[Jonny 87]

Looking forward to seeing some good pics of the fleet.

Hope all goes well for you. Shows a lot of ambition.

[Clever Forum Name]

Please order 30 univalves and link them all together.

[chris turner]

Nice one Lee.

I recently sold one of my spare brushes to a fellow shiner for 20 notes.
Might invest that 20 into a new brush soon.
Business just goes from strength to strength...

[lal]

 All the very best to you with your expansion lee,  what model Renault Traffics are you buying, and why your preference
 for Renaults over other makes, just wondering as I'm still deciding on which van to get later this year.

 Regards
 Lal

[dazmond]

thats very ambitious lee.good luck to you but remember ambition can cut you down!

just reading your first post makes me feel a little queasy!

he who dares.....rodders!!!

you must thrive on the stress. im like dave it would see me off and id be dead within a year i reckon!

[Bungle]

Are you also hiring a carpark to keep these 8  extra vans in? The only winner I see here is Ionics and the printer.

[Johnny B]

Good on you Lee.   

John

[Tosh]

Well, I know Ive knocked you in the past Lee, but this looks to be something worth following. Its brave for sure. Risky as well. I hope the advise you've had is from sound, quality sources.

Far more credible than radio advertising.

Hey, whats the worse that can happen? You have 8 vans to sell. Big deal. (as well as  2 x 50" monitors, are you sure that isn't just ego, do you really need 2 x 50" monitors?). Worse business failures have happened.

[Lee Pryor]

Some good point there, let me try to respond to a few.

Prices.
 I will actually be slightly increasing our prices this year. Cleaner planner tells me our average price is £22.00 right now.

Vans and Ionics.
 I like the traffic, they have served us well. By buying in bulk I got them for £13K each plus VAT, a very good price. Ionic have always given me a great service and produce a great product. I use there pure 2o brand which is a bit cheaper but just as good.

Yes bungle
 I have rented a car park, its called the industrial yard we are based in, I see your a posetive chap arnt you. Things cost money. I have done deals on just about everything im spending on with my supliers.

Am I coming to your area?

I wouldnt worry about that at all, we will be covering most of the south east of england, its not like im getting thousands of customers out of 1 town and wiping out everyone that already cleans there, the spread will be wide and I doubt it will actually effect anyone in that way. Not only that the amount of huge new build estates going up is quite amazing right now so theres plenty of houses.

My indulgence in my office.
I want a nice place to sit what will probably be 7 days a week, Ive spent 6 years freezing my nuts off, listening to reving engines from other businesses and working with old computers. I also want a nice place for the others to work all day every day. I bought the screens cheap in the easter sale. they will be used to display work info from the computers, tracker info, cleaner planner, ect If we have a bit of day time tv or music on them while we work big deal!

Yes its already very stessful and I havnt even kicked off yet. I will manage. 

[richard groves]

Well they say he who dares don't they  ?
Personally it always suprises at just how much people want to achieve / feel they need - financially and materialistically . Thats not a knock down Lee, just not what I would want or need.
A positive is you will be providing much needed jobs, wish you luck.

[Smurf]

What did you parents say to your question "Am I brave or stupid?" 

I know what I would have said and it would have been don't be so stupid as if you can't make a good living at it already having 5 vans on the road what makes you think getting heavily into debt will make things better for you.  Having ambition is one thing but financial stupidity could be your downfall bigtime.

Just my opinion you understand.

     

[Richard iSparkle]

this must be very exciting and is certainly brave.

i would worry about the amount of change all in one go. expansion is difficult, and taking on new office staff and systems is hard too... but if this gives you a buzz and you love working those long hours, why not.

good luck to you. i hope it goes well

[Lee Pryor]

What did you parents say to your question "Am I brave or stupid?" 

I know what I would have said and it would have been don't be so stupid as if you can't make a good living at it already having 5 vans on the road what makes you think getting heavily into debt will make things better for you.  Having ambition is one thing but financial stupidity could be your downfall bigtime.

Just my opinion you understand.

fair play.

