[nicky_spencer]

hi there well im not a carpet cleaner yet, but am making tentative enquiries about maybe starting. I have contacted a couple of suppliers of carpet cleaning machines, and the figures that have been banded around seem a bit too good to be true. I had a call today from a chap from alltec, who told me that 50k in the first year moving onto 100k into the second year are quite easily achievable .  I must admit to be a bit scepitical when figures like this are mentioned as obviously the gentleman in question has a vested interest in me purchasing one of his machines. I am just wondering what ball park figures are achievable from people who are already in the trade .
My concern is i have have a young family, a little bit of redundancy money and a lot of hope, but what ever i choose to do feel like i have only one bite of the cherry .
regards nick

[*paul_moss]

Nick
You may get some replys if you fill in your profile.

[nicky_spencer]

ooops ok aplogies there paul , not called a newbie for nothing

[Mike Halliday]

I can guarantee you will earn £50k in your first year, all you need to do is spend £60k on marketing.

how much do you need to earn in year 1 & year 2?

Mike

Ps a simple answer to your question is £12k year 1 & 17k year 2

[nicky_spencer]

i was earning about 18 grand a year so obviously want to be realising that sort of figure asap, but feel with the buffer of what remaining redunancy that i may have could probably eek it out for the first year , question is mike do the earnings get better each year as your reputation grows? i know that you mentioned 12k to 17k from one year to the next but is it right to assume that in the 3rd year i might be pushing 22k ? And in response to my first question the man from alltec was spinning me a yarn of immense proportions ...right ?

[*paul_moss]

Most cleaners earn under 20 k in the first 2 years. Many only last a year.It depends on how lucky/good you are and how committed you are.
It does depend on you and how you go about it.
If you do a couple of search's on the forum ou will find loads of info about starting up,training etc.The most important and the biggest cost in the early days after you have bought your kit is marketing.

[Mike Halliday]

Nick the man from del-monta was not lying 50k 'gross' could be achievable, but at what cost? (hence my first sentence)

your earnings will grow yearly, by how much depends on how how good at marketing you are, but search out free marketing knowledge, don't buy it

Mike

[carpetguy]

There are no "realistic "figures, just as there is no "true" average income.

You will get a return, according to several factors and I'm afraid these factors vary hugely, depending on who you're talking to.


Mainly your marketing ability
How focussed and energic you are
Your physical ability to get through work
How much you are investing

Notice............I have not mentioned, what you charge, or what machine you buy, or chemicals, you intend using, or system of cleaning, you intend using.

How unhelpful is that ?

You could do worse than follow Alltec's advice ! Or Mikes, for that matter.

It's about 12 years since Robert was showing c/c 's how to earn £50k a year and today, it's not too difficult for an energetic, individual to exceed that figure, but, as Mike says, it's the cost of getting the clients, that's important.

[nicky_spencer]

thanks very much lads for your responses really apprieciated, im not a fool well aware of the fact that in this life you get back what you put in, just have them intial fears when it comes to the unknown (like evrybody does) and you have allayed them to a certain extent thanks alot   just got take a deep breath and .......go for it i suppose

[Art]

Alltecs 50 & 100K earnings speech was probably going to lead to joining fast track.

Listen to what people like Mike tell you and you wont go far wrong

[darren72]

First year made £7000 with 1 add in yellow pages.2nd year about £13000 but thats with spending more on advertising halfway through 3rd year and will be over £20.000+ at the end of the year.£50.000 in your first year cant see it and depends on what part of the country your from.

[Chris R]

Have a read of this thread

http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=33701.0

Remember the figures quoted are Turnover, NOT profit.

regards

Chris

[nicky_spencer]

fast track was  mentioned art , is this something to be wary of ?, all i know is and ive seen it with friends its so easy to be sucked in with promises of high earnings and its not a luxury i can afford

[Art]

fast track was  mentioned art , is this something to be wary of ?, all i know is and ive seen it with friends its so easy to be sucked in with promises of high earnings and its not a luxury i can afford

It's a marketing programme http://www.alltec.co.uk/page/1gfq/Training/Discovery_Days.html

No first hand experience of it myself, but there's very few times on this or any of the rest of the forums where loads of people say how well they've done out of it.

IMO there's enough info on the forums to get you started and it wont cost you anything other than your time, reading through posts and deciding for yourself what to try and how to try it

[Ian Rochester]

Before you dive in and spend thousands on machinery, training and advertising, research your local market, how much competition is there, what prices are they charging, how busy are they?

If there are very few carpet cleaners advertising,  their lead times are in excess of 3 weeks and they want to charge you £100 or more for a 3 piece, or £60 for a lounge carpet, then go for it.

However, if yellow pages and your local papers are full of them, doing work for next to nothing, can fit you in tomorrow or in the same week, then the market is probably flooded and you'll struggle to even get started.

£50K in your first year, as a sole trader..........not a hope.

Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity!

[maxcarpets]

A lot of sense has been said here. The cost of machinery, training and chemicals is the easy part! you should really have enough money in the bank to last the first year, because every penny you take will need to be sank back into advertising.

Cheers!

Make that a VERY deep breath! 

[Doug Holloway]

Nick,

CC is a lot harder to get established in than many suppliers would have you believe.

Other things to consider.

Do you like physical work ?

Have you any sales skills ?

Do you have strong family support ?

Cheers

Doug

[Mike Osbourne]

Nicky

I sympathise. However if you think cc will get you out of a short term hole then forget it.

If you think you could survive at least 12months with a few hundred pounds living expenses per month with a view to earning £30-£50k in 2-3 years then it's a definate possibility.

I started from broke after I gave up my previous career as sat on my arse till the money ran out. Now on the face of it I'm £12k worse off.

However I'm in a much better place now than I was then, just not on paper.

There is some merit in buying second hand kit, a van and doing it part time. Get some leaflets and you are away. The downside is you still have fixed costs like insurance no matter how much work you do. It's also hard to get any momentum going.

These will keep your startup costs down

insurance HSBC
chems      Craftex
kit             CIU bought & sold
Leaflets    DP Print

Don't skimp on training though

[Art]

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[damien71]

We liked to starve at first if it wasn't for some janitorlial accounts to pay the bills. Our experience was that in the first 3 months can be quite discouraging however towards the end of the first year things pick up. The second is better and the third things for us took off! We were busy and weren't cleaning buidings at night anymore. We started out with a Bane Clene which was good because of their great support and eventually contacts through them. However later I tested out a Prochem Cub XL and that was the end of the Bane Clene Way.  As I look back on it now however it wasn't the best decision. We really didn't make anymore money with the Prochem. And of course Prochem doen't provide any support like Bane did. We had customers through Bane for years.  Clear up to when I semi retired due to my back.  Of course over the years I used many machines partly because I was a distributor for a few years.
You must market but in the end it is word of mouth that builds a buisiness of this nature. Also learn everything you can and apply it to improving your product (Cleaner carpet). Don't ever buy cheap chems. On the other hand don't jump to every new thing that comes around.
I wish you well!

damien71