What does it take to turn a family carpet cleaning business into a thriving enterprise amidst economic downturns and personal challenges? Join us on CV Hustle as we sit down with Josh Willis, owner of Carpet and Tile Care Company, who shares his incredible journey from Fontana to the Coachella Valley in the early '80s, and how he transformed his family's home-based operation into a successful company. Josh reflects on his formative years working for his family's business during high school summers, where he honed his skills in customer service and learned the ropes of running a home service-based enterprise.
Discover the highs and lows of managing a family-owned business as Josh narrates his experiences of buying and growing the carpet cleaning business with the support of his family and innovative advertising strategies. We explore the impact of the 2008 financial crisis and how Josh's resilience and adaptability helped the business evolve. From a temporary move to Denver for health reasons to returning to Palm Desert, this journey highlights the significance of overcoming personal and professional obstacles to achieve success.
In the final segment, Josh discusses the importance of diversifying services and seizing unexpected opportunities that come from saying "yes" to various job requests. He shares insights on the unique challenges of running a cleaning business during the COVID-19 pandemic, which surprisingly resulted in a surge in demand. Listen as Josh delves into the balancing act of work and family life, the complexities of expanding services, and maintaining reliable service for short-term rental properties. This episode is a treasure trove of practical advice and inspiring stories for entrepreneurs navigating their own paths.
What does it take to turn a family carpet cleaning business into a thriving enterprise amidst economic downturns and personal challenges? Join us on CV Hustle as we sit down with Josh Willis, owner of Carpet and Tile Care Company, who shares his incredible journey from Fontana to the Coachella Valley in the early '80s, and how he transformed his family's home-based operation into a successful company. Josh reflects on his formative years working for his family's business during high school summers, where he honed his skills in customer service and learned the ropes of running a home service-based enterprise.
Discover the highs and lows of managing a family-owned business as Josh narrates his experiences of buying and growing the carpet cleaning business with the support of his family and innovative advertising strategies. We explore the impact of the 2008 financial crisis and how Josh's resilience and adaptability helped the business evolve. From a temporary move to Denver for health reasons to returning to Palm Desert, this journey highlights the significance of overcoming personal and professional obstacles to achieve success.
In the final segment, Josh discusses the importance of diversifying services and seizing unexpected opportunities that come from saying "yes" to various job requests. He shares insights on the unique challenges of running a cleaning business during the COVID-19 pandemic, which surprisingly resulted in a surge in demand. Listen as Josh delves into the balancing act of work and family life, the complexities of expanding services, and maintaining reliable service for short-term rental properties. This episode is a treasure trove of practical advice and inspiring stories for entrepreneurs navigating their own paths.
Welcome to CV Hustle, the podcast created to educate, inform and inspire entrepreneurship here in our Coachella Valley. Hello everyone, I'm Robert Mraz.
Speaker 2:And I'm Fina Mraz.
Speaker 1:And we are CV Hustle, the podcast dedicated to educating, inspiring and informing local entrepreneurship here in the Coachella Valley. And today we got a special guest, fina, an illustrious guest, that's right, we got a special guest. We got Josh Willis of the Carpet and Tile Care Company. Thanks, for joining us.
Speaker 1:Thanks for having me. So anybody out there that's thinking about going into a home service based business, this is the podcast you want to listen to, because we're going to have a lot of tidbits on how you can get into into that industry. And then, once you're in people's houses, how do you make sure that you have, you know, repeat customers, because it's not an easy thing to do. It's something that's that's not not easily done. So we've got an expert here to kind of guide you, guide you in this so easily done. So we've got an expert here to kind of guide you, guide you in this.
Speaker 3:So, josh, thanks for coming out, thanks for having me today, so start at the beginning man we want to hear about Josh's story and going way back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we want to go way back to, you know, elementary school. Are you originally a Coachella Valley native or where are you from?
Speaker 3:originally Born in Fontana so kind of close and I think we moved out here about 82 83. My dad was a construction guy and there was a construction boom going on and oh yeah, there's lots of, yeah, a lot of building, and right there we moved at the bottom of the cove looking to the kinta man, you're gonna keep the native so
Speaker 2:you guys have been in the kinta forever for, yeah, since the early 80s.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I didn't realize that. Okay, yeah so then you ended up going to what lakinta high school, I'm assuming yep, yep, so my, they didn't have a lot of schools in lakinta when I was younger, so, uh, van baron was my first school kindergarten okay um, I think, kindergarten through second grade and then then finally they opened up truman adams when I was in fourth grade, so just moved on over there. Yeah, yeah, so I was. I was over there in india for a little bit you know india school guy?
Speaker 1:yeah, originally, that's right, that's right, yeah, yo guy. So he was one of those cove kids that you know, came. Yeah, everybody hated on at first, you know, had to prove himself yeah, he's from a different hood.
Speaker 3:Went to the boys and girls club in india for a little bit.
Speaker 1:We grew up together that was a good place to kind of grow up, cut your teeth over there yeah, oh yeah, so you're from Coachella, so you're basically a native. You came here when you were probably really young, right?
Speaker 2:Like three, four, yeah. So you've seen this place really really grow right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, back was nothing between Jefferson and Washington, right, it was desert.
Speaker 3:Yeah, all deserts. The streets were all like pebbled and no drains. The water would just go out into the desert, you know. So now it's that old town, Now it's a lot of people. It's I don't know 10 deserts left to build up there. The houses are completely taken over, like boom, boom, boom, boom.
Speaker 2:Now it used to be like a house and lots of land and then a house. Yeah, so all right, so talk, so let's, let's move it up a little bit. So you went to La Quinta high school, yep, and you graduated from there and then what?
Speaker 3:so while I was in high school, my parents actually opened the carpet and tile care company. They actually were working for a company called Rapid Dry, who's still around.
Speaker 2:Oh, I didn't know that.
