Hard to value the business without seeing the books. He mentioned 15 commercial accounts, they could be chinesse carry outs or large assited living facilities and /or huge multi-location accounts. Who knows what it's worth, BUT his website valuation of $10,000 is pretty hilarious unless it is generating a serious amount of leads, which I doubt since he has 200 customers after three years. Truck might be fine but it needs a few hubcaps. The truck mount is an absolute piece of shit manufactured by Ace truck mounts for
Chemspec until Chemspec dumped them due to quality issues. Any business has to be valued by the income it generates, contracts. The fixed assets in this case might be worth $12,000 if he is lucky. Sounds like he could use a few business classes at a local community college.
The build it and sell out every 3-4 years business model isn't exactly a great fit for most service businesses. I have done it in the fast food industry but it worked much better there than the one carpet cleaning business I have sold. Services businesses are great because if run properly they throw off a lot of cash after a few years. They often don't have the value at sale that other industries do. For instants build a security guard business to $500,000 in gross sales and you can sell it for over 1 million. A Subway sandwich shop netting $70,000 a year will sell for $210,000- $325,000 depending on the area of the country. You will not get that kind of return selling a carpet cleaning business. So build your carpet business to a point where it is throwing off $10,000 a month net and invest in a second business that doesn't require you to be there 24/7. Some of you guys have learned a lot in a tough business and are way more capable then you give yourselves credit for. Don't be afraid to diversify outside of this industry. Right now you can buy a Quiznos that cost $250,000-$360,000 to open for around $50,000-$60,000. Corporate has taken over a bunch of them that were losing money. Apply the same marketing skills you have learned in this industry and rebuild it into a successful second business.
Owner operators need to think about the day when they are unable physically to push a wand. Yeah we all still think we are 25 years old BUT my arthritis tells me different some days. I know a guy that is 67 years old and still cleaning everyday because he has to. Don't let that be your destiny, skip the boat , $60,000 car and buy a second less physically challenging income stream.
