[Mike Osbourne]

I think what it comes down to is the same old thing 'Marketing'.

If you are going to get good at anything other than your main business, make it marketing. If you can't market Carpet Cleaning you will have the same problem marketing leather, rugs or whatever.

If you have a good customer base, then actually these thing can make sense because your existing customers will use you and you don't have to carve out a new market.

The daftest thing is going out and spending money on a new expensive piece of kit and you aint got any customers for the thing yet and the work pays no more or less than a good carpet cleaner.

[jasonl]

My policy is to diversify into services which use the same resources that I already own,  and in some cases customers that I am already in touch with . Otherwise it is extra investment , which in turn can dilute cash flow.

[Ricky M]

Andrew I need my carpets , Leathers, Curtains , loo rolls ( really we are out !) and will you fit us some catches to keep the kids OUT ! Quote me Happy pls

I now off site clean Rugs , Leather resto, Hard/resilient floor and counseling ( 1 of Long story)  

[Doctor Carpet (Ret'd)]

I think what it comes down to is the same old thing 'Marketing'.

If you are going to get good at anything other than your main business, make it marketing. If you can't market Carpet Cleaning you will have the same problem marketing leather, rugs or whatever.

If you have a good customer base, then actually these thing can make sense because your existing customers will use you and you don't have to carve out a new market.

The daftest thing is going out and spending money on a new expensive piece of kit and you aint got any customers for the thing yet and the work pays no more or less than a good carpet cleaner.

Spot on , Mike

[Fintan_Coll]

It's not that I diversified really, carpets and upholstery is still my main business, but I have added on leather and I clean coach interiors. I also clean hard floors but have been doing that for years now.
I stopped cleaning car interiors and very seldom sand a wooden floor anymore. My own choice, as I am not as young as I once was   well none of us are really, and I can earn enough to get bye quite well.

[daysdeepclean]

Staring up just over a year ago, I always planned to incorporate oven cleaning which I have had the chance to do very early on! Do I regret it? Not at all, it's actually helped me secure some very lucrative carpet cleaning jobs and it's certainly stopped me from going under a couple of times.

I aim to build it up to a point where I can either employ someone or even sell the oven cleaning business for a good return. Whether you think it's right or wrong that diversifying is the way ahead, it's very much a personal choice. Some people can multi task and others can't, as long as you know your own limitations you should go as far as you can without letting any part of your business suffer!

[Matt Lindus]

I have an Ariel, Sat, Alarm & CCTV installation business which is my main source of income. This generates a very comfortable life style for me and my family and has also enabled me to employ a fantastic bunch of hard working staff.

I run a very small one man, one van set up for Carpet and Upholstery cleaning. I find it to be a nice little wallet filler for weekends or holidays. The rest of it covers my guys wage. If things die off, or if he comes back early from cleaning, he's off up ladders fitting and tuning Ariel’s.

Matt

[Mike Osbourne]

Matt

Do you think people will still have Sky dishes in five years time what with VOD over the interweb etc?

[Matt Lindus]

 Mike,
 
VOD can often be poor quality because it is using an average of 2mbps bandwidth and uses ADSL technology. Yes you have the option to watch more and watch when you require, but quality and clarity of the viewing is still paramount in most people’s eyes, which is why sky still on top.
Take the analogue to digital switch over as a good case. We had all the boffs stating it will eliminate interference and bring us into a new age of reception technology. How many millions of people are now having blocky or freezing screens because of poor frequency volts conflicting with the vast amounts of lesser air-born signals.
Yes we have all had trouble with the old analogue reception, ghosting, banding, snow etc, but at leased the thing you were watching was still there and audible, with digital its either all or nothing at the moment regardless digital ariel upgrade.

If you could see all the signals and wavebands passing through the air at the same time you would be speechless.

Matt 

[Mike Osbourne]

And let's not forget the Murdoch factor! 

Governments plans for fibre are woeful compared to other countries. I think we will have dishes for decades

[Ryan Smyth]

Andrew top class posting, i think you have it sussed. I myself am looking to go down the same road as you and have been watching your posts on this site and others if you have an opportunity i wouldnt mind picking your brains for a half hour( cheeky i know!!)

