What's your Story, How did you get started in the Mobile cleaning Business?

[Rick2]

Well, I'm new to this board but have been powerwashing for a long time. Back in the early 90s I moved back to the States and took a job with the city that gives me my summers off. During this first year a girlfriend suggested I do something other that watching TV and drinking beer each day. I did have slight experiences in the past with powerwashing so I looked in the phonebook and saw only one business advertising this service... very little competition. I ordered a little rig from Northern. That was almost twenty years ago and things are better than ever.

It's not just the idea of making money anymore. Owning a business and making it work requires more self-decipline than I thought I had and has made me a better person. I'm sure that's true in all businesses but I just happened to pick powerwashing.

 

[jlpressure]

Well, I'm new to this board but have been powerwashing for a long time. Back in the early 90s I moved back to the States and took a job with the city that gives me my summers off. During this first year a girlfriend suggested I do something other that watching TV and drinking beer each day. I did have slight experiences in the past with powerwashing so I looked in the phonebook and saw only one business advertising this service... very little competition. I ordered a little rig from Northern. That was almost twenty years ago and things are better than ever.

It's not just the idea of making money anymore. Owning a business and making it work requires more self-decipline than I thought I had and has made me a better person. I'm sure that's true in all businesses but I just happened to pick powerwashing.

You still have the girlfriend, sounds like a smart lady

 

[Rick2]

No, we broke up shortly afterwards but still remain friends to this day. We both married but her marriage didn't work out the way she wanted it to. A long story would describe how I found myself in Eastern Europe about 12 years ago and happened to meet a very pretty girl. This November 18th will be our eleventh year of marriage and December will be our son Patrick's 7th birthday.

 

[jlpressure]

No, we broke up shortly afterwards but still remain friends to this day. We both married but her marriage didn't work out the way she wanted it to. A long story would describe how I found myself in Eastern Europe about 12 years ago and happened to meet a very pretty girl. This November 18th will be our eleventh year of marriage and December will be our son Patrick's 7th birthday.

Awesome! Pretty wife and your son is handsome young man


Just saw you were from Mass, I was born and raise on the South Shore, Randolph. Did a lot of work in the 80's & 90's out your way. I was a union steel painter & sandblaster, did a lot of overpasses, bridges and power plants in your part of the state.

 

[Clean County PW]

Hey John, I remember back in NY as a kid me and my good friend always said we wanted to be retired by 45yr old. Well it almost happenend for me until I moved here and got involved in P/W. My buddy from NY just left my house 2 days ago on a visit, we talked about this very thing. He is about ready to turn his buisness over to his kid, who is very competent and has been working along side him for years.

We have been looking for a short sale or foreclosure for them down here and I think he finally found something he can steal for a cash deal. I had a home in NY and he bought the home behind me, we had a swinging gate until I got divorced and he boarded it up...lol...from when we were little we were driven to always have more and we continued our close relationship long distance. When he finally gets down here with his wife I am pulling the plug here as well, time for full time fun and no more headaches. We have both been in buisness for ourselves since we were kid's and I think it will all pay off in the end.

Funny how stuff works out, I was in real estate when I was real young and bought and sold some homes up in suffolk county, and when the home behind me became available I bought it and sold it to my friend. We always seemed to have grown together at the same pace and hopefully we will retire together as well, most people have one true friend and I am thrilled that he will be moving down here to retire. He was already thinking of something we could do together and I dont doubt that if we get involved in something it wont be hands on.

Hey Nick your lucky. I had some real close friends over the years and my best friends out of them moved for one reason or another. I still keep in touch with a couple of those friends and a group of us go out every year to either a concert, a Broadway play or a Comedy show with always a dinner first. Thats always great. We always end up talking about the 70's.

What I don't do is facebook and life is just to busy for me to even think about that. I wish I still had "That one best friend" because I was always a "One best friend" type of guy growing up..... Today this may sound pathetic because I do have some good friends such as Gary Melius from the Oheka castle( we talk alot and go to dinner when we can) but my best friend is my wife. I don't know how that happen because I was Mr. Party to the Max and always hanging out with the guys but the last couple of years I felt like I excluded her from alot of shit I did. Some of it obviously Kathy would not have wanted to be a part of like getting zonked at the strip clubs after the Union meetings etc.... but today because of how fast our life is zipping by and where in it together we turned into cornballs... best friends....with privileges..lol

But your lucky. I miss that "one guy best friend for life" thing that I thought I would have when I was a kid.

Hey Nick out of curiousity what year and what school did you graduate HS from and what town did you live most of the time when you lived here on the Island?

Its a small world. Here's one for ya... John Orr the UAMCC Treasurer at one time live in Lake Grove not far from the Smithhaven Mall...Small world.
Pics below are of me and Gary recently hanging with Babe Ruths Grandaughter Linda Ruth Tosetti.

 

[The Cleaner]

Hey Nick your lucky. I had some real close friends over the years and my best friends out of them moved for one reason or another. I still keep in touch with a couple of those friends and a group of us go out every year to either a concert, a Broadway play or a Comedy show with always a dinner first. Thats always great. We always end up talking about the 70's.

