The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

Ashamed of business?

Topics relating to managing people and relationships

Sunflower88

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
300%
Jul 31, 2019
2
6
Hi there!
I’m curious if this is recognised by some of you. My friend has a successful company in the cleaning industry/housekeeping. He has about 40 employees and makes very good money. I’m very proud on him!! I’ve seen him grow over the years, we talk about his developments almost every day so I feel very involved as well, therefore this thread. But suddenly he is worried that this company doesn’t not “fit his image”. He would prefer to have a company in the music industry which he is planning on starting but now he doesn’t want to tell anyone about this (very successful) company and he has removed it from all his social media accounts, even from LinkedIn. Personally, I don’t understand this because I believe he can and should be so very proud on himself! We have endless discussions about this but he believes his cleaning company will reflect on him in a bad way, even though it’s highly successful.
What do you think? Is there a chance that having a company in a “less appealing” industry can work against you when you want to start a company in your “dream industry” like for instance, the music industry? Thank you so much!
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Sizemore

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
86%
Jul 21, 2019
43
37
Hi there!
I’m curious if this is recognised by some of you. My friend has a successful company in the cleaning industry/housekeeping. He has about 40 employees and makes very good money. I’m very proud on him!! I’ve seen him grow over the years, we talk about his developments almost every day so I feel very involved as well, therefore this thread. But suddenly he is worried that this company doesn’t not “fit his image”. He would prefer to have a company in the music industry which he is planning on starting but now he doesn’t want to tell anyone about this (very successful) company and he has removed it from all his social media accounts, even from LinkedIn. Personally, I don’t understand this because I believe he can and should be so very proud on himself! We have endless discussions about this but he believes his cleaning company will reflect on him in a bad way, even though it’s highly successful.
What do you think? Is there a chance that having a company in a “less appealing” industry can work against you when you want to start a company in your “dream industry” like for instance, the music industry? Thank you so much!
Lol um, I am not sure
Hi there!
I’m curious if this is recognised by some of you. My friend has a successful company in the cleaning industry/housekeeping. He has about 40 employees and makes very good money. I’m very proud on him!! I’ve seen him grow over the years, we talk about his developments almost every day so I feel very involved as well, therefore this thread. But suddenly he is worried that this company doesn’t not “fit his image”. He would prefer to have a company in the music industry which he is planning on starting but now he doesn’t want to tell anyone about this (very successful) company and he has removed it from all his social media accounts, even from LinkedIn. Personally, I don’t understand this because I believe he can and should be so very proud on himself! We have endless discussions about this but he believes his cleaning company will reflect on him in a bad way, even though it’s highly successful.
What do you think? Is there a chance that having a company in a “less appealing” industry can work against you when you want to start a company in your “dream industry” like for instance, the music industry? Thank you so much!
My opinion may not matter here because my business is in the process of becoming a success, so I may not understand. However, if I did have a very successful stripclub (I mean cleaning company) I would be proud of that. Also, I would think the management of a 40 person human resource system that makes profit would be respected across industries. Especially a... cleaning company, as there are a lot of variables in play in the business model.
 

biophase

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
474%
Jul 25, 2007
9,120
43,260
Scottsdale, AZ
Hi there!
I’m curious if this is recognised by some of you. My friend has a successful company in the cleaning industry/housekeeping. He has about 40 employees and makes very good money. I’m very proud on him!! I’ve seen him grow over the years, we talk about his developments almost every day so I feel very involved as well, therefore this thread. But suddenly he is worried that this company doesn’t not “fit his image”. He would prefer to have a company in the music industry which he is planning on starting but now he doesn’t want to tell anyone about this (very successful) company and he has removed it from all his social media accounts, even from LinkedIn. Personally, I don’t understand this because I believe he can and should be so very proud on himself! We have endless discussions about this but he believes his cleaning company will reflect on him in a bad way, even though it’s highly successful.
What do you think? Is there a chance that having a company in a “less appealing” industry can work against you when you want to start a company in your “dream industry” like for instance, the music industry? Thank you so much!

He definitely has an ego issue. I'm going to predict that any company that he starts to satisfy his image is going to fail.
 
D

DeletedUser0287

Guest
I'd tell him to forget the image. What is he doing this for? Women? If so, women don't care what you do as long as you are successful in it.

Building a business based on others perception of him is a bad idea.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

flower_girl

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
189%
Jul 9, 2019
28
53
Cleaning is good, honest, essential work. I've no idea why anyone would be ashamed of being a cleaner or having a cleaning business, especially such a successful one.

