[Mike Osbourne]

Sorry if I'm going slightly off topic, but

Does anybody sometimes think the lengths you have to go to to get business in such a competitive job, the marketing and sales skills you have to have could yield tons more money applying it in something else (even though you love cleaning carpets )

[andrew christopher]

Sorry if I'm going slightly off topic, but

Does anybody sometimes think the lengths you have to go to to get business in such a competitive job, the marketing and sales skills you have to have could yield tons more money applying it in something else (even though you love cleaning carpets )

I certainly do! but what! I sold art up until recently as well as running a cleaning company, then felt driving around in my van with no time constraints, no huge overheads earning some cash cleaning a few windows on houses was most appealing!

Andy   

[Kev Loomes]

Kev

I think thats supposed to read £ 60 -£ 70 per hour

Just a typo.

I'll let him off then

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I was once reading a plumbers forum for fun and they stated that the price what they charged was the price that they could get away with!! but I think we are all like that to an extent, if you are booked up months infront all of the time surely you are too cheap for the quality of work you do??

Shaun

[Ian Rochester]

£70/hour and bragging about it, you're just opening yourself up for someone to run in there and undercut you.  Especially a young Romanian, Polish or Latvian lad who's willing to work hard, learn from others on these forums and go out there and take your business away from you.

I defy anyone to be doing that level of work, 37.5 hrs a week

[John Kelly]

There aren't many businesses where you can earn the potential of a sensible carpet cleaner. In fact many earn more than professionals who spent 4-5 years studying for their career.

[Ian Rochester]

I agree the earnings can be very good, but to say you are earning £70/hr means you are turning over £136,000/year and there aren't many areas in this country where that level of work can be maintained as a sole trader

[Mike Osbourne]

Your absolutely right John, but 'professionals' still swap time for money which is the limiting factor whatever the hourly rate.

[Buster Ingram]

Mike I can see where your coming from there are other professions that pay far more with less effort but what you have to realise is you are in full control of how much or little you earn. For example I have just spent a little over 12 months as a instalations manger for a vehicle tracking company where the engineers earn well over £100 an hour most are on at least 7 grand a month and all they carry in the line of tools is a screw driver soldering iron and wire stripper. The down side is they have to travel all round the country at all times of the day and night fitting tracking units to vehicle that employed driver don't want fitted!
For me carpet cleaning is the place to be, you can't beat putting smiles on peoples faces. It  served me well for nearly 30 years when I was in Wolverhampton rearing a family and hopfully it will serve me well here in Newbury.  The only down side to the profession are the braggers on the boards who fantasise about what they earn. The next one who asks me what I charge an hour I will swiftly tell them to mind their own business.
How many solicitors do you hear swap storries of how much they have charged a client ?
Yet there are those on here and other forums who open bragg about how well they are doing. Yet if I looked at most of their chemical accounts with suppliers I bet there are not many who  are in credit!

My rant over.   

[Mike Osbourne]

One of the reasons I like carpet cleaning is I get a great deal of satisfaction when a Client is visibly happier for having me clean their carpet, although for me part of that is the whole experience not just how clean their carpet is.

I strongly believe that value to the client is more to do with your interaction with them more than cleaning the carpet!

Have you seen the Argos advert with the bells and whistles department store, well I think most (ok some) people ultimately want that experience, not waiting for your ticket to come up and a spotty teenager hand you a cardboard box.

[Buster Ingram]

Mike that's the part of the job I missed the most and the reason i'm starting from scratch here in Newbury, the interation with different people every day and not the same old sad face's you get in an office . its great to be back in the real world

[Mike Osbourne]

Been there done that, worked in office in Reading for yonks, wouldn't swap back for the world, politics and tossers promoted to the level of their incompetence.

Even met David Brent once, or someone just like him.

[Buster Ingram]

Funny you should say Reading that's where I had to suffer must be the place not to be. Cleaning carpets there is far different than working in an office

[Mike Osbourne]

If only my future me could have come back in time and said ditch the suit. Money makes you do stuff you don't want to do. Had a nice place in Wokingham 5beds leafy close, all gone now  but happier 

[Buster Ingram]

I was told once that you have never lived unless you have had your arse out once or twice. Those that succeed have gone broke at least once!

[Mike Osbourne]

Yep your dead right there Dave and I think the credit crunch is actually a good thing for the younger generation.

God that makes me sound old.

My first experience of financial shock was when I did some work for Oracle and they let about half their Consultants go in Bracknell. They lost their job, their beemer and their highly prized fuel cards. An old wise Guru said to me - Son, always have six month money in the bank and never expect more than a months severance. 

Off to my pit now, crafting begins at eight!

[suffolkclean]

Hi Johnny - I just have to say I'm slightly P***** off with what you've tried to do!

Johnny has emailed me - carpet cleaners near to him, pretending he wants a quote for carpet cleaning. I was a bit suspicious as its the first quote enquiry I've had with each room and the measurements in metres square. I called him to find out where the property was and oh its near Colchester and I knew thats where you were from, the lack of the english accent and your telephone number matching your website??? I'm not Silly!!I was trying to be helpful in my original post and you've been caught out.