Making Money For Dummies (And In a Crowded Market)

[IceCreamKid]

My primary goal for this thread is to hopefully open your eyes to the fact that although everyone is jumping on the online entrepreneur bandwagon, there is still plenty of money to be made in the offline world. Hopefully it helps somebody out.

You can take almost any old school biz and apply basic direct response marketing principles to the advertising to scale it to a very good 6-figure income. I'm guessing you can scale it to 7-figures as well, but I haven't done that myself nor am I going to pretend that I have.

The Details

Why carpet cleaning?

-Solid profit margins. A $300 job will require $10 worth of cleaning solution. There's also the cost of gas, insurance, etc but the profit margins still remain good if you apply the proper tweaks to the biz. If you play the bait n' switch game like a lot of the competition then you won't last long.

-Recurring revenue. IMO, the greatest benefit of recurring revenue is that it gives you the opportunity to acquire customers at breakeven or even a loss in some cases. I try not to take an upfront loss on a customer though.

-Any ordinary man can learn to clean carpets. It takes plumbers and electricians months or years to get certified, but you can learn to clean carpets in a weekend.

-Low start up cost. If you know where to look and buy used stuff, I'd estimate that you can start the biz for around $1k. As you scale up, you'd want to buy better equipment and a nicer van/truck.

-Unsophisticated competition. It's quite easy to gain traction in this niche because the competition mostly hasn't spent any time learning marketing. Most will just say stuff in their ads like, "XYZ Carpet Cleaning. Call us for the best price". My prices are in the top 10% most expensive for the area. Positioning, positioning, positioning.

-SIMPLE. SIMPLE. SIMPLE. No fancy knowledge needed. EPC, CPC, CPA, none of that.

The Story

I took over the steering wheel of a carpet cleaning biz earlier this year. For years, it was struggling with approximately $50k annual profit. Where I live, you're poor if you make $50k.

I immediately began implementing marketing systems for customer acquisition and customer retention. I never changed the website simply because I'm lazy and running 3 other businesses alongside the carpet cleaning biz. I'll get around to it one day.

There are 2 types of entrepreneurs: the Elon Musk types who create brand new innovative products. They don't need to spend any money advertising because their products are so unique and attention grabbing. Then there's everyone else...the guys who cast a wide net selling many ordinary things. They need to advertise.

The biggest help was that I started using a service called Every Door Direct Mail. This allows you to send postcards to entire zip codes at nearly half the normal postage rate. The postcards had all of the classic elements of direct response marketing.

-Stating the problem

-Addressing objections

-Establishing credibility

-Testimonials

-Risk Reversals

-Described what was unique about our service/product

-Call to action

What I found is that depending on the zip code, I would get back $3-7 for every $1 spent on advertising. Neat. Scaled it like a kid in a candy store once I knew the metrics.

You are literally one direct response marketing campaign away from making a cool 6-figures, perhaps 7-figs...even if you're in a boring niche like carpet cleaning. Study direct response marketing. Once you have the direct response skills embedded into your brain, you can go into almost any niche and make a very good 6-figure income. Or you can just keep it simple and jump straight into carpet cleaning. It's not sexy, but it just plain works.

Here's the YouTube vid that inspired me to jump in. Last I heard, the guy was doing $3M/year in carpet cleaning.

Ask me anything about direct response marketing, the pitfalls of this niche, the process of cleaning, or just anything in general. There are a lot of details I left out simply because it would be too much to type in this already long post.

Jump in. Take action today. Success loves speed.

 

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[IceCreamKid]

I personally struggle with limiting beliefs, and I know many others do also. Is this something you personally had to overcome to get to this point?

You want to know the truth? EVERYONE has some type of limiting belief inside of them. People somehow have this perception that I am some invincible dude that plows through obstacles with ease. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

I am human. I feel fears just like you. I feel uncertainty just like you. The moment I “overcome” some limiting belief, I discover another one. Hah!

The major shift for me occurred when I changed my beliefs on what it means to be a man.

MOST MEN ARE FULL OF CRAP

Most will never admit that they need help. They’re full of crap. I was one of them.

If you were to ask me not too long ago what it means to be a man you would’ve heard stuff like, “bold, fearless, strong, blazing your own path like a beastly warrior, 100% zero F*cks given”.

In reality, I had this fearless outer shell but I was deeply insecure about how others perceived me. The simple thought of asking somebody else for help was painful for me because it meant that I was unable to achieve my goals on my own accord, which I interpreted as a sign of NOT being a real man. This is all BS. Ego. Pride. Bravado.

Then one day I had a 2 hour long talk with a guy I highly admired. Many of you are familiar with his name. He was running a $120k/mo SaaS biz in the real estate niche. This guy flipped everything around for me. He had all of the qualities that I perceived a real man has: strong, powerful, confident, successful, blazing his own path. BUT he also possessed many traits that I formerly perceived as beta male/weak: patient, loving, humble, willing to openly admit REAL flaws and personal failures to the world.

There are guys whose humility is their form of pride then there are guys who are genuinely humble. Who is this guy? How is he so different?

He introduced me to his biz partner. The partner was also the same way. I had never seen successful guys on that level being so ridiculously honest about their weaknesses, failures, hopes, and dreams. It was the most empowering thing I’ve ever witnessed. Somewhere along that line I subconsciously finally gave myself permission to act in a similar light.

I can think of a handful of men in my network who are ultra successful, but deep down they’re unhappy and aren’t asking for help because we live in some bullshit society that tells men that we’re weak if we talk about our deepest insecurities and failures.

We ALL need help once in a while. We ALL need somebody to lean on.

I don’t know anything about you, but I know me…and I’m just a regular guy who has his ups and downs like everybody else. I’m learning and growing everyday. I’m not who I was. The beginning of wisdom starts by saying “I don’t know”.

If success means having all the answers and having everything sorted out then I’m not successful and very much at peace with that.

 

[IceCreamKid]

I guess I knew this, it's different though when you see it in plain black and white. Perhaps I need to focus more on me and not trying to find the next big opportunity.

This is why I keep stressing to you guys to learn the skills of entrepreneurship. After you sharpen the skills, you can go into whatever niche you want and make money. Take some time to learn psychology and direct response marketing. That's what brings you customers. Then learn a bit about branding.

It's all in the mindset. The mindset is the limit.

