Dereck Jensen is the owner operator at Jensen’s Precision Power Washing and restoration.
He is a Canton resident, and all around great guy.
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: [00:00:05] Coming to you live from the Business RadioX studio in Woodstock, Georgia. This is fearless formula with Sharon Cline.
Sharon Cline: [00:00:19] And welcome to a fearless formula Friday. And I’m your host, Sharon Cline. We talk about the ups and downs of the business industry and offer words of wisdom for business success. And I’m very excited to speak to my guests today in this studio. He is the owner manager, CEO of Jensen’s Precision Power Washing. He’s been here in Georgia for five years, but he is a transplant from Boston. And you’re going to hear it because I’m from Massachusetts, too. And it’s like I’m talking to family here, so I can’t wait to introduce you to Derek Jensen. Hello.
Dereck Jensen: [00:00:53] Hello. And thank you for having me on. I really appreciate it. It’s awesome to be here. We really love what you do with inside of Cherokee County, promoting all the small businesses and bringing them on and just networking and bringing everyone together, getting one together. It’s an awesome experience. It’s kind of like my first little podcast too, so really? Yeah, this is great. This is awesome.
Sharon Cline: [00:01:12] Oh, I’m so happy to have you. And it’s it’s a joy too, because we get to really get to know the people behind the business. It’s not just a business name, it’s your story. And that’s one of the joys I have about doing this show is is being able to connect someone with the person behind the business. So you get to know why someone’s doing what they’re doing and what their philosophies are, and then you become like real. It’s not just in their head, you know? I love that. And that’s why I’d love to have this conversation with you. And it’s funny, when we talked on the phone briefly, I was like, Man, this is like talking to my brother. You know, it’s I just love your accent.
Dereck Jensen: [00:01:45] It’s the pressure washing guy from Boston.
Sharon Cline: [00:01:50] That was awesome. Good for you. Yeah. So I find it kind of just interesting to think that you chose Woodstock, You know, out of any city you could have come to. So can you tell me a little bit about what brought you here from Boston?
Dereck Jensen: [00:02:01] Sure. Five years ago, I had decided to change my life around and make some real changes that needed to happen. You know, so many times in life, things happen to people and it gets them down and gets them in a place that gets them in a bad place. And they just they know people, places and things need to change, but they just don’t have the courage or the fortitude to make that happen. Quite frankly, I was just sick and tired of being sick and tired. And so I changed people, places and things. I left Boston with the clothes on my back and came down here to Georgia and started fresh.
Sharon Cline: [00:02:33] What brought you to the city is specifically Woodstock.
Dereck Jensen: [00:02:37] There was really no rhyme or reason behind that. God kind of worked his magic. I really owe everything to him. I live by the phrase that Boston raised me and Georgia saved me. And I mean that. I mean that wholeheartedly. Because if it wasn’t for a an opportunity, for a blessing to happen, I wouldn’t be here. Buddy of mine had hernia surgery and it was pretty bad. His body had rejected the mess three separate times. And so he needed help, big help. So me being in the position I was, him being the position he was and we had been friends forever. So we trust each other. We knew each other. He said, Look, I need someone to come into my home and take care of things that I can trust. And you’re the only one I trust. Wow. And so I said, Say no more. I’m common. This is old school friendship. I’m coming. You call me. I’m coming the same way I run my business. You’ve got a problem. I got a solution. I’m coming. So I came down to Georgia, stayed with him six, seven months. And that’s all it was supposed to be. It was supposed to be. Come down here and help him get his stuff right. Get him healed up, get him back on his feet and back to whatever it was going to be. But being down here and having that conversation with him, meeting people here in Georgia, seeing what Georgia was all about, and I just I just couldn’t leave. I just I knew I was home. I couldn’t.
Sharon Cline: [00:04:01] Leave. I think that’s so interesting. It’s just this notion that there isn’t sometimes you’re being led and you don’t know that you’re being led or things work out just sort of perfectly when you’re not really trying to plan it so hard or you’re trying to plan something else. And it’s just not. I always find those stories fascinating because life just unfolds.
Dereck Jensen: [00:04:19] Sometimes it does. And before you can even realize what’s happened and it’s already happening to you. And that’s the beauty of it. That’s that’s really the magic behind God himself is you don’t know, you know, when it’s your time, it’s your time, and he’ll let you know. And that was kind of like the biggest part for me is I was never really a religious guy. You know, religion was just something that wasn’t. You know, they’re for us. But coming down here and seeing it and experiencing it and learning, it was just awesome, you know? I never in my life thought that I would say to myself, Oh, I’m saved or this or that. But I am absolutely so proud to say that I’m saved and I’m a Christian man now. It’s just it’s just been great. And again, that’s something that helped my life, too. You know, the transformation coming from Boston to Georgia down here and then the transformation spiritually has helped me grow into the man that is behind this business today, behind all the ethics, behind this business. Everything comes through prayer. Everything. We don’t do nothing unless we pray about it around here.
Sharon Cline: [00:05:38] Well, so how how is it different culturally here from Boston, do you think? Was it a surprise to you how different people were, or are we all the same?
Dereck Jensen: [00:05:47] Can we cuss on the air?
Sharon Cline: [00:05:48] Sure.
Dereck Jensen: [00:05:49] You got a little BLEEP me out there.
Sharon Cline: [00:05:51] Maybe we’ll.
Dereck Jensen: [00:05:51] See. So I’m going to tell you, this is funny, but this is a real story. So the biggest thing for me was I realized culturally, I was in a like on the moon pretty much.
