Newbie in the Buffalo, NY are looking for a mentor

Abigail

Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2013
Messages
49
Location
Western NY
Name
Stacy
Hi all, I'm looking for someone to help teach me the ropes on carpet and upholstery cleaning.
I have Rotovac cfx and dhx units.

Thanks for any consideration.

God Bless
 

Abigail

Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2013
Messages
49
Location
Western NY
Name
Stacy
I found him. Thanks! Hopefully he will respond to this. I give it a while. I don't want anyone pressured into doing something they don't particularly want to do!
 

Steve Toburen

Supportive Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2006
Messages
1,912
Location
Durango, Colorado/Santiago, Dominican Republic
Name
Steve Toburen
Shane is a good guy (any season but winter) He runs butler direct drive Tm's & knows a lot about website building. & commercial accounts.
I agree.

Steve

PS Stacy, fair warning. IF you can sell the idea of "training his own competition" to Shane then be aware he is a very blunt and to the point person. (Not that there is anything wrong with that!) :)
 

Abigail

Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2013
Messages
49
Location
Western NY
Name
Stacy
I'm in the Northtowns. I'd be looking at Lockport, Clarence, Royalton (in Niagara County) I'll be a one person operation so I hope I wont be viewed as a business threat :) Next week I'm going to visit apartment complexes. I had earlier thought about a real estate agent, and Lisa's reply made me think about the repos! I am a little nervous of doing the high end homes, or most private homes anyhow because people can be real twits sometimes. Ive got enough on my plate now.

By the way, can anyone tell me what I can expect on the apartment side? Or repos? Most ads I see here for carpet cleaning comanies are in the $32 a room/$75 minimum catagory (I dont know what their upsell is- some upselling is something I kind of compare to Bait and Switch, something I wont do)

thanks
 

Desk Jockey

Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2006
Messages
64,833
Location
A planet far far away
Name
Rico Suave
That's a big city, I doubt you'll ever cross paths unless intentionally. I wouldn't think that would hold him back as much as the time, he's a busy dude always working on his business.
 

Shane Deubell

Supportive Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2011
Messages
4,052
I'm in the Northtowns. I'd be looking at Lockport, Clarence, Royalton (in Niagara County) I'll be a one person operation so I hope I wont be viewed as a business threat :) Next week I'm going to visit apartment complexes. I had earlier thought about a real estate agent, and Lisa's reply made me think about the repos! I am a little nervous of doing the high end homes, or most private homes anyhow because people can be real twits sometimes. Ive got enough on my plate now.

By the way, can anyone tell me what I can expect on the apartment side? Or repos? Most ads I see here for carpet cleaning comanies are in the $32 a room/$75 minimum catagory (I dont know what their upsell is- some upselling is something I kind of compare to Bait and Switch, something I wont do)

thanks

Absolutely!
Lets meet at a tim hortons, i chat with local competitors all the time.

Clarence is my market but only high end homes, have no interest in apartments. The other towns are out of our service area unless its a big commercial job.

PM me lets meet, then you can tell these characters on the internet what a nice guy i am in real life. :biggrin:
 

Abigail

Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2013
Messages
49
Location
Western NY
Name
Stacy
Oh DANG. Here I thought I was gunna be able to work with someone to teach me how to do the job right. Guess I'll have to go elsewhere, I'm Irish......(look at Shane's avatar)!

hahaha.. I'll PM you
 

Dolly Llama

Number 5
Joined
Oct 7, 2006
Messages
31,115
Location
North East Ohio
Name
Larry Capitoni
I

By the way, can anyone tell me what I can expect on the apartment side?

yea...you're crazy to even think about it with your set up.
In "general", apt and prop managers are CHEAP, never ready when you get there (painters and/or maintenance men's crap all over the place) doors locked that are supposed to be open
They find outfits to do them for $50-$70 bukz for 2 and 3 bd rm flats..and most are trashed
....you'll go broke trying to compete with your little squirt 'n suck box rotocrAp ripped you off for .