1st Grade Mindset
1. What product can I buy and re-sell? Usually a one-time sale. No recurring revenue. Doesn't really see the bigger picture such as upsells, cross-sells, and lifetime value of the customer. Constantly hustling for the next sale because there's usually no recurring revenue aspect to the biz.

2nd Grade Mindset
1. Who is my ideal customer? High profit margin, easy to deal with, recurring revenue

2. Where do they hang out? How can I reach them? How much does it cost to reach them? EDDM

3. What bait can I use to get their attention and build credibility? Free room of carpet cleaning. No obligations. No hard upsells.

4. How do I make the product/service phenomenal so that they love it? High quality everything. Put booties on shoes before entering the house, wear clean white gloves when picking up furniture, phone call 30 min before arrival, follow up call a few days later to make sure they loved the service, and of course offer a better product than everyone else

5. How do I get them coming back for more? Enroll them in semi-annual cleaning program, send out monthly specials(New Year special, Valentine's Day special, St. Patrick's Day special, Tax Day special, Mother's Day special, and so forth). Keep the marketing machine moving.

6. How do I get referrals? Referral rewards program, charity events, customer appreciation events

 

[IceCreamKid]

Another awesome IceCreamKid thread! I'm curious in which ways have you had the most success in finding premium employees?

In my experience, standard interviews are a very poor indicator for determining the quality of employee.

Interviewer: So why do you want to work for us?
Potential employee: I feel that my proven track record leading multi-functional teams makes me an excellent match for the job requirements. Also, the role excites me because I love the idea of helping to develop cutting-edge service and I know I could start delivering results from Day 1.

What they're really thinking...

Interviewer: So why do you want to work for us?
Potential employee: Because I need money to pop bottles with models on weekends and buy things that I don't need.

I've found the most success for finding employees by dining at restaurants and observing the employees. Waiters have already been trained in customer service so they know what it means to go the extra sMile to make a customer happy. It also gives you a chance to observe their work ethic. You can tell very quickly if someone is the type who does the bare minimum to get by based on how they wait tables. A lot of waiters are burned out and looking for an alternative. You never know if you could be that saving grace for them.

I tend to avoid hiring young waiters because the young guns tend to still be cocky and haven't been humbled by life yet. There are exceptions though.

Attitude trumps skill every time. It's easier to teach a new skill to a guy with a good attitude than it is to teach a skilled guy how to develop a new attitude.

 

[IceCreamKid]

So how much are you making now?

I have no interest in divulging specific financials to thousands of anonymous eyeballs and lurkers. If I ever meet you in person I'll fill you in.

The purpose of this thread is to help others learn the skills of entrepreneurship so that they can go into almost any niche that they want and make some decent coin. That's what matters.

The quality of your life is directly correlated to the quality of your questions. Don't worry man I still love you.

 

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[IceCreamKid]

Do you rely mainly on direct marketing ( mail ?) or do you use adwords too ?
Do you hire a copy writer or do you do it yourself ?
I am expanding my services to the English speaking market in my area. Was thinking i should maybe hire a professional to write my ads.

I have many marketing systems in place, but the major 2 are the direct marketing system(Every Door Direct Mail) and the referral marketing system.

The customer retention marketing system is super important too. 70% of the jobs come from former customers and sometimes you have to constantly remind them that you exist. I read somewhere that 80% of the responses to debt collection letters come after the 3rd follow up. Response rates rise drastically after each letter is sent. This is one of the keys of direct response marketing.

I have a few other marketing systems for acquiring commercial clients and real estate offices, but residential is still my favorite.

I briefly tried adwords, but had no clue what I was doing and quickly burned through $3k in one week and got zero leads from it. I set it to target a specific area, but I was somehow getting clicks from all over the world like Egypt. Where is that guy Andy Black when you need him. Not all heroes wear capes.

I do the copywriting myself. If you are inexperienced in this area then I'd encourage you to either hire one or look at someone else's ad who you know for sure is successful and use that as a framework to work from. How do you determine if someone else's ad is successful? If they have been mailing out the ad for months or even years then you know it's a profitable piece for them. The difficult part though is that they MIGHT actually be losing money on that specific mailing, but making up for it on the back-end with recurring revenue in the future, upsells, or cross-sells.

Direct response marketing is all about making sure that your LTV is greater than your CAC. The lifetime value of a customer must be higher than the customer acquisition cost.

The most important elements to any marketing piece are this:

1. Headline: attention grabbing.
2. Who you are: show that you are human. You are real. There is only one Bila.
3. Why should I trust you: credibility, experience
4. Testimonials
5. Sexy promise: Keeps your brushes wet and ready to use in between coats.-Paint Brush Cover Boy
6. Drama: Before and after pics. Pics of happy clients.
7. Risk reversal: free 2-day shipping, 365 day money back guarantee, only pay if you're satisfied
8. Bait: free sample, 14-day trial of Amazon Prime, 7-day trial of Netflix, free 1 hour consultation
9. Deadline: creates scarcity

You don't need to have all of these elements in order to have a winning ad. It's just something to consider.

 

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[IceCreamKid]

Very nice thread @IceCreamKid ...Speaking of systems...i struggle with that...i struggle "finding" a system, implemting it, following it...everything about "it" . .... How did you start that part ?

The older I get, the lazier I become. Back when I first started I would try to build my own systems from scratch. It would take FOREVER to get something that was streamlined and running like a well oiled machine. Now I just ask successful people what systems they use to automate their biz then find some way to apply that same methodology to mine.

The most important one IMO is the marketing system because that's what generates leads. No leads=no business.

So, your cleaning folrmula is your USP ?

Yes and no. The USP is one of the most misunderstood concepts in business. Most people think it's a sentence that you'd put in an ad.

Does Starbucks have the best coffee in the world? Absolutely not.

But they give you the entire experience. It's the smell of freshly ground coffee beans when you walk in. It's the carefully chosen audio tracks playing in the background. It's the beautifully decorated walls, vintage looking furniture, it's the attitude.

The USP is the entire experience. This is what allows them to charge ridiculous prices for what was formerly a commodity that was sold for 50 cents per cup.

