Complete this sentence-I started my business because...
- Thread starter rob allen
- Start date
Peoria Carpet Cleaners
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- Mar 19, 2018
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- Alfred Jones
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- United States
Don’t let her find out how demeaning you are to women. Don’t let her talk to your ex-wife.
I ask my 13 year old son if he wanted to be a carpet cleaner when he grows up. He said no. I want to be a firefighter. I said what turns on women more firefighters or carpet cleaners? He said REALLY DAD. But I see women get so excited when I show up. And if you really want to turn women on clean her tile and grout.
$15/hr at 17 looked great. Turns out I'm a no meth needed tweaker and can't stop cleaning. Then I found out I like people, working for em, training them, selling to them, dealing with their shit, promoting them. Then I saw 5k monthly contracts every business I walked into, and realized you can "get rich" cleaning. It's not easy, and you have to be ready to go anywhere, anytime and work for any amount of time, but I am. It's hard, it's scary, it's complicated, but it's mine, and it's my employees, and it's my clients. I have more fun on good days in the office and in the field than anywhere else. That's why.
Luky
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- Nov 29, 2013
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- Marian Lukacisin
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I've read your story about 7 times. Every time, I find appreciation for what I have( not financially, just in general) and I can't get enough of your brutal honesty. There are times that we take life for granted and we shouldn't. Your story is a bright example of decisions taken at the right moment ( the last drop of patience) Just imagine, if they didn't push you off so hard. What could've been. Nothing positive would come out of that connection. We all have been in situations where we had to make a sacrifice for benefit of the family, but to revolt, is the sweetest revenge...Because I was a broke ass carpet cleaner.
I worked for years and years as a tech for a franchise company. My last day there I worked 14 hours on an underpriced job. The job had been priced by the company salesman. I sat there thinking about it as I was exhausted at the end of the day. I worked on commission and the pay I made that day came out to less than $6 per hour.
I sat their thinking of my average take home pay. I was driving an hour and 15 minutes each way to work 6 days a week. When I added in my drive time and deducted all the money I was paying for gas (which was over $4 per gallon at the time) I realized I was putting in 80 hours a week and not even making minimum wage. I realized if I worked for McDonalds I could make more money, work half as much, and not have to drive to Vegas every day. Sad.
I called my wife and told her to come down and bring all my uniforms. I drove back to the shop which had been closed for hours, I had put in 14 hours that day and not even made $100. I parked the truck by the front door, folded up all my uniforms and placed them on my drivers seat along with my route sheet for the day and my keys. I locked up the truck and got in the car with my wife and never looked back.
I didn't even call to let the office know I had quit. They knew I was pissed about the underpriced job that day. The next morning they started calling about 20 minutes after I was supposed to be to work. They called dozens of times over the next few days. I never answered.
This was the scariest thing I ever had done in my life. We were literally broke. We were months behind on all our bills, our house was in foreclosure, and we were going through the bankruptcy process. The only thing that saved our house was the income tax return I got, had it not been for that and it coming at just the right time we woud have lost our house.
I had picked up a 25 year old broken down truckmount I had planned on someday fixing up. That someday came sooner than I had planned. We used every last dollar we could round up to get the machine running. I didn't even have a van to put it in so I set it in the truckbed of my 1978 Ford pickup truck. From there we started to build a business. That was 6 years ago. Things are going much better now. I can actually pay all my bills at the first of every month without a problem and have a few dollars left over. We are by no means rich now but we make enough to live comfortably and enjoy life.
I became a stay at home mom and needed an income without the office hours. I started with 0 knowledge about cleaning upholstery and rugs. My business is outside the US and needed the service and realized no one was doing it. i purchased a von schrader machine that just broke down and cant be fixed. Now I have to decide to purchase a new machine. I regularly clean decorative carpets and couches. I still have plenty of VS chemicals. What would you reccomend?
Just answered an add for cc’nr wanted - will train. I didn’t care what the pay was ( $10.00 / hr. ). I told the owner that if I increased his business by direct effort, he would have to reciprocate ( proportionally ). He agreed. I was immediately put through 5 IICRC classes and received certifications for all 5 ( there is no freakin way I could do that now - to old ).
Within 2 weeks I quadrupled his average invoice. 2.5 years later I quit when I discovered he had been skimming my commissions
( the greater part of the total by weekly paycheck ) • • for the second time.
The story goes on but • • that’s how it got started.
Incidentally, the owner went on to put an add in the paper • • not carpet cleaners wanted, but rather • • salesman wanted ! ! • • no kidding, it’s true !
Within 2 weeks I quadrupled his average invoice. 2.5 years later I quit when I discovered he had been skimming my commissions
( the greater part of the total by weekly paycheck ) • • for the second time.
The story goes on but • • that’s how it got started.
Incidentally, the owner went on to put an add in the paper • • not carpet cleaners wanted, but rather • • salesman wanted ! ! • • no kidding, it’s true !
Last edited:
I accidentally posted this reply to the wrong person • • sorry lol
Last edited:
- Sep 5, 2007
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- Robert Allen,Jr.
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Good that you were able to recognize that and even better that you had the gumption to follow through with it.
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