Speaker 3:So my mom was an office guy for Gary Ramey Shout out to Gary and Dean was a tech for him for a long time and they were like looking around they're like, hey, I think we could do this. So they opened their own and it was just carpets and it was just dry cleaning back then, no steam, um, and uh, yeah, they just built it pretty quick. After a couple years it was um three or four vans run in.
Speaker 2:I was working for them and, um, oh, so you were in high school and you were helping your parents out I would do it every summer.
Speaker 3:Fifty dollars a day, that was my pay. It was 12 hours a day could be 14. I'm 50 bucks.
Speaker 1:That's what I got, I got that slave labor what work permit?
Speaker 2:all right, well they're your parents.
Speaker 1:You can't sue them. Hey, I didn't pay rent.
Speaker 3:So it was hey, it was all. It was all. I like this fine, it was all profit for you, right? There was some light days mixed in there but yeah, 50 bucks a day and but I I got taught a skill. I got to go get taught to walk into someone's house, not wreck the place because you're bringing in heavy equipment. There's a skill to setting up and um talking to customers, sales and setting expectations and executing and it was fun it.
Speaker 3:I got burnt out of it pretty quick, though I'm not going to lie, it was, I don't know, getting paid an hourly wage and day after day doing the same thing. I was like I don't know if I'm going to do this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think there's other things for me out there, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Real quick. So after a few years of working with them I just moved out to the high desert and just did some odd jobs here and there.
Speaker 2:So when you say the high desert, you mean, like where Yucca Valley?
Speaker 3:Joshua Tree, Morongo. Oh, you lived out there. I didn't know that. I bounced back and forth a couple times, but I love it out there. It's beautiful. I play music and there's a lot of stuff to do. What do you mean? I play music, and and there's a lot of um a lot of stuff to do that when you play music, a little music back in the day, yeah, guitar, a little bit of drums, yeah, all right long time ago, a long time ago.
Speaker 3:Yeah, in a band or yeah, just like a jam band, is that's okay? We play at the beatnik up there is like some it's like an ice cream shop slash. Yeah yeah, like it was. It was pretty fun up there. It was. I had a lot of a lot of fun. I wasn't making a lot of money up there, though we had, you know. So eventually I had to, you know, call mom up and ask her for a job, you know.
Speaker 2:And was she still doing the same thing, or what?
Speaker 3:ask her for a job, you know? And was she still doing the same thing, or what? Um, so they had actually broken up. So my, my stepdad and mom broke up, um, and with the divorce they split the business. He got the, the tile division and she got the carpets um, so that's how they did.
Speaker 3:They agree on that yeah, yeah, that's how they did it um yeah, they broke it up and and they each went their separate ways. And when I called, though, I asked you know, I need a job mom like, and she goes, yeah, come on in, I just bought a payroll company. I was like, what? So I bought a payroll company? Uh, I need someone to run payroll for me. I was like, okay, that sounds awesome. I did not want to clean carpets, I'm gonna.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna do this office job, this sounds awesome and um did not want to clean carpets. I'm going to.
Speaker 3:I'm going to do this yeah, nice cushy office job, this sounds awesome. And because I think she bought the payroll company because she couldn't do the work herself. So, even though she had the carpets, she didn't have, you know, dean, to rely on to do the work anymore. So she thought that you know she can do payroll, so she bought that and she kept the carpets going. But, um, when I got, when I got down there and and started learning the payroll business, shout out, bobby yeah, and still in it.
Speaker 3:Uh, I started to learn all the ins and outs of that. I saw the carpet vans just sitting there. They weren't moving. She I was like what's up with carpets? And she's like, oh, it's just been slow. She had some um guy ste running as a family friend and I don't know what was going on. I wasn't paying attention, but they weren't, it was just sitting. You know one job a week was very much.
Speaker 2:But I was like all right, that's fine, I'm just doing payroll, but you had payroll clients that you were servicing for other businesses, right Yep. So that was kind of yeah yeah they would fax in their hours.
Speaker 3:I would get the hours. I'd put them in the software. The checks would spit out. I'd put the checks in a paper folder.
Speaker 2:I'd put the paper folder and then she would so wait a minute, Because she used to run that part of their business so she was comfortable.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, she was always the office person in our business and then she couldn't do the carpets herself physically Sure In our business and then she couldn't do the carpets herself physically Sure. So I think you know when they split she felt a little vulnerable.
Speaker 2:And so she rolled some money into the payroll business and you go with what you know, yeah.
Speaker 3:And I think the idea was to keep the carpets going. But I think it was tough. You know, she relied on some people and I don't think they were getting it done.
Speaker 2:So is that, when you kind of what?
Speaker 1:year? What year are we talking about? Right like is this after? You're a football I know you from football so I know you were a football player in college when was this after your football career?
Speaker 3:yeah, so that was. Uh, yeah, college was 98 99. This was probably 2004 2005 still relatively yeah.
Speaker 1:yeah, you're just trying to find your next journey, right? Yeah?
Speaker 3:At the time I was just trying to get paid. I needed a paycheck. I wasn't even thinking about that.
Speaker 1:You just didn't pay that rent, right yeah.
Speaker 3:And I liked office work.
Speaker 1:I didn't want to move back to my mom's past so I had to pay rent right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and then even in the older days I I used to bounce back and forth I'd help my mom in the office and then I'd help dean out in the field, and I was like one of the only guys. I could do both.
Speaker 3:Yeah um, so you're, you had your hand in everything, yeah yeah, I like the office work because you get a system down, um, uh, you the job comes in, do the job, you complete the job, you mark if it's paid or not and then you file away. Like everything has a step-by-step procedure and I like that. So it was. It was soothing for me when that job got completed.
Speaker 1:I was like get it off your plate yes, kind of being prepped to kind of be an entrepreneur yeah, I didn't know it at that point, because you're doing the office back and stuff which we all have to learn how to do. Yeah, when you take over business.