So what is the USP for carpet cleaning? Proprietary cleaning solutions that give you a more thorough, deeper clean. Licensed and certified employees that care about the work they do. Faster drying times. Friendly customer service that calls 1 week after the cleaning just to make sure that you were thrilled with the work done. We send you 2 physical letters in the mail after cleaning just to say thank you and to ask for referrals. We don't treat you like a number. We treat you like a friend and actually show it. We care. We care. We care.

That's what enables you to charge higher premiums. Showing that you care and are willing to go the extra sMile for the customer.

It's the bigger picture. The entire experience.

 

[IceCreamKid]

I'm currently in the process of locking in a few government contracts and a deal with the San Jose airport. This was never really part of my plan, but it fell into my lap so I ran with it. Cuz why not? It looked like fun.

I went to my local SCORE chapter seeking their thoughts on innovative ways to expand and they ended up showing me how to get into government contacts.

A few words on SCORE...They're a non-profit that gives mentorship to entrepreneurs. ALL of them are vetted to verify that they're not dolphins. If any mentor is found trying to partner up with someone they're mentoring, they're forced to resign. It's a breath of fresh air to encounter mentors who don't have an ulterior motive.

I've found that the real value isn't necessarily in having a mentor, but in his crazy rolodex network. If there is an obstacle that the mentor is clueless on, it's pretty much guaranteed that he knows a guy or another mentor within SCORE can solve it. My local chapter is one of the biggest chapters in the country with mentors whose experience range from running small sweater manufacturing facilities to Inc 5000 tech companies. I'm convinced that if you get enough smart people in the same room then you can solve almost anything.

That's pretty much the only update I have in terms of revenue generation for carpet cleaning.

I've been messing around in my mini laboratory and am now using sodium percarbonate as a booster. Sodium percarbonate is the main active ingredient in OxiClean. If you're looking to save some money on OxiClean, just buy the pure sodium percarbonate because it doesn't have a ton of useless filler like OxiClean. The stuff is dirt cheap and powerful as hell.

Furniture biz is on autopilot at this point. I have a small fleet of employees now. Not gonna lie, the biz is boring to me and my passion for it is gone. I can't deny money that feels free to me though!

Stock option biz is still cranking out cash. Every person in my little circle that is doing it is now profitable. A lot dropped out initially due to the amount of time and mental commitment it takes, but the remaining ones now have a very powerful skill in their hands that will certainly make them millionaires. If you're curious to learn more about that, there are some epic threads on the Inside where we detail out a lot of our key metrics. I kinda stopped chiming in though due to the interest falling off. I could write some feel good inspirational paragraph and 50 people will hit the "like" button, but with stock options there will be 3 likes for what is actionable million dollar advice.

I've been spending a good amount of my time just hanging out with friends and the dating scene. I'm finding it very difficult making a meaningful connection in the dating scene because all I ever think about is biz and investing. Very few people think the way that we do at this forum. At the heart of everything, what we want is freedom. 99% of the population doesn't even think about that.

3 times in the past week I've been asked, "Do you watch Game of Thrones?" and I just can't relate to that. I'm going to binge watch it this weekend though because I'm curious to see what the fuss is all about.

 

[IceCreamKid]

I'd imagine you don't do the carpet cleaning yourself....how much do employees affect your "$300" profit margin?

I pay employees $20/hour. On average, the cleaning comes to $150/hour. If they choose to add ScotachGuard to the carpets then it bumps the average up higher.

On Saturdays I'll often come along for the actual cleaning. Believe it or not, I actually enjoy it. It's really satisfying when you see a carpet that formerly had coffee stains all over suddenly look brand new.

Also, do you have many businesses for clients? Or mostly residential? Businesses would probably be a lot larger clients and be more likely to become recurring customers.

I have a small handful of businesses for clients, but I prefer residential. I positioned the company as premium which means premium employees, premium carpet cleaning, premium customer service, premium everything. That also comes at a premium cost. I am one of the most expensive in the area.

Businesses tend to only care about the rock bottom price when it comes down to carpet cleaning. They tend to have zero loyalty for this service and there's always another guy willing to do the work for cheaper. If you compete by price, you will die by price because there is always some other dude willing to do the work for cheaper.

 

[IceCreamKid]

Are you thinking about franchising ? If not, why ?

Nope because I'm not passionate enough about the industry.

If you wish to become ultra successful at something, you must be able to put out amazing quality work. The best way to put out amazing quality work is to be passionate about the project in front of you. That's what separates the billionaires from the millionaires.

Another reason why I wouldn't want to franchise is because it's extremely time intensive. My primary reason for getting into biz in the first place was so that I can set myself up to be there more often for my future kids. My dad hardly spent any time with me because he was always working and I hated it. He never asked me, "How are you?" until I was 25. Any time spent with him wasn't quality time because he was tired. He was present, but not present. I'm 29 now and the ripple effects of my childhood experiences are still felt.

My aim is that when I do have kids, I'll be 100% in the Investor quadrant already with all of my monthly cashflow coming from real estate and stock options.

 

[IceCreamKid]

Awesome thread ICK!

Curious to know; if you were to start a service business like this from scratch and didn't have the skill (carpet cleaning, tiling, law service etc..), would you learn the skill first and do the jobs yourself? Or jump right into hiring your first employee while you focused on the marketing and business side of things?

If I was starting from scratch, I’d probably apprentice for another company first just to see if I even like the niche. There’s nothing worse than trying to grow a company in a niche that you have absolutely zero love for. It’s like Chinese water torture. Learn on someone else’s dime first then quickly decide if you are going to move forward with the biz.

Here’s a 10,000ft above view of how I’d recommend you plan your attack:

Level 1
Learn the actual skill(carpet cleaning, tiling, lawn service,etc). Preferably learn from someone already in the trenches because you can seriously damage carpet if you don’t know what you’re doing. For example, some high pH cleaning solutions will actually bleach rugs but work well on carpet.

Level 2
After you learned the skill, proceed to launch your own biz to your friends and family. Your circle of influence. Get feedback from them. Find out what can be improved. You’re not spending money on ads yet. Tweak the product/service based on criticisms and compliments.

Level 3
Set up a customer support system. Start picking up the phone and call strangers. Ask what they liked/didn’t like. Strangers will be far more brutal than friends and that’s a good thing.

You want to continually tweak the product/service according to market feedback. Your goal in this level is to create good will with your base of customers so that you can get testimonials in the next level.

