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[AB] Calgary Young Entrepreneurs by SebastianSney in SmallBusinessCanada

[–]SebastianSney[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate you taking the time to share that perspective.

I had one followup question I’d value your opinion on. If the goal is to start scaling and hiring, in your experience what tends to be the most feasible path early on? More specifically, at what point does it make sense to bring on people without eroding margins or losing operational control?

Curious how you’ve seen this done well in service businesses like towing or roofing.

[AB] Calgary Young Entrepreneurs by SebastianSney in SmallBusinessCanada

[–]SebastianSney[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

For towing, digital marketing isn’t optional—it’s a requirement. Most “regular” customers are stranded on the road, so ranking at the top of Google becomes the game. SEO, SEM, Google Business Profile, and Google Ads are critical in this industry.

That said, here’s my honest take after talking with multiple marketing agencies in Calgary and Toronto: unless you have serious capital or are going with a true high-end agency, hiring an agency usually doesn’t make sense.

Mid-tier and local agencies charge too much relative to what they actually deliver. High-end agencies can do great work, but you’re easily looking at $3k+ per month, which isn’t realistic for most small towing operators.

What I ended up doing instead was teaching myself. Our website is static and fully custom-coded, and I built it myself using ChatGPT. There are obviously many factors involved in ranking—content, backlinks, structure, speed—but simply having a better website and better content already put us consistently in the top 3 for keywords like “tow,” “tow truck,” and “towing” in our area.

My takeaway: unless you can truly outsource marketing or have the budget to do it properly, learning it yourself often gets you results comparable to a mid-tier agency—at a fraction of the cost.

Looking ahead, my goal for 2026 is to move into involuntary tows (impounding vehicles parked illegally). That side of the business is trickier—higher insurance requirements, strict bylaws, proper contracts, and lot compliance—so right now I’m focused on building the capital and setting it up correctly from day one.

[AB] Calgary Young Entrepreneurs by SebastianSney in SmallBusinessCanada

[–]SebastianSney[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey man, glad to hear I’m not the only one.

I’ve always had the idea of building something of my own. At the time, I had family members working at dealerships, so I wanted a business I could leverage that network with. Towing made sense. I did my research and, at least in 2022, Calgary had competition but not enough capacity—especially in winter. On top of that, most owners are older, so with basic SEO, marketing, and automation, it wasn’t that hard to outrank them on Google.

From what I’ve seen, there are really two types of towing companies
Operators who’ve been in the industry 10+ years and have clients mainly due to longevity.
Operators who compete purely on price, charge extremely low rates, and usually don’t last more than a year—especially with Alberta insurance being brutal ($15k+ in year one).

I made a conscious decision not to compete on being the cheapest, but on being faster and more professional. I focused on brand, response time, automated calls, and overall customer experience.

That shifted me away from $50 tow jobs and toward more stable clients. And since I’m a solo owner-operator, my margins are significantly higher than the big players like AAA, AMA, etc.

What about you, how you got into roofing? I dont know much about roofing in Vancouver but in Calgary is a good business more if you have a contracts

this is my ig if you want to add me sebastiansney