Speaker 3:It's easy to do it once, but you get a large volume all of a sudden, things start to get lost and you know, if you don't have that system, it's yeah, so you're training on that portion while you're still in the field? Yeah, while I was learning the actual cleaning and and and you know the front end as far as dealing with the customer and and sales and, um, how to talk, and you know how to do the, the actual, you know cleaning so so you're, you're a jack of all trades at this point, yeah yeah, I was.
Speaker 3:You know, I'll help whoever. Wherever you need, I'm jumping out and helping, so you mentioned the vans that were sitting.
Speaker 1:There was that kind of your little light ball moment um, so was it vans, or what was that?
Speaker 3:um, it wasn't me, it was my brother, uh, jake. Um he, he came up with the idea. Just he's like hey, we should buy the carpet cleaning company for mom. She's not working, it, it's just there yeah, and I was like no way, dude, I like this job, dude I like running payroll yeah, yeah, I was like you also had to be like monday through friday.
Speaker 2:I mean, I guess your business probably still is now, but I mean yeah, it's, it's, it's a lot. Oh yeah, you work a lot of hours.
Speaker 3:Okay, sorry, I interrupted no, it's okay. So he's like no, we'll split it 70-30. He gets 70, he'll do all the work he said and I can just answer the phones and book the job, do the back end stuff and keep the payroll job. I was like double my pay. Oh, that sounds awesome, let's do that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was like double my pay.
Speaker 3:That sounds awesome. Let's do that. Yeah, sure, sure, I guess. Stay in his office. Yeah, it was good and we did that. Started advertising again, got the business going again. We got booked for like five weeks out really quick.
Speaker 2:Well, I want to know what the conversation was with your mom.
Speaker 1:Oh, how do you go? Yeah, that's a mom. I want to buy this. Yeah, can you?
Speaker 3:give a kid a break here. So we did it. The conversation went. She was. It went like what do you think it's worth? And she's like I've been offered 100 grand for it, right now and and I was like it's not even moving. But she had the phone number, she had repeat business, she had two vans or three vans and I was like what's up with the family discount? Take payments? She said she did. She gave 50 grand. That's awesome Really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a thousand dollars a month.
Speaker 3:No down payment, just start paying her a thousand bucks a month and you can have it no way, thank you mom, Wow.
Speaker 1:You did get that family discount yeah.
Speaker 2:Does your son get the same deal? Yeah, if you want.
Speaker 3:I'm trying to push him to something else, but it's there if he wants it, it's 100%. It's in the family man.
Speaker 2:Do you look back now and go damn, that was pretty cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I didn't realize what was going on, but looking back that was pretty monumental.
Speaker 2:And you also probably said 50 grand is a whole ton of money.
Speaker 3:I'm only a 50% owner. I got me and Jake in it right at this moment, so we're splitting revenue. It's half-half. It was 70-30. Like I think I got 30%, he got 70% because he's doing. But once you started getting busier, Well, he got burned out fast, so we were hitting it and we got all the customers back.
Speaker 2:He's like you've got to start coming clean.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and all of a sudden about I don't know, a year in, maybe less, I need some help out here. I'm like, okay, what do you want to do? So we'll do 50-50, and we'll switch or alternate days. So on the days he got to stay home he'd answer phones, and then when I was out in the field he'd answer phones.
Speaker 2:so we and we split. That sounds kind of like a sweet deal. Yeah, I mean as a kid.
Speaker 1:So what year is this? How old are you at this point? This was 2007. Oh so you're still a kid yeah, you're still barely 50 owner yeah, you're barely out of college how old? Were you um you're still in your 20s, right? Yeah? 20, 27 wow wow, so you're, you're already a business owner at 27 years old, yeah, you know, because I mean that's pretty.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, it was good it was. I didn't plan on it and yeah, it was working out. Because it was booming, it was booked.
Speaker 2:How did you get business if you were? Saying your mom wasn't doing it.
Speaker 3:We did our old thing advertised through Money Meller. I don't know if you remember that. Thomas King Shout out to Thomas King. It's like Valpak.
Speaker 1:Isn't that like the penny saver? Yeah, Valpak's still around.
Speaker 3:Valpak's around.
Speaker 2:yeah, oh he had the blue envelope that comes in the mail. They come in the mail and you open them up and you get coupons.
Speaker 3:MoneyMailer is a different company, very similar, the same execution. You can only have two carpet cleaners or two of the same businesses in there. I opened ValPak the other day. There were like cleaners in there, so I don't change that rule. Yeah, so about.
Speaker 3:Yeah so um, but we, you know, and there's, you didn't have to do the whole coachella valley, you can just do sections which is nice because there were certain areas that you wanted to target and higher end, yeah, and like sun city was nice, because they're, you know, they're at the age where they don't want to do anything around their house, so they're, they're getting those carpets cleaned in and then you can target those right.
Speaker 1:You target those packs and put them in the neighborhood you wanted. So where did you learn that?
Speaker 3:technique from. Was that something your parents were doing? Yeah, my mom's very good, savvy business.
Speaker 2:So okay, I'm still trying to understand something. So you had a payroll company named what?
Speaker 3:I think it was Jay Leon's and Associates. It's still around, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Jackie, um, I don't.
Speaker 3:I think it was jay leone's an associate just still around. Oh yeah, yeah, shout out to jackie. Yeah, shout out to jackie, yeah and so like then.
Speaker 2:But then you had the carpet so you were answering like two different phones for two different businesses um, yeah, but I didn't really answer a lot of phones for for um, for my mom's company. Uh, it came in through, faxed you just yeah, I just did the numbers.
Speaker 3:I didn't do the front end on that. That was her, she was taking care of that, but I had a phone next to me that I would um, you can you know you can forward the number to any phone and I forward the business to the to the number right here.
