your turning point......

Jim Martin

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Jim Martin
for all you O/O that started from scratch and have been able to make a strong comfortable living..... ( and I am not referring to something like..getting into a fender bender and suing half your county and becoming an over night sensation.....winning the power ball..or inheriting something ).......you started from rock bottom and have managed to build what you have now without any help......when you were standing at those cross roads....what made you make the right turn.....
 

Jim Martin

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Jim Martin
Fred Boyle said:
So that's Hicks story? ROTFLMAO

I ask these questions because I have decided to make some major changes...and I want honest input....so that I can think about my choices ..what his story is has no bearing on what I am doing....
 

Shane Deubell

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Jun 30, 2011
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I Just keep working hard and saving money. Every month we look to throw a couple hail mary's, most of the time they do not connect but a couple times a year we win a big contract or nail down a marketing campaign.

Pretty boring on most days but i am always planting seeds.

Think the hardest thing to do when you are small is break out of your routine and move out of your comfort level.
 

Brian R

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Jun 13, 2008
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Little Elm, TX
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Brian Robison
Freedom made me make the turn.

When I realized I could let go and still have a successful business instead of trying to do everything myself.

Pride can be an ugly thing.

Diversification helped to make it possible because it brought in more money to pay the extra expenses of including other people.

Volume helped.. and that I could handle it by not limiting my business structure to a tradional one.


As soon as you can learn to "let go"... That's when your future is bright.


As my grand pappy used to say.... You can't hit the ball if you don't swing the bat!

It may be cliche..... But it's doesn't make it any less true. LIKE!
 

joe harper

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Oct 21, 2008
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florida
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joe harper
Jim,

When a man has always made a living WITH HIS HANDS...

I hard for him to TRUST the hands of another man...to complete the same task :idea:

We can become OBSESSED with just doing the task ourselves..."less stress for US"
There comes a point & time...when our HAND'S will no longer perform the task..!

You have ALL the information & business savvy you need to take your company in any direction you choose..! What you are lacking is the DISCLIPINE to implement your ideas
and TAKE A CHANCE... LIKE!

There are no FLAWS in your business modle. Your ISSUE is in hiring and TRUSTING an
employee to protect your "BABY"...! "YOU" are the only one who can put your "BABY"
in jeopardy.. :idea:

Your hesitation to make a move...is personal...not financial.. :idea: ONLY YOU KNOW WHAT
IS THE NATURAL PROGRESSION FOR YOUR BUSINESS .. :!: "I am SURE..you already have a
detailed plan for the company." hey now "Pull the trigger" You will be fine.. eat shit!
 

dgargan

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Nov 14, 2006
Messages
706
Not sure if I qualify for what your looking for but with me it was no one thing I did. My end goal was to have a turnkey business and there was no plan B. It was going to get done. I just kept at it, learned from good people like Howard Partridge, Steve and the gang at SFS and Ellen Rohr plus others. There was no turning point or fork in the road. Just kept the goal and did what I needed to get there.
 

Giorgio

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Apr 14, 2011
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Santa Fe
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Giorgio
I been pushing a wand a long time.

The only time I was ever able to really get ahead was when I took 6 years out of the business and got a real job as a computer network engineer.

In 6 short years my wife (who also has a job) and I purchased 3 houses (still have 2 of them) and put 40k into a retirement account. All while raising two toddlers and paying a fortune for childcare.

Got burnt out on computers and jumped back into rug cleaning...

I've been back in carpet cleaning 8 years now.

The well to do carpet cleaners I have met got their money elsewhere.
 

dgargan

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Nov 14, 2006
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I didn't mention that I do have rental property but I bought that with money from my carpet cleaning income so I guess it counts.
 

GeneMiller

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Mar 24, 2009
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Boca Raton
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gene miller
the kid i hired was done so with the idea that he would take over and buy me out. he is 20 and plenty strong. my customers love him and he is a hard worker. everything i have is paid for and it's time to move on to something else. i'll work with him for the next couple of years and then let him buy me out. or not :lol:

gene
 

Louis

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Dec 11, 2006
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Modesto, CA
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Louis
I'm still trying to get ahead. No other direction to go here. My son just started working with me full time. Just in time to. My elbows are killing me so I have some time to give them a break and heal. It's been hard watching the work get done and not doing it. My body is telling me the turning point is coming but my pride says to keep going. Getting old sucks.
 

