Aaron Harper

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Aaron Harper

Aaron Harper

@AaronHarperCEO

I turn boring businesses into national franchise brands. Building Rolling Suds into the biggest power washing company in the world and sharing content daily.

Brentwood, TN Katılım Mart 2016
639 Takip Edilen4.2K Takipçiler
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Aaron Harper
Aaron Harper@AaronHarperCEO·
I searched for a business to buy for 3 months and exactly 2 years ago, I found it. Here’s what happened: I had worked in the franchise industry for years growing brands into household names We grew the biggest carpet cleaning company in the world Then the biggest drywall repair company in the world Like many searchers, I thought to myself “why am I not the owner of these businesses I’m building?” I set out across the country (while still an employee) to seek out a business that I could turn into a national brand The offer was simple: Business owner gets to keep 100% of the economic benefit of their business I acquire the brand, systems, processes, franchise rights, trademarks They get upside in a new business I create: the franchise business I raise capital and take all the risk in building that business We need help replicating and teaching franchisees how to replicate their model They can invest alongside me in building this new franchise business together if they want Enter: Brian Wendling Sr. and Brian Wendling Jr., the Founders of a professional power washing company doing 2.2M/yr Great business, great founders, I saw the opportunity for a great partnership We met in September 2022. A non-franchised 1 location power washing business A family that had perfected the power washing process with a secret process I knew we could grow this into a national brand together Had no idea how to raise capital, structure deals, acquire a company etc I knew I could figure it out though I partnered with mentors from the franchise industry who wanted to invest and help along the way We finalized the acquisition in January of 2023 We took the franchise to market in February of 2023 We’ve sold 222 locations to 63 franchise owners who operate in 28 states We’ve become the biggest power washing brand in the world February 2025 will mark 2 years and we should have close to 300 locations by then I love franchising and growing companies and I’ve learned to love content My goal is to share the ups and the downs in growing a company to be helpful to those who find it interesting Make sure you’re following along as we build the biggest power washing brand in public: @AaronHarperCEO
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Ben Little
Ben Little@TRUmav·
@sweatystartup The Athens, GA Rolling Suds guys are the best! They’ve done several jobs for me. Always crush it
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Aaron Harper
Aaron Harper@AaronHarperCEO·
I have heard the term “Sunday scaries” many times. Here’s what it meant to me working for someone else. If you have a job, you may know the feeling. Sunday evening rolls around and there it is. That low grade dread about Monday morning. The meetings, the one-on-ones. Answering to the board. I used to think that was just normal. Everyone feels that way, right? The weekends are just better than work weeks. Totally normal. Truth is, I was tired grinding with no real ownership. Did the math on the approximate value that my efforts added to the company I was working for while I was working there. All the responsibility, none of the ownership part. Making the scary decision to own my own business changed everything for me. Not instantly, but steadily. Once I got through a couple of years of tax returns and seasonality. The reality was that I would never be able to work for anyone again. You will never work harder than you will on your own business. And truthfully, that work will harden you. Turn you into a stronger person. Pressure does that. That’s how diamonds are created. PRESSURE. If you have been drained week after week, maybe you're not in the wrong job. Maybe you just shouldn’t have a job.
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Peter Kourounis
Peter Kourounis@petekourounis·
@AaronHarperCEO Thank you for saying something, Aaron. There's been a lot of negativity lately. If they only knew what goes on behind the scenes.
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Aaron Harper
Aaron Harper@AaronHarperCEO·
