[Hilton]

 Mine believing I was too busy to take on some extra work offered to us by asset management company about 25 yrs ago in the city of London.


We were working for RBS cleaning their carpets after some bomb damage, the windows had been blown out, the building owners asked me if I could deal with the verticle blinds which were damaged but easily repairable and could have been rehung...it was for the whole building .....That building was the Nat West Tower...what a Pratt trying be big time Charlie..

The company that took it on made a fortune and still are, I won't say who it is but you will know them,
 

Over the years when going past that building I have thought about what could have been,opportunity missed because of my ego, but mustn't dwell on it too much but a huge lesson learned.

[ian harper]

buying a van from a trusted carpet cleaner and not getting hpi check only later to find out still had credit on it when engine went south £3.5k down the drain.

mind you made thousands out of his neglected database if only he had paid attention to it he might still be in business.

[John Kelly]

Taking other people to a fire & flood seminar. Could have had massive area to myself instead of split 3 ways.

[Barry Livingstone]

Nothing wrong with the Odd 3way 

[Mike Mahoney]

believing I was invincible to keep a big contract happy, the eggs in one basket scenario, regular work, slow payers, but doubled turnover, then tripled, got people in to do carpet cleaning, pest control, asbestos reports, cashflow destroyed, got a decent payment then it started again, this is a major blue chip company, then I found I could not pay pay other people on time, was asking them to wait the 60, as I was getting paid on 90 nett.

Aug 2012, family holiday, wife went with daughter, I worked. Made it up by booking to go away at Christmas as had had a considerable sum outstanding and had managed to pay off sub contractors.

Dec 2012, chasing up payments becomes stressful as bank has now withdrawn overdraft, relations with people who trusted me becomes fraught.

Into the new year and everybody paid,

Long story short, I was being eaten up inside but was only chasing the bigger jobs, march fell asleep on motorway, April my best guy quit due to stress.

June my right hand man was back, just to cover my holiday, had a week off and slept all week my wife and daughter enjoyed the sun.

We agreed that daddy should not work anymore ridiculous hours.

July, same company offered me 32 units to clean in 9 weeks, all scheduled all agreed right hand man back at my side and promise of regular payments.

***** ON MONDAY OF THIS WEEK I HAD A HEART ATTACK *****

I HAVE SINCE BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH ACCUTE ANGINA AND HEART DISEASE, MOST PROBABLY CAUSED THROUGH STRESS.

Listen to your body and your loved ones, if somebody who loves you, tells you to take a break and forget the work, do it, take the break, because they love you.

We are all tough guys in this industry because we work the hours other people wont, we are all tough guys because everyday we hear, its the cleaner, not its the cleaning proffesional we had to hire.

Sorry this is an essay but if you had struggled to get out of the van, felt tired more than usual, or started to get ratty with the most important people in your life, take a break.

x

[wynne jones]

Sorry to hear that Mike and you are right. We all probably start off when we are relatively young and burn the candle at both ends and get away with it. Something has to give in the end though.

Despite your condition at least you are still here. In a weird way it may turn out to be a good thing looking back. Many CC make good money and have a work life balance most people would eny. 

[Neil Jones]

Mike good luck with the recovery, sounds very much like the route I was going down this year, it's only something like that to make you sit down and rest. Having my one day off this week today lol

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Worst one for me is coming onto these bloody forums eating up all my time.

Shaun

[jasonl]

After making a huge profit in 07 from flood work.

Blowing it all on a ready mixed concrete business ( thinking nice steady income)  in 3 months the recession started meaning building work almost stopped, turnover went from 10k a week to 2 k, I listened to people who said it was temporary ,and in the end ploughed 300k into it . Managed to find a buyer at 100k , he paid 30k deposit and was supposed to pay the balance in 3 months , I never got it , and did not have the funds to take it to court.

I am grateful to all fellow carpet cleaners who have helped me to get back on my feet , I ended up 120k in debt , just about paid off now .

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

Waiting so long to get a truck mount and thinking of all the reasons why not, none of which seem relevant now.

Not much compared with Mike and Jason, good luck guys.

Cheers

Doug

[Dennis]

Buying a franchise.

[Len Gribble]

Taking on a so called friend as a partner (he came to me) I will always have the last laugh