Speaker 1:So I would just pick it up. And yeah, I was getting paid twice working those kids that work from home, and then they yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:I read in the early I was, I was, I was loving, it was you're like a pioneer of that, of that technique. It was my favorite time working. I loved that job. It was fun. I went in there, just worked in the office. I got paid really well and it was fun. Um, oh my gosh, but yeah. So then jake needed help, so I had to get out there and start sweating again, and it was fun. I I was making, we were rolling, it was good, and then 2008 hit and it just stopped.
Speaker 1:Real estate affects your business pretty heavily right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it just gas prices shot up. We're living in Morongo. Oh, you're still up in the high desert. Yeah, I was driving back and forth.
Speaker 2:I was going to say so was most of your business down here in the desert. All of it, yeah, all of it Wow.
Speaker 3:So why didn't you? Guys advertise over there, if you lived there we did a little bit, but it's not the volume up there. It's a very slower pace of life. Okay, it's just it's hard because the roads aren't paved in Morongo. Oh, that's true, it's harder on the vehicles You're bouncing around the big old equipment, it's just not.
Speaker 2:Brakes are out again, alignment's out again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for real, for real. So it wasn't worth really targeting that market.
Speaker 3:No, and we kept the vans down here at that time.
Speaker 2:So we were commuting with our vehicles. Because those are gas guzzlers, you know? Oh, sure, for sure, because you have equipment inside of those.
Speaker 3:Equipment. Yeah, and they're big old vans and they're full of chemicals.
Speaker 2:That must be fun, if one ever breaks down.
Speaker 3:Yeah, maybe you break down. Yeah, the motors inside break down too. Oh my, gosh.
Speaker 2:Okay, so then at that point, 2007, 2008 hits, and then what?
Speaker 3:Well, not only financially was it a shitty day. Sorry, can I cuss?
Speaker 2:Please do. We invite you to cuss.
Speaker 3:I got really sick so I was playing football semi-pro football being dumb, but I got a bad infection on my leg. I got tackled on the baseball part of the field, the dirt, and it was road rash dirt and it like was road rash and it got infected and I got really sick. So for about five or six weeks I was on antibiotics and it fucked me up like, uh, I finally got rid of the infection, I was got the old and my ears started ringing.
Speaker 3:Oh, my gosh oh shit, and just financially I was hurting. Then I had a house. I was going to lose a house. Gas prices were shocked. I was like and me and Gretchen just started to start talking about this time a little before this and she's like Gretchen, your wife now. Yeah, shout out to Gretchen Love you babe. Yeah, she offered to let me stay. She was in Denver, she was going to college out there, she had a little studio out there.
Speaker 2:She's all come live with me I was like that's right, she did move out there say no more.
Speaker 3:I got on a plane and I left California.
Speaker 1:Wow what year was?
Speaker 2:this 2008-9 so then the. So then your brother kept the business yeah, so I.
Speaker 3:So I worked out. I was like dude, I got to take care of myself.
Speaker 2:I'm not healthy right now. I need a reboot.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm in bad shape. And he said no problem, I worked out, I forwarded the phones to Denver. So if you're calling for carpet cleaning in Palm Desert, you're calling Denver, love it Call center.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Target attention the call center center yeah and we worked out something.
Speaker 3:I got like 100 150 bucks a week just to answer phones and I, I, just I did that for him and he continued to work the business.
Speaker 2:It's worth it's worth. Did he end up hiring somebody to take your place, kind of um no, it got so slow.
Speaker 3:It got so slow. He did all of it and we, we had some van payments, we, we really just shaved a lot of the business down. We got, we had some loans out, we just took care of time to pivot yeah, we had to slim down oh, absolutely strap that you know strap that up, yeah, um, okay.
Speaker 2:So then you were in denver, right. And then how did you end up back in the desert, because you know the desert always?
Speaker 1:calls you back.
Speaker 3:Bobby came back too, so I was getting better out there, I was feeling better, but I was still having some problems my ear so I was coming back for doctor visits. Every now and then I'd fly back and on one of those visits, jake just came up and said I'm done. I was like what, you're getting burnt out. You want me to jump out there and clean carpets? He's like no, I'm done, I'm going to pivot, I'm going to get a job somewhere where there's a corporation. I'm going to move up the ladder. They have uh health care, they have um stocks. And so he went and uh got a job at home depot. And I was like, oh shit, he was done with the business. Yeah, he didn't want to do it anymore and it's a grind, it can you know.
Speaker 3:You guys know it's, it's you never stop working and that's like physical labor too it is, and so we pivoted and yeah, we worked something out, so I became the.
Speaker 2:So you said hey, gretchen.
Speaker 3:Not coming back, babe, sorry.
Speaker 2:Really.
Speaker 3:Now I'm in business. Hey, we got work to do, wow.
Speaker 2:So where did you live?
Speaker 3:I got a cheap place in Morongo, I mean. Oh, so you still went back out there and then, well, I I think I flew out one more time, got like, got my stuff and flew back out and started running a cheap little studio and you were still doing the commute then yeah, down there so who was answering your? Phones. I was the whole time I was, so you're doing everything just like he does today at this time, yeah, at this time.
Speaker 3:And now it's go time and I I saw that my mom and dean got burnt out. Um, jay got burned out, I got burned out. So my whole approach when I first got the business was I'm not gonna burn myself out, I'm gonna do like one, two jobs a day, that's it and that back then for me I didn't have a lot of overhead. It was like 300 $300 a day. I was like I'm fine, I can do this forever. I was off by 12 o'clock. I was drinking by 2 or 3.
Speaker 2:I was like I'm good man.
Speaker 3:I was happy it was working perfect until it wasn't.
Speaker 1:What year was this? Now you take over the business 2010-ish, 2011. You're doing $300 a day, feeling good, living your best life, Loving it yeah, we didn't have a lot of bills.
Speaker 2:I was still living pretty cheaply, didn't have a house yet and you hit some bumps in the road. Was there?
