10 Questions Every Cleaning and Restoration Business Should Ask!

Check out these 10 questions that just may keep you from joining the 80% of start-up businesses that fail within their first decade. Then share with your fellow board members other vital questions that have kept you safe, sane and profitable …

Steve’s “Bleeding Hearts” Advice Column Directory

Steve Toburen answers pleas for help from carpet cleaners, mold remediation and fire and water damage restoration professionals. If you are starting a carpet cleaning business or an experienced small business person you will surely find practical advice here.

Should carpet cleaners advertise in the “services section”?

Hey Steve,

Do you recommend advertising in the “services section” of the classified in a town’s main local paper? If so, what sort of response can I expect? What can I put in 3 lines that would draw attention to my company?

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Does your business suffer from “Boiling Frog Syndrome”?

Chuck Violand reflects on the sad fact that most small enterprises are not destroyed by fierce competition or outside forces such as a sour economy. No, the rot comes from within. Read on for an orientation on this insidious danger …

Too high? Too low? HELP!

A new carpet cleaner is getting whip-sawed from both sides. Steve tries to bring a bit of sanity and balance to the eternal question, “How much should I charge?”

“So how long is it going to take?”

Steve waxes nostalgic when asked about his “success time-line” and then shares a few bone-headed mistakes he made over the years so you can avoid them!

Can I make it in this market?

I’m thinking of starting a small carpet cleaning business in an area of about 80,000 people,….and about 50 carpet cleaning companies! So,starting out part-time (at about 10hours a week) is it worth the risk of my limited start-up capital?