Its debt that pays for itself in the end.

I do make a good living with 5 vans. I just want to have a go at the really good living. i grew up in a flat on a council estate (nothing wrong with that) So ive tried that end of the scale, I want to try the other end.

I will only be getting 6 of the 8 straight away, with the last 2 in 6 months so im not fully commited to the full amount straight away.

If things dont go as well as planned I would hope to get to at least 9 or 10. I can always stop the spending at that point and jump back on the property ladder.

Round my way there are lots of industrail estates and lots of companies with fleets of vehicles on the road which I see every day. Haulage, grab hire, skip hire, couriers ect. When I see them all over the place I think I want to be like that.

I just want to give it a go

   

[Clever Forum Name]

I must be the only one who thinks the 50" screens are a good idea!

Ideally I would want one for tracking vans which I am assuming you are doing.

If you see all 8 heading off to the ports you know they are going in containers lol

Also to manage that amount of customers you would never several screens or a big one.......

Technology and window cleaners don't mix.

Just literally been chatting to a guy who is going home and worked a few days this month due to ROTA cuff damage. Doctors have said it is RSI related and was warned about winding in reels.

This same guy laughed at my electric hose reel saying it was a waste of money. Oh really? Yeah he was right a 100% what was I thinking.

Go for it LEE. If i can help in any way you just let me know.

Like I said. I watched a few of your videos a few years ago. You turned us all into a window cleaner machines here.

Never ever thought I'd have what we have today and it's only getting better.

Like I said I owe you some pints

[SeanK]

What did you parents say to your question "Am I brave or stupid?" 

I know what I would have said and it would have been don't be so stupid as if you can't make a good living at it already having 5 vans on the road what makes you think getting heavily into debt will make things better for you.  Having ambition is one thing but financial stupidity could be your downfall bigtime.

Just my opinion you understand.

   

Have to agree Smurf, why the big rush and why didn't the 5 vans not become 6 then 7 and so on, the thing is there's no need
risk bankruptcy or sell a valuable asset to do what he needs to do, looks as if the whole business  plan is just based on saving a few quid by buying vans in bulk.
I do wish him every success though as it takes guts to do what he's doing.

[Smurf]

 Best of luck bud as I'm not knocking your ambitions but on the other hand I don't want you to fall flat on your arse either.

I know of a chap that worked for a small firm in a different trade that ended up taking a gamble to buy the business from the owner when he retired.  After taking the initial risk then investing a small fortune on specialist equipment over a number of years has now a multi million turnover business. The chap is now a very wealthy individual.

However on the other hand I also know of a chap that took a gamble on a business venture that ended up losing everything.

[Scrimble]

how many customers do you currently have lee?

[Johnny B]

I would recommend reading 'Tycoon' by Peter Jones. Excellent book which teaches you the 'tycoon' mentality, but is put across in such a way that it can help anyone from someone with a simple business idea, to a sole trader, up to a multi-business entrepreneur by means of having a set of 'golden rules' for success. And the success you aspire to can be as big as you want it to be.

Best wishes,
John

[Smurf]

I would recommend reading 'Tycoon' by Peter Jones. Excellent book which teaches you the 'tycoon' mentality, but is put across in such a way that it can help anyone from someone with a simple business idea, to a sole trader, up to a multi-business entrepreneur by means of having a set of 'golden rules' for success. And the success you aspire to can be as big as you want it to be.

Best wishes,
John

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asWhZgWWtes

I like Number 10  the best as my gut feeling is the  rest seems just bullcrap to me 

[Dave Willis]

I've been thinking about this today and the maths is scary, well to me anyway (never was my strong point). So eight vans which means bang! a load more work required the minute the new ones arrive, new employees - two to a van? So what intrigues me is where the break even point comes, the point where you've made up the 160,000 I think it was and you are into profit? When do you expect to get back into the position of buying back into your own property? I guess you've done your homework Lee and must have a business plan?
In two years you want twenty vans, that's a lot of staff, massive amount of work and big overheads good luck. I wouldn't know where to start (probably the toilet I think).