Sharon Cline: [00:06:00] You felt here in Georgia?
Dereck Jensen: [00:06:01] Yeah. This is this is kind of what happened to me. I was always here. And bless your heart, you know, because I’m running around like a not out here. And so I’d knock people’s carriages over in the store or something, you know, just because I’m I’m a Bostonian, I’m fast paced, everything fast, fast, fast. And I just I hadn’t slowed down yet. Right. And so I was getting bless your heart, all over the place. And I had no idea what it meant.
Sharon Cline: [00:06:26] How do you think?
Dereck Jensen: [00:06:27] I thought they were praying for me. I really thought they were praying for me. So I come home one night and, you know, I’m changing out Greg’s bandages and things like that. And we’re having the conversation. And I says to him, I said, Man, this place is great. I really and this is about three months in now. I said, I don’t think I’m going to go home. He’s like, What do you mean? This this place is awesome. He said, Well, tell me what’s going on? And I said, Well, Greg, listen, I got to tell you, like, you know, I’m kind of a space shot when I’m looking for something and I’m shopping, I’m in the store, I just want to get what I want to get and I want to get out so I can be a little obnoxious. I said, I knocked this lady’s cart over in the store the other day and her stuff went everywhere. I said, So know I’m trying to pick it up, trying to help her. I’m apologizing. And she says, Don’t worry, bless your heart. And it was like a fourth time I heard it. After I’ve done something stupid, I’m like, These people are great. Like you screw up and they just pray for you. So I knew I was in a good place. And when I said that, he just started laughing and he’s like, You’re such an asshole. He’s like, I got a hernia and you’re making me laugh. Like, that’s not what’s supposed to happen right now. So he’s like, You dummy, They’re not praying for you. They’re telling you to go, you know, yourself. And I said, No way. And he said, Yeah, absolutely. And so nice ways, right? You know, And so and that’s exactly it. So I said, no way. And he had to show it to me. And when he proved it to me that that’s kind of the slang behind that, I was like, You know what, Greg? Hey, listen, if that’s really what that means, it sounds so great. I might just go try it. So here I am. I stayed.
Sharon Cline: [00:07:49] I know. I consider New England. That’s like my one of my homes anyway. And. And just the like. I love that when we’re here in Georgia. It’s such a contrast to be able to speak to someone when you’re waiting in line somewhere or you know, you’re about to get coffee and you’re speaking to the person behind, they want to talk to you. It’s not the same in New England. Not that that’s bad. It’s just a difference.
Dereck Jensen: [00:08:12] It really is. I mean, that southern hospitality, it’s it’s real. It’s not a joke. It’s not a cliche. It’s not just a saying. It’s it’s something these folks down here really live by. And the rest of the world could use it, to be quite honest with you. I mean, this is just a great place, you know, to touch on. Why Woodstock? Basically what I realize is being from a city, I knew one thing. I didn’t want to be in another city. Like, that was just the biggest thing. And when I saw what Cherokee County had to offer, I said, okay, we’re 45 minutes an hour north of the city, so not a big deal. Shoot right down 75. You’re right there. Not a big deal. Cherokee County has a lot of small town country feel. You know, you go through Woodstock, Holly Springs, Canton, up into Jasper, up in the ball ground Alaska. You go up into all those areas. Also, those are my areas I cover when I work in. So I see them all. Excellent. But when you get up in these areas, it’s just there’s there’s a multitude of convenience, but yet it’s got that down home country feel and it’s back roads and it’s you know, it’s a healthy, healthy environment. Last time I checked, this was last year. But when I looked at some of the statistics. Cherokee County is one of the most. Wealthiest, booming counties in Georgia. This little honey hole that we’re in is really doing some big things. And that was super attractive to me as well. And I said, okay, well, I’m looking to do big things. Let’s go with it. Doing big things and let’s do big things together.
Sharon Cline: [00:09:55] So what brought you to pressure washing?
Dereck Jensen: [00:09:58] This is an awesome story.
Sharon Cline: [00:09:59] I love awesome stories.
Dereck Jensen: [00:10:01] So I was working for Custom Homes, building custom subdivisions, and I was managing five different builds in three different subdivisions. It was a lot. I was getting up at about 430 in the morning and I wasn’t ending my day until about 1030, 11:00 at night. This was Monday through Sunday, and it was just a nightmare. Constantly going, go and going, go and going. And three years of that, I burnt myself out. I just I literally burnt myself out. So I had had I had had a talk with the owners of the company, and I let them know. I said, Hey, listen, you know, we’re going to have to either do something different or this is where I’m going to have to go my own way because I’m getting burnt out. I can’t I can’t keep. Doing what you need me to do effectively. With the load that I have on me. So we’re going to need to do some things to take that off of me so I can continue to do what I do effectively. Or I’m just going to have to step aside because I’m not going to half ass anything. And that was like a three week back and forth conversation. And we just we agreed to disagree on some things and parted ways. On my way home from that, I stopped to get gas pulled in the gas station and I’m pumping my gas and this truck rolls in with this trailer on it.
