I’m a 53-year-old man who is trying to make the world a better place through good carpet cleaning in my town of Fallbrook, CA. I’m only half-kidding. I take my job very seriously and try to learn something from each job I do. I try to leave my clients in good condition, with clean carpet, tile, grout, upholstery, etc., and also try to add something positive to their world, which is more often than not a rather lonely place. Entering the industry I began work as a carpet cleaner in 1993, working for a cleaner in town who ran (and still runs) the largest local operation. He had two trucks at the time. He had plenty of work and needed help. I was amazed at how much money he made, and at how often he turned customers away. The thing that also amazed me was that he tithed to his church 10 percent of his income, which was a rather large sum, enough for me to actually pay my bills. I had been working for the previous 10 years as a broadcast producer of radio programs heard nationally. This was in Los Angeles, and we had bought a house in Fallbrook and I had been commuting a few days a week. Then the economy took a downturn and 85 of us lost our jobs. I made good money, had all the benefits, and now I found myself at 40 years old, waiting on tables, painting houses and working as a beginning carpet cleaner while I looked for work in my field. After being turned down more than 50 times for every reason that you can name (mainly because of the recession, being a man, being white, being older, and living too far from L.A.), and after seeing my kids grow up without me being there to support them in their schoolwork and sports, etc., I decided to take a serious job in town. I started my own company. I started by using a bonnet system on what jobs I could find, and not satisfied with some of the really dirty ones. When the opportunity came along to buy a used truckmount, I took out my MasterCard and got enough cash to take the plunge: About $5,000. It was then I became a mechanic. This truck was a wreck, but I patched the rust holes and went for one of those $250 paint jobs. I let the kids name the business: “Spin Clean,” because at the time I was using the bonnet to agitate before extraction. I still do this sometimes, but not too often. I never liked the name, but it seemed like all the good ones (like “The Carpet Killers” or “Moondoggies”) were taken. Overcoming obstacles Like most beginning carpet cleaners, I had a goal and needed a plan. I sat down and figured that I needed at least 12 referrals a week, and that I could get at least some of them from people who shared my customer base. So I wrote a letter to every house cleaner, window washer, blind cleaner, plumber, etc., whom I could find and offered to give them a demonstration. I asked them to refer me and, in return, I would give them a commission on each job. Several house cleaners took me up on it, and today I get a few jobs each week from them and a few jobs each week from a flood restoration company. They hire me to re-install carpet and clean after a flood. They can find companies to re-install carpet and they can find companies to clean, but having a guy who will do both is rare and they use me for that. I do not give them a referral fee, but they give me one when I come across a very large flood job, one that is too big for me to handle. Last summer, one of these companies responded to my call to help a customer with a huge flood, and I earned a $6,000 referral fee. Not bad for being on vacation at the beach at the time. Current conditions Four trucks and 14,000 jobs later, I am a veteran carpet cleaner who keeps saying, “I’ve seen everything,” just before I see something that I’ve never seen before (and usually hope to never see again). I don’t have four trucks. I’ve gone through four trucks, removing the slide-in unit each time and doing what welding, plumbing, wiring, etc., that I had to do to make it work. There was no big turning point. I built the business slowly to where it supports me and my family. I’m not getting rich and I don’t care if I ever do. My clients range from slumlords to McMansion owners, from bars to banks, schools to apartments, and everything in between. For my part, I try to give personal service, show up on time, wear booties, put down a walk-off mat, ask to be invited in, wear gloves, test the fibers, vacuum, and generally do a good job. I educate my clients. My guarantee is that, if they have an issue with my work, I’ll return within two days of their call and make it right or refund their money. This means that I have to “qualify the customer” before beginning work, setting them up for what the likely results will be, etc. Carpet cleaning or criminal activity? My job is usually much more than cleaning the carpet, upholstery or grout. For example, I have burglarized 38 houses so that I could clean the carpet. This is during a career of 14 years. I will only break into a house to clean if I know for sure that the people absolutely have to have it done that day and, for whatever reason, the key was not where it was supposed to be. Twice, I’ve set off the alarm while doing this. The cops come and find me cleaning the carpet. They checked me out and realized that I was indeed a real carpet cleaner when they saw the truckmount system in the driveway. My style of burglary is a rarity, fortunately. It happens like this: I’ll get a long distance phone call from someone who has been referred to me and they’ll tell me that they are coming to their new house on a certain day, and that the carpet needs to be cleaned. The key is supposedly under the mat (or rock, or garden angel). When it isn’t, I walk around the house and figure out how to get in without attracting too much attention. Then I do so and get in and clean the carpet. Usually, I don’t even tell them. Source: CleanFax Magazine
