Most people find August to be a quieter month, kids are on holiday and around the house all day so people don't want tradesmen around, or a lot of people are on holiday themselves. You should still be getting a reasonable list of enquiries as there are still a lot of people who do prefer their carpets to be cleaned when it's dry and warm.
You can guarantee that when it is raining outside you will get very few enquiries, even if you are looking weeks ahead.
I took last week off as holiday and have a full week booked in for next week and most of the week after, 07:30am start most mornings next week.
However, unlike Paul, we do not price at £70 for a living room carpet, but we still make a good living.
Remember, you need turnover to make profit, no turnover, no profit, no matter what your prices are!
Take some of the advice given, always answer the call professionally, no matter what time of the day, have your diary close by at all times, if you are going to be away from your main phone ensure it is diverted to your mobile, price competitively in order to gain work, once you have a good reputation and are gaining work from recommendations and are fully occupied, then you can start looking at your prices.