Speaker 3:a bumpy road. Well, so that first year, two, year, three, I did really well and I got hit with a big tax bill. Well, it sounds like our story.
Speaker 3:It caught me slipping. I didn't have all the money in the bank account. I was like, oh, so I had to set up payments. So I started setting up payments. My mom was giving me the stuff. She says just pay them on the due date. So I was doing that. And then three months after that that my truck mount went out so I had to total rebuild the the motor and the truck mount, not the car motor.
Speaker 1:The truck mount. Now I can't now I'm out of business without that right.
Speaker 3:It's done so I, so I had to pivot money from taxes to get that. I have to get that up right. That's every day. I have to get that up about this time going on. I asked Gretchen to marry me, so we had a wedding to save up.
Speaker 1:Geez you like to throw all kinds of. All of a sudden 300 bucks A day was not it's not going to work.
Speaker 3:It's not working. So we got the wedding through and then we got pregnant quick and I needed a car, now SUV, I needed a family. They're not going to let me take my baby away from the van, no, you can't put the car seat in the van, no. So I had to. I you know now it was go time. So I was like all right, I started to to really start to sell um and work past one. You know, I started to do three, four jobs a day and it was starting to generate more money and um. But I needed a vehicle and it was tough because I wasn't using credit. Back then I didn't have credit score because I wasn't using it. I didn't have a bad one, but I wasn't using it. So I went to the, the dealership and they wanted to give me like 14 interest rate on a car I was like I can't do that.
Speaker 3:That's terrible, yeah, ridiculous. I that's a no. And so I'm like what am I gonna? I got a baby coming and shout out to mom again. I asked her and she had a car that she wasn't using and it was a Lexus IS350. Nice car, fast car, not a family car. I got a car seat in there. She pushed that seat all the way forward on the passenger side and worked out something with her. So I started paying her for that and yeah, so this is all leading up to something, because so I got the car. It's sitting the driveway, I wasn't paying attention to it and, uh, for a couple of weeks, you know, gretchen's got a truck, I got a van, I'm working a lot and all of a sudden, gretchen's water's breaking. It's go time. We got the backpack, we got the route we're taking, we jump in that car and we're driving and I start to hear a grinding sound.
Speaker 1:Wow, really On the way to the hospital, and it wasn't.
Speaker 2:Gretchen.
Speaker 3:I looked over at her and she's just like she's very calm, doing her breathing. And I turn like I can feel the grind in the in this. It's like low profile rim, so I couldn't tell when I jumped in the car, but when I was driving it it was grinding, I could feel it through. So I turned up the music a little bit and I look over holy shit, I got a baby coming going down 111, uh, and I'm on the rim. Wow, I'm on the rim driving to the hospital and so I'm thinking like who can I call? What's going on? Like what? What are my options? Right, and I was like I'm gonna drive this thing until till the wheels fall off. I'm going in, coming in hot. So I kind of I make it into that hospital roundabout thing.
Speaker 1:Get Gretchen Sparks All right, I get to picture it.
Speaker 3:Pull the door open and get Gretchen in the the delivery room area. They put it right in the Wheelchair.
Speaker 2:Wheelchair and take her away.
Speaker 3:And I'm like all right, we're good. I go park it in the closest parking spot I can find we have a baby. Connor comes way late at night. It was a long delivery, like 2, 3 in the morning, and I wake up that morning. I wake up to some notifications. Oh shoot, stuff's hitting my bank account. I'm not getting paid. So I pull up the app and I got $0. Oh my God, the day your son was born. The day your son was born, the day my son was born.
Speaker 2:That's pretty much. It Kids take all your money. Yeah, I mean, you get used to it right, he was already.
Speaker 1:Kids, take all your money.
Speaker 3:Dude, I was tripping, I was just like.
Speaker 2:Was it the tax man? Yeah, irs, took it right out, irs took your account.
Speaker 3:Yep, just took it out Because I had been truck mount payments and I was just trying to juggle everything.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3:Stressful You're starting. Now I got to get my shit together.
Speaker 2:Gretchen remember Better or Worse, yeah, during our vows.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we were in it, and so I got on the phone and the IRS was super nice. Whoever I talked to to the guy was really cool. He was just like yeah, I told him I'm like I just had a baby, uh, I need, I need, I need some gas money to get home. I got a flat tire and he's like don't, don't worry about it, we're gonna give you half your money back and then we're gonna set up.
Speaker 3:They gave you half your money back half it back and set up payments and he said you have to have money in there because those are coming out. No matter what I go, you're the best dude.
Speaker 1:And I think it was only like four grand.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so he gave me two grand back, and yeah it was like a little lifeline, so I have a question, because we've what did you?
Speaker 2:are you a sole proprietor? I am a sole prop, yeah.
Speaker 3:I still am, I got to come see Bobby. I yeah, okay, I still am, I got to come see Bobby. I've been putting it off.
Speaker 2:No, but this is what we talk about. When Bobby and I first started, you're supposed to pay yourself. What is it? You know what it is? It's 12 and a half and 12 and a half.
Speaker 1:Oh, the self-employment tax.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so this whole property is subject to self-employ his tax return every year, I think probably since you started your business yeah because you're used to having to pay the sales employment tax.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, so now, now I'm prepared, but back then I was not. And um, yeah, it was a learning, it was a learning. We were not prepared either.
Speaker 1:I mean, we got hit with a pretty nice bill too that first year, because we had no idea.
Speaker 2:These are things they don't teach you in school right you know, it's like you have to learn.
Speaker 3:Yeah, trial and error the first year I just I had a lot of deductions, startup costs and it. You know it made more sense. And then that third year, so I didn't have no cost really and it was like you're like.
Speaker 2:Oh, I thought I better make up some yeah I must have went to sushi too many times that year or something, because I didn't have it.
Speaker 3:When they came, they came knocking, so so you, you're, you're okay. The irs gives you a lifeline uh, yeah, is that like you're very cool, it was very nice your aha moment like yeah, I got this hard and I was over. Yeah, at that time I was like I need new equipment. How?