Is there a bit of snobbery going on here? Because that's kinda sad.
 

Kevin88660

Platinum Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
118%
Feb 8, 2019
3,456
4,078
Singapore
I totally can get it.

Cleaning company is not “cool” and sounds “blue collar”.

But I am not sure how music industry is better. Lol.

Whatever that makes money, is good to me.
 

BoldBridge

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
100%
Jan 20, 2020
6
6
I once owned a business selling poop "fertilizer" - it was the epitome of embarrassing businesses, though it was insanely profitable. At the time, I was proud of it and even now joke about it using it's more colorful 4 led variation.

Perhaps for your friend it has less to do with being embarrassed about his business and more to do with showing his range and that he's more suited for music. Or, maybe he's afraid of how others will perceive a guy that runs a house keeping business and is now in the music biz.

At the end of the day, your business is what you make of it. If you're embarrassed, change things up a bit. But don't do so at the expense of who you are/ your authenticity. Just my .02.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Real Deal Denver

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
245%
Jan 13, 2018
899
2,199
69
Denver, Colorado
I once owned a business selling poop "fertilizer" - it was the epitome of embarrassing businesses, though it was insanely profitable. At the time, I was proud of it and even now joke about it using it's more colorful 4 led variation.

Perhaps for your friend it has less to do with being embarrassed about his business and more to do with showing his range and that he's more suited for music. Or, maybe he's afraid of how others will perceive a guy that runs a house keeping business and is now in the music biz.

At the end of the day, your business is what you make of it. If you're embarrassed, change things up a bit. But don't do so at the expense of who you are/ your authenticity. Just my .02.

It must have been good to be able to tell everyone they don't know sheet. Man, I could have fun with that one.

I need a sideline insanely profitable business. Why would you get out of a biz like that? I'm kind of the "Monopoly" player type of guy - I like to accumulate businesses - not sell them off.

I'll also take stable any day over the bucking bronco stuff I've done, and has become obsolete. One day I was charging big bucks - the next day technology changed and I wondered where everyone went. That has happened more than once. Poop doesn't sound so bad...
 

minivanman

Platinum Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
265%
Mar 16, 2017
1,722
4,562
54
DFW
Here is how it went for me personally in the house cleaning business. My friends at the race track, only saw me at the race track. Once they found out I owned a house cleaning business it was a joke. This was right as flip phones were coming out and I don't think you could program a name in. So they would have someone at their work call me up and say things like..... So you are a cleaning business? I'd say.... YES!! They would say, How much would you charge to clean the back of my balls? Or what ever joke they could come up with that day. I remember that one because I played it back on them later.:rofl: But then one day we were going to Knoxville, Iowa for racing and I had them come by and pick me up. They were in awe of what all I had. They were like.... this is yours? :wideyed: And my answer was.... Yeah, ball cleaning pays well and I charge EXTRA for cleaning the back of the balls (you son-of-a-mother... put that in your pipe and smoke it! That's what I wanted to say lol).:moneybag::cash:

So maybe someone at some time has made fun of him for being in the house cleaning business. While I'm not ashamed of it now, once they started messing around with me, I kind of stopped telling people what business I owned. In their defense, they had no clue how it made me feel because I'm always the one joking around. I'm usually the 1st to throw out the bad joke.

For me personally, at that time I was a micromanager. I thought I had to be in Omaha, Lincoln & Kansas City (I had cleaning businesses in all those cities) all at the same time over-seeing what everyone did at every minute. While I do miss being young and having all those females, kind of like a harem, I don't miss the day-to-day pain in the @ss it was to micromanage all of it. If only I would have let it run itself....
 

Real Deal Denver

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
245%
Jan 13, 2018
899
2,199
69
Denver, Colorado
Here is how it went for me personally in the house cleaning business. My friends at the race track, only saw me at the race track. Once they found out I owned a house cleaning business it was a joke. This was right as flip phones were coming out and I don't think you could program a name in. So they would have someone at their work call me up and say things like..... So you are a cleaning business? I'd say.... YES!! They would say, How much would you charge to clean the back of my balls? Or what ever joke they could come up with that day. I remember that one because I played it back on them later.:rofl: But then one day we were going to Knoxville, Iowa for racing and I had them come by and pick me up. They were in awe of what all I had. They were like.... this is yours? :wideyed: And my answer was.... Yeah, ball cleaning pays well and I charge EXTRA for cleaning the back of the balls (you son-of-a-mother... put that in your pipe and smoke it! That's what I wanted to say lol).:moneybag::cash:

So maybe someone at some time has made fun of him for being in the house cleaning business. While I'm not ashamed of it now, once they started messing around with me, I kind of stopped telling people what business I owned. In their defense, they had no clue how it made me feel because I'm always the one joking around. I'm usually the 1st to throw out the bad joke.

