Why arnt you a multi trucker?

[Mikey P]

I think many of us could be running 4 or more trucks IF we desired..
But what stops us?

-Some areas make it impossible to provide a living wage so the employees to atract for under 50k are either impossible to find or just a constant headache.

-Too small a town to support two or more mouths during the winter

-Im not a businessman, just an anal retentive, unhireable goof with decent janitorial skills

-Who are you kidding, two trucks is the magic number for a streamlined hime based biz now excuse me I'm late for my chiropractic appointment..

-Dont rush me, three more round tables, 2 more SFSs and I'll be ready to hire my granny to answer my phones..



You?

 

[Russ T.]

This season in our biz has been great. The education I've gained by rolling my sleeves up and digging in will be the strength of our company, small or big.

We are developing relationships and systems that will hopefully make a larger company profitable. I really enjoy my work but understand our vulnerability at the moment.

My ideal company (at the moment) is probably 2-3 trucks. I'd like to be in the field for years to come as I believe that's where I'm most valuable.

Hopefully the things we (definitely Mel too) are doing will allow me to sign pay checks and make runs to the bank by the time my body can't run like this anymore!

 

[Mark Saiger]

Small town and we feel blessed with as much work as we have....

AND...we have this thing up here called Winter....Which can put a dampener on the carpet cleaning season, but we really think our Seal-A-Door presence and marketing of that product helped us have a better winter too....

We were doing Water and Smoke restoration...but just got tired of trying to work with the insurance industry...keep people available on moments notice to jump on those jobs....and personally....just got tired of that game.

Living Wage is the next difficult thing as we have a lot of union type jobs around here that people with limited education can secure really high paying jobs with great benefits, but they also can lose their jobs quickly too with an economy change, or get laid off also due to winter....

Currently, we are running just the 2 of us, but just 20 minutes ago, my wife was commenting about we really need to get that new person probably soon, and also free up more of my time for the business side of things again too...

BUT...I love "working out" on the truck....I helps me get back into my skinny jeans

There are times I would even love to have a 3rd truck....like for tomorrows big hotel and convention center job that Aron and I are going to go knock out big square footage just the 2 of us, 2 Butler High Heat Truckmounts, and 2 Zippers (with Rotovac 360 XL assistance)

And why do we do it that way? Because....we are different

And we like being able to say...."WE DID THAT"!

 

[Mikey P]

And you're both on crack...

 

[Brian H]

I think many of us could be running 4 or more trucks IF we desired..
But what stops us?

You?

The fear of the unknown. Short of going to business school that are not too many ways except trial and error to learn to run a business.

I hear all the time that a lot of owner operators don't want to grow to be bigger then they are because they don't want to deal with the stress of managing employees. Hell, I don't want to do physical labor until I drop. Go out and do a job or two, yeah that's fun, I will gladly manage employees though instead of having to do the physical stuff day in and day out.

I was off this last week on vacation doing a bunch of work around the house and yard and I am more convinced then ever that I am not meant for physical labor. I need to get back to my office to rest and heal!

 

[Mark Saiger]

The fear of the unknown. Short of going to business school that are not too many ways except trial and error to learn to run a business.

I hear all the time that a lot of owner operators don't want to grow to be bigger then they are because they don't want to deal with the stress of managing employees. Hell, I don't want to do physical labor until I drop. Go out and do a job or two, yeah that's fun, I will gladly manage employees though instead of having to do the physical stuff day in and day out.

I was off this last week on vacation doing a bunch of work around the house and yard and I am more convinced then ever that I am not meant for physical labor. I need to get back to my office to rest and heal!

 

[hogjowl]

I've not managed to find a way to do that and be able to take a nap every day.

 

[Nate The Great]

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BUT...I love "working out" on the truck....I helps me get back into my skinny jeans

Chub rub is no fun....... Leave those jeans to the ladies.......

 

[Shane Deubell]

I would say risk has a lot to do with it. Owner operators do a job and get paid right then.