Dereck Jensen: [00:11:25] Now, this is about 830 at night, 930 at night. It’s dark. And this truck pulls in with this trailer behind it and it’s lit up like the tanks that lit up neon green. And it’s got all this stuff going on. And I’m thinking a circle just rolled into town, you know, here’s a circus. Where’s the elephants? Popcorn, peanuts, cotton candy. I’m just what is this? And and so when over talk to him, strike up a conversation, just ask him. I said, What is this? What do you do? He’s like, Oh, it’s a pressure washer rig. I said, Pressure washing. What is that? And he started to explain it and, you know, I took a real interest. I said, Listen, can I get your information? Can I come watch like what you do? Can I come see this? Because what you’re saying, I can’t register, it’s not registered and I need to see it. And the gentleman’s name was Jason Annesley out of NZ. He is out of Rome, Georgia. I want to give him a big plug. Thank you, Jay. He’s kind of my mentor. He said. Sure, come on. So I went on watch him do a job and just I knew it. I said, There it is. That’s, that’s, that’s what I’ve been called to do this. This is my calling. I knew it right away.
Sharon Cline: [00:12:35] It’s just so crazy that if you weren’t in that exact spot and that exact moment, you may not have had any inspiration to be able to find out what this is, you know? But because this truck came in, it inspired you, and now it’s led you to a completely different path. How cool is that?
Dereck Jensen: [00:12:50] Again, You know, we talked about it earlier. This is God’s divine timing. You know, I had no idea. I just left the job. I just quit a job, basically, and, you know, had no idea what I was going to do. But he did. You know, he did. And so after talking with Jason a little bit, going on that first job, watching him and getting some real knowledge, I just basically told him, I said, Jason, look, you don’t have a choice. You’re going to teach me this like I’m going to be successful in this. And Jason was awesome. You know, I can’t I can’t thank them enough. He took me right under his wing. He said, okay, go get some equipment, hop shot. And so I said, okay, well, what do I go by? And so he, you know, he kind of helped me along the process. The first year in business, it was a huge learning curve because to be honest with you, I really didn’t know what I was doing.
Sharon Cline: [00:13:38] But I feel like that’s important for all of our listeners is to if they have an idea and they’re not sure even where to start, that’s how it all works. You just try to figure out what you’d like to do and then almost work backwards. And so what kind of things could you tell someone like, what did you do? You have to get an LLC or a DBA or whatever it is. Set up your own business. How did you do it? Did you Google? Because that’s how I did to do my voiceover work.
Dereck Jensen: [00:14:02] I use Google and YouTube if I’m being completely honest and total transparent with you and all the listeners, Google and YouTube, those are the two things. If it wasn’t for those two platforms.
Sharon Cline: [00:14:16] Like where do you start?
Dereck Jensen: [00:14:17] This would never happen and we wouldn’t be having this conversation. But the biggest thing for me was. Just being able to ignore the fear. Right. Know, holding my nose. No, getting scared that it’s a deep end and I may not be able to swim. None of that. I just jumped all in.
Sharon Cline: [00:14:37] Oh, how did you do it? Because the show is fearless formula for that reason. To encourage people to know that fear is a universal emotion. But it can hold you back. Right? And this is what I love about this show, is giving people an inside look into how someone managed, whether they had a good year or a bad year. What was it like for you during the pandemic? Did you almost not survive? You know, how do you deal with the anxieties and fears that come with the financial pressure of having a business? So how did you get to that feeling of I know there’s fear here, I mean, you’re jumping. How did you do it?
Dereck Jensen: [00:15:18] I mean, everyone’s different. Everyone has their own little thing. I guess you either reach a point in your life where you’re ready for that or you don’t. Like I said earlier, for me, it was I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I already made the move to Georgia and started myself and established myself for three years here. So it was a little bit easier for me to do that again because I had just done it with success. I left Boston, came to Georgia, built a really good thing with Tig. Custom Homes, established a name for myself. And saw what that did for me.
Sharon Cline: [00:15:57] So you built on some of your past successes to give you to bolster you, I guess to have.
Dereck Jensen: [00:16:02] Right. It was pretty much like, okay, we we can we can swim in the shallow end. We know that we’ve done that. Let’s let’s jump off the diving board now.
Sharon Cline: [00:16:09] I love that. I mean, I think more people would really pursue their dreams if they kind of had that feeling of, you know, let me just see what happens. Let me just be. Just have courage.
Dereck Jensen: [00:16:20] Well, here’s the thing. You can’t be afraid to fail. Okay. That’s that’s the biggest thing. Number one, you can’t be afraid to fail. I guess that’s the main fear is, Oh, my God, what if I fail? Now change that. Oh, my God. What if I don’t try? Just change that.
Sharon Cline: [00:16:37] Well, there’s there’s this sort I don’t know, for myself when I haven’t tried something, I have, like, already I have almost like, a guilt about it. So I feel like either way, I’m going to fail or I’m going to have a guilt because I didn’t try. There’s like not a win at all there, you know?
Dereck Jensen: [00:16:53] Well, I do. But here’s the thing. If you don’t try, then you don’t fail. And if you don’t fail, then you don’t have another chance to get up to try again. So what do you really lose if you fail? Nothing. You gain everything. There’s nothing to lose in failure and there’s everything to gain in failure. So why not? Why not try?
Sharon Cline: [00:17:13] Such good words. I love that.
Dereck Jensen: [00:17:16] Derrick, Thank you very much.
Sharon Cline: [00:17:17] You’re welcome. We’re going to talk a little bit about your business. We have some I had some questions that I wanted to ask you. And specifically, there’s there are things I don’t know as a layperson who imagining myself, wanting to find a pressure washing company, there’s a difference between a pressure washing company and an exterior cleaning solutions company. Can you explain to me?
