Getting to old for this crap

lol....OMG! Today was a beast! first I get a call telling me I am needed for a water damage....when I get there its three homes side by side....then a church across the street has me pump out 1300gallons of water from the basement. It all started at 5am when I met a guy who met me to buy my product I manufacture....most my customers are out of state or country...he was from OKC and met me...I about wrecked my wifes car in flooding roads half asleep.....I just got home took a shower and checking mail! I dont even know how well I did today finacially. Im feeling pretty sore and questioning my age. LOL hopefully Im just out of shape.

Wow, congrats on big chained jobs, hope they or insurance companies pay you well.
Regarding age, keep this in your mind "body in motion will stay in motion", your body will thank you many years from now.
It's slowing down a little for me, time to clean up the vans and running errands that's been backed up due to lack of time.
3 jobs tomorrow, 4 for Friday and 5 for Saturday so far, we'll see if my phone explodes again like last Monday.

That's awesome Devon way to hit the ground running. I bet if you would have started a few months back you would have been getting a lot of flood calls

"Getting to old for this crap"......

That's what I've been thinking too, and I'm 2 yrs younger than you.

Hopefully it's just "out of shape" for you, but I do it daily and I'm still thinking I'm getting too old for this crap.
I like selling, but not doing the work..........I need a "Biteach!!"


I'd like to retire soon.....

Getting into "cleaning shape" takes some time no matter how healthy you might be.

I have a World Record holding power lifter that works part time for me and he was gassed hauling my rx-20 up and own stairs all day cleaning apartments. He was shocked that he felt so tired, but he was used to lifting a lot of weight just a couple of times and not repetitive lifting of moderate weight.

Different sports require different muscles. My uncle always said that there are 2 types of muscles: Those for show and those for work. We need the working type.

Okay....but should it hurt when I type? I am out of shape and this was part of the reason I TOLD myself it would be good for me. Yesterday was extremely hard for just starting out again. (pace pace pass!) lol Its funny that I have to build accounts up but yet not so much that I over do it. okay....Im outta here heading to the gym again!

Well turning 60 this April made me think of diet and exercise so I've started both and when you eat right and don't over do the gym thing it makes a difference when the Goodyear spare disappears or you may have a Dunlap version... my 30 year old son in law is newly on board (succession plan! I've already got my 3.5 year old grandson vacuuming area rugs in the shop for the last year-video to follow haha) and first week he was surprised at how sore he was; he is used to tile setting 10 hours a day but like was said every job needs different working muscles.

A good read is the "Power of Engagement" on getting enough sleep and balancing the 4 areas needed to keep ready: spiritual, mental, physical and emotional.... so that's why I.....

Got out of water damage about 3 years ago and now I make and keep more money. It's about me Controlling my own Chaos!  Hey I can schedule enough insanity with commercial and residential jobs to keep 2-3 vans busy in a service area radius of 25 minutes.  And I don't wait for the money.... boy there is nothing like CASH FLOW!

When you say YES to an activity you are saying NO to something else.

That is a good point and one of the reasons I reduced flood jobs as well. I was always waiting as much as 45 days to get paid and that just didn't work for me despite the ticket amount.

Still do some, but I don't seek them out. The last one was just a minor flooding and I still wondered why I agreed.

What I prefer to do on those flood calls is to rent the customer equipment and let it go with that. I make really good money doing that and all I have to do is deliver the equipment.....like setting lobster traps.

sup guys,    been a while.     was super busy moving and in busy season

I go through different cycles in this business.    Sometimes Im super pumped up and love getting out and cleaning,   trying out a new piece of equipment,   or a new cleaning solution.

Then ill go through a cycle where im tired and a little burned out,    and envious of friends that own a bar or small night club/pool hall    and wish I was in a business that is less physically demanding.  


I noticed this a few years back so I am working towards building my company to be less demanding on me.      My goal is to have 3 trucks out daily.      My days will include mostly stopping by the job sites and insuring quality control,    at which that time I will chat with the customers in order to build a personal relationship.  


Ive realized that if you keep your overhead low,    own all the equipment outright with no loans,   and slowly reduce the advertising costs you can pay your techs very well and still make a great net on each job.  


