A great tool for learning about the pressure washing industry is to visit some of the professional pressure washing forums out there. This is where professional pressure washing contractors hang out and discuss topics like cleaning methods, chemicals, equipment, techniques, pricing, sales, marketing, and many others. Learning from guys that already have been successful and clean for a living can shave years off the learning curve. Finding these forums and signing up on them is easy and once you are logged in you simply introduce yourself by name and start to get to know some of them. I have found that with any forum that is set up for professional contractors, it is best to not act shady or like you are hiding something. For example, logging on there and calling yourself some creative user name and not listing your state or location will not return you too many replies on questions you ask. You could still go on there and use the search feature that most power washing forums have to search through old threads which is great and encouraged but not being willing to at least say who you are will make some of them suspicious of you. Some contractors won’t answer certain questions for fear of their competition reading their post so they might send you a private message if they trust you. So give your name, location, and a run down of what your plans are. Have you been washing for awhile? Are you interested in starting a pressure washing business yourself? Maybe you are a homeowner just looking for a particular cleaning solution. As long as you are honest, you should get an honest answer. It is also best to give back when you can in order to keep receiving information yourself. Obviously if you are new you won’t have much to give, but after a few months of chatting and posting, people will begin to know your persona and you will begin to learn some basic trade skills and secrets. When other new users sign up, introduce themselves, and start asking questions you can help them out to give back a little. This is what makes a pressure washing forum so great, everyone is there to help and to increase their own knowledge.
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