When hiring employees, buying advertising, etc its a long term investment. Sometimes it doesnt pay off.

 

[Blue Monarch]

Failure to implement! I have a large list of things I know I should do marketing wise.....but I just don't do them.

 

[Desk Jockey]

It comes at a price, and its not what all choose to give into.

 

[bensurdi]

I think anyone, given the support, the coaching and direction would be very happy being the owner of a 10-15-20 truck operation with the right management in place because you make a SHITLOAD of money and you don't have to go out on the truck everyday and sweat your ass off. The road to getting there is bumpy and stressful so finding someone thats done it and learning from them is the best thing to do. Give yourself a timeline of 5 years to hit a certain income level and then things just start to fall into place if you've done the right things and marketed your business well.

 

[Donwand]

The market in my area is over oversaturated with rug cleaners. I don't think there is enough work for a second truck with the carpet industry slowly shrinking.

 

[hogjowl]

Carpet is found in commercial and rentals. And if you're not cleaning tile and stone, you need to.

 

[Desk Jockey]

The market in my area is over oversaturated with rug cleaners. I don't think there is enough work for a second truck with the carpet industry slowly shrinking.

That's actual a good sign. If there were very few competitors then I would be worried. The fact its saturated tells you there is a market for cleaning. The chore is just to get them to call you instead of the other guys.

 

[steve_64]

I dont want to be responsible for someone elses livelihood. Id stress to much.

 

[rick imby]

The market in my area is over oversaturated with rug cleaners. I don't think there is enough work for a second truck with the carpet industry slowly shrinking.

Every market has more cleaners than necessary as several are on their way out of business. They cannot compete with a well run outfit that markets well. Stick with it and pick up their old phone numbers. Marketing.

 

[NobleCarpetCleaners]

why, because I underestimated the hurdles in my area and lately I'm loosing the "love" I use to have for my customers.

 

[hogjowl]

Then call Greg Cole and let his coach you into the bait and switch business.

You're now qualified.

 

[Desk Jockey]

whutta jerk!

 

[Mikey P]

why, because I underestimated the hurdles in my area and lately I'm loosing the "love" I use to have for my customers.

Scott are your customers split between the sort that have always lived there, have good jobs, nice homes and enjoy the are (what little there is to enjoy) and those who moved there only for the lower than the coast home prices?


or do you find yourself working for the latter more so?

 

[NobleCarpetCleaners]

The greater Sac area (certainly my area is a part of that) does in fact have some established areas that folks live forever in. The really expensive homes up in Sac have a ton of old hardwood in them, they're professional people and a ton of them are older, very retired. I get very little installed carpet from them, mostly upholstery.

The sh.. load of residential that went up during the building blitz (all over Sac County) has gone through so many different purchasing phases I simple lost track. Six months before the economy bomb hit I would get a call from a 1,800+- sq home who was referred or found my web, possible off yelp and bam, $200+. I seldom got a call for 2 rooms. 2 rooms is now the norm, and they are digging their heels in on my minimum charge.

The career folks who are settling in now after perhaps a foreclosure or perhaps downsized and stopped charging things are spending more with me. I make sure they are very happy when I'm wrapping things up. I've cleaned several rental move outs this year (waiting and waiting to buy) only to find they are ditching carpet in their purchase, or living on it because "they said it was cleaned". I push upholstery with them and they say sure sure, after I move in.

I certainly wish I could give you more accurate info on my area, hell if I could figure it out I'd feel better on Mondays when the phone starts ringing with 2 room price shoppers. That leads me to my final comment. Most every caller gets my initial question of how did you find me. It's a toss up between my web site and Yelp. They're drawn to the reviews and even the bla bla in my web site. My min charge is like really tough for many (to many) to deal with. I'm a sq footer with a min. It's not just my area, most markets here in the US are programmed for per room/are chit chat. Folks who can afford me just lay the red carpet and book, no quote stop required. But there's just to many 2 room quote stop requests through this economy (again, in my area) to think about growing into multi-truck. I gotta add probably 50k in gross sales (not including marketing) to afford a decent tech and I just don't see that.My 2 cents.....