Set up a split test. Long ads vs. short ads. You’re still not spending much on ads. Only testing.

Level 4
Now you’re scaling your advertising budget. Still try to keep the ad budget low. Check the math and analyze ROI. Tweak, tweak, tweak, until you eventually hit something that really clicks.

Level 5
Aggressive expansion. Scale the paid advertising. This is where the real fun begins. Expand the customer support team, staffing, consider expanding to an office if necessary.

Create routines, schedules, and lines of communication for the team(E-mail, Skype, FB messenger, etc). Try to keep the expenses to a minimum. Don’t be stupid by buying t-shirts and coffee mugs with your logo. You may be tasting success at this point, but don’t think you have arrived just yet.

Focus and discipline are the keys in this level. I’ve seen too many people lose everything after they let their ego get in the way. It’s not time to party and go crazy yet.

Level 6
Legacy. Think about investing profits back into the biz for further expansion or invest in other vehicles. Next year, I’ll be discussing how to correctly invest in stock options for weekly cashflow. There is definitely a right way and a wrong way to do that. It will be in the INSIDERS section of the forum though.

Line up CPA, accountant, CFO, set up bank accounts better, insurance, etc. Cross your t’s and dot your i’s.

Set up tax planning, estate planning, etc

Level 7
Liquidation event. Throw a party with lots of pizza. Don’t buy a Ferrari/Lambo unless you own an asset that produces enough monthly cashflow to pay for it. Weekly/monthly cashflow is the key to wealth that lasts for multiple generations.

Level 8
Create more stuff. Invest in more stuff. Innovate. Donate to some non-profits or even start your own.

 

[IceCreamKid]

Always assumed you were in some hi tech, uber fastlane, exciting start-up. Never imagined it would be carpet cleaning.
Just proves that some people can make anything work with the right attitude!

The driver of the vehicle is a more important factor for determining success than the vehicle. Don't get me wrong the vehicle is very important too, but I'm pretty sure that if you put Bill Gates in charge of opening up a hot dog stand he'll probably scale it into one of the greatest hot dog empires the world has ever known.

I don't like hi tech, super sexy businesses. I like simple, tried and true, with high probability of success businesses. That's just my temperament. Amazon drives me nuts with how they can blacklist their sellers over something stupid. That's not to say Amazon is a bad route to take though. Some guys are crushing it on there.

It's only a matter of time before the Chinese learn to write good copy, descriptions, and take good photos. That'll be the time when a lot of private label guys on Amazon get crushed.

 

[IceCreamKid]

I just want to hear your opinions/thoughts on the control issue that he is worried about, and how you might go about avoiding any issues with this in the long-term if you were to scale up a manual labor business such as this.

Your dad's fears about losing control by hiring employees and scaling up is a very valid concern. One thing that you must understand is that each individual has their own temperament and if he is the type of guy who prefers to keep it small then give him the opportunity to be who he is.

Perhaps he would be interested in learning how to roll profits over into passive investments. In a few months I'll start a progress thread outlining how I invest in stock options for monthly cash flow. Stock options are F*cking phenomenal bro. They give you so much control if you know how to adjust your portfolio correctly.

I maintain quality control by turning my clients into my secret shoppers. After each client is cleaned, they receive a survey in the mail along with a testimonial form. If I receive a survey back, I reward them with 1 free room of cleaning on their next appointment.

 

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[IceCreamKid]

How did you acquire the knowledge to make your own proprietary cleaning mix?
How does that process work when you know virtually nothing about carpet cleaning?

I basically did a ton of lurking on the truckmount forums. I made sure to keep track of what the big guys were using in their cleaning solutions. Most of them would reveal only 1 part of their entire formula. They'd leave tiny breadcrumbs of info.

After a while I had a list of 10 parts of different formulas, enough breadcrumbs to combine and make my own loaf of bread.

I had enough breadcrumbs to make loafers for myself. Made in Italy.

If you live in a big city there's a very good chance that there are local 2-day classes being offered. I didn't bother with them, but it's available to you if you want.

Beware, most of the guys on those carpet cleaning forums are struggling because they are carpet cleaners who think like small biz owners. You have to think of yourself as a marketer who happens to offer carpet cleaning. The marketer generates the leads while the quality of the cleaning keeps them coming back.

 

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[IceCreamKid]

What has been the biggest problem you've had to deal with with this business?

There are many problems and horror stories to tell about this biz, but I think almost all businesses will tell you that their biggest challenge is generating more leads. I am always keeping my eyes open for new methods for generating more leads. Cash flow is the lifeblood of any biz(unless you’re backed by investors) so customer acquisition has always been my #1 priority. Delivering an insanely good product/service is right behind that.

It took a lot of testing and optimizing to get to the point where every $1 spent would bring back $3-7. Thank God for the skills I learned from my affiliate marketing days. I know AM gets a bad reputation on here, but I’ve seen a lot of guys utilize what they learned as an affiliate and apply it to their future fastlane biz. It’s a really good skill to have.

Other problems…

Realtors. They are the bane of my existence. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve encountered a realtor that has tried to screw me.

The worst one was a $1,500 job cleaning a really big house that was about to go up for sale. The realtor told me that the cleaning would be paid out through escrow after everything closes. Escrow closed. No payment received. I called the realtor and she gave me the classic, “The check is in the mail” line.

1 month passed. Nothing. The owner of the home had moved out of state. I left multiple voicemails for the realtor, but no response. I sent her a final e-mail playing stupid saying, “Hey I guess you guys must be having problems with the escrow. I’m going to be calling your broker by the end of the week to see if he can help you”.

2 days later the check magically appeared.

Be extra alert whenever you’re dealing with someone who is representing your customer. I’ve had far too many realtors try to disappear as soon as they get their commission. When dealing with representatives I now require payment upfront, no exceptions. I don’t have the patience to deal with BS behavior like that even if it means losing a couple sales.

Other problems…

Indians that refuse to at least acknowledge American culture. Sorry if this offends anybody. I have a couple thousand customers in my database at this point and I have yet to have a smooth transaction with an Indian. This is primarily due to the cultural differences and the caste system.