For me personally, at that time I was a micromanager. I thought I had to be in Omaha, Lincoln & Kansas City (I had cleaning businesses in all those cities) all at the same time over-seeing what everyone did at every minute. While I do miss being young and having all those females, kind of like a harem, I don't miss the day-to-day pain in the @ss it was to micromanage all of it. If only I would have let it run itself....

Always great insight!

I know a guy that went into lawn mowing and landscaping out of high school. All his friends were headed to real jobs or college, but this guy stayed behind and did what he liked to do.

Today he has most of the golf course contracts for upkeep, and many crews running all the time doing this seemingly simple stuff. Except it's not simple, and he has captured the market.

All he got out of the deal was he's good looking - in great shape (he still works hard) - very happily living a full and enriching life - and incredibly rich. Other than those few differences, we're pretty much in the same boat...

I never look down on anyone doing manual labor or simple work. I know quite a few people that started out doing that - and still do - and enjoy huge success, in lots more ways than just a big paycheck. I salute them!
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

DavidTT

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
238%
Aug 3, 2016
61
145
36
Well I actually suffer from the opposite. I work at the bank and although everyone respects you and it makes your mother proud, it's absolutely dreadful. Absolutely hate working here. Being a corporate drone is an understatement. Every time I hear someone else work at a bank, I always feel bad for how his life must be.

It seems like social status and image is much more important in this day and age than meaningful work.
 

tpuffer

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
315%
Sep 12, 2019
137
432
What's not to be proud of in providing 40 people a good job and also making a decent living for yourself.

Maybe the friend could start a music label on the side. Something tells me he shouldn't put all the money from doing chores, I mean housecleaning, into it though. :)
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Real Deal Denver

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
245%
Jan 13, 2018
899
2,199
69
Denver, Colorado
Well I actually suffer from the opposite. I work at the bank and although everyone respects you and it makes your mother proud, it's absolutely dreadful. Absolutely hate working here. Being a corporate drone is an understatement. Every time I hear someone else work at a bank, I always feel bad for how his life must be.

It seems like social status and image is much more important in this day and age than meaningful work.

I can make you love your job.

All I have to do is have you do mine for a week. Two, maybe - tops. You'll be so happy with your bank job after you've done mine. No working nights and weekends - getting breaks and lunches - paid days off - more holidays than most people will ever know - and easy work.

Oh, but your passion isn't being fulfilled there? It's a JOB. Most people have a job so they can get money so they can do what feeds their passion.

I started out in life having TWO paper routes. They were Sunday routes, which meant I was up at 5 - delivering the super heavy/big Sunday papers - sometimes in a blizzard that was 20 below. To each door - not throwing it close to the door. I did it for the money - and I had a lot of money - for a kid. I had so much money, as a kid, that I bought silver ingots as an investment back then. Yep - investing at 10 years old. I sold them much later in life and used that money to start another business.

Once you deliver papers - in the dark - in a blizzard - for a couple of hours - nothing else sucks. Nothing else is hard. Today, I work over 60 hours a week - no paid time off - no holidays - no paid vacations - no break room - hell, no breaks even.

Suck it up buttercup. Someone like me is right behind you that will gladly take your job from hell - and be glad about it.
 

DavidTT

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
238%
Aug 3, 2016
61
145
36
I can make you love your job.

All I have to do is have you do mine for a week. Two, maybe - tops. You'll be so happy with your bank job after you've done mine. No working nights and weekends - getting breaks and lunches - paid days off - more holidays than most people will ever know - and easy work.

Oh, but your passion isn't being fulfilled there? It's a JOB. Most people have a job so they can get money so they can do what feeds their passion.

I started out in life having TWO paper routes. They were Sunday routes, which meant I was up at 5 - delivering the super heavy/big Sunday papers - sometimes in a blizzard that was 20 below. To each door - not throwing it close to the door. I did it for the money - and I had a lot of money - for a kid. I had so much money, as a kid, that I bought silver ingots as an investment back then. Yep - investing at 10 years old. I sold them much later in life and used that money to start another business.