What I don't do is facebook and life is just to busy for me to even think about that. I wish I still had "That one best friend" because I was always a "One best friend" type of guy growing up..... Today this may sound pathetic because I do have some good friends such as Gary Melius from the Oheka castle( we talk alot and go to dinner when we can) but my best friend is my wife. I don't know how that happen because I was Mr. Party to the Max and always hanging out with the guys but the last couple of years I felt like I excluded her from alot of shit I did. Some of it obviously Kathy would not have wanted to be a part of like getting zonked at the strip clubs after the Union meetings etc.... but today because of how fast our life is zipping by and where in it together we turned into cornballs... best friends....with privileges..lol

But your lucky. I miss that "one guy best friend for life" thing that I thought I would have when I was a kid.

Hey Nick out of curiousity what year and what school did you graduate HS from and what town did you live most of the time when you lived here on the Island?

Its a small world. Here's one for ya... John Orr the UAMCC Treasurer at one time live in Lake Grove not far from the Smithhaven Mall...Small world.
Pics below are of me and Gary recently hanging with Babe Ruths Grandaughter Linda Ruth Tosetti.

I grew up in the Bronx as a kid then moved out to E.Setauket LI, I went to Ward Melville H.S. graduated 76

 

[Ron Musgraves]

Great thread and great stories

 

[Paul Kassander]

After high school I had decided to join the military which was something that I had always wanted to do. While at basic training we were talking about jobs and one of my buddy's said he did auto detailing and the made a couple hundred a vehicle. Like Scott that got me thinking and when I got back home I decided I would start a detailing business. After doing some research and searching I found a company to buy out and got their equipment. They already had a few fleet jobs and that helped me to get going. I was able to land few detail jobs and learned quickly that that was not the work for me so I just focused on the truck washing.

For several years I continued to do that and work a full time job as a movie theatre manager. One day at work a customer flipped out because he was over an hour late to a movie and we would not let him go in until the next show (company policy, plus he was just going nuts). After that I said I had enough. I was working 50 hours + per week and making less than I did with with my washing. I quit and devoted my time to my washing business. We continued to grow over the years and branched off in many directions doing homes, flat work fleets and more.

In 1999 I purchased a 2 bay truck wash to compliment my mobile business. It had gone bankrupt and was not operating for about a year. I took that location an developed into a location that did quite well (about 15-20 trucks per day), for being in the middle of nowhere and knowing what I know now I am surprised it did as well as it did. This location was about 45 min away so I did not go there every day and I began to grow tired of various driver and employee issues so I sold it off and went back to my roots in mobile washing.

Not long after that I began to sell parts out of my warehouse locally to some of my customers. I was presented with an opportunity to get involved with another company who dangled a big carrot in front of me. I followed it, believing all the broke promises I dedicated all my time and efforts into developing this aspect of my business and growing theirs. All the time letting my washing contracts slowly disappear, not from quality but attrition. I was not replacing them as fast as they were shrinking or going out of business. Fast forward several years and I have the rug yanked out from under me. For all those who said "I told you so" you were right, I guess I just think the best of people. I went back to dedicating more of my efforts to washing and in about 6 months we were able to regrow our business to a level that was self sustaining and is continuing to grow.

 

[Ron Musgraves]

Always fun to hear how it all began!

 

[apple]

......

 

[Ron Musgraves]

......

You change your mind chris?

 

[apple]

You change your mind chris?

Haha, Yes. I answered my own question just about the time I hit the reply button!

 

[Fleet Chemicals]

got drunk and lost a bet

 

[Ron Musgraves]

After high school I had decided to join the military which was something that I had always wanted to do. While at basic training we were talking about jobs and one of my buddy's said he did auto detailing and the made a couple hundred a vehicle. Like Scott that got me thinking and when I got back home I decided I would start a detailing business. After doing some research and searching I found a company to buy out and got their equipment. They already had a few fleet jobs and that helped me to get going. I was able to land few detail jobs and learned quickly that that was not the work for me so I just focused on the truck washing.

For several years I continued to do that and work a full time job as a movie theatre manager. One day at work a customer flipped out because he was over an hour late to a movie and we would not let him go in until the next show (company policy, plus he was just going nuts). After that I said I had enough. I was working 50 hours + per week and making less than I did with with my washing. I quit and devoted my time to my washing business. We continued to grow over the years and branched off in many directions doing homes, flat work fleets and more.

In 1999 I purchased a 2 bay truck wash to compliment my mobile business. It had gone bankrupt and was not operating for about a year. I took that location an developed into a location that did quite well (about 15-20 trucks per day), for being in the middle of nowhere and knowing what I know now I am surprised it did as well as it did. This location was about 45 min away so I did not go there every day and I began to grow tired of various driver and employee issues so I sold it off and went back to my roots in mobile washing.

Not long after that I began to sell parts out of my warehouse locally to some of my customers. I was presented with an opportunity to get involved with another company who dangled a big carrot in front of me. I followed it, believing all the broke promises I dedicated all my time and efforts into developing this aspect of my business and growing theirs. All the time letting my washing contracts slowly disappear, not from quality but attrition. I was not replacing them as fast as they were shrinking or going out of business. Fast forward several years and I have the rug yanked out from under me. For all those who said "I told you so" you were right, I guess I just think the best of people. I went back to dedicating more of my efforts to washing and in about 6 months we were able to regrow our business to a level that was self sustaining and is continuing to grow.

Nice story Paul