Mikey P
Administrator
Born and raised in the State of Oregon.
Moved to Lincoln, IL. with parents, brother and sister in 1958.
Attended Junior college for 2 years majoring in basketball and girls.
Worked for a dry cleaner who also had a Bigelow Karpet Kare franchise.
Rotary shampoo with vac extract. Cleaned lots of rugs. Very little wall to wall.
Went back to Oregon in 1960 to finish college at University of Oregon. Got my majors straightened out. Majored in History and Business.
1964-65 Bachelor of Science, and MBA.
1965-66 Ended up back in Lincoln, Il. with wife and daughter - and working for the same dry cleaner. But he had added a carpet retail store, and I managed that.
1966 Started cleaning carpet as an addition to the carpet store. Used dry foam wirh an Advance Carpetron dry foam machine.
1968 Told Dry cleaner-Carpet store guy to go to . . . ., and started my own business.
Came up with an original name for our business. Added a "d" to Advance -and we had Advanced Carpet and Furniture Cleaning.
More janitorial work in those early years than carpet cleaning. Had to eat.
But at one time had contracts with 65 school districts to daily clean, clean carpet, tile floor, gym floors.
In the early 70's went to Manitowoc, WI. for a 3-4- day Ed York Seminar.
Contrarian Ed sent me home with my brain whirling. Really the start of good things.
Came back home and immediately purchased a poetable extractor from Deep Steam. Drag tool and all, 7 jets on the 45 lb. drag tool at 24 psi.
Mid 70's got further involved with Ed York and Steam Services, and SCT.
Covered the midwest as a rep for Steam Services - while continuing my carpet cleaning business.
In the late 70's, also repped for Cleanmaster They manufactured a dual vac portable that had see-through acrylic tanks. We literally built our carpet cleaning busines on "seeing the dirt".
In 1980, stopped repping for Steam Services and Cleanmaster, and with Bob Klopfenstein, started Jan-San Sevices Janitorial in Decatur, Il.
Built Jan Services to $900,000.00 in about a year. (Don't do this - that quick).
In 1984, Bob and I sold Jan-San Services, and started on our first product.
In the beginning, we called our products "RE-Entry". The first two products were a pine oil spotter, and Pow-R-Pak Pre-Spray. ( Pow-R-Pak was to go through 17 revisions before we were done, but we din't know that at the beginning.
Bob and I started our chemical business with the up-front decision to make carpet cleaning chemistry as simple and safe as possible. We wanted as few products as possible with every product being able to cross over and do multiple tasks.
We deliberately went outside the box, and manufactured chemistry that we believed in, and not just to make more of the same ol' thing.
In 1988, we added our solvent based fabric protector.
In 1989, we added our Power Powder Emusifier.
In 1995, we added Pro Power liquid emulsifier as a consumer product. We didn't sell it to carpet cleaners until 1999.
In 1997, we began looking for a way to make a water based protector that would not be just another "me too" product.
Extended coverage, didn't re-wet the carpet, profit maker, easy to use, safe for all, et. cet.
By 2000, we were ready to introduce Soil Blocker water based protector.
In 2006, six products that we manufacture ourselve, 1 product we buy ready made.
Today we chuckle at those who forecast failure for a company who only had 6 products.
Retirement is not in my personal vocabulary. This business is fun. Ask our customers. I personally connect with every one. Ah, the joys of a small business where the owner always answers the phone.
Mike @ HBCC
In this format you'll have to hit the refresh or reload button every minute or so on your computer to keep up.
The first hour or so will be questions that were "Pre-asked". Please let us get through those before we get to the "Live" questions.
Mike, let me know when you're here and we'll get started.
Moved to Lincoln, IL. with parents, brother and sister in 1958.
Attended Junior college for 2 years majoring in basketball and girls.
Worked for a dry cleaner who also had a Bigelow Karpet Kare franchise.
Rotary shampoo with vac extract. Cleaned lots of rugs. Very little wall to wall.
Went back to Oregon in 1960 to finish college at University of Oregon. Got my majors straightened out. Majored in History and Business.
1964-65 Bachelor of Science, and MBA.
1965-66 Ended up back in Lincoln, Il. with wife and daughter - and working for the same dry cleaner. But he had added a carpet retail store, and I managed that.
1966 Started cleaning carpet as an addition to the carpet store. Used dry foam wirh an Advance Carpetron dry foam machine.
1968 Told Dry cleaner-Carpet store guy to go to . . . ., and started my own business.
Came up with an original name for our business. Added a "d" to Advance -and we had Advanced Carpet and Furniture Cleaning.
More janitorial work in those early years than carpet cleaning. Had to eat.
But at one time had contracts with 65 school districts to daily clean, clean carpet, tile floor, gym floors.
In the early 70's went to Manitowoc, WI. for a 3-4- day Ed York Seminar.
Contrarian Ed sent me home with my brain whirling. Really the start of good things.
Came back home and immediately purchased a poetable extractor from Deep Steam. Drag tool and all, 7 jets on the 45 lb. drag tool at 24 psi.
Mid 70's got further involved with Ed York and Steam Services, and SCT.
Covered the midwest as a rep for Steam Services - while continuing my carpet cleaning business.
In the late 70's, also repped for Cleanmaster They manufactured a dual vac portable that had see-through acrylic tanks. We literally built our carpet cleaning busines on "seeing the dirt".
In 1980, stopped repping for Steam Services and Cleanmaster, and with Bob Klopfenstein, started Jan-San Sevices Janitorial in Decatur, Il.
Built Jan Services to $900,000.00 in about a year. (Don't do this - that quick).
In 1984, Bob and I sold Jan-San Services, and started on our first product.
In the beginning, we called our products "RE-Entry". The first two products were a pine oil spotter, and Pow-R-Pak Pre-Spray. ( Pow-R-Pak was to go through 17 revisions before we were done, but we din't know that at the beginning.
Bob and I started our chemical business with the up-front decision to make carpet cleaning chemistry as simple and safe as possible. We wanted as few products as possible with every product being able to cross over and do multiple tasks.
We deliberately went outside the box, and manufactured chemistry that we believed in, and not just to make more of the same ol' thing.
In 1988, we added our solvent based fabric protector.
In 1989, we added our Power Powder Emusifier.
In 1995, we added Pro Power liquid emulsifier as a consumer product. We didn't sell it to carpet cleaners until 1999.
In 1997, we began looking for a way to make a water based protector that would not be just another "me too" product.
Extended coverage, didn't re-wet the carpet, profit maker, easy to use, safe for all, et. cet.
By 2000, we were ready to introduce Soil Blocker water based protector.
In 2006, six products that we manufacture ourselve, 1 product we buy ready made.
Today we chuckle at those who forecast failure for a company who only had 6 products.
Retirement is not in my personal vocabulary. This business is fun. Ask our customers. I personally connect with every one. Ah, the joys of a small business where the owner always answers the phone.
Mike @ HBCC
In this format you'll have to hit the refresh or reload button every minute or so on your computer to keep up.
The first hour or so will be questions that were "Pre-asked". Please let us get through those before we get to the "Live" questions.
Mike, let me know when you're here and we'll get started.