Ryan

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

I still supply and fit carpet, laminate, wood, vinyl sheet and tiles and even recently ceramic tiles. After 27 years of this I am happy to see the cleaning side overtake the supply, but it is still a good opportunity to talk about supply when cleaning and vice versa.

Last year I added leather cleaning/repair and this year I added stone, tile and grout.

Last week i was asked to quote for protecting 345 m2 of new carpets in a new house, this turned into a £2500 job when I informed the client that all their new carpets had been laid on an underlay that was unsuitable for their underfloor heating. Got the job to uplift all the carpets, lay new underlay, re-fit and then protect.

Very lucrative job for me and have probably saved the client thousands in wasted fuel bills as their underfloor heat would not have permeated through the existing underlay.

No problem with being a jack of all trades when you are a master of them 

Steve

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

For most in there early days , flexibility is key and offering hard floors is an obvious add on.

I also did the odd kitchen deep clean.

Now like most of the established guys I only really do carpets and upholstery , although I am cleaning a few curtains on a large , 'moving in' job today.

Cheers

Doug

[absolutecleaning]

Me and my partner started our business deliberately offering a lot of services - domestics, eol, windows and carpets so that we can have a customer base who we do all of these services for.  This is working to some extent and I don't feel that we look like jack of all trades - although this may be helped by the fact that there's two of us and my other half runs the domestic side and while I run the rest.

[Ian Gourlay]

I have always been diversified.

Into services away from cleaning.

Although I like variety  Im not sure if you really want to build a substantional bussiness  it is theway to go.

As each thing I do requires a  diffrent focus.

If I wasa diffrent  personality  I would concentrate  on one company  I believe thiswould be the quickest way to grow.

So  do not do as do 

[elliott cleaning]

A little while ago I cleaned somethings for a guy who technically owns an airline, a rail franchise & a number of other businesses & he was actually there while I was working.
Believe he started up with a record store.   Seems to have made a success of the diverse companies he currently owns & made a fortune out of some of those that he sold.
So, Ian, diversification is not necessarily a bad thing; far more exciting & oh, how much less of a bore one is.   You only live once

[robert meldrum]

Smart Ass !

But ...........all of Branson's energy went into building his original business which then funded the ones he added MUCH later emulating the Greek guy ( easy this , that and the other )

Cleaning, fitting, protecting, repairing, renovating, etc, are really all inter related and if you're good enough at them, fair enough.

Just reckon if you want to build something...............KISS is king or maybe queen 

[Jeremy]

Some one mentioned that we are not carpet cleaners but business men/women. In order to make money as a businessman, you have to constantly look for opportunities.

We started off as carpet cleaners 4 years ago. Then we looked at Hard surface cleaning, then ceiling cleaning, then a laundromat, then window cleaning, then home maintenance, then building maintenance. SOme of these have been successful and some have not. SOme we have made good money out of and some have lost us money.

I have a big mouth and am always asking the customers what they need. For example, a customer asked who she could get to hang a new door. I new a friend, phoned him and he did the job.Next minute, I was submitting quotes to a large multilocation custy to do all the small maintenance jobs.

That friend of mine now runs around fixing doors, windows, changing light bulbs, fixing plumbing leaks every day. I pay him for a call out fee and an hourly rate and I get good money without doing a thing.

WHen times are tuff, ask yourself, "Can I afford to sit around with no income".  use your connections and try things. You might also be the next Richard Branson.

Jeremy

[Ian Gourlay]

A little while ago I cleaned somethings for a guy who technically owns an airline, a rail franchise & a number of other businesses & he was actually there while I was working.
Believe he started up with a record store.   Seems to have made a success of the diverse companies he currently owns & made a fortune out of some of those that he sold.
So, Ian, diversification is not necessarily a bad thing; far more exciting & oh, how much less of a bore one is.   You only live once

But Branson was smart in the early days he had  young people  dossing down in the house  he got virtually rent free working in his companies

ie Student Mag

Students advisory service etc for free.

He got his record shops  rent free for 6 months


Failed to pay Her Majesties Government Purchase tax   Avoided Prison



Got Nectar way below Market Value



Does the type face go all over place when posting . Keeps jumping about