I’m hitting the wall

Brian R

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Holy CRap Chris....Yer just a pup. :shock:

Most of the kids want to work with technology....even it that's a register at a Taco Bell.

I didn't know too many physical labor guys when I was a kid either.

I learned my work ethic from my Step Father by working with him.....that's where I lucked out and didn't even know it.

Sitting in school and then sitting at home for your high school days gives you a different perspective.

Parents need to make the kid mow the lawn...and all the neighbors lawns. I used to do that.

My first $20.00 I was like....hey, this working for yourself thing isn't bad.
 

Desk Jockey

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WOW, this thread got out of control.

I know Mike, we 've worked for him and with him, he is a good guy. Sharp young cleaner that really cares about his work and growing his business.
He is a small company and he did get burned just trying to do the right thing.

Not sure how so many good people got at odds with each other but it sure spun out of control fast.
:mrgreen:
 

Ken Snow

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I agree it spun out quickly Richard- I am again sorry that I keep letting myself be triggered. I will not post anymore on this thread, ending with I would like to clear the air privately with Mike if he would.
 

joe harper

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Chris Adkins said:
HARPER said:
NO MELTDOWN....!

He is just pissed ...because he the KIDS nowadays have such a SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT..!

He tried to do the right thing for the kid..&..the guy took the EASY WAY OUT...a Hand-out..!
This generation has been TRAINED...to work the sYsTeM... :oops:

ACE is NOT a victim... :!:He is just disgusted with lack of character in some of our youth..!


Go ahead and VENT...brother....!!!!

I FEEL YOUR PAIN... !gotcha!

Don't gimme that generational bullshit gramps, I'm 24 for Christ's sake...


iT MUST HAVE BEEN "tOUgH"..on you.. :shock:

Since you were "14"...when you were sLinGinG the WaND.... :lol: :lol: :lol:

Maybe you should have FINISHED "juNioR HigH schOOl".......24-10= 14... :idea:
 

joe harper

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Doc Holliday said:
WOW, this thread got out of control.

I know Mike, we 've worked for him and with him, he is a good guy. Sharp young cleaner that really cares about his work and growing his business.
He is a small company and he did get burned just trying to do the right thing.

Not sure how so many good people got at odds with each other but it sure spun out of control fast.
:mrgreen:


Ain'T this FUN.... :mrgreen:

He are just hitting some ...sPeeD bUmPs"... !gotcha!

YOU WILL KNOW WHEN YOU .."HIT THE WALL".... :!: :!: :!:


WAiT fOr IT.........................................................................










































clik on the truck.............!

th_VehicleBarrier.jpg
 

Chris A

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iT MUST HAVE BEEN "tOUgH"..on you.. :shock:

Since you were "14"...when you were sLinGinG the WaND.... :lol: :lol: :lol:

Maybe you should have FINISHED "juNioR HigH schOOl".......24-10= 14... :idea:[/quote]

Actually I should update my profile, I've been pulling hose (shuddup brian) since I was 11
 
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Yep, you just summed it all up very nicely.

HARPER said:
NO MELTDOWN....!

He is just pissed ...because he the KIDS nowadays have such a SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT..!

He tried to do the right thing for the kid..&..the guy took the EASY WAY OUT...a Hand-out..!
This generation has been TRAINED...to work the sYsTeM... :oops:

ACE is NOT a victim... :!:He is just disgusted with lack of character in some of our youth..!


Go ahead and VENT...brother....!!!!

I FEEL YOUR PAIN... !gotcha!
 

Hoody

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HARPER said:
Chris Adkins said:
HARPER said:
NO MELTDOWN....!

He is just pissed ...because he the KIDS nowadays have such a SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT..!

He tried to do the right thing for the kid..&..the guy took the EASY WAY OUT...a Hand-out..!
This generation has been TRAINED...to work the sYsTeM... :oops:

ACE is NOT a victim... :!:He is just disgusted with lack of character in some of our youth..!


Go ahead and VENT...brother....!!!!

I FEEL YOUR PAIN... !gotcha!

Don't gimme that generational bullshit gramps, I'm 24 for Christ's sake...


iT MUST HAVE BEEN "tOUgH"..on you.. :shock:

Since you were "14"...when you were sLinGinG the WaND.... :lol: :lol: :lol:

Maybe you should have FINISHED "juNioR HigH schOOl".......24-10= 14... :idea:

Knowing the bit I do about Chris' dad, I have no doubt he had Chris swinging the wand early. He seems pretty old fashioned from what I can tell, and believes in teaching hard work young. EDIT... i typed this before I saw Chris' post. :lol:

I do agree a bit with Harper's statement. There are more "youth" that believe in entitlement. Finding someone 18-25 that is going to be committed to perform hard work these days is a rare find. They want 20 bucks an hour starting out.

