lancehollister said:
Dont think of yourself as just a carpet cleaner. If all you do day in and day out is clean carpet then you are working way to hard and should just QUIT...
That seems just a tad harsh, Lance ... oh, but wait a minute, this is mikeysboard so it's OK.
I will agree that when I examined the three main market sectors we worked in and really put the pencil to our true costs and net profit off each job this is what we found:
a) High priced, premium residential- At best we barely broke even on the first time customer after factoring in the marketing and inspecting costs of the job. Profit obviously improved as we "trained" the repeat customer and especially if we moved him/her into our residential "Stay Beautiful" maintenance program.
b) Regular contract commercial work- Much better consistent profit margins and cash flow. Bad hours but that is why there is something called "employees".
c) Restoration work- Especially on water losses the net profit would be off the charts and often with fast pay too. There is no question that Restoration has created more millionaires than any other part of our industry. BUT ...
"Quit" if you just don't want to do either "b" or "c"? Not so fast. That is what is so great about this business. There is room for everyone. However, you do need to adapt and mold your business depending on what your goals are. For example, I see way too many owner-operators trying to compete head to head on pricing with the "big boys". This is a sure way to at best a high stress, lower income "job" and with an aching back on top of it!
However, an owner-operator who makes a reasoned decision to stay small CAN be successful if he or she:
a) Develops loyal, long term and very vocal Cheerleaders who view being his "chosen" clients as almost becoming members of a very exclusive club (I think there is one of those in Aptos, CA) and ...
b) Raises his prices dramatically to reflect the above exclusivity and ...
c) Sinks ALL of these "excess profits" into a regular and consistent Personal Investment Plan to provide for his retirement and ...
d) Buys really good disability and life insurance and ...
e) Feels good about his life and doesn't feel inferior because he has chosen a different road to success.
My early Saturday morning thoughts on a great industry with huge potential that sometimes we don't appreciate enough.
Steve "Island Boy" Toburen
http://www.StrategiesForSuccess.com
PS For those who have not stopped by please check out a new "information portal" web site we have recently put up.
http://www.StrategiesForSuccess.com is our attempt to bring many of our
SFS concepts and tools to those of you who can't quite break away for five days to attend an actual
Strategies for Success seminar. But we'll keep chipping away at you!
And yes, Marty, before you bust my chops the entire site is free and there are no high pressure sales pitches. We don't even have a way to take your payment on the site. (It made life a lot simpler developing the web-site.) Everything is free with no-strings-attached and heck- it is even covered by Jon-Don's famous "no pathetic weaseling out", no-questions-asked, 100% money-back guarantee!
