.<\/p>\n

Jeff Sharfstein, an angel investor, approached them soon after with an offer of nearly $1 million to add 100 bikes to Urban Street.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth Ryan and I felt totally out of our league, to be honest,\u201d Baermann said. \u201cHe was talking about franchising and we knew we had a lot ahead of us in our city, and we wanted to take it one day at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Talks slowed down, and Sharfstein became concerned about whether the revenue could support the kind of investment he was looking to make.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t really know what we were doing. I think we pushed for some things we shouldn\u2019t have,\u201d Baermann said.<\/p>\n

Baermann is open to the idea of investors, but isn\u2019t currently talking to anyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t feel like I really want to give equity away. I\u2019d have to have a good relationship with someone. It has to feel right, I have to have a good gut feeling about someone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In 2013, their first full year in business, Urban Street made $55,000 in revenue. It was good money, but \u201cnot enough for both of us to support families.\u201d One of them had to go, Hoban said.<\/p>\n

When the pair disagreed over whether to partner with Mark Rashkow, who wanted to bring Urban Street into his power washing business, Hoban decided to\u00a0depart and join Rashkow at Pane Bros. (But Hoban left Pane Bros. nine months later.)<\/p>\n

Now, Baermann is focused on expanding the residential window- washing and graffiti-removal aspects of his business, which he estimates make up 40 percent of his revenue.<\/p>\n

He is also moving into more traditional marketing, using the Internet and mobile apps to target new customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cYelp has been our best, our number one referral source. We bought ads on Yelp in July of last year. We got five five-star reviews in a row,\u201d Baermann said.<\/p>\n

However, Baermann doesn\u2019t like marketing, and has never thought of himself as a salesman.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not like a planner, we didn\u2019t have a business plan. We still really don\u2019t. I\u2019m just about building a good business that serves people well. I think of the golden rule, treat people how they want to be treated, and it seems to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2014, Urban Street Window Works brought in $94,000 in revenue and grew its storefront client base to 80. Baermann has hired a full-time employee to focus on growing residential business, a part-timer to focus on storefronts and a \u201cvery part-time stay-at-home mom\u201d to answer the phone.<\/p>\n

Going into his third year with Urban Street Window Works, the \u201cmake or break year,\u201d according to Baermann, he is optimistic about his prospects.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just know we are going to grow like crazy this year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Meredith Wilson Soon after launching their window washing business, Urban Street Window Works, Scott Baermann and his partner Ryan Hoban couldn\u2019t find a place to park their van to do a job. \u201cMan, we should really do this on bikes,\u201d Scott said to Ryan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":10901,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\nWindow washers on wheels do the dirty work - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/window-washers-on-wheels-do-the-dirty-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Window washers on wheels do the dirty work - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Meredith Wilson Soon after launching their window washing business, Urban Street Window Works, Scott Baermann and his partner Ryan Hoban couldn\u2019t find a place to park their van to do a job. \u201cMan, we should really do this on bikes,\u201d Scott said to Ryan.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/window-washers-on-wheels-do-the-dirty-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-17T14:42:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/03\/IMG_19391.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3264\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2210\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"meredithwilson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"meredithwilson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/window-washers-on-wheels-do-the-dirty-work\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/window-washers-on-wheels-do-the-dirty-work\/\",\"name\":\"Window washers on wheels do the dirty work - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/window-washers-on-wheels-do-the-dirty-work\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/window-washers-on-wheels-do-the-dirty-work\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/03\/IMG_19391.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-17T14:42:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/be21094b5921ea3da405f001d23c7537\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/window-washers-on-wheels-do-the-dirty-work\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/window-washers-on-wheels-do-the-dirty-work\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/window-washers-on-wheels-do-the-dirty-work\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/03\/IMG_19391.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/03\/IMG_19391.jpg\",\"width\":3264,\"height\":2210,\"caption\":\"Owner Scott Baermann sits on his cargo bike.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/window-washers-on-wheels-do-the-dirty-work\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Window washers on wheels do the dirty work\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/\",\"name\":\"Medill Reports Chicago\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/be21094b5921ea3da405f001d23c7537\",\"name\":\"meredithwilson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/80e889dbb624c3fee4c8902ae5fabe363053cb5d41c411c7439bd21d41b89e0b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/80e889dbb624c3fee4c8902ae5fabe363053cb5d41c411c7439bd21d41b89e0b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"meredithwilson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/meredithwilson\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Window washers on wheels do the dirty work - Medill Reports Chicago","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/window-washers-on-wheels-do-the-dirty-work\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Window washers on wheels do the dirty work - Medill Reports Chicago","og_description":"By Meredith Wilson Soon after launching their window washing business, Urban Street Window Works, Scott Baermann and his partner Ryan Hoban couldn\u2019t find a place to park their van to do a job. \u201cMan, we should really do this on bikes,\u201d Scott said to Ryan.","og_url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/window-washers-on-wheels-do-the-dirty-work\/","og_site_name":"Medill Reports Chicago","article_published_time":"2015-03-17T14:42:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":3264,"height":2210,"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/03\/IMG_19391.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"meredithwilson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"meredithwilson","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/window-washers-on-wheels-do-the-dirty-work\/","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/window-washers-on-wheels-do-the-dirty-work\/","name":"Window washers on wheels do the dirty work - Medill Reports Chicago","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/window-washers-on-wheels-do-the-dirty-work\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/window-washers-on-wheels-do-the-dirty-work\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/03\/IMG_19391.jpg","datePublished":"2015-03-17T14:42:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/be21094b5921ea3da405f001d23c7537"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/window-washers-on-wheels-do-the-dirty-work\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/window-washers-on-wheels-do-the-dirty-work\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/window-washers-on-wheels-do-the-dirty-work\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/03\/IMG_19391.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/03\/IMG_19391.jpg","width":3264,"height":2210,"caption":"Owner Scott Baermann sits on his cargo bike."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/window-washers-on-wheels-do-the-dirty-work\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Window washers on wheels do the dirty work"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/","name":"Medill Reports Chicago","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/be21094b5921ea3da405f001d23c7537","name":"meredithwilson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/80e889dbb624c3fee4c8902ae5fabe363053cb5d41c411c7439bd21d41b89e0b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/80e889dbb624c3fee4c8902ae5fabe363053cb5d41c411c7439bd21d41b89e0b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"meredithwilson"},"url":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/author\/meredithwilson\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}