Speaker 2:did you get home here?
Speaker 3:I'll touch up the sun bus so I got, um, there's a gas station right across street from like catty corn, not across street, but like right around the corner, from from the hospital there in palm springs. I roll up there and it's off the bead, the, the like it's, and and I'm like I go in. I go like dude, I need a tire, can I? Oh, we don't sell tires here. And the lady in the front was like super mad, like basically tell me, you got, get out of here. You know what I mean. And then the mechanic heard the whole conversation. He goes, uh, let me, let me go look at it. And he saw it and he's like I think I can get it on the bead. And he and he put a lot of spray in there and he let him match and it went and it went back on the rim and he filled it up yeah, he's got.
Speaker 3:You got a slow reek, uh leak, and I was like, uh, looking on the tire, he's all I can't find out, he's all I bet you it's in the rim. So I had a crack in the rim apparently, so, but it got me home. Yeah, that was good news. Yeah, so it was like the irs giving your money back, and then that guy I was so thankful that guy was like dude, I'm gonna come clean your carpet, your your furniture in your house.
Speaker 3:Here's my card. And uh, sure enough, he called me up like two weeks later.
Speaker 1:Oh really yeah, oh yeah, dude on that favor. Oh nice, yeah, I love it, yeah it was oh that's good karma, man. Yeah, he saved me. So so you were at this inflection point. New son, yeah, new business, well, kind of new business, right. So when did you decide? Okay, I'm just gonna go, you know, I'm gonna go all in on this and really and really make it, make it work and make it profitable and make, make it so I can take care of my that day I just I was.
Speaker 3:I told myself, I'm gonna grind as hard as I can because this can't happen. I got a family to protect financially.
Speaker 2:I can't.
Speaker 3:This can't happen. I remember my stepdad, dean, telling me a long time ago Because he built the business up to five vans when they were running but they got burnt out. But he told me if you really want to make a lot of money, just don't say no. If someone asks you to clean some windows that you don't normally do, just say yes. If, if they want you to clean saltillo pavers, just say yes. You know how to do pavers, you know how to do windows. I know you don't like to do them, but just do them so. And I didn't realize why that was so important at the time. I just thought it was like extra money. I'm not, I'm not completely booked. Sure it gives me more money, but what it really did was it opened up new um opportunities revenue streams right.
Speaker 3:New revenue coming in from yeah, but now on saturday morning when I scheduled that window cleaning, the neighbor saw me cleaning. He wants the window clean and then he finds out I'm doing carpets. So he's like, all right, can you do my carpets? I'm doing his carpets and he likes the way it came out. And he's like I got seven, eight vacation properties in the desert. I want you to clean them all. And then they usually have a property manager that does theirs and then they go get a job somewhere else. And now that one window cleaning turned into all this other revenue because I said yes to something I didn't want to do. So shout out to dean, because he was the one that told me that a long time ago really so then, that is that how you started adding tile to your um name.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so the the original name was carpet care company. Um, and they just did dry cleaning and then they got up to steam cleaning and then they started to do tile, so they added tile to the name, so it became the carpet and tile care company so what's the difference between a dry cleaning and I mean, obviously I know it's steam, but yeah, so what's?
Speaker 3:um, it's a they still. It's still in the industry. They call it VLM, very low moisture cleaning. So basically they're going to take a cleaning agent and put it across the carpet and they're going to use a buffing machine. It's not the best cleaning.
Speaker 2:Got it?
Speaker 3:It really isn't, but for certain types of sky rises in hotels where you can't get a truck mount in there, It'll work. It'll work and it makes it look better. Sure, but it's not as good as you know a steam cleaning.
Speaker 2:Have you ever told people this should not be clean? Just get rid of it and start over. You're like I'm ready. That's what I basically told you before the show. Yeah.
Speaker 3:The cost. You know you've got to start weighing the cost. Know you gotta start weighing the? I'm gonna be here eight hours. Um, this is time to go, like you gotta, and then they'll. They'll try to tell me I'll just clean, it, cleans up. Good, you know, and I'm just like no, you gotta, oh my gosh sorry yeah okay, so now do you have anybody that works through you? Yes, correct yeah, so it's still family-run business eli, my youngest brother, who was born when I was in high school.
Speaker 3:So now, he's now like 26, 27, he's working. Um, he's running the other van. He's actually my lead tech. He does the majority of the work. Um, I'm in the office again trying to get back in that office, uh, half the time. But I get out there and I catch all the stuff, because I have stuff that comes in it needs to be done same day.
Speaker 3:Um, it's just so you're like the emergency or the go-to guy on the yeah turnover stuff yeah, and then when he can't work, um, you know, of course I jump in. And then, uh, we alternate weekends because sometimes we gotta work on the weekends. We try not to, but commercial accounts come in there. You know, the office is full monday through friday, yes.
Speaker 2:So I say yes, okay. I have a question have you done any murder scenes?
Speaker 3:you know, oh man, when I was young, I think it, I think I think it was yeah, I remember it was a blood scene like a big. They had a like a what something over it and it was weird. It was like I was just young, maybe 19. I was like, whatever I'm cleaning, Well there's a lot of blood right here.
Speaker 1:Wow, like that, huh.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and at the time it was fine. I didn't think about it, but looking back at it, I sometimes think about that, Because they had people mourning outside when I was cleaning. Oh yeah, why were they mourning Like, why were they just standing there with coffee? And they don't have to tell you that you're cleaning my blood. Isn't that like a hazardous material? That's true, right, they didn't tell. They didn't tell me until I got there and I just started cleaning it up what you were told.
Speaker 1:You told me to clean this. Yeah, I just didn't even.
Speaker 3:I was too young and dumb. You know, I was just 1920, it was a long time ago. It was one of my first got a truck mount and um, very crazy long time ago.
