Hi- wanting to start, could use advice

Hey Tom

I haven't been on much, so busy with baseball. How are things going? You busy or has something exciting happen like winning a lottery ticket.

Mr. Steamer, thanks for the comments.  I know I will make it.  In one year, I taught myself everything there is to know about vct refinishing and maintenance, took control of the hardfloor operations and expanded the company I was working for from 2 hardfloor accounts to over 70- all in one year, all commercial accounts.  I know carpet is different, but in the next 12 months, I predict the same rate of growth for the commercial cc accounts in my own business.  I also know all about dreams turning into nightmares- the company grew exponentialy but the owner didn't know how to handle it and failed to hire adequate help or develop a business plan (which I was willing to 'nurse' him through).  I ended up working an average of 100 hours a week for about 1200 dollars a month all with the promise of big money and equal partnership in "a few months".   The owner kept taking work on without enough help and pretty soon accounts were quitting because they weren't being serviced.  The whole thing started to collapse and in my struggle to keep it going I agreed to not take a paycheck until everything was stablized.  So I worked the whole first half of 2003 for FREE, until I realized the whole ship was sinking, and I was never going to get paid.  I quit and with several months of back rent due, a son that had just been born a few months before, and no way to recoup my loss in wage, started my own company.   I know what reality is all about and how old miserable men gagging up cheesy cliches about working for low-wages are really just full of sh*t.  I am so ambitious because if I don't see this through to its end 100% I'll feel like all the sacrifices I've made were for nothing.   Now I am at the point where my bills are paid by my business, I know the direction I want it to go in, but I need an infusion of cash to make it happen.  Cleaning carpets for next to nothing ain't gonna cut it. 

wow, that was a really long post lol....

Tom I see Doug's point, he is getting impatient with you and wants you to get going already.

In some ways you are better off then most people who first start out in the carpet cleaning business. You have already a customer base with your janitorial side of this business.

Start small if you have to, are you looking at the bigger picture and do you feel that if you don't have the best equipment out there then what's the use of jumping into the carpet side?

Nothing wrong with dreaming big but to get there you have to take one step at a time. Take that step Tom some how and some way. Don't ever feel that you can not ask questions here. If some of the people here are tired of answering you then they don't have to post or read what you have to say.   

TomR:  I will let you in on a little secerate.  I know a couple of men in the US who wanted to learn how to clean carpets.  Could not get a job without experience.  They went ot work for free for a man who could not afford to pay them.  Guess What?  They own one of the largest carpet cleaning companies in the US.  The moral of the story is you may have to sacrfice some of your EGO to get that much needed experience!

doug wrote:   Taking a course and getting certified does not make a CARPET CLEANER!

OHHHHHH MMMYYYYYYYY GGGGGGGAAAAAAAAWWWDDDDDD!!!!!!!

I've just been saying this forever.....doug I think I'm rubbing off on you