Are you a proud owner operator or..

Bob Pruitt

Member
Joined
May 22, 2016
Messages
2,677
Location
earth
Name
Robert Pruitt
I don't know the Gurus with 20 vans so not feeling it. Read Howard P's book $1.99 on Kindle, and thought it was pretty good advice. I sent my Son to work for him in Texas and his company offered my Son min. wage...of course he didn't take it... I thought this business model reminds me of Sears...in the old days...old.
I like being an OO and choosing the business model where I fit. Wasn't sure I did fit anymore but went to MF St. Petersburg a year ago met some great people and thought I still do fit well enough.
Happy like this for now.
 

Hack Attack

Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2017
Messages
5,620
Location
further south than you
Name
Dan
Outside this industry I've been part of "boutique operations", "medium scale" and "corporate monsters" all have there strengths and weaknesses.

There may be areas of overlap but none can truly emulate a different scale.

It depends on what drives the individual as to whether they'll be "happy"
 
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DAT

Member
Joined
Apr 3, 2017
Messages
6,485
Location
Nevada
Name
Bill Cheryl
I want.. 3 trucks in window cleaning, 3 cars for house cleaning also for janitorial, 2 Carpet cleaning trucks, 3 trailers for pressure washing. I would have strong emphasis on window cleaning and pressure washing.

So no guru dont make me sad. I never refer to them...first guru i ever heard of was George the Tan.
 
F

FB7777

Guest
What gurus?

At least Howard has a stack


The rest are posers selling pipe dreams to morons stupid enough to give them their credit card


You want more? Go fricken get it. It's out there waiting to be sold
 
Joined
Mar 8, 2015
Messages
344
Location
USA
Name
Matt Middleton
We left LA to have a better quality of life. Our journey took us to the Ozarks. Very small, very beautiful, very laid back. Rivers, lakes, farms in the Ozark foothills.

The quaint town has such a variety of personality. Retired professionals, artists and musicians. Local flavor. Fell in love with place.

Started the business, raised the kids, had a life. The cleaning business has been great. Because of the small population base we could only hope to grow so big. Fine by us! Everyone knows and trusts us. We are the carpet cleaner. We found a home and we are happy.


Established in 1983.
 

Doug Cox

Supportive Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2006
Messages
4,726
Location
Delavan, WI
Name
Doug Cox
I'm actually working on offering less services. Trying to get out of offsite rug cleaning. Gave up working weekends 5 or so years ago. I work way harder on the weekends than I do during the week.
 
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PrimaDonna

Megatron
Joined
Jan 2, 2008
Messages
2,865
Location
NorthEast, USA
Name
MB
I think Meg vould not go broke by establishing herself as the broke dick's reality guru


You beat me to it, Mike. I was just going to say this is segment I want to work in with my consulting . There is nothing wrong with staying small and it’s a better fit for many so there should be no shame in staying that way. Many in this place still can benefit from support and help with maximizing what they already have in place.

That’s where I can help!!!

O/O that want to be more efficient and grow into their own potential but not necessarily scale to large multi truck companies.
 

Mikey P

Administrator
Joined
Oct 6, 2006
Messages
112,308
Location
The High Chapperal
You beat me to it, Mike. I was just going to say this is segment I want to work in with my consulting . There is nothing wrong with staying small and it’s a better fit for many so there should be no shame in staying that way. Many in this place still can benefit from support and help with maximizing what they already have in place.

That’s where I can help!!!

O/O that want to be more efficient and grow into their own potential but not necessarily scale to large multi truck companies.


There may be a MF presentation here...
 
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Mark Saiger

Mr Happy!
Joined
Dec 26, 2006
Messages
11,197
Location
Grand Rapids, MN
Name
Mark Saiger
I'm all good.

There are days when we are just super busy and extra help would be great. But we are small enough community and seasonal we know what we need to prepare for.

Having been around the industry long enough I should know that there will be ups and downs and we just try to prepare the best we can for it and move forward.

Right now life is pretty good.

We are trying to simplify Our Lives rather than get even busier. That doesn't seem to happen as you take on more workers or more family.

Or more Adventures you could say also.

I have to say I'm getting older so I'm really good with how my life is. Every time you want more you create more work LOL

I hope to maybe be able to enjoy the lake with the grandchildren a little bit to Summer. And enjoy the new single wide in Florida a little more and even be able to bring our family down to visit.

I enjoy everything that's happening here with the Mikey's board and Mikey's Fests.

Being part of these events and meeting other cleaners.... and just the donation and caring of other cleaners has really made me feel great about being a cleaner....

No matter the size of the company anyone is coming from :-)
 

steve_64

Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2012
Messages
13,371
I was ready to build a pole barn to grow into but yesterday I told Genny I don't want to grow anymore. I'm happy where we are and if anything we will raise prices and scale back to keep ourselves from stressing out.

But I know things change so I try not to close the door on anything the future maybring.
 
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Jim Williams

Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2006
Messages
1,462
Location
Bynum N.C.
Name
Jim Williams
Looks like a lot of folks with different visions of what success looks like. I'm happy as a one man show. I work at a leisurely pace most days, except when I forget I'm almost half a century old and schedule too many jobs. To me, managing employees would add too much stress to my laid back lifestyle. I may hire my nephew as a helper at some point but have no desire to really grow this business any more. My favorite part of the job is getting out and talking to customers every day. I wouldn't be happy any other way.
 
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Acp

Member
Joined
May 15, 2017
Messages
1,093
Location
Seattle
Name
Bjorn Marshall
Slowly growing to 3-4 trucks and dont want to go beyond there. Dog training and Amazon business will be getting most of my focus as specialty cleaning is starting to run itself.

I love the business but I dont want to be the one with the shovel in my hand, I would rather make less pay someone well and focus on other businesses that are much more passive income.

Carpet cleaning specifically is a highly saturated market and I dont have any desire to be a huge operation, but if I can pull 10k/month in my pocket letting others mostly run it then Im happy
 

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