Speaker 2:Okay, I have another. I hope not. I have another crazy question now. It's not too crazy. What happened when covet hit and people like were scared of being around people?
Speaker 3:so I I was prepared for it to slow down, batting up the hatches, I was getting ready and that first month it was slow and um, I was like, all right, but I, I had. I remember 2008, so I was built for it. I I can slim it down and I can survive for a long time if it shuts down well, and you probably have more money at this point and you're probably smarter, being smarter about money.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm still being very cautious about how, uh, how much um debt I have every month to come up with. And I have um to set rules and I abide by that and I was prepared for it to slow down. But the second month, I think april- you're like it blew up so much I could not keep up with you know why?
Speaker 2:because everybody was home yeah, everybody was sick.
Speaker 1:And looking at that I don't know what it was. That's what it was.
Speaker 3:I was, both vans were maxed. I couldn't catch it all I. I tried my best. I could not catch it all it was.
Speaker 2:It was crazy and well, that's what, like our business boomed, I mean, I can't tell you, so you were on it too. Yeah, oh, yeah tile sales went through the roof like crazy numbers, right everybody.
Speaker 3:Like they were saying you can't even compare those numbers to any other panel yeah year, because it was just ridiculously crazy I was like, if this stays this, like this, forever, this is gonna. You're going. I'm making a big plan early yeah I almost bought a third van that year because it was so busy. I wasn't I don't like not catching everything, I didn't, and I was letting stuff go and I was like I gotta expand. And I shout out to billy hayes. I went down to ford, I started getting that third van running and some just told me like let me just I'm gonna hold off.
Speaker 3:It's not real yeah yeah, I just I remember 2008 when I it's the run-up in prices and I I waited just to see. I'm glad I did, because it did get slow after sure I went slow down, but now it's speeding back up. Right now it's um. Right now you're super busy right, yeah, so, yeah.
Speaker 1:So this is a repeat. It's like goes in cycles yeah, it's really weird, right?
Speaker 2:so are you gonna add carpet tile and windows to your name?
Speaker 3:uh, maybe I windows, so after you get busy, um, you have to really streamline it, and it's I'd have to hire a whole new van just, yeah, to do windows, only because we're so full business.
Speaker 1:Yeah, windows is big, you're right, because you have these big, old, massive, you know outdoor spaces and ladders.
Speaker 3:Yeah, different windows, different screens.
Speaker 2:Some of those screens are tough to get off, that's true, yeah, you gotta have a whole clean windows, but only on the inside.
Speaker 3:Yeah right, yeah and you have to have, like soft water systems. So so you're not, you know, just putting calcium water on the window. It's a whole process. So, um, we thought about it.
Speaker 1:Well, it's not out of the question thinking about expanding into the next, you know next service.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, the the next, you know next service. Yeah, yeah that the next thing would be water restoration or stone restoration. Those are like the two areas, yeah good dip into.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I just well stone? Is it just a tricky thing?
Speaker 3:and then chemicals you use and it's like stripper, you're using standards, you're breathing and stuff in like oh, that's all the chemicals I use, pretty safe for the environment. There's not harsh, it's just a little ph adjustment and a little bit of an acid rinse and it's good.
Speaker 2:So you were saying you do saltios, do you do? You used to?
Speaker 3:because they're a pain in the ass. They are. It's. It's rough work. Yeah, you're stripping, you're scrubbing, you're cleaning, you're letting it dry and then you're doing coats of acrylic sealer. I could do it, but I one of my least favorite jobs.
Speaker 1:Price it to where it's like make it five bucks six bucks, yeah you gotta price it to make it worth your time right I have a form that says the truth about saltios, and it's.
Speaker 2:It's true, it's. They're cheap on the front end and expensive on the back end. Yeah, and there are people don't realize.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because the, the acrylic, the dirt gets embedded, and the only way to get that dirt up is to get that acrylic off. It's like nails, right that you got to strip it all the way down and rebuild it.
Speaker 3:So it's, it's that's a good analogy, I like that yeah yeah, you can use that yeah no, we used to do them a lot and um a lot, a lot. Dean was very good at at salt seals. He taught me how to do everything and um, I just don't like doing it yeah so you, you we've, we hire, we use you exclusively and we have an airbnb.
Speaker 2:So he just came and cleaned um our master bedroom couch and the rug in there. So don't know, you'll be getting a bill I'll be getting a bill awesome bill bobby, I think it's scheduled to go out tomorrow morning nice yeah, yeah
Speaker 3:this guy never misses a bill. I got a system.
Speaker 1:I got a system down here.
Speaker 3:When it hits, it hits, it goes out this man.
Speaker 1:You can't miss an invoice. Yeah, but is airbnb like a big part of what you're?
Speaker 3:yeah, it's wrapped up. I would say about 40 is short-term rentals and that's just just consistent.
Speaker 1:You want those accounts right Because they're consistent, yeah.
Speaker 3:And we adjust the pricing because a lot of times they don't need a full clean, they need a refresh kind of deal, because the guests kind of mess something up and then they just need a sofa spot cleaned. So the tickets are a little smaller and you usually don't have to do the whole house, but we're set up to do it.
Speaker 1:And get there quickly. Don't have to do the whole house so, but we we're set up to to do it and get that cater to it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, very, yeah, very quick and see, that's perfect, especially in this market right because, yeah, we're going into season where it's just all airbnbs in our yeah and you, the check-ins are at four, so you gotta you gotta get it done before then, so you gotta be ready to catch it as it comes. And that's the trick with those is gotta gotta be ready, gotta get in there absolutely timing, right?
Speaker 2:yeah, it's all timing so, uh, how do you, how do you make time for family, because you do a lot of football it's tough man during covid I got yelled at a lot um.
Speaker 3:I don't work weekends. I try to my best not to work weekends um. My um my brother will work weekends um, but I try to give him the weekends off.