Dereck Jensen: [00:17:39] Sure. So basically what we have is everyone knows this as the pressure washing industry, when someone needs their house or their driveway or their roof done, you Google whatever you know, they’ll go on next door or they’ll go on Cherokee connect. There’s a little plug for Cherokee Connect. Thank you. And you know, they’ll put in looking for my driveway clean or looking for whatever they’re looking for, for pressure. It’s pressure Washing is the word that the public knows, right? So that’s the top of the umbrella. But under that, you have a lot of different realms within the industry. Pressure washing is kind of died off. The name has stuck, but but the actual process is dead because pressure is bad. High pressure is bad. High pressure is going to break stuff, damaged stuff, rip stuff apart. Soft washing. Replace pressure. Washing five years ago.
Sharon Cline: [00:18:34] It’s just as effective, soft washing.
Dereck Jensen: [00:18:37] It’s more effective because it reduces the pressure to something similar of a garden hose.
Sharon Cline: [00:18:44] But it gets all of that.
Dereck Jensen: [00:18:46] But it’s able to yes, you’re able to deliver a solution that gets all that off. So you basically saw what soft washing did to the pressure washing industry. Was it basically eliminated the risk overnight? Of damage from pressure immediately, it eliminated that risk immediately. So within the industry, of course, businesses jumped right on that because that’s a way to know.
Sharon Cline: [00:19:17] Protection of the company, right?
Dereck Jensen: [00:19:19] Well, yes.
Sharon Cline: [00:19:19] And property.
Dereck Jensen: [00:19:20] But the most important part of that is its efficiency within the company. Now you’re operating a much more efficient basis. And when you’re. More efficient, you’re more productive. And when you’re more productive, you’re more profitable.
Sharon Cline: [00:19:34] Is it does it use less water? Because in my mind pressure washing has like just this, this speed to it and power behind it. And then but if it’s soft washing, I’m imagining it. You don’t even use as much water.
Dereck Jensen: [00:19:47] So there’s, there’s two different methods of actually soft washing. When soft washing first come out, it was done through a 12 volt system with a pump and the most you could get was five gallons a minute of flow, which is basically a little bit more than the water spigot that comes out the side of your house. A little bit more than that, the water spigot that comes out of the side of your house, that’s roughly 3 to 5 gallons flow per minute. Very rarely do you see five out of your water spigots. It’s more like three and a half, four gallons a minute. The the 12 volt pumps. They can come in one and a half gallons a minute, two and a half gallons a minute, three and a half gallons a minute. Four and a half gallons a minute or five and a half gallon a minute. Just recently, they they came out with a ten gallon a minute pump. That still kind of it’s been out for a year. It’s still kind of in its phases. The bugs are being worked out of it. Some companies swear by them and love them. Other companies just haven’t had much luck with them. And then some are in the middle of the road about it. It’s it’s one of those products that I truly believe that the companies that are manufacturing them like Northern Tool and things like that Sheriff lo ever flow they’ll get the bugs worked out by the end of this year and I’m sure those pumps will be much more effective.
Sharon Cline: [00:21:05] Do you feel like you need to explain this to people who ask you about your pressure washing business? Like I want you to pressure wash this and if you have a different way that you do it, do you explain what this is?
Dereck Jensen: [00:21:15] The only time I find myself getting into that and it’s all the time, is when I have to give them the price of the quote.
Sharon Cline: [00:21:21] Got you.
Dereck Jensen: [00:21:22] Right. Because you got a lot of guys coming around out here that are charging $99, $100 to wash your driveway. And then I come in and I tell her it’s going to be 4 to 600 to wash her driveway. Why? And so then I got to explain. Okay, well, you have these types of stains. Some are organic, some are non organic. These are the chemicals that are going to cost you to take them out. And this is what they cost. So I have to go down and break down the whole process of what I do, how I do it. And usually at that point, it’s it’s an easy sale. The biggest thing is I’m using hot water. Oh, wow. So. Pressure washing company, soft wash companies. It’s it’s all cold water.
Sharon Cline: [00:22:12] Right from my house or whatever.
Dereck Jensen: [00:22:13] Right. Or from a tank that they filled up with from your hose. It’s all cold water with me. I’m using a separate machine. The water is fed to the machine. The machine then pumps it through a coil in a diesel burner, which I can heat it up to up to 290 degrees Fahrenheit. So I’m not only cleaning, but I’m disinfecting also. Wow. At the same time.
Sharon Cline: [00:22:40] So every time I think of hot water is being something that you clean with, of course, it feels like it’s going to do a better job. So that must be a really important point to be able to mention to your customers what kind of stains you can get out by using hot water.
Dereck Jensen: [00:22:54] Exactly right. It’s it’s a combination of the hot water, the application of the product that we’re using to remove the stain, and then that makes up for about 20% of it, the other 80% of skill set.
Sharon Cline: [00:23:12] Which you’ve honed over three years.
Dereck Jensen: [00:23:14] Then again, I got to give a plug to Jason Ainslie at NZ Exteriors and Greg Townsend up at Townsend under pressure, and Dalton did the other two exterior cleaning solutions company in Georgia. There’s only three of us in North Georgia anyway. There’s only three of us. Only three. There’s only three in North Georgia. I’m the only one in Cherokee County. And like I said, they’ve been great. They’ve been awesome business mentors, business friends. Just, you know, they saw what I had. They saw the drive and they’re like, okay, well, we’re not going to make this easy on you, but if you want to learn, we’ll teach. And so that’s how that’s kind of gone for us. And that’s kind of where it is. You know, you you meet people, you find the best in your industry, and you try to model a business plan, something similar to that because it’s successful, it works, it’s effective. And that’s in a sense what I’ve done. And I owe everything to those two guys.