Once you deliver papers - in the dark - in a blizzard - for a couple of hours - nothing else sucks. Nothing else is hard. Today, I work over 60 hours a week - no paid time off - no holidays - no paid vacations - no break room - hell, no breaks even.

Suck it up buttercup. Someone like me is right behind you that will gladly take your job from hell - and be glad about it.
Dude give me a break with that tough guy bullsh*t. You obviously you know nothing about either my job or my past work experience so keep your ignorant comments to yourself.

Yes I do work in the evenings and weekends. I also used to work 60+ hours weekly in the past or 13+ hour shifts. Heck, I've worked plenty of times outdoors and here in Montreal, it does get a whole lot colder than Denver trust me.

I did everything from 12h night shifts, waking at 3AM in the morning in the cold winters here in order to receive 300+ tires for winter, being a janitor, a valet, an auto mechanic, picking beans in the middle of nowhere etc. There's tons of crappy jobs I've done in the past just like everyone here. Heck, I used to get paid $4/hr doing 10-12hr a day in a factory working for Asians lol. Big deal.

Yes the bank job is most probably the best job I have in my life so far. It still sucks and isn't as fun as some other jobs I had in the past however. Being an auto mechanic is far more enjoyable. What makes a job isn't the salary or the job position but the people you work with. I used to get paid peanuts flipping tires and being an auto mechanic but it was so much fun. The bank job, although it pays far more, is just a soul sucking job. It's just constant droneship and negativity and legal BS all the time.
 

Real Deal Denver

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
245%
Jan 13, 2018
899
2,199
69
Denver, Colorado
Dude give me a break with that tough guy bullsh*t. You obviously you know nothing about either my job or my past work experience so keep your ignorant comments to yourself.
You're right - I know nothing about your situation. I do, however, know bank jobs. I work closely with lenders - very very closely. First name basis - golf games - business deals. I've yet to meet the person that breaks a sweat working in a bank. Cushy.

The bank job, although it pays far more, is just a soul sucking job. It's just constant droneship and negativity and legal BS all the time.
Sit in a cubicle with a flickering fluorescent light above you writing code all day long. I didn't do that, but I worked with people that did. Dull - soul-sucking. For sure. But they adapted. Some even grew to like it - you know, the true geek types.

Your job is not going to compare to writing code for 60 minutes out of every hour - staring at a screen. That's a tough job that grinds people down. Yet, I know several people that do that day in and day out.

Picking beans? My wife was doing that when she was six. Her entire family did it. They traveled from Texas to Colorado with the seasons, working the fields for different crops. Mostly beets - beets take a lot of work and pay well. Six. She did this from six to about 18 or 19. Tough woman. Her whole family is tough as nails. None of them work fields anymore - and I have never heard one - not even one - complaint about the jobs they do now. Tell her how tough working in a bank is and step back - you don't want to be spit on when she laughs out loud. Tell her brothers how hard working in a bank is. I asked them one time how they could stand bending over all day long picking watermelons. Think about that - ten hours of bending down and lifting. They were tougher than Seals or Marines.

Tough winters? My paper route was in Minnesota - not Denver. 20-30 below for weeks on end. I was toughing it out not only in the cold - but in raging blizzards - at age ten.

What I am saying is not tough-guy bullshit. It's the truth. Do you expect any sympathy here for working in a. Bank? Get real.

Now I think I've heard it all.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

BizyDad

Keep going. Keep growing.
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
416%
Oct 7, 2019
2,885
11,989
Phoenix AZ
I think this whole thread is just another lesson in not judging someone till you've walked a mile in their moccasins.

Owning a cleaning business might grind you down. Other people are proud to own cleaning businesses. They probably learn a lot.

Working at a bank might grind you down. I was happy to work at a bank. I learned a lot.

Working as a coder might grind you down. Plenty of people on this forum happy to get coding jobs. They learn a lot.

One man's trash is another man's treasure.

Regardless of where you're at or how you're feeling about your current situation, the two big questions are:

What have you learned? And what is your next step?

Everything else is just noise.
 
Last edited:

MattR82

Gold Contributor
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
178%
Oct 4, 2015
1,394
2,480
41
Brisbane
Sounds like he hasn't had a big F*ck this experience yet. Maybe. I don't know. Just sounds really immature.
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top