Gordon Gekko made the acronym “OPM” famous in the movie Wall Street by going after “Other People’s Money.” But you need to focus on a different OPM: Other People Marketing…for you!

Startling epiphanies can arrive from the strangest places. For example, I recently came across this consulting firm’s headline: “We Help with Accounting, Marketing, Management, Hiring and Staying Open.”

No one likes being a victim. Wrong place, wrong time...it happens! However, the real tragedies are becoming victims of our own lack of planning, complacency or just plain stupidity.

We are all in the same boat. Like other businesses, carpet cleaners have been slammed lately with increased competition, declining revenues and much higher fuel and supply prices.

Airlines recognize that filling those last few seats can mean the difference between profit and bankruptcy. You too can fill up your bank account by “building your job ticket” when you and your employees sell more work on each job.  

Simply put, far too many carpet cleaners just “own a job” that provides a meager, demanding, unrewarding existence! So sad, simply because carpet cleaning can provide a great life if you do it right.

Absolutely nothing is more exciting than starting a new business. More and more Americans are doing just that as freshly minted carpet cleaners, if only because it is so hard to find a decent job!

I’ve always been a ‘big picture” man. True confessions time: I don’t know how to program our DVD player or install my computer software, and I didn’t even set my new digital watch. My long-suffering wife does all this high-tech stuff for me.

Like a lot of folks, I do my best thinking in the shower. No telephone, no e-mail, no distractions, plus the sound of running water almost always promotes meditation!

Gore Vidal said once, "Never lie to yourself." Great advice, and an even better reminder! But sadly, many cleaning and restoration business owners out there are still lying to themselves.