Sharon Cline: [00:24:09] Well, if you’re just joining us, I’m speaking to Derek Jensen of Jensen’s Precision Power Washing. I wanted to ask you another question to I mean, we talk about a lot in this as we network and meet different people in Cherokee County and their businesses. A lot of businesses want to give back in some ways. And we had briefly spoken about that. So would you like to talk a little bit about what you’re interested in doing in that regard?
Dereck Jensen: [00:24:34] Sure. So one of the big things is community is everything an old timer taught me years and years ago. My first job was shining shoes in a bathroom at eight years old.
Sharon Cline: [00:24:46] In a bar. Yeah. So Boston? Yeah.
Dereck Jensen: [00:24:48] We didn’t do school.
Sharon Cline: [00:24:51] You did? School of Life.
Dereck Jensen: [00:24:53] Exactly. Hard knocks. Anyway, so an old time at one time it said to me, Now you need to understand something. If you take care of your community, your community will take care of you. And that stuck. I was eight years old, but that stuck and it stuck with me all the way up till today. And again, Cherokee County has been so, so good to me. I just. It’s on my heart, you know, It’s been on my heart for for a little bit now the past few days. It’s it’s been really, really on air. And I got to do something about it. So what I’d like to do is I’m trying to reach out to any type of group, home foster home, institution, boys home, anything like that, where these youthful young kids are really up against it and unreachable. I want to come in and talk to these kids because I can reach them. I speak their language and the folks that are trying to fix it don’t. That is the problem today. You know, you got you got these kids sitting in the room and they’re talking to a person who can’t identify. They don’t come from where they come from. They have no idea what they’ve been through. All they know is what they’ve read in a textbook. And when they start talking, the kids looking at this person like you don’t even know and they just shut down, you.
Sharon Cline: [00:26:17] Can’t reach connect there.
Dereck Jensen: [00:26:18] They can’t reach them. You can’t reach them. So if you can’t reach them, they’re not going to listen to you. I can reach them.
Sharon Cline: [00:26:24] I feel like that’s one of the things that we’re supposed to do here on the planet, is to help each other.
Dereck Jensen: [00:26:29] Be a good human. Yes, be.
Sharon Cline: [00:26:30] A good human and help each other. It’s hard enough. It’s hard enough just doing all the best you can. But when you have somebody that you see that you can help and make something a little bit easier for them, there’s not only do you feel like a joy that not everybody accesses all the time, but it’s really a wonderful feeling. But also you’re giving them an opportunity to to feel like, okay, now I know what it’s like to get help. I would like to have that same feeling for someone else. And it just grows, I guess.
Dereck Jensen: [00:26:55] Well, I’m going to touch on that because you’re absolutely right. Once you experience a feeling, whether that feeling is good or bad or in between, you develop a a opinion and a mindset on that, Right. So good.
Sharon Cline: [00:27:10] Or bad.
Dereck Jensen: [00:27:11] Yeah, exactly. And so that’s what these kids that’s what’s happening with these kids. Things are happening to them that’s way beyond their control. Shouldn’t be going on in the first place. But we live in the world we live in. So it does. And they disconnect, right? They get that bad feeling. They get that bad vibe. And they they see that everyone in their life is treating them like that. So that means that everyone is going to treat them like that. And it’s it’s corrupting them at a young age. So by the time they hit teenage hood, you’re not changing that. You know, they need to see someone like me who is actually spent time in federal prisons, who’s actually gotten their life together and who’s overcome those things because I’m the one they’re going to listen to. They’re not going to listen to the guy saying, well, prison is bad.
Sharon Cline: [00:27:57] And.
Dereck Jensen: [00:27:58] They’re not going to listen to that. They’re not going to listen to that. They’re going to see the the street corner level hustler that’s got the new car, the new jewelry, all the women. He’s in and out of jail, but he never loses anything. Yeah, they see that. And so you think they’re listening to you? They’re not. They’re not. One of the biggest things that was given to me was. I was told, Why don’t you make a trade? And I said, Well, what trade do you think I should make? And my buddy Greg, who lived down here in Georgia, that I came down to help with the hernia. He said, Why don’t you make a trade while you trade your your inmate number for an iron number?
Sharon Cline: [00:28:40] Wow.
Dereck Jensen: [00:28:41] And I was like, Well, what is an iron number? And he’s like, You’re an idiot.
Sharon Cline: [00:28:44] No, you just didn’t know.
Dereck Jensen: [00:28:46] So. So but that’s the motivation, right? So. So I didn’t get mad at him. I didn’t I said, okay, yeah, you’re right. I’m an idiot. Let’s stop being an idiot. There’s the accountability. That’s what makes it hard, is people can’t accept the truth. The truth is the truth.
Sharon Cline: [00:29:00] You just don’t know what You just don’t know. Like, there’s there’s a pride that you kind of have to accept. I’m not going to be able to say I know everything about this or I have to learn the hard way. Some people don’t like to give up that pride.