This tweet is for the Rolling Suds franchisees and the national account relationships we have built There is a lot of negative content about franchises largely because of one person's bad experience I empathize. I've seen this movie before. Many times. I have largely stayed out of the discussion because: a) It's none of my business & b) I know the backstory on both sides of that issue and again, it's none of my business I am not here to talk about that, I am here to talk about what I can control I made a decision to build a national brand in the power washing space, where a national player didn't exist yet Think: 1-800-GOT-JUNK in the early 2000s Power washing is a largely unsophisticated labor force (and group of business owners) with a low barrier to entry that is tough to scale without a good amount of capital and...most importantly: The willingness to go out and sell commercial jobs like your life depends on it There is not a commercial pressure washing franchise (or local or regional company) that is anywhere near the size we are in terms of number of locations I also made the decision to build this brand on the back of a personal brand One that I didn't want to build at the beginning but realized that the leverage we get is such that my opinion didn't matter Here's how being so public has dramatically helped our franchise owners: First, a note: the way an emerging franchise grows is largely through broker networks which take large fees -- which I am happy to pay as we wouldn't be where we are without the broker relationships I have However, building a personal brand has allowed us to not have to pay any fees on a good percentage of our deals This has resulted in capital for: - A national accounts team that most brands never get to (accounts with Starbucks, KIMCO, Popeyes, college campuses, govt contracts, and more every day) - A select community of high caliber franchise owners of which not one of our franchisees would disagree is amongst the most valuable part of their investment - A 25 year CEO who has worked for companies like ServPro, PuroClean, Restoration1 (just some no-name brands) - A team underneath him of rockstars in all facets of the business - Partnerships with suppliers that give our franchisees preferred pricing because they want to be associated with us due to how public we are and much more... Without having ~100 owners and 340+ territories, we wouldn't be able to get the national account partnerships we have We have delivered national account jobs to franchise owners which just that job alone justifies the overall investment in Rolling Suds Did I open myself up to criticism by being so public? Yep, sure did. Was it worth it? Absolutely Would I do it again? Sure would - again, we wouldn't be where we are today without that strategy. I have learned that "haters" online have absolutely nothing to do with me and to not take it personally These people are making decisions and judgments based on their learned experience which is normal What is frustrating is that the franchisees of all brands Who made a decision to grow their wealth and are having success, get flack and hatred because someone else made a grown up decision that didn't work Also, the franchisees who are making millions of dollars aren't on X talking about it, because they are out growing their business adding more locations We just had three franchisees expand to more territories in the last two weeks Not everyone who joins a franchise will be successful. This is the cost of doing business in growing franchises. No company gets only 5 star reviews. People join franchises and don't succeed. Other people will join that same franchise and THRIVE No franchise will have 100% success rate. In a business largely dominated by huge commercial jobs spanning multiple years, you need to have the stomach to close, manage and collect the AR from those jobs. Many don't have that stomach, and they shouldn't join Rolling Suds (or maybe any business, frankly) I'm beyond proud of what we are doing at the local and corporate level I hate to see that some people have bad experiences with franchises. Honestly, it kills me. But after working in this industry for nearly a decade on 14 different service brands, failure and misery is part of this Not everyone is cut out for business. Not everyone is cut out to be a franchisee (comma) and that's okay. Been largely staying off this platform but I hope everyone crushes their goals in 2026. Thanks for reading
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Aaron Harper
Aaron Harper@AaronHarperCEO·
@thedogfather Thanks man, I appreciate it. Gonna keep building in public no matter what
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Nicholas Losciuto - Dog Guy
Nicholas Losciuto - Dog Guy@thedogfather·
For what it’s worth, I haven’t seen any of the drama or discussions. One thing is certain: you don’t get enough credit for building the brand and taking accountability publicly. Yes, it’s the flip side of massive exposure on X, but anyone who started a franchise and sold hundreds of territories would have a few unhappy franchisees eager to tell the world. No other franchise manager would ever take direct criticism publicly; they’d rather hide in an ivory tower and silence people with NDAs. The extreme stress and anxiety this causes is a burden no one else would bear, so I hope everyone factors that in.
Aaron Harper@AaronHarperCEO