Blue collar workers are viewed as the bottom level of society in Indian culture. They have no clue that there are millionaire carpet cleaners. If there is an appointment set for 3pm, the carpet cleaner is expected to come at 3 but the homeowner is likely to arrive at 3:30 or 4. This is one of the many ways that they show superiority within the caste system. It’s their way of subconsciously communicating that they are the ones in control. When you’re paying employees by the hour, it’s a huge hassle when customers are not available at the scheduled time.

Another cultural difference is how much of their income they save. In America it’s standard for people to spend 100% of their income. With Indians, they aim to save 50% or more.

So what ends up happening is you have people that treat you with zero respect due to the caste system, they show up late for the appointment on purpose(costing you money), and they bargain like crazy on the cost because they’re trying to save money. To top it off, the actual process of cleaning usually takes longer because curry stains are one of the hardest to clean…sometimes permanent. Man I love chicken tikka masala though. If I was stuck on an island with only one food to eat it'd be tikka masala fa sho.

I train my employees to give clients the “Going Away” price quote if the client is excessively disrespectful. It doesn't matter what ethnicity they are. You have to respect everyone. Basically it’s a price that is ridiculously inflated it’s almost a guarantee the client will decline and go with another carpet cleaner.

I want clients who are hassle free and care more about quality than getting everything for the lowest price. That’s where the highest profit margins are.

I’ll answer your other questions tomorrow. Time to go to bed.

 

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[IceCreamKid]

What are the margins in that business? Great post!

Margins are discussed on the first page of this thread. Truthfully, margins will vary based on the tweaks that you make to the biz.

For example, when I took over the steering wheel I immediately changed the following:

1. Increased prices by 40%
2. Completely changed the branding to premium everything
3. Changed the guarantee to a very bold one to remove all of the risk from the customer. A good guarantee should make you want to throw up in your mouth a little bit.<-Very important.

It's best to target premium buyers in this niche for the following reasons:

1. Premium buyers tend to have bigger houses. Bigger houses=more sq. feet to clean=more money
2. Premium buyers don't haggle you on the price. They care about quality more than anything else.
3. Premium buyers don't complain nearly as much as broke people looking to save a couple bucks.
4. Premium buyers show up on time for the appointment.
5. Premium buyers usually have a network of friends that they will refer you to if your product/service is actually good. Broke people don't usually network.

If you're looking to learn more about direct response marketing I'd highly recommend Perry Marshall. I said it before and I'll say it again: if you can get a good grasp of direct response you'll have no problem making a very good 6-figure income. He was the first guy who really helped me get an understanding of how to create systems for everything. He focuses a lot on the 80/20 principle.

 

[IceCreamKid]

How did you come to take over this company? Did you evaluate competition before-hand, if so, how?

Have you considered offering similar services as cross-sells? I see some local companies also offer A/C duct cleaning, etc.
Is Scotchgard the only up-sell you offer?

A friend who is very close to my heart wanted to retire from the biz. I asked him to give me a shot at taking it to the next level.

I did a very brief evaluation of competition using some simple tactics. Entrepreneurs tend to over-complicate things in their mind, but things can really be simple if you want it to be.

The best way to evaluate competition is this: park outside of their warehouse and just watch. How many vans do they have? How many go out each day? When do they leave and come back?

Then call them up and make an appointment for a carpet cleaning. I'll go deeper into this when I have some time, but buying someone else's service/product can expose you to their entire marketing campaign which they've tested and optimized. I'm not saying to steal their marketing word for word, but use it as a baseline that you can work from.

I offer multiple cross-sells such as upholstery cleaning, tile & grout, and wood polishing. The only one that's actively advertised is the carpet cleaning though because that's where the most profit is.

I also looked into mold remediation companies and fire restoration, but opted out because it was too complicated and I like simple businesses that crank out recurring revenue. I'm more of a lifestyle entrepreneur and value my free time more than having a Lambo to impress the middle class with.

As for upsells in addition to Scotchguard, there are a couple: deodorizer, pet urine de-sanitizer, option to subscribe to 50% semi-annual cleanings. Scotchguard by far gives the most profit boost with zero extra labor. Sometimes we'll have Scotchguard thrown in for free without even telling the customer because they might really need it.

 

[RHL]

Every single day I encounter some local business where it's like "This biz+ online magic (ppc, social/groupon, etc.) + savvy PR and the ability to process orders=Market disrupting local breakout." People wanting to get started, all you need is to understand basic ad buying and copy (if only someone on here could help with that), determination, and eyes.

What do you think about getting into carpet cleaning as a bootstrap method?

This isn't directed at you individually. I'm trying to turn over a new leaf and be less cynical/sarcastic and more helpful thanks to @Andy Black 's beneficent example, but it's pretty demoralizing that whenever anyone posts specific details of a minor success they've had (@biophase with the soap, this, @SinisterLex with the freelancing) what immediately happens is not innovation, but a chorus of "me too!"s as person after person rushes to do the exact. same. thing. I had at least 10 PMs after I posted some of my older threads where people were asking me about car flipping. And not just the legality/mechanics, oh no, they wanted me to sort through a pile of links and literally tell them which cars to buy and what to resell them for.

This thread could have inspired people to try their hand at any number home care possibilities: Driveway paving/sealing, window replacement, tiling, wood refinishing, interior painting, appliance maintenence, etc. No, instead, it looks like several people are all going to go and start carpet care businesses, because I'll be darned if we're going to do even one thing creative or different or more laborious than just wholesale ripping off of something else someone has completely laid out. Then it gets even worse when real money is involved a la @biophase 's mentee/copycat or @JasonR 's copycats. It's getting to the point where basically anyone without a patent or oversees manufacture with laborious design work that would take five figures and eight-twelve months to replicate (basically, enough of a barrier that a Wantrepreneur dreams about it but gets tired two weeks later and moves on) immediately incites a swarm of clones or near-as-makes-no-difference clones.

There's a big world out there. Yes, it includes carpet cleaning. But it's bigger than carpet cleaning. If your heart is set on carpets, don't let anyone stop you, but don't just rush to do whatever someone successful did because that's the thread du jour and it's turning some kind of profit. Come on people, we're all better than that.

 

[IceCreamKid]

1. What kind of call to action are you using in your post cards? Sending them to a website or having them call a number? Are you taking the calls yourself or do you hire this out?

2. What plans do you have for scaling this? What do you think is your biggest obstacle in scaling? The direct response end? Or the managing employees/customer relations end?

