How do you take a carpet cleaning business into retirement

The excepted dream is to build your business into something you can either sell or pass on. Reality is in a lot of cases, the business will die with the owner. If that's the case, then how do we make the most of it?

Tuck as much away into savings/retirement accounts, as possible.

OR you can make your business something, someone else will pay for.

It's A or B. There really is nothing else you can do.

For me, I don't plan to have much to sell off except equipment when the time comes as I do feel that any service business is really the owner / operator and not the business entity that is what holds value. Without you, the business is worthless except for the equipment.

So, the goal is to build the business with steady growth while investing as much as I can to be used towards the next business that isn't so labor intensive...maybe car washes or something. Then I will unload the equipment and transition to a business that I can run well into my 70's.

Figure that I am looking at another 10 years of cleaning before that day comes.

I would imagine you take it to retirement when it reaches a point to were you don't have to be involved in the day to day operations of the business.

That's why I always recommend to get at least one loyal and honest employee, if someday you have to sell the business it'll worth money because the employee knows the customers and can resume day to day operation of the business, if the business have to die with it's owner it's a damn shame all those years of hard work and customers base are gone just like that.

Customer list has to be worth something. Whatever system like Quickbooks, etc.. that you use will show company numbers of history of business.

I wrote a fairly long reply yesterday and somehow it got lost so I'll try again.
Owner operators have options. From the beginning I've had a day business and a night business. The day business has gone from me in a van to employees with more vans, then back to me again. First the night business. I have a TM set up specifically for night jobs which for the most part consists of restaurants. They don't pay as well but are steady. We've been doing Pizza Huts since 1984 along with others. We have one restaurant that we've cleaned the same carpet once a month for thirty years. That's 360 plus times. We've gone through more night cleaners than I can remember. The night jobs are now putting a grandson through college. I'm sure one day I can sell it turn key. The day business however is another story. After firing the last technician for not bothering to show up for work and not calling, I took over. First thing I did was raise prices. I figure an elite cleaner/owner was worth more. I may have lost a few customers but let the low ballers fight over them. I kept the good ones. Next I cancelled all the expensive advertizing which was needed to keep the technicians busy. We switched to network marketing which brought in a better class of customer. Now it's all referral's and repeat customers. You don't have to price compete for either. It also helps a great deal to be married to Miss Aloha and have her answering the phone, doing the PR, and scheduling. I call her my secret weapon. Never underestimate the value of mom in a mom and pop.
Now it's a leisurely well paying business I can't be fired from.

Rainbow Rider wrote:I wrote a fairly long reply yesterday and somehow it got lost so I'll try again.
    Owner operators have options. From the beginning I've had a day business and a night business. The day business has gone from me in a van to employees with more vans,  then back to me again. First the night business. I have a TM set up specifically for night jobs which for the most part consists of restaurants. They don't pay as well but are steady. We've been doing Pizza Huts since 1984 along with others. We have one restaurant that we've cleaned the same carpet once a month for thirty years. That's 360 plus times. We've gone through more night cleaners than I can remember. The night jobs are now putting a grandson through college. I'm sure one day I can sell it turn key. The day business however is another story. After firing the last technician for not bothering to show up for work and not calling, I took over. First thing I did was raise prices. I figure an elite cleaner/owner was worth more. I may have lost a few customers but let the low ballers fight over them. I kept the good ones. Next I cancelled all the expensive advertizing which was needed to keep the technicians busy. We switched to network marketing which brought in a better class of customer. Now it's all referral's and repeat customers. You don't have to price compete for either. It also helps a great deal to be married to Miss Aloha and have her answering the phone, doing the PR, and scheduling. I call her my secret weapon. Never underestimate the value of mom in a mom and pop.
    Now it's a leisurely well paying business I can't be fired from.  

Right there adds value to selling your business. Contracts.

A residential customer list is virtually value-less to a potential buyer. I know some think there is value, but for the O/O they are buying YOU not your company (clients). There isn't a real, sellable system.

You're right about a residential customer list. The point I was making is having a well paying business that allows one to continue to work as they see fit instead of feeling forced to take every job that comes along.

Rainbow Rider wrote:You're right about a residential customer list. The point I was making is having a well paying business that allows one to continue to work as they see fit instead of feeling forced to take every job that comes along.

I can agree with that.

I think most guys here, and elsewhere too, mostly are O/O's. I think that is a fine model, as long as the owner isn't planning his retirement fund on selling the business. I think too many O/O do though.

In the beginning, we are all hungry. After some time, experience, and actually doing the work, you get less hungry, as a good reputation builds.

I don't know who really wants to sit on their duff day in and out in retirement. If you do nothing, you wither away and die, IMO.

weird, I wrote a reply to this as well and it got deleted somehow

anyways the jist of it was

carpet cleaning is no different than roofing, construction, landscaping, plumbing

any service business is the same, you can grow the business and do great or do okay o/o until your too old to do it anymore

o/o the stress is low, but its not like its that high running a 4 truck company

imo you gotta make it into a business and not just a job if you want to thrive

part of the fun is learning all the techniques and solutions to use, then forming that into a teachable system.

finding tools and chemicals that are fail safe meaning as long as the employee follows procedure the customer will be happy.

I think a big problem in our industry is o/o carpet cleaners think wayyy too much and cant trust anyone to clean for them. Most 90% of customers are not that picky about carpets, they want it clean and smelling good with a no hassle ez pz scheduling and completion of job.

its carpet cleaning pretty simple, you could almost teach a smart animal to do it.