I tell it as it is, so listen.
At £24 its quite good value and I believe you can have the machine for the day. I'm certainly not one of the rug doctor haters as it suits some people to nip and hire one if they have a quiet day.
Carpet and upholstery cleaning deals in wonderful raw cash and should be only really be used as a wallet top.
Get training in something serious, go to Business Link and see an adviser and draw up a realistic plan with projections and slowly build a proper respected business that is VAT registered and sustainable.
£800-£1500 per week in a very small business (window cleaning, ice cream, carpets) is fine if the cash is used for holidays, cars and bric a brac ect. Use your paid salary from a serious business source to fund your mortgage, pension, savings and all the things that matter.
And before you say "I'm happy on my 40k Turnover with £25-30K nett", you sit back and think how much effort and marketing has gone into achieving this low result. If you were to put just half of this time and attention into a serious venture you could multiply that turnover of 40k, twenty fold at least.
Matt