3. Do you currently have a long waiting list of clients from your ad campaigns? Or do you intentionally only do smaller campaigns whenever you need to line up some clients?

1. I have both my website and a number written on the postcards. The secret sauce of the postcard is that I offer a free room of carpet cleaning. No obligations. No purchase necessary. No hard upsells. It's just my way of saying hey we believe in the quality of our work so much that we're willing to give you a free test drive. All of the calls are hired out. I don't want to deal with that stuff.

2. I currently have 2 vans driving around 6 days a week. I don't plan to scale any further because then I'd have to rent a warehouse, deal with motivating a large fleet of employees, meh. That just doesn't excite me. I'm currently just stacking my cash and slowly moving myself 100% into the investor quadrant. If I were to scale to more than 2 vans, my biggest obstacle would probably be staying excited about the project long term. I know my personality well enough to understand that if I stay deeply involved in a biz for too long, things start to go downhill. My expertise is in putting all of the systems in place so that the biz has its own "legs" to run on its own without me. If I stay involved on a daily basis then I go crazy.

3. Yes it's a long waiting list. People usually have to schedule 1-2 weeks in advance unless they're what I consider an A+ customer. An A+ customer is someone whose bill comes to $1k or more. They live in huge homes with a zillion rooms and most of the carpets are already pretty clean.

One of the biggest lessons I learned is to never say no to a customer. If you say no to them then they get angry and never call you again because you were unwilling to accommodate their demands. Get them to say no to you. For example, if a customer needs a cleaning done within 24 hours we'll tell them, "We don't have an opening tomorrow until 7pm. Would that work for you?". Most will say no thanks, but perhaps will call you in the future since you were nice enough to at least attempt to help them.

Btw, checking out Every Door Direct Mail now....looks like an awesome tool!

EDDM is a beast of a service because it allows you to tailor down all the way to household size, income, ethnicity, vehicles driven, it's wild.

 

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[IceCreamKid]

1. Do you buy your cleaning products on large quantities or do you just go to your local Home Depot to get the stuff you need ?
2. There are many carpet cleaning machines... what would be the most ''universal'' one that could do most of the jobs ?

1. My cleaning solutions are a proprietary mixture made from multiple ingredients that I buy in large quantities to save money. I don't even tell the employees what's in that stuff. The primary cleaning agents in it are the acid from beets and carbonate salt. I also add hydrogen peroxide to act as an oxidizer for protein stains. HP makes the carpet really POP when it becomes bone dry. You have to be careful where you use HP though because it can bleach the carpet if used incorrectly.

Why did I choose to use a proprietary mixture instead of something that can be bought off the shelf? So that I can advertise that nobody has what I have to offer. Unique=special=higher perceived value=higher price=higher profit margins.

The stuff at Home Depot is consumer grade and doesn't really do a good job IMO. Rug Doctor is junk. Weak cleaning solution, low suction power, weak all around. You have to go to a carpet cleaning supply store in your area if you want to find stuff that makes the customer say WOW.

I wouldn't recommend buying in large quantities when starting out because you haven't even validated demand in your area yet. Your initial goal should be first to validate demand in your area. That would suck if you bought huge quantities of cleaning products and spent $50k on some fancy van then later realized that the market doesn't support what you have to offer.

2. 175 RPM floor buffer. You can probably get one used on Craigslist for $200. That machine will serve you well for 90% of the jobs. After you've built up a stack of cash, add a steam cleaning/HWE machine to your arsenal.

The golden duo is to use both a buffer and steam cleaning machine together. This allows you to charge more because it gives you a deeper, more thorough clean.

 

[IceCreamKid]

When everyone on the block is selling (prostituting) on price and yesterday's customers are only loyal to ?? How do you position on everything BUT price? And away from price? My industry has a large number of "blind" customers who get a kick out of squeezing every last cent they SEE but pay ridiculous hidden charges. Don't see any value in exposing the pricing models of my competitors. uncomfortable with going the hidden charge path.

This is an extremely important question. Thank you for asking this. You don't have to be sneaky and dishonest to charge premium prices. I hate businesses that are sneaky.

The answer is simple: you must find a way to innovate so that there is something unique about your product/service. You can find a way to make yourself unique in any niche. ANY.

Take gasoline for an example. A commodity. Chevron is far more expensive than any other gas station in my area. They innovate by constantly marketing that they have Techron added to their gasoline which helps clean the fuel lines in the car.

For my carpet cleaning biz, the primary innovation is the use of carbonate salt and a crazy money back guarantee. To be completely transparent, the carbonate salt isn't the important part of my formula. It's the other stuff added in that makes the carpet really pop when it's bone dry.

Monster Cable takes this concept of uniqueness to a whole new level. All of their competition sells HDMI cables for $6. Monster decides to throw in what I consider deceptive tweaks then charges $250 for something that delivers the same outcome. I'm not recommending deception here, I'm just trying to illustrate my point that you must do something to innovate if you want to be able to charge premium prices.

 

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[Andy Black]

Love the nuggets you have been sharing. Thank you. Thank you. Especially the mindset stuff.

Do you mind to dive deeper into some areas you shared?


DIRECT MARKETING

1. What elements of copy-writing did you "get right" before you saw results?

2. Share how you worked-out the appropriate metrics to know ROI on advertising?

3. Using a Freemium hook (1 free room) how do you control sunk-cost creep from destroying margins? What's the way to improve Lifetime Value of client?

4. How do you improve client stickiness?

5. What system checks that mailers are received? What are the core parts that make the system?


THE BUSINESS

1. This is type of business dependent on muscle power which comes with HR headaches. What were ways you solved this?

2. When everyone on the block is selling (prostituting) on price and yesterday's customers are only loyal to ?? How do you position on everything BUT price? And away from price? My industry has a large number of "blind" customers who get a kick out of squeezing every last cent they SEE but pay ridiculous hidden charges. Don't see any value in exposing the pricing models of my competitors. uncomfortable with going the hidden charge path.

3. Love how you observe and make job offer instead of do interviews. Do you have more thoughts on this for more skilled type of jobs where observing in a alternate workplace is not so straightforward?

4. I've had some struggle with adapting successful systems and have lost time and effort in adapting things which are unique to another person but I was too stupid to have figured it out before throwing time and money down the drain. When you consider how to adapt another person's succesful marketing system how do you know if what works for that guy can be easily transferred? and which parts of it are not useful?