J Scott W

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Oct 16, 2006
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Shelbyville TN
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Jeffrey Scott Warrington
I was working for someone else and doing cleaning as a side job. I kept thinking about jumping into cleaning carpet full time because I wanted more control over my time and schedule. I was just afraid to make the leap.

The situation at my 8 - 5 job changed and I felt I could not work there any longer. So I quit. It was hard with wife 7 months pregnant and only insurance through work. But the need to support the family was a big motivation to really go out and market my new business. I don't think I would have been successful without that motivation.
 

RickL

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Oct 23, 2006
Messages
358
I actually had two turning points; the first was when I worked with a buddy doing a colorsealing job I started offering it and became my biggest money maker. Went from that to offering stone also and did real well with that.
The second was when my contact in my biggest commercial account got fired. Went from $50k + to next to nothing in that account. Started advertising heavy for the T&G,Colorsealing and Stone work phone rang off the hook but when I really looked at all the costs it didn't turn out very well from a large profit stand point.
So I said to heck with this I sold my truck and most equipment. Kept a Cimex and rotary, quit advertising,
subbed out all extraction work. Just going to service excisting commercial accounts and watch expensises like a hawk. Biggest account decided to come back and use me more than ever, picked up 7 more large ones by reference. So I'm working less (most all scheduled in advanced), high profit margins, and making more. I added another Cimex and bought a US Products T&G and Carpet porty for emergency extractions and the T&G these accounts want done. Couldn't be any better for me and what I want.
 

Steve Toburen

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Durango, Colorado/Santiago, Dominican Republic
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Steve Toburen
RickL said:
I actually had two turning points; the first was when I worked with a buddy doing a colorsealing job I started offering it and became my biggest money maker. Went from that to offering stone also and did real well with that.
The second was when my contact in my biggest commercial account got fired. Went from $50k + to next to nothing in that account. Started advertising heavy for the T&G,Colorsealing and Stone work phone rang off the hook but when I really looked at all the costs it didn't turn out very well from a large profit stand point.
So I said to heck with this I sold my truck and most equipment. Kept a Cimex and rotary, quit advertising,
subbed out all extraction work. Just going to service excisting commercial accounts and watch expensises like a hawk. Biggest account decided to come back and use me more than ever, picked up 7 more large ones by reference. So I'm working less (most all scheduled in advanced), high profit margins, and making more. I added another Cimex and bought a US Products T&G and Carpet porty for emergency extractions and the T&G these accounts want done. Couldn't be any better for me and what I want.
Congratulations, Rick. That more or less is what Jeff Cutshall has done in Kansas City except he has 5 or 6 Cimexes and part time employees running them. I think Jeff still has a TM but probably fires it up maybe once a week.

Steve Toburen
www.SFS.JonDon.com

PS That is what I love about this business- so many different routes to success.
 

Jim Martin

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Jim Martin
lots of good answers....except for harper...he is a bit off bace...... I've seen Jimmy naked :lol: LIKE!
 

Ron Werner

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Nov 25, 2006
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Sooke BC, Lower Vancouver Island
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Ron Werner
I was working for a dept store subcontractor. after a year and half of cleaning against my conscience (ie cleaning contrary to how I was learning how it SHOULD be cleaned) made the decision to go out on my own, 1994. Had a good knot in my stomach that day! Knew nothing about busn, marketing and barely enough about cleaning.
Next turning point was connecting with Joe Polish/Piranha Marketing ('97). Read one of those 3 column full page copy ads, called them up, invested in his kit, and started learning about marketing. From there I met Steve Marsh who helped me have more confidence being an O/O.

Still here after 18yrs.
 

Askal

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Paulsen
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Al
I was living in a car when I started so it was pretty hard not to see some success, unless I lost my car I guess. For the first 7 years I was pretty casual to understate the attitude. Then in 1984 (I had moved up to living in a 30' trailer by then) I met Kristie and decided if I wanted to keep that gal I would have to either get a job (gasp) or get with it. I Took 3 years of small business management courses and grew my business to where I now have a part time job, 4 months of vacation a year, and really like the challenge of being in business. Also in 1985 I started restoration work and that is now about 80% of our business.
Al
 

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