self-employed

created: Jun 11, 2008

golo url: selfemployed.golo.com

members: 53

group owner: Rocknhorse | Contact

membership: open

Welcome!  This is a place to discuss the pros and cons of starting your own company.  As any small business owner will tell you, starting your own company involves blood, sweat and tears.  But at the end of the day, it's worth every effort.

Welcome! 

Ten years ago, my husband decided that he wanted to start his own company.  He'd been working for the same company for over 7 years as manager and he enjoyed what he was doing.  But he had a yearning to branch out on his own. 

As an outdoor-type of person, and one who loves physical work, he wanted to create a company that would allow him to work outside, push him physically and support his family. 

He began pressure washing and his niche was cleaning exhaust hoods in restaurants.  He had a modest list of clients in the beginning and things were OK.  The salesman/marketing major in my husband was not satisfied with OK.  He wanted to grow the company.  He had bigger dreams and a vision.  He didn't want to make just enough to survive each month.  He wanted to become the pre-eminent pressure washing company in the area. 

We expanded the idea of pressure washing hoods into a full service company to service the restaurant industry.  We installed and maintained hoods, offered 24 hr emergency service.  We worked with a chemist to develop our own line of degreaser and stainless steel polish, which we not only used in our cleaning, but was packaged and sold to our clients.  We networked with other service providers that benefited the restaurant industry.  We basically became a 1-stop call for any restaurant service needs.   Hatcher Services, Inc. was born.

The restaurant world is a close-knit group.  Word got around and the phone began ringing.  By the time we sold the company, we were a 6 person (2 full time crews and us) company servicing restaurants in 4 states. 

Our family was growing and the schedule was intense.  The work was at night when restaurants were closed, but the customer relations was during the day.  We were not getting little sleep, we were missing quality time w/the kids.  Another niche was beginning to take shape.  Exterior cleaning, with a focus and specialty in stone restoration. 

After some consideration, we decided to sell the restaurant services side of the company and focus on the restoration cleaning side.  Triangle Professional Services was created to provide a high standard of service for a reasonable price.  

We now sub from several clients ranging from individual home owners to large, commercial contractor.  We specialize in large-scale cleaning with a focus in restoring stained or damaged stone/surfaces.  His personal motto is, "cleaning the weird and unusual and the higher the better."  We were pleased to learn that one particular job (a historic house in Wilmington, NC) won a National Historic Preservation Award. 

Again, the college grad in him pushed for more than average.  He continuously educates himself about various stones, substrates and chemicals.  He attends safety classes, and requires it of his employees, so that all are certified for safety.  He again has turned basic cleaning into a science. 

With customer service as his #1 goal, his reputation again precedes him.  Whether it is one of his regular residential accounts or the largest contractor, he gives everyone 150%.  He prides himself on his honesty and integrity.  He firmly believes that the only thing you have in this world that is YOURS and cannot be taken away is your integrity.  He makes sure his remains unquestioned. 

Welcome to my group for small business.  I hope to engage in discussions that we all face and brainstorm ideas to help our individual industries.