Dereck Jensen: [00:29:10] No, they don’t. But that’s ultimately what hurts them and stops them. It’s it’s what prevents their growth. And they think that they’ve got to be prideful to to grow. But it’s the exact opposite. So I Googled it, I checked it out. I figured out what an iron number was and, you know, went on YouTube and said, okay, well, I got an idea. I want to do pressure washing. And, you know, now I know how to kind of think I know how to do this. So I just registered and did what I had to do. And I’ve had some people help me along the way. You know, if I got questions, I, you know, I’ve called some people and said, hey, listen, I’m I’m a little unsure what to do. Matter of fact, I have no clue what to do. Can you help me out? And they’ll tell me, yes, I can help you and no, I can help you. And there’s no shame in that, right? If you don’t know something, ask don’t.
Sharon Cline: [00:29:57] I think I love that because we talk about this on the show a lot, about how important it is to surround yourself with people who are willing to help in personal life, but also with networking and business because we all are trying to watch each other succeed. That’s what I think so great about Cherokee County or specifically Woodstock, where I do a lot of business. It’s nice to see that the business owners are all like happy to support other business owners. You know, it’s like a little family, but well, maybe it’s sort of like a family because I know I could call any of those people and they would help me.
Dereck Jensen: [00:30:28] Exactly.
Sharon Cline: [00:30:29] And that’s like a little gift in itself.
Dereck Jensen: [00:30:31] So and that’s the other thing that I’m doing with within my industry, trying to help people, bring them up to speed, letting them know, hey, listen, you know, there’s a much more effective way we can be servicing these customers out here and servicing our industry as well, you know? I can’t stress enough the use of proper techniques within a service industry. It’s just one of those things where. The hardest part is getting the customer to understand what’s going on. Again, because some of the prices can be really drastic.
Sharon Cline: [00:31:13] Clarity.
Dereck Jensen: [00:31:14] Yeah, right. So one guy is charging $99. One guy is charging $400, but it’s the same job. To to make that make sense can be really difficult at times. So the best way I found to do it, it was to keep doing what I’m doing, keep educating, keep showing, and then come on and do things like this. Excuse me. And then let basically let the public know, hey, listen, if you’ve got any questions, comments or concerns, I’m always there to answer the phone, and that’s free. Knowledge is free. It’s the work that you pay for.
Sharon Cline: [00:31:48] What are some of the challenges that were super surprising to you as you got into your business? I know one of them obviously being that you you you need to explain to people kind of what you’re doing. But are there any other kind of surprises that came along? You were just like, huh, I wish I had known that before I got started or something. You could offer someone who might be interested in the same kind of industry.
Dereck Jensen: [00:32:11] Yeah, I one of the biggest things that I wish I had known. But before starting this was the industry in itself. I wish I had known more about the industry before I got going because like I said earlier, I went through a year of a learning curve and that was a hard learning curve. I mean, I took a beat in my first year.
Sharon Cline: [00:32:38] And you did it by actually doing it. Not like just going to school, studying something. You actually did it physically, right?
Dereck Jensen: [00:32:43] Well, yeah, What I did was I. I have an ethic about me and I have a sense of responsibility. So I wasn’t going to go out there like a lot of these companies are and experiment on somebody home that’s paying me. What I would do is I’d go to construction sites and grab used stuff from houses that were being torn down and then work on that. So in case I ever did something wrong, I’m not ruining someone’s $800,000 home. Right.
Sharon Cline: [00:33:11] Smart man.
Dereck Jensen: [00:33:12] The last thing I wanted to do was get sued. I knew that much. So that’s how I kind of started. But again, you know, doing that, I would I would have to regularly call Jason or call Greg and be like, Listen, what do I do? How do I do this? What do I use? And it was a year of that. Just practice, practice, practice, learn, learn, learn. And being humble, you know, being humble to to to constantly make these calls and say, I don’t know. And being okay with that, letting that be OC Because it is. Oc Right. So I didn’t know I made the call. I got the knowledge. Now I know that’s great, isn’t it? It’s okay not to know.
Sharon Cline: [00:33:56] What are some of you you mentioned your ethics. What what are some of your sort of tenants that you that you run your business by? What are some of your like a list of ethics that you would say, I’m going to do it this way. This is what I believe and I’m not going to bend.
Dereck Jensen: [00:34:11] The biggest one is honesty. I’m always going to tell you the truth, whether you like it or not. I’m going to tell you the truth. The other thing is integrity. We stand behind what we say and we back up what we say. And that’s that’s one of the hugest things, is our customers know that when when they do business with us, they’re in good hands. Everything is covered under one umbrella. And if they’re ever not happy, we’re going to make it right. Lastly. I’m just a very competitive guy in general. I played sports all my life, football and couldn’t afford hockey but wanted to play real bad. You know those aggressive sports, right? Real competitive. And one of the things that I did was I said, I want to separate myself from everybody else. Right. And what was that niche? Because I heard a great one. I’m going to I’m going to quote Gary LAMB here of the black sheep mafia. I’m going to give him a plug to Gary. I’m going to see him wrestle tonight. So that’s going to be great. Oh, yeah, he’s going to have some ass anyway. So, Gary, Gary had given me a real gem and he had said and it’s one of his podcast on black sheet Mafia. The riches are in the niches, so find your niche and you’ll get rich. And he wasn’t talking money, right? He was talking mentally, physically, emotionally, those types of things. Find your niche and you’ll get rich because the riches are in the niches. And that was just like a gem, like a whole raw gem. I’m like, Oh, Gary. Oh, son. So with that, that’s what I did. I set out to find my little niche, and this was it. I said, Okay, there’s no one in Cherokee County that’s doing this. No one none of these companies are buying into it. I’m going to make a believer out of them. And here I am.