This tweet is for the Rolling Suds franchisees and the national account relationships we have built There is a lot of negative content about franchises largely because of one person's bad experience I empathize. I've seen this movie before. Many times. I have largely stayed out of the discussion because: a) It's none of my business & b) I know the backstory on both sides of that issue and again, it's none of my business I am not here to talk about that, I am here to talk about what I can control I made a decision to build a national brand in the power washing space, where a national player didn't exist yet Think: 1-800-GOT-JUNK in the early 2000s Power washing is a largely unsophisticated labor force (and group of business owners) with a low barrier to entry that is tough to scale without a good amount of capital and...most importantly: The willingness to go out and sell commercial jobs like your life depends on it There is not a commercial pressure washing franchise (or local or regional company) that is anywhere near the size we are in terms of number of locations I also made the decision to build this brand on the back of a personal brand One that I didn't want to build at the beginning but realized that the leverage we get is such that my opinion didn't matter Here's how being so public has dramatically helped our franchise owners: First, a note: the way an emerging franchise grows is largely through broker networks which take large fees -- which I am happy to pay as we wouldn't be where we are without the broker relationships I have However, building a personal brand has allowed us to not have to pay any fees on a good percentage of our deals This has resulted in capital for: - A national accounts team that most brands never get to (accounts with Starbucks, KIMCO, Popeyes, college campuses, govt contracts, and more every day) - A select community of high caliber franchise owners of which not one of our franchisees would disagree is amongst the most valuable part of their investment - A 25 year CEO who has worked for companies like ServPro, PuroClean, Restoration1 (just some no-name brands) - A team underneath him of rockstars in all facets of the business - Partnerships with suppliers that give our franchisees preferred pricing because they want to be associated with us due to how public we are and much more... Without having ~100 owners and 340+ territories, we wouldn't be able to get the national account partnerships we have We have delivered national account jobs to franchise owners which just that job alone justifies the overall investment in Rolling Suds Did I open myself up to criticism by being so public? Yep, sure did. Was it worth it? Absolutely Would I do it again? Sure would - again, we wouldn't be where we are today without that strategy. I have learned that "haters" online have absolutely nothing to do with me and to not take it personally These people are making decisions and judgments based on their learned experience which is normal What is frustrating is that the franchisees of all brands Who made a decision to grow their wealth and are having success, get flack and hatred because someone else made a grown up decision that didn't work Also, the franchisees who are making millions of dollars aren't on X talking about it, because they are out growing their business adding more locations We just had three franchisees expand to more territories in the last two weeks Not everyone who joins a franchise will be successful. This is the cost of doing business in growing franchises. No company gets only 5 star reviews. People join franchises and don't succeed. Other people will join that same franchise and THRIVE No franchise will have 100% success rate. In a business largely dominated by huge commercial jobs spanning multiple years, you need to have the stomach to close, manage and collect the AR from those jobs. Many don't have that stomach, and they shouldn't join Rolling Suds (or maybe any business, frankly) I'm beyond proud of what we are doing at the local and corporate level I hate to see that some people have bad experiences with franchises. Honestly, it kills me. But after working in this industry for nearly a decade on 14 different service brands, failure and misery is part of this Not everyone is cut out for business. Not everyone is cut out to be a franchisee (comma) and that's okay. Been largely staying off this platform but I hope everyone crushes their goals in 2026. Thanks for reading