 

[Mikey P]

Thanks for the detailed answer.


Are the two rooms usually the living room and a bed room?



Is Carlos seeing the same thing?

 

[Louis]

For me it's fear of the unknown. The resession here was bad. Every time business would start to get good the cliff would come. Emptied the savings lost the house, damaged the marriage with all of that stress. I'm sure it wasn't good for my health. Then after the bankruptcy was done the van blew up and I had no money and no credit. Bought a van with a loan from a family member and put my garage mount in it.

We now need another van. Work is coming in and I can't do all of it. Best thing is I am not advertising at all. Went to SFS but have been so busy I have not had time to implement what I want. So why not pull the trigger. I think I'm suffering from business post traumatic stress. I thought about getting a job but I would have to be heavily mediated to deal with someone telling me what to do.

 

[Mikey P]

"Cant do it all"

You mean get to all the customers?

You have a helper, correct?

Can he work by himself?

 

[tmiklethun]

I think anyone, given the support, the coaching and direction would be very happy being the owner of a 10-15-20 truck operation with the right management in place because you make a SHITLOAD of money and you don't have to go out on the truck everyday and sweat your ass off. The road to getting there is bumpy and stressful so finding someone thats done it and learning from them is the best thing to do. Give yourself a timeline of 5 years to hit a certain income level and then things just start to fall into place if you've done the right things and marketed your business well.

Ben are you announcing your coaching program?

 

[Louis]

Yes I have my son that helps. He doesn't like the propane and doesn't do well driving the big van. Good helper. He is learning. He has high functioning autism so he sees thing very differently and learns at a different pace. I push him all the time to run a truck or a job. I need another truck so we can be like Mark.

As for the work I have been turning away jobs because they need it now and I'm booked. Just got call for 3 apartment complexes but that is not the direction I want to go in. Kind of ghetto places.

 

[hogjowl]

I met a local apartment hack here last week. Super nice guy. I like him a lot, but that's just NOT the kind of life I want for us.

 

[NobleCarpetCleaners]

Carlos, yes I think so, his wife does a lot of the phone work.

 

[Shane Deubell]

The greater Sac area (certainly my area is a part of that) does in fact have some established areas that folks live forever in. The really expensive homes up in Sac have a ton of old hardwood in them, they're professional people and a ton of them are older, very retired. I get very little installed carpet from them, mostly upholstery.

The sh.. load of residential that went up during the building blitz (all over Sac County) has gone through so many different purchasing phases I simple lost track. Six months before the economy bomb hit I would get a call from a 1,800+- sq home who was referred or found my web, possible off yelp and bam, $200+. I seldom got a call for 2 rooms. 2 rooms is now the norm, and they are digging their heels in on my minimum charge.

The career folks who are settling in now after perhaps a foreclosure or perhaps downsized and stopped charging things are spending more with me. I make sure they are very happy when I'm wrapping things up. I've cleaned several rental move outs this year (waiting and waiting to buy) only to find they are ditching carpet in their purchase, or living on it because "they said it was cleaned". I push upholstery with them and they say sure sure, after I move in.

I certainly wish I could give you more accurate info on my area, hell if I could figure it out I'd feel better on Mondays when the phone starts ringing with 2 room price shoppers. That leads me to my final comment. Most every caller gets my initial question of how did you find me. It's a toss up between my web site and Yelp. They're drawn to the reviews and even the bla bla in my web site. My min charge is like really tough for many (to many) to deal with. I'm a sq footer with a min. It's not just my area, most markets here in the US are programmed for per room/are chit chat. Folks who can afford me just lay the red carpet and book, no quote stop required. But there's just to many 2 room quote stop requests through this economy (again, in my area) to think about growing into multi-truck. I gotta add probably 50k in gross sales (not including marketing) to afford a decent tech and I just don't see that.My 2 cents.....

Think you are selling yourself short, you can do anything in a market that size.