I grew up without luxuries. Never owned a cell phone till I was 19. My dad was single for a long time and I spent a lot of time on my grandparents farm through the week while he worked. He's always had money but hes the type the could squeeze a dollar out of a quarter. I was expected to pull some weight there, whether it was taking rocks out of the field before we disc'd them and turned them over. Or throwing hay bails in the hay loft 8 ft up in a 100 degree barn. My grandpa had a dry sense of humor, the bails were always wet, and the conveyor belt was always "broke".

But at the topic at hand. The thread did get out of control, and things have been said that shouldn't have. I may have never owned a business but I've had to hire and fire guys being in mostly management positions, and many tried and succeeded at taking advantage of the few companies I've worked for just like what happened to Mike. I hope Mike can get some policies and procedures together to help prevent this is the future. Its all a learning process.
 

LisaWagnerCRS

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One big happy family here on Mikeysboard... the Real Carpet Cleaners of New Jersey... we need our own show...

Lisa
 

ruff

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Personally, I loved this thread.

Now, I am not a statistician but I think it broke the the record for IPP.
Insults per post.

Go Warriors.

No, I mean Golden State Warriors.
 

juniorc82

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Man this thread was crazy. Mike Im with you all the way. I know how you work and your doing a good job man. Dont worry about what master yoda(aka lisa wagner) says . Its funny how people can get all high and mighty to someone they have never even stood in the same room with.
 

Hoody

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Bob Foster said:
[quote="Brian R":1fr31ee3]Bunch of phuquetards in this thread. !dork!

How many is that??

What do you mean, this thread..... how about most threads...[/quote:1fr31ee3]

Doesn't brian post in most threads ?

+7
 

ruff

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Brian R said:
I still love ya Hoody

-1

:mrgreen:
Ye, but that was a false love Brian.
What you really meant will probably garner...........
Who knows it may even get that Full Circle head banned.
+?
 

Jamesh921

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Lisa wrote:
""" Raise your prices 20%. Don't tell anyone, just do it. If anyone bitches, tell them it's the oil prices. Then you can both bitch about Obama.

Then after a few weeks you will have some extra funds, and when you are in a place with extra funds you think a little clearer. Plus... you will see that very few blink at the price change, and it will shift your perspective. """

I call BS on that.
Apts, motels, propery mgmnt, rentals will immediately FIRE YOU if you unsuspectingly raise your prices by 20%, no matter what the oil prices are.

You're a pretty smart girl, Lisa. But, you're absolutely wrong on this issue. That's OK though. I was pretty surprised when I found out that I didn't know everything too. ;-)
 

LisaWagnerCRS

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Jamesh921 said:
Lisa wrote:
""" Raise your prices 20%. Don't tell anyone, just do it. If anyone bitches, tell them it's the oil prices. Then you can both bitch about Obama.

Then after a few weeks you will have some extra funds, and when you are in a place with extra funds you think a little clearer. Plus... you will see that very few blink at the price change, and it will shift your perspective. """

I call BS on that.
Apts, motels, propery mgmnt, rentals will immediately FIRE YOU if you unsuspectingly raise your prices by 20%, no matter what the oil prices are.

You're a pretty smart girl, Lisa. But, you're absolutely wrong on this issue. That's OK though. I was pretty surprised when I found out that I didn't know everything too. ;-)

Have you actually tried it?

If you are charging for apartments, what .20 cents per sq ft, and you go to .24 - are you telling me they would drop you? Are they only using you because you are cheap -and not for other reasons?

Would you consider moving to some HOMES instead, and bump your price up to the going residential rate in our area, which is closer to .50?

If the ONLY reason someone is choosing you is because you are cheap... then you need to target customers who are sick of low price and low quality and would pay a bit more for more results.

The belief that anyone would lose ALL of their business because of a 10 or 20 percent increase is a belief that will keep someone stuck in a business they hate for way too long.

Any of you who have actually raised prices at any point in the past six years - what say you? How much did you raise it, and how much did your volume of business go down?

And... so you really know what your hard cost of cleaning per sq ft is for your operation? (Most have no clue and are literally operating at a loss.)

When I have Piranha Member who want to make more money, and who are VERY underpriced, this is what I tell them to do:

1) Package their services into 2 or 3 choices - this way you can have any customer pick the bundle that best fits their needs and/or budget. I tell them to make their current price their bottom package.

2) If they are only offering one price - then I tell them to same day bid at their newer, higher price, and if they want to offer the "old" price to prior customers, choose to do so on a case by case basis. For me, I will mail to my list that prices are changing, and because they are one of our current clients we will give them the old price if they book in the next 30 days - this always generates calls. I do not list any prices, I just explain that they are changing due to our increase in expenses (always going up in CA) and because we want to be able to support the same quality work and service that they expect of us.

3) Have the office receptionist spend a day on the truck to SEE all the true labor that goes into doing a typical job, and then give her the price list. Chances are... she will tell you that you need to be charging a lot more than you are. I often see some of the biggest sales-killers being the "owner" who would never pay to hire a cleaner being put in charge of closing the deals. People who know LESS about the craft will see it as more valuable, because when you get too close to what you do, you stop seeing the real value of it. Because you could "just do it myself" means you would have a tough time understanding those who "just want someone else to do it right."

