SOWPub Small Business Forums  
 

Click Here to see the latest posts!

Ask any questions related to business / entrepreneurship / money-making / life
or share your success stories (and educational "failures")...

Sign up for the Hidden Business Ideas Letter Free edition, and receive a free report straight to your inbox: "Idea that works in a pandemic: Ordinary housewife makes $50,000 a month in her spare time, using a simple idea - and her driveway..."

NO BLATANT ADS PLEASE
Also, please no insults or personal attacks.
Feel free to link to your web site though at the end of your posts.

Stay up to date! Get email notifications or
get "new thread" feeds here

 

Go Back   SOWPub Small Business Forums > Main Category > SOWPub Business Forum
Register FAQ Members List Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

SOWPub Business Forum Seeds of Wisdom Forum

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old December 17, 2007, 02:25 PM
Unregistered
 
Posts: n/a
Default should i stay or should I go

OK, business experts ... I'm considering ... maybe ... investing some money and going into the carpet clearning business.

Talk me out of it. Or talk me into it.

I'd love to hear your feedback, one way or the other.

Thanks

Robert
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old December 17, 2007, 02:52 PM
GordonJ's Avatar
GordonJ GordonJ is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: West Palm Beach, FL
Posts: 3,471
Default Two words to get you started: Joe Polish

Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered View Post
... I'm considering investing some money .

Thanks

Robert

Robert,

This is a highly competitive business because it is so lucrative. Check your local phone book and see who your competitors are...study their advertising for a month...try to get estimates from them for your home...

Visit Joe Polish, he got rich cleaning carpets...read everything you can at his site.

My question is HOW MUCH MONEY? Cause there could be better ways to put it to work. Are you going to be the main guy cleaning? Does that "some money" include employees, insurance, equipment and a marketing budget?

www.joepolish.com Get his report for CARPET CLEANERS ONLY...

May I ask WHY you are considering this business?

Gordon Jay Alexander (once a hard working guy, NOW a lazy old curmudgeon...much happier this way)

PS. My best advice, in less you absolutely have too...put off any investment at this time, til you have at least read Mr. Harvey Brody's report on "Toll Positions"... and see if there is a better way to put your money to work.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old December 18, 2007, 04:43 PM
Jason Hatchett
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: should i stay or should I go

Carpet Cleaning in my town is very competitive. There are about 80 or 90 companies and every spring I see 10 to 15 new carpet cleaning vans running around and by winter most are gone.

I used to work for Servpro, Coit & Color Master carpet cleaning. Servpro makes most of their money in water & fire damage. Coit is also a national company. I was friends with the owner and he said he was barely making $5 an hour, he worked 12 to 15 hours a day. He has since sold it and moved to California. Color master is a local company who’s been around for 30 years. He said when he started they did very well. But as more and more people got into the business, his business went down and down. His son now runs it and they just barley get by. A one man operation is just another job for the owner.

I’m not saying you can’t make good money in carpet cleaning but you need to have 3 to 5 vans running full time if you want to make a 6 figure income. It’s just another saturated market that people think they can get into easily, but to sustain it is a lot of work.

Thank You,
Jason Hatchett
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old December 18, 2007, 10:30 PM
Robert J.
 
Posts: n/a
Default Thanks guys

Thanks for the help guys.
Kind of what I figured ... lots of competition. I also know that many newcomers to the business basically work themselves right out of business by under-pricing just to get jobs. This is a dangerous environment to try to compete with ... especially if you are just starting out and do not have a solid reputation in the field.
I really do appreciate the input, Jason and Gordon.
Robert
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old December 19, 2007, 05:53 AM
Phil
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: should i stay or should I go... Here's how to Cleanup on this business...

Robert,

Consider the Carpet Cleaning business without Doing the Carpet Cleaning...

Read through the following thread...
http://www.sowpub.com/forum/showthre...t=sharon+fling

And pay close Attention to...
From Sea Weeds to Local niche & PROSPECTING ideas...

Carefully Listen to...

Light Bulb Moments With Perry Marshall
Sharon Odom Fling

Instead of getting into the Carpet Cleaning business...

Get into the Lead Generation business and Grow a Marketing Referral network for Multiple Service businesses...

Use both Online and Offline Marketing methods Starting off Locally and then Develop the concept into a National Lead Generation and Referral Centre...

If you're interested, Skip on Sowpubs has an Excellent report that covers the overall concept (somewhere around $17 bucks or so) Just contact Skip through one of his posts....

Add the posted FREE Ideas from...
Light Bulb Moments With Perry Marshall
Sharon Odom Fling

There's some Serious Money to be made Offline and Online... Service businessses Love targeted customer Leads rather than High cost Advertising...

Service their Needs... Without all the High costs of equipment, competition and Hard Labor...

