My Story

I'm Jonathan D. Byrd I. I'm a husband, father of thirteen, Catholic, entrepreneur, and lifelong learner. I've spent more than 25 years building businesses, making mistakes, and learning from both.

I grew up without much money and started working when I was nine, delivering newspapers and selling candy. By eleven, I was mowing lawns, and by twelve, I was helping support my family. Those early experiences shaped the way I thought about money, responsibility, and independence.

By nineteen, I was married, a father, running my own business, and deeply in debt. My first business nearly failed, so I moved into window cleaning. In 2001, I started what would become Clean Pro Gutter Cleaning.

The financial crisis of 2008 brought more setbacks, including losing our home. I've had my share of expensive lessons.

In 2013, I began taking the company national after teaching myself SEO and digital marketing. By 2015, we were operating in more than 120 markets.

Then I discovered that growing a business and building a good business aren't necessarily the same thing.

We expanded too quickly, developed serious cash-flow problems, and eventually had to contract to 25 markets. I rebuilt the company around remote teams, better management, software, and automation.

Today, Clean Pro reaches more than 840 cities across 43 states and has completed over 100,000 gutter cleanings. I've founded six companies over the years, all without outside investment capital.

But the numbers aren't what I find most interesting about the experience.

For years, I believed being involved in everything was part of being a responsible owner. Eventually, I realized I had created much of the dependence I complained about. Learning to develop people, transfer responsibility, and trust others' judgment changed both the business and my life.

My family has been part of that journey from the beginning. My wife and I have thirteen children, and raising a large family while building businesses has given me plenty of reasons to reconsider what success actually means.

I still enjoy business. I like building things, solving problems, studying markets, and experimenting with technology. But my interests extend well beyond work. I'm fascinated by philosophy, theology, history, economics, artificial intelligence, and just about anything that makes me stop and ask why.

Today, I continue operating businesses, working privately with other business owners, and writing about the subjects that interest me.

I'm not interested in pretending I've figured everything out. If anything, experience has made me more aware of how much there is left to learn.

And after spending most of my adult life asking how to build a successful business, I've become increasingly interested in a different question:

What is all of this actually for?

Read my writing