West Point Grad, 2 Businesses: Contracting and Power Washing - Nick Lesko | Everyday Excellence

Nick Lesko, a West Point graduate and Army veteran in the Austin area, runs two businesses built on opposite models: Texas Patriot Contracting wins public work by bid, and Patriot Power Washing, launched in January, wins homeowners by brand, with a go-big-or-go-home rig that closes deals on sight. Key Topics: • Enlisting at 17 to earn a West Point appointment - 1:27 • The $3,000 first year that quadrupled every year since - 9:30 • The supply store story: she waited for his truck - 23:31 In this conversation, Nick shares the servant leadership West Point gave him, the paper contractor model and its scheduling trade-offs, the 2025 public-work drought that sparked a second business, why he bought the full professional rig before his first customer, the leads already arriving from four different AI platforms, and the people pleaser's hardest lesson: we aren't at the bazaar. About Nick Lesko: Nick owns Texas Patriot Contracting, a general contracting and construction management firm serving state agencies, cities, and counties around Austin, and Patriot Power Washing, a veteran-owned exterior cleaning company in Round Rock, TX. Contact: Texas Patriot Contracting LLC, http://txpatcont.com/ , Patriot Power Washing LLC, https://patriot-powerwashing.com/ We help home service businesses grow with transparent SEO, answer-first content for AI search, review systems, and lead tracking tied to real revenue. Visit https://everydaymediagroup.com/ Chapter timestamps. Verify against final edited video before publishing. 0:00 - Introduction 0:47 - Two businesses: contracting and power washing 1:27 - Deciding on the Army at sixteen 2:54 - Enlisting in high school to reach West Point 3:24 - Servant leadership 4:39 - Watching dad get laid off three times 6:47 - Medical leave and three months of job hunting 8:19 - Dad, you're gonna hire me 9:30 - Year one: $3,000 in revenue 10:37 - Leading without rank 11:48 - The too-greedy lesson and learning your lane 13:12 - The paper contractor model 15:07 - Overcommunication as a feature 16:33 - 2025: when the public work dried up 17:36 - The July 4th pool deck epiphany 18:20 - Go big or go home: the truck and skid 19:17 - Finding an SEO agency through BNI 19:52 - The right size: a few trucks, eight to ten people 21:34 - Not the weekend warriors 23:16 - Which business taught sales 23:31 - The supply store story 26:03 - Which business taught operations 27:20 - Working on the business, not in it 28:43 - The 2027 goal: the first washer hire 29:31 - Attitude over skills, and paying handsomely 30:33 - Culture: the concrete guy who brings him work 33:14 - Facebook ads, magazines, and the LSA question 35:02 - Ranking number one in Round Rock 36:01 - Leads from Perplexity, Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini 37:37 - I'm not married to any agency 38:23 - Todd's ROI tracking playbook 44:43 - One review a week is 52 a year 45:11 - Two businesses, an MBA, and avoiding burnout 46:57 - The hardest lesson: we're not at the bazaar 49:18 - The most rewarding part 50:18 - Advice: know it's hard, 1000% worth it 51:43 - How to reach Nick #PressureWashing #VeteranOwned #SmallBusiness #Entrepreneurship #Contracting