"I'm going to go multi truck to get more freedom"

[Mikey P]

This industry was notorious for pressuring us into going multi truck.
I say "was" because almost all the gurus and programs have moved on or passed away. Along with the fact that trying define men who fill all the needs for the sales oriented, hard work, seni- mechanical and problem solver role, is nearly impossible these days.

The vast majority of us are incapable of managing others and waste loads of precious time and resources figuring this reality out.

Some are fortunate and can return to the O/O roll. Insurance up, stay off the dirt bike or slopes and enjoy the freedom and savings of a running solo.

..and some go bankrupt and have to get a low skill, low pay job.

Those that stuck with never see the promise of more free time or revenue, just bragging rights.

Overy 40 years I've seen the viscous cycle over and over, it's very sad, and I have deep regrets for allowing myself to have gotten sucked into it.

The Cleaning Standard will be VERY upfront about this.


And we'll be very helpful in guiding those who can pull it off.




Tell me about your experiences....

 

[Kenny Hayes]

Employees are what you used to hear about women. Can't live with em, can't live without em. God gave me a lot of both. I love my women like crazy, can't always say the same for my employees! I'd hate to think I have 25-30 scattered all over a city in people's homes.

 

[Mikey P]

Employees are what you used to hear about women. Can't live with em, can't live without em. God gave me a lot of both. I love my women like crazy, can't always say the same for my employees! I'd hate to think I have 25-30 scattered all over a city in people's homes.

Commercial, Janitorial, Restoration, Soft/ pressure wash, HVAC etc all require a much easier to find employee...

As you well know.

The cleaning technician who is replacing Pop has to have most of the same endearing nuances he did, or Mrs Piftleton will move on.

Or you can play a numbers game if you're in a big city with lots of transients. Which requires capitol and systems and drive far beyond what most Owner Ops possess

 

[Kenny Hayes]

My janitorial employees aren't quite as easy to find as the normal. Being in Catholic schools, not only do they have to pass a background check, but then they have to go through safe environment and pass. Do we get them through, yes. We know what we're dealing with in the application process before trying. We're not the normal jan san co. Yes, I know what you're thinking

 

[sassyotto]

cant fault the gurus entirely. I think back in the day there was an overall understanding that you want to grow your business so that when it comes to retiring you can sell it and that would be your retirement income.

Well for me at least thats why I got into employees but that was back in the 80's. Hired family and YES that was a good thing. My best employee was my sister in law, Debi. EVERYBODY loved her. Grew to two trucks, both with two person crews. Then a third truck with me on it. From there, growing could be vertical (add services, same service area) or horizontal (same services, wider service area) For a short time we tried a larger service area but travel time killed us.

Then we found Mack Clark and of course got into Restoration (vertical) I learned more in 5 years about running a business than I would have if I went to college. Then I ran head on into a lot of personal issues at once and my wife and I sat in the office and did some heavy thinking and made the decision it would be only me on the truck cleaning carpet. That was 1999.

I can tell you now, it was the best decision (joining Mack would be a close second) we ever made.

So we had it both ways but ultimately I think it really depends on the person. There is something, cant find the word, trait maybe that good multi truck owners have. I saw that with Macks group. The more successful ones were more outgoing. Others like me did well but there was just something about the top earners. Hats off to the ones that can do it.

And yes, when we switched back to just me cleaning, everybody wanted to know where Debi was!

 

[bob vawter]

This industry was notorious for pressuring us into going multi truck.
I say "was" because almost all the gurus and programs have moved on or passed away. Along with the fact that trying define men who fill all the needs for the sales oriented, hard work, seni- mechanical and problem solver role, is nearly impossible these days.

The vast majority of us are incapable of managing others and waste loads of precious time and resources figuring this reality out.

Some are fortunate and can return to the O/O roll. Insurance up, stay off the dirt bike or slopes and enjoy the freedom and savings of a running solo.

..and some go bankrupt and have to get a low skill, low pay job.

Those that stuck with never see the promise of more free time or revenue, just bragging rights.

Overy 40 years I've seen the viscous cycle over and over, it's very sad, and I have deep regrets for allowing myself to have gotten sucked into it.

The Cleaning Standard will be VERY upfront about this.


And we'll be very helpful in guiding those who can pull it off.




Tell me about your experiences....

AND SOME had great wives that would run the bidness while I would play with the raceboats....( 12 year run)

 

[MasterCarpet]

I had a company in Hawaii that I bought from a guy. It had a couple vans running and it was awesome for a time, because a large amount of the work was empty condos. It didn’t last long as the employees got really mad at each other and ended up quitting on me. I eventually hired my best friend to work for me and that worked well. We would work together a lot of the time or split up when needed.

Now that I’m back in the Midwest and took over my late stepdads business for 40 years, I don’t think I could ever hire employees here. The majority of my customers knew my step dad for decades, and many even remember me working for them when I was a kid. Most of my customers text me to schedule now instead of calling, and they’ll wait days for a response since they know I might be busy or out of town and will get back to them. Of course I always get there asap if it’s an emergency. I enjoy having a somewhat personal relationship with my customers. It’s nice that they know me, most will leave their door open for me and let me go at cleaning their house all day while they’re at work. I throw in my AirPods and listen to some podcasts all day and usually have fun doing it. I’d take that over worrying about what an employee could be messing up any day.

My brother owns a multi million dollar HVAC company. He is wealthy, and has been since his early 20s. It worked out well for him and he will probably retire soon before 40. But the stress of having 30 employees obviously gets to him. We will go to an NFL game together occasionally and he will have to step aside during a Sunday night game to take some sort of emergency phone call. That doesn’t appeal to me. Which is why I quit doing water damage as well, except for some small stuff.

 

[Kenny Hayes]

My only question to you lone wolfers is what do you do before you get to the end of the road. Do you have it piled up so you don't have to work when the time comes?

 

[MasterCarpet]

My only question to you lone wolfers is what do you do before you get to the end of the road. Do you have it piled up so you don't have to work when the time comes?

Im focused more on investing now that im in my 30s. Starting to save as much as possible and should be on track to have a couple million in my 40s as it compounds. I don’t want to retire and drink on the beach all day. That gets boring after two weeks. I’m just wanting to get to a point where I clean carpets on occasion to keep me busy, or maybe even do something else. My stepdad used income from carpet cleaning to invest in some real estate over the years. That would’ve worked out well. Sadly he died right as he was winding the carpet business down, halfway starting to retire. Real estate is not really feasible in most areas anymore, but there are a lot of methods to invest nowadays that are less of a headache than managing properties. Most people let their lifestyle creep up to match their income. But if you play it right, really anyone can be a millionaire.

I had a guy who was a good friend I cleaned duplexes for since I was a kid. He was just a truck driver and when he was about 40 he started building duplexes. 2 units per year (4 units). Rent increased with inflation, property values went up. He just suddenly passed away but those 20 duplexes now are worth about 7 million dollars. All were paid for and this was a guy who made probably 60k a year.