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Nick Heye
Nick Heye@Hokieheye·
@redwood_ryan_a Yeah! The program only started last spring as we got to size. I have about 200k in bids out for them. Lots of zees have some insane contracts (500k plus) that I am totally not jealous of.
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Aaron Harper
Aaron Harper@AaronHarperCEO·
Raising capital is a gauntlet, but it’s where you find out what you’re really made of. Early on, it feels like the room is against you. You’re facing seasoned pros who know the game inside and out, while you’re still learning the rules. It’s a high-stakes environment where people are looking for leverage, and the pressure is real. I remember staring at a term sheet that would have made me a minority owner in my own company. At the time, the stakes couldn't have been higher: a new baby on the way, a mortgage to pay, and no safety net to catch me. The deal had to close, but I had to keep my head. The Turning Point The "brutality" of fundraising is actually a masterclass in professional growth. You learn to: •Negotiate under pressure: Protecting your vision when it matters most. •Filter the noise: Distinguishing between predatory terms and genuine partnerships. •Build Resilience: Realizing that if you can survive the capital raise, you can survive anything the market throws at you. No book can prepare you for the intensity of this season, but that’s exactly why it’s so transformative.
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SMB Attorney
SMB Attorney@SMB_Attorney·
Never ever deleting this app
SMB Attorney tweet media
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Aaron Harper
Aaron Harper@AaronHarperCEO·
If you want to become a franchisee (of any brand) here are questions you should ask the brand: How do you plan on achieving national scale to get into every market? When will you be there by? Once your brand is in every major market, how do you plan to leverage that to make your franchisees more money? What experience does you or your team have in franchising (remember, franchising is a different business!) How do you plan to scale the infrastructure as the brand scales? Who are your next three hires? (If the brand is using an outsourced franchise sales company) how do you plan to support me and a network of owners with keeping only a fraction of the upfront fees? Where will you pull capital from? What are you looking for in a franchise owner? What are some things that make it an immediate no when you’re talking to a candidate? How many of your franchisees are semi-absentee? What do your worst franchisees do and why do you think they’re not successful? These questions will help you cut through the crap and have a real discussion. Some of these may have to wait until an executive call but I’d ask every one of them before buying into a brand
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Hector Resendez - Trade School Secrets
Hector Resendez - Trade School Secrets@TS_Secrets·
Change your life in 2026 and follow these ballers. @KurtisHanni - CFO ninja @IMJustinBrooke - branding legend @StumpGuyTy - the king of stumps @AaronHarperCEO - changing the pressure washing game. @pestctrlguy - the king of killing tiny animals. @collin_ruth89 - branding ninja. @sdrwhisperer - sales ninja teams @DannyMagazu - FB pages magician @thedanielaros - great content and best selfies. @brianbeers - changing the oil change game. @Doorvana - Brian has the best garage doors. @jamesonhaslam - big DECK energy. Change your inner circle. Follow more impactful people vs news and memes.
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Aaron Harper
Aaron Harper@AaronHarperCEO·
After not posting super regularly on X, my thought is the move is to just overload with regular content and engagement within your preferred niche Who has an opinion or experience with this topic?
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Aaron Harper
Aaron Harper@AaronHarperCEO·
Here’s why building a sales team for your SMB is one of the scariest things you can do: You’re losing money 3 ways while the team ramps Way 1 - salary for the team Way 2 - marketing costs for the leads Way 3 - the deals they aren’t closing yet Also, not all salespeople work out In fact, there’s far fewer good ones than there are bad ones This entire time, you’re watching the bank account go down Here’s what I’ve learned doing it two different times now: You need to hire more than one salesperson (ideally 3 if you can afford it) Depending on the size of your company, you need a sales leader who holds the team accountable (or you need to be this person) Have clear scripts and a defined process The more defined your process, the faster the team ramps up, and the less money you burn Doesn’t matter who you are, it’s unlikely your company will grow past 2-5 million in revenue without a great sales team/function Your company isn’t an asset without a sales team, because you’re the salesperson and therefore have key-man risk Hope this was helpful!
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Aaron Harper
Aaron Harper@AaronHarperCEO·
Content creation and being creative has come back to me in a big way recently Putting yourself out there online is wild, especially as a franchisor Largely because people are gnarly with their opinions and the more public you become, the more their insecurities become targeted your way When in reality while it feels personal, it actually has little to nothing to do with me
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Rand Larsen
Rand Larsen@RandBusiness·
@girdley I did some sauna + cold plunge at @AaronHarperCEO house and it was an incredible feeling, very surprised by how good I felt after doing it
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Michael Girdley
Michael Girdley@girdley·
I'm a late adopter of health trends. These are the 3 I am recommending to my other 50-something male friends at seemingly every holiday party: • Whoop (tried all the health metric stuff, this was best. Con: pricey.) • Massive (25-35g a day) of fiber supplementing (tried all the stuff. Ground flaxseed is low carb. If you don't poop daily, you should. Con: calories.) • Bed chilling pad (game changer on sleep. Went from <80% efficiency to 100% efficiency measured by Whoop. I didn't want a subscription, so got a Chilipad. Con: expensive.) Two I'm adding in 2026: • Bidet (toilet paper is barbaric.) • Sauna (still figuring this one out.)
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Aaron Harper
Aaron Harper@AaronHarperCEO·
We grew Rolling Suds to over 118 open units in 2 years. Here’s some things we did to get to today: -Did not let one “semi-absentee” franchisee join -Knew exactly who we wanted in our system and turned down ~90 well-capitalized operators who weren’t going to be right for us -Hired smart people before we needed them and getting out of the way -Parted ways with the wrong team members -Reinvested significantly in infrastructure -Build a products business to control truck production and delivery -Launched a national accounts team to deliver high value jobs to franchise owners -Holding our suppliers accountable and parting ways with the ineffective ones -Building a robust c-suite before we “needed” to -Working closely with some of the best franchise consultants in the business -Creating content daily to drive lead flow -Getting franchisees open and generating revenue quickly -Having a public relations strategy for franchise sales centered on my personal brand that’s never been done before in franchising -Working closely with franchisees to help them solve constraints, then systemizing those solutions network wide -Ruthless execution despite criticism It’s easy! (Clearly kidding) Building a franchise brand is one of the hardest businesses you can build, barring maybe a SAAS company Incredibly expensive and risky, but beyond rewarding As Chairman, I now focus on content creation with the majority of my time while our CEO runs the organization We will keep ROLLING!
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Aaron Harper
Aaron Harper@AaronHarperCEO·
Imagine logging into X every day… Seeing a post from someone you want to engage with Copying their post into ChatGPT and giving it some prompt like “respond to this” Then directly copying that empty response and posting it as a comment on the post Then thinking to yourself, “nice”
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