Read without ads and support Scribd by becoming a Scribd Premium Reader.
See Premium Plans
 
44
CM/ 
Cleanfax 
®
May2006
www.cleanfax.com
M
ost struggling businesses inthis industry have ownerswho want to be successful, butthey either don’t know
how
to or don’t believe deep down that they
can
 be.They just keep working longer hours,hoping success will somehow cometogether for them.But many spend their nights worry-ing about making payroll or rent orwondering if they are ever going to beable to retire.They worry about whether sales aregoing to pick up, if their technician isgoing to show up on time, if their truck is going to last another month or if theirmarriage is going to last another year.They worry about these things — if they even have enough energy left toworry about anything at all.
Entrepreneurial exhaustion
If that description rings even a tiny bittrue for you, you are not alone.Most small businesses in
all
industriessuffer this type of anxiety on a regular basis.In fact, it often getsto the point whereanxiety becomes a“lifestyle,” and howthey view the worldis in terms of badexpectations, such as:
God, I hope webring in enough money today to cover ourchecks… I hope we don’t get any call-backstoday… I hope we finally have at least oneday without anything bad happening.
There is an underlying belief withthem that bad things are to be expected,and the interesting thing about beliefs isthat even wrong beliefs, if you believethem, will become true.You unknowingly create more of whatyou’re trying to escape.Many times, business owners mired inthese negative thought cycles are sospent mentally that they just don’t havethe energy to see that it can be any differ-ent than it is right now.But it absolutely can be if you are ready.And to prove it, as you read this arti-cle, you will see a few “success stories”of real-life carpet cleaners who haveapplied much of this information. (See“Success story” sidebars.)
The beginning of success
Success starts with the first step in theright direction.I decided this year to run a marathon,even though I’ve never been a runner.Most people have given me a look like I’ve lost my mind, because running26.2 miles seems simply impossible tothem, and a few months ago, I would’vesaid they were absolutely right.But something happened that changedmy mind about what I thought was “pos-sible.”Meeting with the Leukemia &Lymphoma Society Team in Trainingcrew, they explained to me that most of the new runners in this event had alsonever run before, and were able to do sothrough their training program.
Visit
www.cleanfax.com
and type in keyword:
Business.
Wagner
Cover
story
How to transform a struggling business into a success story.
byLisa Wagner
 
Cover
story
They showed me an 18-week trainingcalendar beginning with just 30 minutesof running a few times each week, andslowly building up each week to the endmarathon goal.They said I’d have a mentor and acoach to learn from.They’d teach me about the right gearand tools to use, the right nutrition,the right form, the right strength andendurance exercises, and that I’d havea large support group of peers to cheerme on.I’m a business success strategist, and Iknow a successful plan when I see one.This one was it, so I signed on.
Run your own marathon
When you want to take a struggling business to a success story, you essen-tially want to run a
business marathon
.You want to take your company to aplace that you really want it to be, but theodds just seem so stacked against you.You might think:
“How can I build the strength and energyto take my company there, when I can’t seemto make it work where it’s at here right now?I’m just not cut out for this stuff.”
That’s what I thought when I was get-ting winded at running just one mile, but I had the knowledge, training andencouragement that has gotten me torunning double-digit miles.With the right training program, youcan transform your business just as dra-matically.I’ve worked with scores of companieswho have achieved success in theirfields, and the one thing that they allshare in common is that at one time theywere struggling companies seeking apath to success.So when I hear business owners sharetheir fears and stress about their compa-nies, part of me is excited for them, because I know when the frustration gets
big enough
 , they’ll actually take
action
tochange things.
In the very beginning, a friend interested me in carpetcleaning. We talked about a partnership, but those talksended. I then subcontracted all of my carpet cleaning workto him.He was cleaning at 14 cents a square foot and had nofollow-up or marketing systems in place.I started to implement solid marketing strategies froma top industry marketing expert.Soon I was contracting more work to my friend. He did-n’t like that very much. That got me into the actual clean-ing end of things.When I slowly transitioned into carpet cleaning, my first cleaning van was my fami-ly’s Plymouth Voyager. I could only use it two or three days per week due to child schoolschedules, etc.Then when I could use it, I had to take out the third seat to make room for cleaningsupplies.My first class I attended was one put on by a local janitorial supplier. That’s when Ilearned that neutral pH is 7 and not 0 as I had figured up until that point.From there, it’s been a slow but steady progression, with taking Institute ofInspection, Cleaning and Restoration (IICRC) classes,joining the Carpet & FabriCareInstitute (CFI) and keeping up with the marketing universe.Our cleaning rates are now at 50 to 65 cents a square foot and we run several trucksand employ five people.
Eric Bollmann
Haines & Cross Cleaning, California
(Continued on page 48)
www.cleanfax.com
May 2006
CM/ 
Cleanfax 
®
45
 
48
CM/ 
Cleanfax 
®
May2006
www.cleanfax.com
Don’t be ‘just good enough’
The biggest danger for companies ishaving things “just good enough” towhere they get complacent and their business muscles get flabby.Then when something big happens,an unexpected crisis, they are not pre-pared to handle it.With businesses under a lot of stress,there’s a lot of activity, a lot of thinking,and a desire to want things to be differ-ent, and if you can take all of that nega-tive energy (frustration) and transformit into positive energy (passion), you’vegot the fuel to take your company wher-ever you want to go.However, it does take a bit of trainingto change your world.Success has many paths.Here are seven “success steps” thatI’ve seen create the most results for peo-ple who really want an
extreme businessmakeover
.Follow these and see where they getyou.
1. Reboot your brain
If someone believes that work is hard,and that the world is conspiring againsthim so that he’ll never get ahead, thenhe’s going to live a miserable life andrun a miserable company.We all know people like this. They saythat it’s the employees’ fault, or thestate’s, or the crummy clients’, or thosedarn franchises, or their parents, or thatthey never got a college education.It’s like a computer on the fritz andyou just want to find the guy’s reset but-ton and
reboot
him.Becoming successful requires an hon-
Cover
story
(Continued from page 45)
To be successful, you need a solid businessplan — one that will protect you and make yourcompany stronger.Years ago, I was the guy hiring, training, crewchief and quality control, and I had no troublefinding workers — until we implemented drugtesting.After implementing drug testing 10 years ago,three of my 28 employees refused to be testedand quit, two failed the test and were let go.One applicant refused the pre-employmentdrug test, claiming violation of personal rights. He was hired at a local restaurant andwe were called three weeks later for an $18,000 smoke damage caused by this person.Now we advertise “drug-free workplace” and very fewapply who have bad and ille-gal habits. We have a great, strong staff because of this one change.We have also instituted, “nopersonal use of company property.”This came about because I once lent a company vehicle to an employee, being a goodboss and friend,only to find out that the individual needed to take a road trip from cen-tral Nebraska to the East Coast.After a month of tracking down the vehicle and “former employee,” I found he wasemployed by a franchise in South Carolina.I asked the owner of the company about this person who was now employed by himas a cleaning tech, “How much have you advanced him in wages?”The voice on theline paused and asked, “How did you know?”I did get the vehicle back with minor damage and 4,000 extra miles.
Amessy van may be a sign youneed an extreme business makeover.
Dave Keiter
Yellow Van Cleaning, Nebraska
Search
Search History:
Searching...
Result 00 of 00
00 results for result for
  • p.
    • Notes
    Load more