only about 18.47% of them will pay what it's worth..those are worth having, so don't neglect to solicit, but they're few and far between



I am a little nervous of doing the high end homes,

"hi-end" homes ???
I laugh when i hear that, cause most of the "truly" hi-end homes we do are big PITA.
covering miles of hardwood floors to get to the 200sf carpeted den 80ft from the foyer entrance (which is polished marble and has to be covered too)
Then another 40 ft of mahogany stairs and hall to get to the master bed rm.

forget about how much their home cost.
You want folks that will pay good money for good service ..those folks live and are scattered throughout gated communities, middle class burghs and trailer parks .
"Dottie and Blanch" two long time custys of mine ( both passed away now) lived in two different trailer parks .
Blanch paid $200 for 4 rms twice a year...and always gave a $50 tip on top of that!!!
Dottie, paid $136 for two postage stamp sized rooms twice a year.

Both had all the upl done every 3rd of forth vi$it
neither were "rich"


point is, you want people that value and will pay for good service , and those folks aren't exclusive to "hi-end" homes


..L.T.A.
 

Russ T.

Supportive Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2008
Messages
3,556
Location
Slater, IA
Name
Russ Terhaar
yea...you're crazy to even think about it with your set up.
In "general", apt and prop managers are CHEAP, never ready when you get there (painters and/or maintenance men's crap all over the place) doors locked that are supposed to be open
They find outfits to do them for $50-$70 bukz for 2 and 3 bd rm flats..and most are trashed
....you'll go broke trying to compete with your little squirt 'n suck box rotocrAp ripped you off for .

only about 18.47% of them will pay what it's worth..those are worth having, so don't neglect to solicit, but they're few and far between





"hi-end" homes ???
I laugh when i hear that, cause most of the "truly" hi-end homes we do are big PITA.
covering miles of hardwood floors to get to the 200sf carpeted den 80ft from the foyer entrance (which is polished marble and has to be covered too)
Then another 40 ft of mahogany stairs and hall to get to the master bed rm.

forget about how much their home cost.
You want folks that will pay good money for good service ..those folks live and are scattered throughout gated communities, middle class burghs and trailer parks .
"Dottie and Blanch" two long time custys of mine ( both passed away now) lived in two different trailer parks .
Blanch paid $200 for 4 rms twice a year...and always gave a $50 tip on top of that!!!
Dottie, paid $136 for two postage stamp sized rooms twice a year.

Both had all the upl done every 3rd of forth vi$it
neither were "rich"


point is, you want people that value and will pay for good service , and those folks aren't exclusive to "hi-end" homes


..L.T.A.

On the money!

Russ
 

Mikey P

Administrator
Joined
Oct 6, 2006
Messages
114,150
Location
The High Chapperal
Larry is correct on every thing he suggested.

Yiur goal should be to get as many Dottie and Blanches as you can fill you five day work week with.
Like lisa said most women hateand dread dealing with the Larry Lunhpail, boob talking goobers who plague our owner op industry. The criminal set who push the suck franchise suck mops are even less appealing.

If you can get in with some "sewing circles" water cooler pals, book clubs, PTA, soccer moms, Brownies, Yelp or its local equivalents, online communuty social groups etc, and let it be known that a hot new momma is providing carpet cleaning with a feminine touch (hire female helpers when the time comes) you most likely will kick ass!

start a business Facebook page NOW and start befriending all the the notable people who will want unknown "Freinds"now!

Realtors, tv/ news anchors, doctors, lawyers, decorators etc..you'll have to dig and scratch to find them but their there just waiting to accept yourfreind request..

This will pay off later once you've gotten more established.


Start working on your website now as well.
If Fred FCC here can't help you talk to Joe Burich about working on a site and seo for you.


I trust you've become good friends with the search button here, yes?

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2
 
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