Speaker 2:Oh, jake, is back.
Speaker 3:No, no, eli, eli, eli, younger brother, I will use Jake, though he owns. Shout out, jake, he owns High Desert, carpentow.
Speaker 1:Oh, so he's back in the business now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he got done with Home Depot and came to his senses and opened his zone up there.
Speaker 2:That's awesome Now.
Speaker 3:I'm trying to get Eli to open his zone somewhere else. Branch off, huh. Like you know, I'm branch off, huh yeah, but then you're gonna have to hire somebody else. I know it's tough.
Speaker 2:You guys probably know it's tough to find um someone that you trust with, with your life right, because you got it okay, so you're still answering all your phones, right yeah, I feel like the, the face of the company is super important.
Speaker 1:I feel absolutely they love talk, people love calling and be able to talk to you. That's probably the last thing I'll give up is, is that phone?
Speaker 3:I've done it the whole time forever yeah, and if I hire someone or their services that call me, they want to do it, they want to like, set it up and and they'll send me my jobs and email my clients and like I'm on the face, like I want, because you have to also know what kind of I mean I would imagine you're like qualifying these people and and really knowing what you're getting when you go there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and they want estimates and I know the models of the house. I know the location, like where they live. You know roughly so I know about how big those houses are. So the people out of the area aren't going to know that stuff. And I just don't. Every time that phone rings it's an opportunity. And yeah, I just take it seriously. I don't think Every time that phone rings it's an opportunity. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I just take it seriously. I don't think I'm not going to give that up.
Speaker 3:But I'll give everything else up, except maybe payroll, because I like payroll there you go More power to you.
Speaker 2:You're going to do payroll in Bobby's house. I thought about it.
Speaker 1:More power to you, man. It's a good job I love it, man, it's always changing right. Yeah, and it's always changing right yeah and me.
Speaker 3:I'm like numbers. Yeah, he doesn't want to touch it at all, thanks, yeah, like the design stuff, things, pretty, yeah, yeah, which I'm not good at, so that would that'd be a nightmare for me, my carpet's pretty yeah yeah, no, it is soothing, I like to. It's like painting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's therapeutic yeah, it has it's like I don't see it I don't do it anymore, so I don't know so I just we have people way better. Yeah, I'm still yeah, so we're getting up towards our time here, but we always like to ask our entrepreneurs a couple questions at the end of the show. Okay, um. So first question best business advice you've ever gotten?
Speaker 3:um, probably from from dean, my stepdad, saying don't you know, if you really want to make money, just don't say no. Don't say no, I mean you're gonna put yourself into situations where you might not be comfortable, but if you trust yourself to get them done and know you can, you're gonna get them done and it's gonna lead to opportunities later down the look down the road.
Speaker 1:So absolutely say no, you gotta be a little thirsty especially when you're starting right, yeah exactly exactly, you get full.
Speaker 3:You know you're super full. Um, you gotta kind of pick and choose what you can do with your eight hours a day absolutely but and what's worth it, and I'm sure you get phone calls that are like red flags and you're like oh forget this. Yeah, I've been doing enough.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so that when you're starting. That's a great rule to follow.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I know I did it too. I'm like, oh, how do I do this tax return?
Speaker 2:I'll Google it and figure it out real quick yeah.
Speaker 1:Because I need this sale right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you figure it out, right yeah.
Speaker 1:You're good at what you do. You figure it out. You'll do just as.
Speaker 3:Having someone rely on you to do something. It just makes you get it done.
Speaker 2:Right True.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, good advice. I think we've all done that here. Okay, last question for you Worst piece of business advice you've gotten.
Speaker 2:Worst piece Saying yes to everything.
Speaker 3:Pretty much. No, I got talked into doing some advertisement. You know those golf course little magazines, oh yeah, yeah, the country club ones. Yeah, they're like 13 country clubs. I'm sure they work for some people, but I I lost four grand. I didn't get no calls no call four grand yeah not one call yeah, zero yeah I was like is something broke you guys dropped these off, or do I gotta to go to these Did?
Speaker 2:it never go out.
Speaker 3:Yeah so that was a fast tax write-off, that was a learning experience yeah. I kind of had a feeling because I know my clientele. Not a lot of golf guys call me for their carpets. It's usually the old ladies taking care of their house.
Speaker 2:Those are my clients and I'll always go back to what you've always said to me Kids and pets.
Speaker 3:Keep you in business. Kids and pets there you go, jesus, how many times have I called you for that?
Speaker 1:guys, damn dog keep me in business 100, absolutely, absolutely. That's the lifeline of your business it's kids and pets, that's it that's it so. So word to the wise out there. Somebody's offering you a four thousand dollar ad. Yeah, at a golf club hey think about it, yeah, you might want to just stick to social media yeah there's smarter ways. Boost a post or something like that.
Speaker 2:Or if somebody's having a baby, give them a gift card to start fabric cleaning, that's right, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 1:So where can our? You know we've heard a lot of good information on home services businesses. Where can our audience kind of reach out to you or find your work?
Speaker 3:Just a website carpetcare, all one word co.
Speaker 1:Do you have an Instagram or a social?
Speaker 3:You do any of that stuff I probably have an Instagram.
Speaker 1:No, I just have a Facebook.
Speaker 3:I just have a Facebook. The Carpet and Towel Care Company. Okay.
Speaker 2:So we can vouch for his work and fina been using josh for years.
Speaker 3:You know, and he does excellent. I appreciate that I would not use you again if you were not. I believe it. I believe it, fina, she would tell you if I know, I know, you know my wife. She's very opinionated we always try our hardest.
Speaker 1:So no, and he doesn't. He's gotten some stains out of our couches when our stupid dogs and and I can attest like it's a brand new couch. So guys look him up. He's best in the valley of what he does and we appreciate you guys tuning in. If you found some value in this, please like and subscribe and we'll see you next time.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thanks for coming on the show Thank you.