Falling Down

Hi I’m new here and was wondering if you all could tell me how to start my business, what truck to buy, which logo to use as well as pick my business name. Then tell me which equipment to buy and where, the best chemicals to use and how I should run all this stuff. Then when your done doing that tell me how much I should charge for each and every service as well as telling me how I should market myself and then hold my hand while I do my first job. Oh and while your at it give me the winning power ball numbers for next week.



Okay, okay but seriously now… 

I was a carpet cleaner years ago working for a local company and always dug the job (I‘m strange, I know) , but life happened and I found myself on another path that took me into the industry where I am today. Now my current job is being outsourced due to a union killing our industry. We managed to save our jobs once before by breaking away from the locals and going private, but they wormed their way back in and the company simply could not stay afloat and folded. We were then bought out by another company and a new contract was agreed upon but yet again after two years the union got in and again oucompany simply could not compete, we lost our contract and our jobs our going overseas.

YEA UNION! 

So now I find myself with what I see as a potential opportunity to finally be able to start my own business and find myself drawn back to what I once really enjoyed, cleaning up all the nasties that dwell inside the carpets of my fellow citizens. So I thought I would share with everyone my progress and defeats as I take this journey.

Locally it seems that in many respects not much has changed over the years I have been away, including the “$75 three room and a hall” splash and dash trolls that existed years ago along with the $175/hr franchise guys trying to make their payments. But on the other hand there still seems to be some good folks charging a fair price for quality work, now I just have to figure out if I can compete with both extremes.

One thing I have come across that I have to admit has really intrigued me are the very low moisture techniques like OP and CRB’s, I never heard of these before I started doing some research on equipment. I had been thinking of portable extractors and was really impressed with what I have been finding (except the outrageous prices) but I discovered these other methods and am really drawn to them. I still want an extractor at some point (maybe even a truck mount) but may try starting out with one of the others methods first.

We should be working our last day sometime next month and my state has busted 7% unemployment so I’ll have all the time in the world to get this set up (along with fifty some weeks of unemployment checks) . If I commit and do this I doubt I’ll make the deadline for an ad in the yeller pages so I may just try the old standards of door-tags, local ads, cards, signs, smoke signals, etc. along with word of mouth & networking. If that does not work I’ll try tight jeans and a skimpy tee-shirt.

I have been trolling among the forums for about a month picking up on what has changed in the industry and look forward to bugging everyone as much as I can.

First, I was a union member, my father was a union member and it is not unions that cause people to lose jobs, it is greedy bastards at the top that want to take away benefits and force workers into payscales found in India and China.  So blame your situation where it belongs.  On greedy aholes.  Unions are why most workers only work 5 or 6 days a week.  Unions gave us overtime pay.  Unions gave us breaks.  Unions gave us a fair and democratic workplace where they exist.  What benefits and pay you once enjoyed were as a result of a union and not the greedy buttheads who own or owned your company.  You weren't complaining when you were spending that money or enjoying those days off so put a cork in it.

My state is one of the highest unemployment levels in the United States.  Stop your crying about what has happened to your state thus far, there is more of the same to come.

Now as far as going into the carpet cleaning business, here is a question for you Chica:

Are you running away from a problem or walking toward a solution?  I have always asked that of anyone who was resigning or applying for a job.  You are seeking employment as an independent contractor who must go out and get his own contracts.  You will be cash strapped, sinking every last dime you have into something with no clear future for you.

What else have you looked into?  Don't you have a network of family and friends who might help you find another job?  Facebook works for many people.  You might need to take a job at very low pay but that is what you would have been making if your company wanted to cut costs and keep you in the process.

Stop whining about what life throws at you, get off your backside and keep moving.

I see Unions as a Robin Hood syndrum , take from the rich and give to the poor. Except as the years went on and the greed of men set in ( No thanks to the Mafia ) it took a turn for the worst. Yes, unions stand up for their own, and generate good wages for the workers, but at the same time put a strain on the employer who pays these workers. If the unions continue to flex their muscle everytime negotions are the order of the day, companies will just close under their demands.....the problems of the Big Three is mostly Union caused.....look what is happening. Ford said it last week, Canada is the worst place to do business because of the CAW.

once upon a time???

let me guess, Republican, right?  Figures.

Bravo Chica! Your points were well made and researched. I think you won the most points in that short debate.

By the way, it is not *I* who attempts to side step an issue, the conservatives make a lifestyle of it.
Companies when faced with pressure from ORGANIZED labor must concede to avoid strikes.    The best thing labor ever did in this country was to join as one against the self interests of what Teddy Roosevelt (himself a Republican) felt could be the downfall of our nation, over-sized corporations with a stranglehold on the PEOPLE'S GOVERNMENT.  Companies cannot register to vote, they technically do NOT have a say, but they intimidate politicians who accept their campaign bribes and lobbiest's dirty money as an incentive for doing these mobsters bidding representing the interests of the few over those of the many who in their view are nothing more than freed slaves but slaves none the less. 

Also, IF employees earn their rightful pay and benefits they will have the money to pay more for less items (we all buy too much crap including the wealthy who spend beyond their needs).  That increased sales means more revenue for R&D.  Stealing from the employees to fund R&D is unforgivable.  If you mean companies cannot compete on the world stage if they give employees the proper pay and benefits well boo-hoo.  Perhaps they should move along with their work to the third world countries they wish to create for the workers here and we will live well with the tariffs we impose on them for their products and services create with off-shore labor while buying products from ourselves manufactured by .... oh I don't know..... perhaps ........... Employee Owned Companies.

What do you say to that?  Have you applied off-shore to get your old job back at $100 a month in India?  Bring your moving boxes, I am sure they will make a lovely new home for you and your family. 


Edited by Soil Lint Green - 10/October/2009 at 2:02pm