Just a nice back door business opportunity for Anyone that's interested in becoming a Lead Generation Consultant...

Phil

Last edited by Phil : December 19, 2007 at 06:00 AM. Reason: additional info
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old December 19, 2007, 11:03 AM
Unregistered
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: should i stay or should I go

Thanks for the heads up Phil. I've never thought of doing a lead generation business before. It seems like a viable business plan, especially since the service industry would eat a service like that up.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old December 19, 2007, 11:04 AM
layla17
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: should i stay or should I go

Thanks for the heads up Phil. I've never thought of doing a lead generation business before. It seems like a viable business plan, especially since the service industry would eat a service like that up.

Sorry I was logged out and posted without knowing I was a guest... this is taking sometime to get used to.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old December 19, 2007, 12:25 PM
Skip Rosell
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: should i stay or should I go

Hi Robert,

Thanks for asking. As Phil stated I have a report on lead generation for service businesses. This is the way to be in ANY service business without the headaches of service businesses. Like competition, advertising, employees, etc.

Send me a PM and I will send you a copy for free. You can see the information on this report here:

http://makemoneyalert.com/servicebus/sl.htm

Also I like to mention here what I think of Phil's research. GREAT! It would have cost me thousands of dollars for some of the ideas, tools, software that Phil has given links to for free. Phil I just debited (or is that credited?) your account. Any way I can help YOU, let me know. I OWE you big time, Thanks.

Best of success,

Skip Rosell
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old December 19, 2007, 11:13 PM
Unregistered
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: Thanks guys

Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert J. View Post
Thanks for the help guys.
Kind of what I figured ... lots of competition. I also know that many newcomers to the business basically work themselves right out of business by under-pricing just to get jobs. This is a dangerous environment to try to compete with ... especially if you are just starting out and do not have a solid reputation in the field.
I really do appreciate the input, Jason and Gordon.
Robert

Lots of comp only means lots of money to be made (one way or another)!

First let me state that if you are waiting for someone to push you into it, put your dough somewhere else as it appears you have led yourself to water and want someone to make you drink.....
We all know that this is not how the story goes.......


If you dive in, how do you plan on carving your slice of the pie?
Do you have a plan on that will help you cut your piece of the pie?


If I have misread you and you really want in to the biz, I suggest that you get the clients first before investing in the equipment.

I noticed that you feel people fail because they lowball for work.

If they lowball, the only Service they are providing is doom for themselves as well as the folks they are to be SERVING. I say so what, the people that want the lowballers are not the folks you want to deal with anyway. They will be more headaches than they are worth and are not likely to be return clients.

Cleaning carpets can be profitable without putting several vehicles on the road, you just need to define the PROFITABLE segment of the market you want to serve and provide the best SERVICE they have ever had.

In a SERVICE business, your job is to provide a SERVICE to your clients, if you deliver a valuable SERVICE, they will tell a few people.

On the Flip, if you provide a POOR SERVICE they will tell everyone.

Best wishes,
Jason
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old December 20, 2007, 12:04 AM
Gregg
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: should i stay or should I go

I agree that it seems like a hard business to sustain. It's basically a one-time sale. Even regular customers get their carpets done twice a year, give or take.

You could try to get hooked up with realtors or apartment complex for move-in / move-out cleans.

I thought about doing this myself as well. But opted for commercial office cleaning instead. Steady accounts provide steady revenue. You're not always searching for the next job. It requires a much less investment as well. You probably have most of the cleaning supplies you would need to start in your house. Including a vacuum.

Plenty of competition with that business also. But there are plenty of doctors, lawyers, hair salons, gas stations, deli's, insurance agents and so forth in every city too. So competition never really bothered me. (I also had a hair salon a few years back. Located on a main intersection with a salon on every corner.

One big difference is that these business's are "there" when you go out. You don't have to look to hard to find a gas station. But with cleaning and such you're probably working from home. So you have to go to the marketplace.

I started the cleaning as a side business to pay for my "habits". It's not as physical as you would think either. Plus you're usually at the business when they're closed so there's nobody around. My older son helps now too.

But I agree that "Toll Positions" are the way to go.

Hope this helps.

-Gregg
Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Other recent posts on the forum...


Seeds of Wisdom Publishing (front page) | Seeds of Wisdom Business forum | Seeds of Wisdom Original Business Forum (Archive) | Hidden Unusual Business Ideas Newsletter | Hotsheet Profits | Persuade via Remote Influence | Affia Band | The Entrepreneur's Hotsheet | The SeedZine (Entrepreneurial Ezine)

Get the report on Harvey Brody's Answers to a Question-Oriented-Person


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 09:44 AM.


Powered by vBulletin Version 3.6.0
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.