If you can net 100-150 on each job after paying techs,  expenses and create a system that is repeatable you can live a very stress free good life in this business...    and who knows,   if your system is above and beyond the norm you could become very well off


doing 7 jobs a day and working weekends is great money,   but not a quality life style...       you only have 1 body and cleaning carpets is very physical and your body will not thank you for years of running like this.  


a lot of owner operators act like going multi truck is the plague and its nothing but trouble and stress,      nothing could be further from the truth...     the reason it doesnt work for many is they are great cleaners but lack business skills which take a long time to develop.      


you want your system to be like a computer program...    you get an inquiry and all you do is hit "send"    and the system eats it for breakfast


all of us here have more than enough knowledge of this business to skate right past our local competition, and most here are too smart to be spending all their energy scrubbing carpets

When I said headed to the gym...it was the van and wand gym. (sarcasm)





Today was much easier, i did a bunch of work for the more than 8 inches of rain that fell in less than 24 hrs. Tomorrow I just have one carpet location to clean and monitor my equipment at the water damage jobs....Monday I have 3 carpet cleaning jobs to do....I only want moderation and this heavy rain helped with my starting out....I like to do water damages but only one or two a month.



AC...I had several trucks running at one time and loved it....I did however keep myself too busy and knew I needed out if my wife and newborn were going to be happy....Ive since learned what you say is true...several trucks is easy to manage if you have good business skillz...I had them but lacked in some areas creating a problem.

Good business skills are absolutely a must for multi trucks operation BUT you also have to have trustworthy employees to back things up, trustworthy not only with customer's belongings, also on other things like doing the absolute best in cleaning, take good care of your equipments, and always willing to learn to improve. Without those qualities, you will not be able to grow.

Great input guys... having a biz that is scale-able is awesome, especially if it lets you get away and recharge is the bomb. Sometimes we get caught up in getting the job OVER done, and that's a good thing, but I have a tech who flies thru, gets a mixed bag of reviews, some raving about, some raving at... but we are not our own customer... or 'client' as some would have it... and he get it dun!..... so what is the answer? Keeping in touch is great, if you follow your multiple techs around and schmooze with the clients I would be gathering Google Reviews and You Tube vids on a smart phone to post on Facebook and how about Service Monster or House Call Pro... gotta have one of those to keep current and profitable.

dp1 wrote:Good business skills are absolutely a must for multi trucks operation BUT you also have to have trustworthy employees to back things up, trustworthy not only with customer's belongings, also on other things like doing the absolute best in cleaning, take good care of your equipments, and always willing to learn to improve. Without those qualities, you will not be able to grow.

yup,   and all that basically boils down to how much they are paid.     Ever notice how on point the comcast/xfinity guys are,    or Les Schwab tire guys  etc    

its because they are paid enough to care about the job and make a living doing it.      

The hourly 14-15 bucks an hour just isnt enough to get someone that will care and keep caring about the jobs long term,    unless they really need the money and are in a tight spot.    

Hard labor for 10 bucks an hour days are over,       if you pick up day laborers from home depot they all want 15/hour now...    you might find a crack head one that will work for 11/12 but thats it.  


so you have to imagine that someone working steady carpet cleaning is going to want more than 15 per hour,     actually 15/hr is the minimum wage here now.  



I prefer to pay per job a percentage and the guy I have isnt the pushy type so I have no worries about him upselling too much or in the wrong way.

Been getting settled into my house so took some time off, havent pushed a wand since last tuesday and Im making 200/day still.... so of course I start to imagine duplicating that over a few times

I tried multi-truck for a short while, but I was too OCD to pull it off. I just couldn't let myself be away from the job and ended up a horrible micro-manager.

It takes a certain trust and I don't have the right people around me yet for me to let them take the wheel.....it does sound good to have the trucks making money while I worked on other projects.

I think it has a lot to do with what stage you are in your life and what you want out of this business. I think Im in a sweet spot right now. Im making enough to provide for my family and buy some things that I want and not have to bust my ass.  Am I rolling in doe? No. Do I love my life.  Yes.

I agree paying well is the secret!...as a mater a fact I had two guys set on a percentage for their truck totals....when the are a partner they take full responsibility....I had the ultimate say but they seldom ever let a problem find me because like milspec...I was a PIA when thing went south....so the best remedy was to not piss me off....lol I am long winded and dont stop until im done....pay was to good for them to just leave....the only way EVERYONE was happy was to just do it right! each truck competed and built thier own referals and it was great...I had a nice yearly bonus for the truck that did the best....this weighed in income, problems, behavior etc. Was usually around Christmas....everyone got some form of a bonus BUT one got the BIG boy! One year it came down to a near draw and my way to pick a winner was to inspect thrucks un announced....one guy was more picky than the other an won...his maint was up to date and truck was mint...other guys was nice, just not as!

Mo....thats where Im at....this is just a game for me right now...I can always put a partner on this truck and never look back and make money and a happy partner, who makes a $150 to $200 a day. The trick is knowing the game...and a few in here do! Thats not to say the one man or small owner operated company isnt good....just a seperate monster.