Sharon Cline: [00:36:26] You know, I’m gonna have to think about that one like it’s in my head now.
Dereck Jensen: [00:36:30] Thank you. You’re very welcome. Thank Gary, though, because he’s the one that gave it to me. I just gave it to you. Sharon’s. Karen.
Sharon Cline: [00:36:37] I appreciate that. It’s something that those little nuggets, little phrases, they can be so inspiring in just the right moment when you need it. So I love hearing that. All right. So I also have a question about a banner that you have posted at the North Metro Miracle League baseball field. Yes. Tell me about that.
Dereck Jensen: [00:36:55] So last year was our second year in business and we had experienced some real major, major growth. It was let me just start by saying I have no business being in business. So for anybody who’s thinking about starting a small business, do it. Do it. Okay. Because I got no business being in business and here I am in business kicking ass. So do it.
Sharon Cline: [00:37:25] All right.
Dereck Jensen: [00:37:28] I met a man by the name of Robert STROH’S Meyer, and he is the one who put that all together. He actually had that field built. He did it for the children that suffer from like. All different kinds of mental health and physical. Right. And it’s all kids that are on the spectrum, on all sides of the spectrum, some some some away on this side, some away on this side. Truth And and all of them are definitely different. Right. And so Robert’s just just one of those kind of guys. He he’s a he’s Cherokee County, you know, he’s he’s a Cherokee County guy and he’s really that’s his that’s his niche, Right? That’s that’s what he is is soft on is the kids that that are different you know and because he’s a sports competitive type of guy as well, he wanted to create an atmosphere so that these kids didn’t feel different so they could still have their time and have their place. That just that just resonates so much with me. You know, as a kid that’s got learning disabilities with ADHD and dyslexia and not doing well in school at all.
Dereck Jensen: [00:38:44] Graduating high school with a third grade education level, thank God that the the SATs weren’t mandatory or else I would never got a diploma. Thank God for the the eighties and nineties. Huh? They were great, at any rate. So that’s that’s kind of what happened there. And I was able to meet Mr. Robert at an event that he did and see what was going on, and I kind of just latched on to him right away and was like, Hey, listen, I really, really like what you’re doing. I really, really respect this a great deal. How can I help? Right? Like what? What what can I do to help? Like, do I need to come here and change your trash bags? What do I need to do? How can I help? This is awesome. And we developed a really good friendship, you know, and I wind up basically sponsoring his league. There’s many different sponsors that sponsor it, but I wind up sponsoring his league and doing some things. And I basically said, Hey, look, any time you guys need me, let me know and I’ll never charge you a dime.
Sharon Cline: [00:39:49] Wow. It must feel so good.
Dereck Jensen: [00:39:53] It’s the right thing to do. It goes back to being a good human. Just be a good human. It’s not hard. Just wake up in the morning and look yourself in the mirror and say, I’m going to be a good human today and then go do that.
Sharon Cline: [00:40:03] What do you find most rewarding about your job?
Dereck Jensen: [00:40:08] Boy, that’s a that’s a really, really tough question. There’s so much and I’m not even being facetious. There’s really so much. I think the biggest one is. A real sense of independence because.
Sharon Cline: [00:40:25] You did this?
Dereck Jensen: [00:40:26] Well, not only did I do this, but. I can wake up in the morning and decide what I want to do. I don’t answer to nobody. I have complete freedom. Complete freedom. I don’t have to worry about anything.
Sharon Cline: [00:40:42] You don’t have someone micromanaging you?
Dereck Jensen: [00:40:44] Not. And I don’t have to worry about appeasing nobody or pleasing nobody. It’s. It’s. It’s all right here. And I love me, Sami. So we’re good.
Sharon Cline: [00:40:55] Sorry. I’m going to use that in future conversations with people. Another gem. Another gem. That was funny. Okay, so what else do you find most rewarding? I mean, I know it’s like wonderful other people have mentioned this to on the show that it’s just wonderful to be your own boss. But. What else would you say is sort of what drives you?
Dereck Jensen: [00:41:19] I guess basically the. The knowledge part, right? Going out to these people’s homes and educating them on exactly what exterior cleaning solutions is, and then showing them and then breaking down the process for them. And then also that translates to the industry as well. Because I’ve been able to help out some other pressure washing companies. You know, I’ll see the $99 sign on the side of the road and and I’ll call that kid. I’ll pick up the phone and call that kid and say, Hey, listen, do you want to learn? Wow. Know do you want to learn the right way or do you want to up your tickets because you’re killing the industry right now doing this. And I’ll try to teach them and I’ll try some of them a little hotheaded. They bless them. They need some time and they’ll get it and they will eventually they’ll delete the delete the learn and they’ll make the adjustments or they’ll go out of business. It’s really that simple. But that’s the most rewarding part of it, is being able to educate on both sides of the spectrum. Because I’m highly desired in Cherokee County, a lot a lot of these other companies see what I’m doing. I just came on the scene. I’m kind of like the new guy, but yet I’m making a whole lot of noise. And so we did the steeple up at the Little Ones Learning Center in Canton. And people were just blown away with that. It looked like a brand new steeple. Everyone stopped to ask questions. And other companies are seeing it. People are seeing it. So they’re asking me, you know, Derek, what is this? What is exterior cleaning solutions? What is this thing? Because now the curious before they thought it was a gimmick. But now they’re curious because.
Sharon Cline: [00:42:59] This is.
