Mike
Thanks for asking.
-What other businesses and jobs have you had prior to becoming a Rug Sucker?
I started in the 80's as a graphic designer in Chicago, I spent the 90's as a youth pastor in various locations around the Midwest, The last 13 years I have been working for 1 of the top 10 Pharma companies in sales and marketing,
-Why Carpet Cleaning?
I realized in about 2006-2007 that I had oversold my sales quotas for a 5 year period by a million five. I started to think what if I had built a company with those sorts of sales and was working for myself. I began to look at options for having my own company. It was obvious to me that most people who build something from the ground up usually do it with some core skills already in place.
I had worked for ServiceMaster during College on a commercial crew and did cold calling for them in the summers. I at this time had built 3 large youth ministries of over 100 students and had 6-7 years professional sales experience and training. My wife had also spent 15 years in banking and was now managing large branches. Those factors led us to believe we could be successful in the industry. I have to say as far as a physical job I loved cleaning carpet, especially on commercial accounts.
-What did you start with and where are you now?
We started Sani-Bright in 2009 from a $1000 investment for some janitorial accounts. (not out of the trunk of my car)
I did the cleaning for the first 3-4 months. I started to hire cleaners and built up to about 9 accounts. The goal was not to build a janitorial business but to develop the cash flow that would allow the solid start of our carpet cleaning business. I promised my wife I wouldn't invest any of our money. This happened in 07-08 while I was developing my plan for Sani-Bright.
In 2009 I hired a young man to be our first cleaner. I bought a $1,500 used Bane Clene unit and a 2001 Ford with 174k on it for $2,500. We did a 50/50 split on profits for the first 9 months. I reinvested my portion into the business and in 9 months we had our first employee on a salary. We added a new
Hydramaster in 2010. We added a second truck in 2011.
Atthe end of 2010 we had 4 fulltime employees showing up every day and no one there to manage them. I told my wife one of us has to go run the business. Karen left 17 years of banking in 2011. We grew 48% her first year in.
We began to build a full time commercial route in 2010
We just purchased 2 2013 CDS4.8's
We have 2 fulltime residential day techs and 1 night route fulltime with 2 techs. I have one guy we call a few times a week for fill in. 2 janitors still.
We have a CSR in the office and a 3 day a week salesman that just started this year.
My wife runs the office day to day and I still have my full time sales job.
I have never been on the truck full time. I have cleaned maybe 20 homes on my days off. I did have about a 4 month period when we were getting our commercial route set up that I cleaned 3-4 nights per week. That was brutal.
-Was the plan to get your son involved from the start?
No Jordan was running his own recording studio in the beginning and sharing space in our first location. He is amazing at this. He had great success with a few bands one is currently touring the world. He decided to close the studio and we had a opening at the time.
He came on board 2.5 years ago.
I must say he has brought a lot to our company. He handles all our wood refinishing and has become quite skilled at refinishing leather. His strongest points are he often sees things from a different angle with hiring employees and has been a help in that. He also is our top sales guy most every month. He has a great way with the customers and does a good job with them. It was great coming to Vegas together.
The plan is now to continue to let him develop and see where he goes. I can see him in about 2 years moving into our sales position and working on specialty projects and restoration. He handles all our chemical inventory and ordering. He may want to take his skills else where. I would be excited to build something with him.
My youngest son also spent some time on the truck in 2010 as a number 2 man. He is a solid worker. He helped over christmas while home from college. I told the night tech hang on you are about to experience a new level of production. The man can smack down on the cleaning. He's a beast!
-What credit do you give the Jon Don twins to your success?
SFS in 2009 set the pace for what we are doing. I learned a lot that helped my natural abilities be more focused.
Bill Yeadon has been a great mentor to me over the last few years. He is a trusted friend of mine and our business. Steve has been very helpful on the HR side of things a time or two. My wife and I have really enjoyed getting to know Nick and Angela. The folks at
JonDon have been a big part of our success. 2012 was Karen’s first
SFS. I can see Jordan attending in the next year or two. Jordan and Karen often call Bill for help when I am traveling or in meetings.
-What makes MB the most kick ass site for cleaners, or, how has the site helped your business grow?
My first experience was there are some crass guys on this site. The more I hung around the more I started to figure out who to listen to (Ken, Crowly, Chavez) and who to think harder about what they say. Ken was very gracious as was Greg a few years back to give me some time on the phone.
I do enjoy the ability to reach out to folks on the phone that I meet on the board. I tried other boards this seems to fit. I really like the new direction you are heading.
I must Say I love the
Fest. I really enjoyed bringing our whole team to Nashville. There needs to be more things like this. The big events are to manufacture driven.
-Just how bad is your competition?
We have 10 companies out of 340 listed on Angies list I consider competition.
The number one company in the city is 17 years old and runs 10 or so trucks. They are very high end and do almost no visable marketing. Steamer has a company owned location with 20 trucks just down the road. We have two 5 truck Chemdry guys that are coupon driven. The other 6 come in various forms.
I don't think it’s about how bad they are it is more about how good can we be.
I tell our number one company I just want to be Pepsi to Coke. The number 2 position in a market is a very good place to be. We have not yet achieved that. Soon very soon!
-Have you ever ridden a street motorcycle that did not weigh 800 plus pounds and that can be leaned into corners?
Does my Suzuki Enduro count? I do love the Moto GP here in Indy. They do a Friday night Motorcycles on Meridian with about 3000 bikes. Maybe some folks should come out? Tom M
-Describe your favorite vacation.
The one I am taking this year to celebrate 30 years with a gal who should know better by now.
The 4 of us flew to AZ and spent time hiking in the Grand Canyon and red rocks
Thanks Mike
