Inspiration
Running a window cleaning business while managing university coursework meant every dollar counted. I was using Jobber as my CRM — a great tool, but at $150+/month it was becoming financially unsustainable alongside other business expenses like equipment, insurance, and vehicle costs. I realized I was paying for dozens of features I never used, while missing ones specific to my workflow. So I decided to build my own.
What I Built
A fully custom MERN stack CRM tailored specifically for my window cleaning business. Key features include:
Bulk email marketing — automated campaigns that directly generated $30,000+ in additional revenue Reminder email automation — automated follow-ups to re-engage customers and reduce no-shows Calendar — scheduling and job management in one place Weekly goal tracker — a real-time graph showing whether I'm on track to hit my weekly revenue targets Customer management — a full client list with CSV import and export functionality for seamless data migration
What I Learned
Building a production tool I actually use every day forced me to think like a product engineer, not just a developer. Every feature had to solve a real problem. I learned how to design scalable MongoDB schemas, build REST APIs that handle real business logic, and ship software that non-technical users (my employees) could actually use.
Challenges
The hardest part was the bulk email system — handling rate limits, bounced emails, and ensuring deliverability at scale without getting flagged as spam. I also had to build a clean CSV import parser that could handle messy, inconsistently formatted data from Jobber exports.
Business Impact
$30,000+ in additional revenue generated through automated email campaigns $1,890/year saved by replacing Jobber and other SaaS subscriptions 300+ clients managed through the platform 75% repeat-customer rate driven by automated re-engagement workflows
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