These are all good questions @Cascade.



Just a tip for yourself and others:

You're always better served asking the single most important question that will result in the single most important action for your business.


As the excellent book "The One Thing" asks:

"What’s the ONE Thing you can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?"*
​

The act of finding that one thing you need to do is of tremendous benefit to yourself.

Finding it is even better. (And as the book states, if you don't know what your ONE Thing is, then finding out IS your ONE Thing.)



Whenever I determine my ONE Thing (for the year, month, week, or day), I like to turn it into a question for myself.

e.g. "How can I get a new customer this week (when I can't spend any time on the phone)?"

This allows your subconcious to work on it while you're going about your business, and it's always surprising how it brings you a solution (typically in the shower or on a walk!).



Asking yourself (or others) just ONE question allows your brain (or their brain) to focus on answering just that question. This results in a more in-depth answer from you (or from them).

And having just one question answered is also more likely to result in you taking action.

Which should be the action most likely to move you forward, since it was your most important question.


Hope this helps.


(* www.the1thing.com)

 

[IceCreamKid]

I always come here and head directly back to this thread, there is something here for me, it is just taking a while for it to finally click in my brain, I just keep reading it over and over and over.

Don't read. Do something. Hit the pavement yo.

Do one thing every day that gets you closer to acquiring a customer.

No customer=no business. People seem to miss that concept quite often.

Forget my mental masturbation threads and try to get ONE customer.

Things you DON'T need to do to get ONE customer:
1. Create a logo
2. File for an LLC
3. Buy a fancy suit
4. Read books

Things you DO need to do to get ONE customer:
1. Sell
2. Follow up
3. Sell
4. Follow up
5. Sell

If possible, try to find a way to provide value/perform services upfront. That alone separates you from the majority of your competition whose only message is, "I provide XYZ services. Let me know if you're interested".

Sometimes all it takes is something simple like, "Hey I just left a 5-star Yelp review for you guys. Got a minute to chat?". Provide value.

 

[IceCreamKid]

The most important thing in biz:
Marketing. Particularly, hitting a deep emotion. Then delivering the answer to that deep emotion.

Why are you on this forum? Somewhere deep inside of you, there's an intense feeling of wanting freedom. You're searching for answers. MJ's book delivers that answer.

You can deliver an answer, but if you can't find a way to hit that deep emotion within the customer then you'll get very few sales.

 

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[IceCreamKid]

With direct marketing I've always read that you should be sending mail via first class postage as anything less, in bulk, runs the risk of getting dumped in the trash bin by the mail carriers. Curious about your thoughts/experience with that using EDDM?

This was one of my biggest concerns when dipping my toes into the EDDM water.

Ice Cream Playboy tip: If you have a solid relationship with a printing/mailing company that does large numbers with the Post Office, you'll actually be able to individually address each post card to each recipient but still get the EDDM rates. This means that when Mrs. Jones receives an EDDM postcard in the mail from me, it will actually have her name on it instead of "Current Resident". By doing this, you discourage the mail carriers from dumping all of your mail in the trash bin. I double check this by contacting customers every so often to make sure that they received their EDDM mail piece.

It is essential to have systems in place for everything otherwise you risk trading time for money.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Finally got around to reading this, marked GOLD and title changed a bit.

ICK does a great job in explaning WHY marketing and sales is the #1 skill to hone, even if you are not involved in business quite yet.

If you take two great products (or even average products) and put them side-by-side, the one with the better marketing and communication methods will win more of the target audience.

Rep for @IceCreamKid ++

 

[Andy Black]

Every single day I encounter some local business where it's like "This biz+ online magic (ppc, social/groupon, etc.) + savvy PR and the ability to process orders=Market disrupting local breakout."

The average business owner just wants a steady stream of phone calls from prospects, so they can go out and do billable work.

They don't have the inclination, or the time, to learn how to do that marketing stuff, especially that online marketing stuff.

If you're in this forum then you've already got skillz on the internet (seriously, go watch your average tradesman try and use a keyboard, never mind send an email).

If you've hung around this forum for any length of time then you've also picked up enough marketing knowledge to put you waaay ahead of the average local business owner.

People wanting to get started, all you need is to understand basic ad buying and copy (if only someone on here could help with that), determination, and eyes.

This post is probably the one to start with: Lead Gen for Local Service Businesses

And if you've access to the Speedway forum you might want to read The AdWords Jumpstart.

If you've a mind to descend further down the rabbit hole, you can then read all the posts linked to in this thread.

Note that this is all about AdWords paid search. Of course there are many many other online and offline marketing channels.

This thread could have inspired people to try their hand at any number home care possibilities: Driveway paving/sealing, window replacement, tiling, wood refinishing, interior painting, appliance maintenence, etc.

There's soooo many local service business verticals.

From one of the posts linked to above:

I've been meaning to write down all the verticals I've generated traffic, leads, and sales for so I might as well do that here. I'll be interested in seeing that list spew from my brain too.

So here's a brain dump in no particular order, where the monetisation could have been any or all of the above, and to varying degrees of success (including outright failure):

Electricians, plumbers, appliance repairs, window repairs, roof repairs, pest control, locksmiths, personal trainers, dieticians, nutritionists, chiropractors, physios, dentists, doctors, plastic surgeons, estate agents, houses|flats|apartments|condos for rent|sale, car insurance, home insurance, travel insurance, breakdown cover, car finance, payday loans, car hire, limo hire, coach hire, tyres|tires, tickets, cinemas, restaurants, bars, cafes, afternoon tea, massage, spas, salons, hair-dressers, pedicures, manicures, car repairs|servicing, mechanics, health insurance, flights, hotels, B&Bs, gyms, training, courses, classes, photographers, wedding planners, wedding packages, graphic designers, programmers, developers, architects, builders, cleaners, jobs (all sorts), accountants, solicitors|attorneys|lawyers|law firms, security alarms|systems, letting agents, comedy clubs, yacht charter, cruise ship charter, opticians, laser surgery, yoga, salsa, pilates, teeth whitening, funeral directors, telemarketers, call centres, book-keepers, building materials, pre-cast concrete, print design, business cards, motorbike repairs|servicing, removals, bands, djs, wedding rings, schools, colleges, handymen, painters, decorators, home cinema, tattoo, tattoo removal, child care, vets, facials, dry-cleaning, paragliding, shooting ranges, hypnosis, zoos, boot camps, wine bars, helicopter rides, laser hair removal, nlp, liposuction, golf courses, things to do, the weather...

