Just wanted to say hi to everyone.  My name is Brad Mastrangelo and I own Mastrangelo's Carpet Cleaning in Wayland Ma. just outside of Boston.  I have been in the business for 19 yrs.  I am also a Stand up comedian.  If you attended connections last year in vegas you might have seen me preform at the closing night.

Nice to be here and looking forward to all the info here.

Brad Mastrangelo

Welcome Brad! I was from Boston (Newton). I just recently moved here to California for a little over a year now. Ill tell ya, Christmas just wasnt the same without the snow.

BTW I guess I missed you at Connections because I only attended on the second day (Then went gambling for the rest of my stay there lol).

Again, WELCOME!

THANG

Hi bmas,

Nice to have you aboard.

We will be looking forward to some humorous posts. Sorry I missed you at Connections. Maybe this year.

Hi all, I am John and my wife Maytee and I are planning to start our floor care biz w/in the next 6 months or so. I have been working for the past 3 years for a franchised cleaner and we are currently terminating that relationship. We would like to be independent and I envision something that could REALLY grow into a nice enterprise where we live. Honestly, I am really hooked on carpet and upholstery cleaning and doing IT right and would like to expand into other areas: T&G, wood floor care etc.  She, my lovely, breautiful and intelligent and almost always right in these matters, bride, wants to wait, get regular jobs until we are caught up financially enough to pay for the cleaning venture in cash. I on the other hand feel like I can't wait to jump in and finance a rig/TM and get to work. A little more information: She is easily much better schooled in markrting, finance and accounting than I. I simply love to clean and know firsthand the rewards that are out there for truly good, detailed, honest cleaners. What do you all think?

John

I say listen to the wifey. She sounds like a great catch!! Good job.

Im thinking itll be a good idea to work at your reg. 9-5 gig and do cleaning on the weekend and build up your client base until  you can afford to quit the "office" job. (unless you already have Custys from your Franchise biz).

Alot of guys start out with a good portable  and work their way up until they have enough customers and afford the truckmount payments. I, myself started by jumping heads on first into a (used) truckmount and worked like crazy on marketing. The first year was REALLY tough..BUt after that its been a breeze....sorta.

BTW If youre planning to buy a truckmount...I recommend getting a GOOD used one thats in decent condition. WHy spend all that money buyin new??

LOL, Yes Ninja-wand, I am extremely lucky to have her . I think you're right. Although I won't go the porty route again after bucking one around for 3 yrs. I will find a way to work my hind end off till I can pick up a good used TM and pay for it outright. I've been looking around and have seen a few pretty decent ones (van w/ TM) in the range of 17 to $25K.  It'll have to wait a little as we are still in the process of sorting things out and getting financially stable.

Thanks for your input.

John

Whenever I get a potential male customer in my showroom with the kind of enthusiasm you have for opening a cleaning business I actually feel enthusiastic myself to help guide him to do it.

Then he says he will get back to me after he checks with his wife. I call this phase The Kiss of Death.

By eliminating wives decisions business would be much better and yet, if it was not for my wifes organization and accounting skills I would be on the street with a monkey and organ.

It would be interesting to hear how others solved their problems who were in the same boat.

The Carpetologist says:

Buy a cheap portable and go for it part time and see what happens. Don't lose your momentum. Strike when it's fresh in your mind.

"By eliminating wives decisions business would be much better and yet, if it was not for my wifes organization and accounting skills I would be on the street with a monkey and organ."- Carpetologist-

BTW JOhn, You can find a Decent TM for alot less than that if you look around.

Carpetologist - Yes, I too, resemble that remark.

Ninja-wand - I know you're right. I'll just have to keep 'window' shopping until the time comes when we are ready to buy.

Thanks to both of you for your input.

John