Ryan and Tara Lis (Squeegee Magic)

Ryan and Tara Lis are the owners of Squeegee Magic, a window cleaning, holiday lighting, pressure washing, and gutter cleaning company located in Osseo, Minnesota. 

Both Ryan and Tara went to Blaine High School, but the two didn’t initially click, or talk for that matter. 

“We exchanged words maybe once or twice throughout high school,” says Ryan, a smile beaming across his face as he recounts the past. 

After high school, Ryan and Tara went to different colleges (Ryan went to Metro State and Tara was at the University of Minnesota). 

A few months after getting their degrees, the pair reconnected at a party. 

“I probably used a corny pickup line on her,” Ryan recalls. 

“And I told him I would go on a courtesy date with him,” Tara says with a laugh, at the time not knowing that what started as a reluctant first date would later evolve into a blissful marriage.

As young professionals, the two bounced around the corporate world, but eventually Ryan, having cleaned windows in college, opened his own window cleaning business.  

“I thought I could do things better than the company I used to work for,” he says, highlighting the main reason he founded Squeegee Magic back in 2008.   

While Ryan was relentlessly grinding to build Squeegee Magic, Tara had by then transitioned to working at Target corporate, her paycheck and professional responsibilities much more predictable than that of her husband’s. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the couple’s polar opposite work lives would eventually converge, and something had to give. 

“We got to a point where our careers were pitting us against each other,” Tara acknowledges.  

”Throw in two kids, and it got to the point where we had to decide if we were going to go all in on Squeegee Magic.” 

As the pair pondered their collective future, Tara, sensing she could bring value to Squeegee Magic, made a bold move, opting to resign from Target and join her husband in the entrepreneurial trenches.

“I called him one day and said I wanted to be part of Squeegee Magic,” she notes. 

“Ryan just said okay,” Tara adds with a congenial laugh.

Early on, the unforgiving nature of business shocked Tara, who until then had grown accustomed to the highly-structured environment offered by Target.  

“Being an entrepreneur was nothing like I expected,” Tara admits. 

“When I started at Squeegee Magic, Ryan was doing the jobs of five people, and coming from corporate, where everyone had a specific role, it was definitely an adjustment.” 

Tara’s arrival in 2016 was a welcome relief for Ryan, who for the previous eight years had taken the company as far as one dedicated entrepreneur could go. 

In other words, Ryan needed help if Squeegee Magic was ever going to ascend and reach its potential. 

“When Tara came in, she fixed everything,” Ryan says facetiously, because while change is neverending in business, Squeegee Magic was in dire need of systems and processes when Tara arrived.

In the eight years since Tara joined her husband at Squeegee Magic’s Osseo headquarters, the business has elevated thanks to Tara’s keen eye for detail and commitment to developing the organization’s systems and processes. 

In essence, Tara refined much of what was lacking at Squeegee Magic, offering a beautiful complement to her husband’s dogged determination and focus on delivering a fantastic customer service experience.  

“Tara is a huge reason why the business has grown to where it’s at today,” the magnanimous Ryan says. 

“Without her, I don’t know where Squeegee Magic would be.” 

For her part, Tara is reluctant to accept too much praise. 

“He gives me too much credit, but the reality is we balance each other out,” she says. 

“Ryan is a bona fide entrepreneur. He takes risks, is great with clients, and has a vision for what he wants this company to be, and I excel at a lot of the backend stuff that helps the business function efficiently on a day-to-day basis.”

The humility of both Ryan and Tara is on clear display as they affectionately deflect the adoration each one bestows upon the other, and it’s that same humble spirit that in the last several years enabled Squeegee Magic to continue to revamp the company’s pain points and forge ahead.

“We were growing too fast,” Tara says of a time not too long ago. 

“It sounds like a good problem to have, but back then not all of our employees were in alignment with what we were trying to accomplish, and that was completely on us as business owners because our focus was on scaling, as opposed to establishing a really good foundation that would eventually evolve on its own.”

Adds Ryan:

“I’ve never been great at having a plan. I’ve always been a very reactive business owner, but Tara got me to sit down and formulate a plan. That led to us hiring a business coach, which resulted in us clearing up some of our shortcomings.”

“So yes, I do a good job of meeting with people and cultivating relationships, but Tara make sure that we’re not moving a million miles an hour, and that we are strategic in how we do things.”

Of course, there will always be inherent challenges to running a business.

In that sense, the grind never stops, and what got Ryan and Tara to where they are today won’t necessarily get them to where they want to go tomorrow, which is something the husband-wife combo readily acknowledges. 

“Whether it’s the economy or the weather, or us needing to get out of our own way, there is always a lesson to be learned,” Ryan shares. 

“Not a day, month, or year goes by where we aren’t constantly being challenged as individuals and business owners.”

With so much out of their control, the one thing Squeegee Magic can do to ensure sustained success is treat their customers and employees well. 

“To a fault, we have always focused on the people. Whether that is our clients or employees, we prioritize their wellness and satisfaction,” Ryan emphasizes. 

“Before starting this company, no matter where I worked, I always felt like just a number, and with Squeegee Magic, I never want our clients to think they are just a number, and I want our employees to know just how instrumental they are to everything good that happens around here.” 

One way Ryan and Tara apply this core principle is by giving clients transparent, all-inclusive estimates that are devoid of hidden fees or annoying upsells. 

“For example, when it comes to window cleaning, our estimate includes 99% of what the general population would want,” Ryan says. 

“There are no introductory prices or gimmicks. People don’t want to do business like that, and neither do we, so leading with transparency and authenticity is a big factor for why I believe people ultimately elect to hire Squeegee Magic.”

Adds Tara: 

“Ryan is an honest person, and that’s how he has always run his business. Doing right by the customer is so ingrained in who he is that he will even turn down business if he doesn’t think we can properly serve that client.”

Having grown 300% in the last five years, it’s abundantly evident that Squeegee Magic prioritizes their people, both in-house and offsite.

It’s also clear that they are committed to improving all aspects of their company.

“It’s not about achieving perfection, but rather how can we be 1% better today than we were yesterday?” Tara notes. 

“And once we started to adopt that approach, we stopped overthinking a lot of things and just let our systems and genuine desire to help people organically unfold.” 

In the coming years, Squeegee Magic will continue to assist Twin Cities homeowners with window cleaning, pressure washing, and gutter cleaning services.

They also would like to expand their reach and do more projects centered around installing holiday lights for the winter season. 

“I want to light up more of the Twin Cities,” Ryan proclaims. 

“I’ve always been like Griswold [the Chevy Chase character from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation], in that I love holiday lights and how they lift everyone up, and I want that impact to reverberate across the metro.” 

Beyond holiday lighting, Squeegee Magic is also seeking to land more commercial jobs with window cleaning and pressure washing, but more importantly, none of that will happen if they don’t surround themselves with talented team members, a fact that is not lost on the cerebral Tara.   

“As we continue to grow, we would like to develop our teams in-house by establishing branches of succession so that when people join Squeegee Magic, they know they have a future,” explains Tara, the Golden Gopher alumna.   

“Again, I want to emphasize that it’s not just Ryan and I who have built this company. We would be nothing without the team that we already have. People like Ben Whiteis, they give their blood, sweat, and tears to this company every single day. We’re blessed to have Ben, and everyone else who makes Squeegee Magic possible.” QS

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