Most cleaner do not raise their prices because they don't believe people will pay more. They quit before they even ask for more. Their biggest obstacle is between their two ears.

I know because I have had this barrier myself, as has all my longest employees, as have many cleaners I've worked with over the years.

All I'm saying is give it a try... one of 3 things will happen. Your volume will stay the same (and you'll make more profit). Your volume will go up (and you'll make more profit). Or you may lose a few jobs (and you will likely end up with the same net profit anyway... but a bit more time not behind the wand to get it.)

Raise your price by 20%, you can lose just over 40% of your volume and still net the same net profit. Not gross, but net, in your pocket.

So... ask yourself this... if you raised your prices 20%, are about half of your customers going to go elsewhere? If the answer is yes - then you have a bigger problem on your hands than just your price.

If you are scared - do 10%. But I'd rather have you do 20%, and give some room to discount a bit to clients you really like, instead of raising it 10%, seeing NO difference in your job volume, and then kick yourself for not doing 20 instead.

Just some things to think about....

Lisa
 

Jamesh921

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Lisa,
You're trying to lure me into a pissing contest - with a girl - and I'm not gonna bite.

Re-read my post. I was talking about low-ball, bottom-feeder clients like - let me repost it,

"" Apts, motels, propery mgmnt, rentals will immediately FIRE YOU if you unsuspectingly raise your prices by 20%, no matter what the oil prices are. ""

THESE are the type clients Mike stated that he was servicing and fed up with. You are trying to take these clients and treat them like residential accounts by raising their prices by 20% overnight - it won't work.

For example:
I was onsight when a cleaner raised his price to clean a motel he had been servicing for a few years from $6.00 per room to $8.00 per room.

He almost lost the account, but they settled at $6.50 per room for that cleaning.

That happened last summer.

He no longer services that account.
 

idreadnought

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Richard
Well Mike has a problem. His business is broken if he works 80 hours a week and makes little or no profit. If he doesn't change something then his business and life are screwed. Maybe you can't raise your prices 20% to some customers but you defiantly should be looking for customers willing to pay more. As far as employees they suck. But over time there are lots of good people out there that want to work. Don't go for the people that need it, find the people that want it. My best guy wanted to work and traded an unemployement check for only $100 more a week working a job. I have to say Mike there are many people I respect on this board and one of them is Ken Snow, he will go out of his way to help anybody and probably has the largest privately owned cleaning company in the country. Listen to the advice rather than finding any excuse why it wont work for you. A broken business is like a broken car, keep driving it the way it is and sooner than later it wont be any good at all.
 

ACE

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LisaWagnerCRS said:
Raise your price by 20%, you can lose just over 40% of your volume and still net the same net profit. Not gross, but net, in your pocket.

I did about 140k last year, so If I lost 40% but then billed 20% more I would gross 100,800. My expenses would be lower but, I have allot of fixed expenses that would be the same. Your advice is very one dimensional. I did rase my prices 12.5% the year for residential. I have a 80%+ retention rate for residential but it takes time to built that up that residential customer base. I still need to pay bills and give my labor hours when there are no good jobs to be had like the winter. I need that labor and equipment ready to go when I do have profitable work. This is something called cash flow. I will be a happy man when I can give the apartments motel and janitorial accounts my fook you price but it’s not going to be this year.

Save your business advice for someone dumb enough to pay for it.
 

LisaWagnerCRS

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Jamesh921 said:
Lisa,
You're trying to lure me into a pissing contest - with a girl - and I'm not gonna bite.

Re-read my post. I was talking about low-ball, bottom-feeder clients like - let me repost it,

"" Apts, motels, propery mgmnt, rentals will immediately FIRE YOU if you unsuspectingly raise your prices by 20%, no matter what the oil prices are. ""

THESE are the type clients Mike stated that he was servicing and fed up with. You are trying to take these clients and treat them like residential accounts by raising their prices by 20% overnight - it won't work.

For example:
I was onsight when a cleaner raised his price to clean a motel he had been servicing for a few years from $6.00 per room to $8.00 per room.

He almost lost the account, but they settled at $6.50 per room for that cleaning.

That happened last summer.

He no longer services that account.


I realize that ... so my point was - get DIFFERENT clients.

$6.50 a room - that guy might as well pull out $20 a room and hand it to the guy before he cleans for him, because that's what's happening... he's PAYING to clean for others.

People will argue "that won't work for me"... all I want to know is, why in the world would you choose to run that type of cleaning company? It's like poking yourself in the eye every day and then complaining on the bulletin board that your eye hurts and how unfair life is.

Maybe you can send this video link to your $6.50 a room guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYLMTvxOaeE

Just trying to help....
Lisa

P.S. 20% would have been $7.80... maybe 22% is the breaking point. :mrgreen:
 

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