Dereck Jensen: [00:43:00] All right. And so they’re asking me questions. And basically what I tell them is I say we live in a world that’s ever evolving with technology. I’m going to use your cell phone for an example. An iPhone comes out today. Five more come out within three months and yours is obsolete. It’s constantly evolving. It’s constantly changing. And that’s what happened within the pressure washer industry. Pressure washing was the only trick in pony for a very, very long time before a couple of smart guys come out with soft washing and a way to do that. And they they introduced electric operated pumps over gas powered equipment. So that was a real solution right there. That was a big solution to a major problem. And it took off. I mean, it really took off. And then, lo and behold, it was way more effective as well. So it stuck. Pressure washer went bye bye and and soft wash and took over. And it’s been on a five year hard core run, hot and heavy. And it’s been doing great. But again, things change. We live in that kind of world now where if you are not constantly staying ahead of that curve, you’re going to get passed, you’re going to get left behind. It’s just the way it is. And a couple of us who Greg’s been doing it a long time.
Dereck Jensen: [00:44:22] Jay’s been doing it quite a long time. I’m still kind of I consider myself a baby. I’ve only been in the business effectively for two years. My first year was just learning, so I can’t take credit for that. But I’ve actually only been watching two years and. Being able to wash at a level. That I’m washing at, applying the techniques that I’m applying, not using bleach, using proper chemicals, going out and speaking to these chemical manufacturers, going out and touring their facilities, going out to different events and getting the education and getting the knowledge. That’s really the biggest joy that I that I have is because. I get to do the work and then I get to see the benefits from that work and I get to see it on multiple levels. I get to do the work on one level, but then I get to see the benefits of it on multiple levels. I get to see the industry respect me. I get to see the community, respect me, I get to see my customers, respect me, and I even get my competitors and my haters to respect me. So we’re going to have to get some new haters, huh? Because the new the ones I got now are fans.
Sharon Cline: [00:45:40] Where do you want to see your company in like five years? What would you like to see your company do in the future?
Dereck Jensen: [00:45:48] Well, I haven’t set that five year plan. We’re currently three years into a five year plan, and the first five year plan was just to make it through the five year plan alive. Kind of. No, I’m kidding. But the first five years was basically, look, let’s really see if we can do this. Give yourself five years. Go ahead. Try and give yourself an honest five years and then see where you’re at. Don’t get discouraged the first year in the second you give it, give it five years and see where you’re at and you’ll have a chart to look at a growth chart. You know, a year isn’t enough. Two years isn’t enough. You need five at a minimum to to average a growth.
Sharon Cline: [00:46:25] Chart to really see it, to.
Dereck Jensen: [00:46:26] Really see it and make an educated decision at that point. Is this worth it? I’m three years in and I can already answer that question. So I’m getting ready to write a five year plan and that’s going to be it right there. The question you just asked, Where do I see myself? Right now the vision is. To basically. And I know this sounds really huge, but change the way the industry is done right? I want to be an innovator within the industry and I want to change the way these things are being done and bring the knowledge to the people that, look, you don’t need to cut corners. You can use the right products. You. You should be charging the right price. It’s okay.
Sharon Cline: [00:47:17] If people want to get in touch with you, if they would like to inquire about your services or even the way that you are giving back to the community, what’s the best way they can find you?
Dereck Jensen: [00:47:26] They can find me on Facebook. Jenson Precision pile washing restoration. It’s a public. It’s not private. You can find me on there. You can find me on YouTube. Precision power washing my cell phones. 4044314576. If you want to call me, call me. I’ll answer the phone, I promise. You can go on Google. You can check us out on Google. We’re a five star company and again, we’re the only exterior cleaning company in Cherokee County. But I really do encourage anyone who has any questions or has any thoughts about this. Go ahead and look at that Google Review sheet that I got on there. Check out what the customers are saying about me. Don’t take my word for it. Take the people that are paying me. And lastly, in closing, if I could just touch on a little bit. A few of the major, major things that have been just so. So beneficial to me for being a good human. And this is I want to touch on this a little bit is the strength of of this community. I don’t know many other communities in Georgia because I’ve only been in this one. But I can tell you the strength in this community, I mean, it is just unreal, you know? People in this community really care. They really do. And it’s sincere. It’s not fake.
Sharon Cline: [00:48:49] It’s special.
Dereck Jensen: [00:48:50] It really is. I haven’t quite figured out why that can’t expand some more, but it really is. It’s really great. And I want to give a huge thanks to the whole Cherokee County community. Everybody within that community that does what they do, whether I know you or whether I don’t know you, I want to say thank you for making and keeping Cherokee County awesome, because it is I mean, it’s just a great, great place.
Sharon Cline: [00:49:16] Well, Derrick, thank you so much for coming into the studio and sharing your story and all of you listening. Thank you for listening to a fearless formula on Business RadioX. And I also just want to say I really appreciate that you’re giving just in closing, you’re giving a shout out to the people who really maybe struggle in the beginning parts of their life, because lots of people do and they don’t like to talk about it. And in just normalizing that as being there’s a way to get through it and there are people that can help you. I just appreciate that. So thank you so much for doing that.
Dereck Jensen: [00:49:47] You’re very welcome. It’s it’s one of those things that’s much needed. You lead by example and maybe more people see how this goes and and you break the cycle.
Sharon Cline: [00:49:57] That is huge. Breaking the cycle. All right. Well, this is Sharon Cline reminding you that with knowledge and understanding, we can all have our own fearless formula. Have a great day.