Maybe you can get some ideas from that list.

 

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[IceCreamKid]

Do you have any suggestions for getting greater clarity on the likely impact of my improvements? Or maybe some way of testing them without having to risk $500K to do so?

It's very difficult to give a solid answer without knowing all of the nitty gritty details of the biz you're interested in buying.

Correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I'm sensing that you're not absolutely sure of your odds of success. If I was going to drop $500k on an experiment, I'd want laser precision confidence about what I'm getting into.

Do you have experience and expertise in the industry? If not, I'd highly recommend honing in on your chops for the niche before just jumping in with $500k. It's natural human tendency to have wishful thinking and crunch the numbers to see how rich we're all going to be, but trust me on this...you WILL experience setbacks that you didn't foresee. That's just the way of entrepreneurship.

Forget the money for a minute. Spend some time to really understand your customer's pains/needs so that you can tailor your marketing around that.

For example...
Before I spent a dime on marketing, I made sure I understood very well that in the carpet cleaning niche:

• 95% of the customers are female/99% of the technicians are male
• the women's #1 concern is, "Can I trust this male stranger in my house?"
• their #2 concern is, "How good is their cleaning?"

All of the marketing was tailored around those 2 concerns of theirs. All of the competitors compete on price, but my mailers were different because I took time to understand the pains/needs of the customer.

Do you know the concerns of the customers? Do you REALLY know the concerns...as in have you TALKED dozens of them, gotten a feel for what they want, what they don't want, etc.

How can you innovate in a way that "speaks" to the pains/needs of your customers?

As entrepreneurs we tend to ASSUME that we know what they want...don't assume anything. I'm amazed by how wrong I can be when I assume things.

Talk to your customers. Dozens of them. Forget the numbers...the money will come after you have a rock solid understanding of the problem and innovate in a way that speaks to it.

 

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[IceCreamKid]

I gave it up as I became allergic to the chemicals within 3-4 months and not long after that the company did a moonlight flit leaving a trail of bills in their wake (including a huge phone bill).

Guys if you are looking to start a carpet cleaning biz, make sure to check the MSDS for the chemicals that you are using. Manufacturers are required by law to disclose the ingredients in their cleaning solutions and whether or not they are hazardous.

You don't want to destroy your lungs just to make money. Not worth it.

I do remember it was hard graft and non-stop 10 hours a day with maybe a mars bar for lunch if I had time. Within weeks I lost any fat I had and they had nicknamed me Rambo as you had to apply so much pressure to the wand to get as much dirt and water out of the carpet as possible it was like doing an arm workouts 8 hours a day. I hope the machinery is better these days.

Damn. You definitely have the work ethic, my Rambo friend.

I was still a baby in the 80's so it's hard to make a direct comparison, but what I can tell you is that some of the chemicals these days are so effective it's almost laughable.

After the solution has been sprayed on, 80% of the spots magically disappear within 5 minutes. The remaining 20% are what we'll spend some time on.

A $300 job can literally be finished in 30 minutes with excellent results, but we try to extend it to $150/hr for theater purposes. The show is what the customer sees so if they paid $300 for 30 minutes of labor they'd be like, " WTF did you even put any effort in?". Truthfully, very little effort is put in because of how effective the cleaning solutions are nowadays. This is what keeps the employees happy because they don't have to work that hard and still get paid a decent wage. The cleaning solution does 80% of the work for them. The one exception is if the carpets are absolutely trashed by a tenant. Some people will spill soda on the carpet and not even attempt to clean it up since they don't own the property.

 

[IceCreamKid]

Do you think that every entrepreneur should learn about stock investing? Do you believe it's necessary if one's goal is to move to the Investor's quadrant? Are there other investment types that in your opinion are as phenomenal as stock options?

Each time I look for investing advice, almost everybody recommends stock investing, but I can't help but think that you have zero control over it and that it's super easy to lose money if you don't get it (and most people don't, including professional investors who think they do).

Do I think every entrepreneur should learn about stock investing? No, but I do think that every entrepreneur should learn about stock option investing. They are 2 completely different beasts.

With stocks, you absolutely must be right on predicting the direction in order to make a profit. With stock options you can pick a range that you feel the stock will move in during a specific period of time and still make money. In other words, you don't have to predict the direction correctly in order to profit. And if you're wrong about the range, you can actually adjust the trade so that you can usually end up with a break-even trade or a small loss. The key here is to adjust the portfolio so that your positions become delta neutral.

Most don't bother to educate themselves on adjustments and that's what causes them to blow up their account. They take more of a "set it and forget it" approach.

From what I've seen, the professionals who actually pull money consistently from the stock market do it with options while all of the amateurs just trade stocks and usually lose money. The winning team typically has the goal of cashflow(which options provide) while the losing team typically has the goal of capital gains(which stocks provide).

You're going to think I'm a complete liar for making this statement, but you can actually get a percentage for how likely it is that your stock option investment will be profitable. You just have to look at the option chain.

I'm obsessed with managing risk. I'm convinced that risk management is the key to long term survival in the stock market. Most people don't spend any time educating themselves before jumping into this arena so they end up getting hurt.

The other investment type that's as phenomenal as stock options IMO is real estate. Specifically, buying distressed commercial real estate then tweaking things to force up the value of the asset as opposed to waiting for the value of the property to rise due to market conditions. The downside with this asset is that it's not nearly as liquid as stock options, but still you should at least look at it because it's a very valid vehicle for building wealth quickly. This is basically what SteveO did. I don't have enough experience in distressed properties so it's best that you talk to him about it rather than me.

If you want to shift to the investor quadrant, find a mentor who has experience in either stock options or distressed real estate. Just beware of the fakes. Vet them out, ask for track records, referrals, clients, anything you can get your hands on. There are A LOT of frauds in these 2 arenas selling hopes and dreams for $5k. I paid this lady Alexis McGee $5k a few years ago for some real estate mentorship and it ended up being nothing more than an upsell to $10k coaching. All of the stuff that was taught for the $5k could've been found in a book.