I wrote this after my business folded 6 years ago, thanking God for how He LED me into the business and sustained us for 35 years!! I recently rediscovered it in my files and decided to print it HERE.
My first thought of self-employment came in September 1973,
when I was a teenager living at home with my mom in Newark. Ironically, it came as I first started
thinking seriously regarding employment of any
kind!
Though I, a lazy hippie, had dropped out of Arts High School
the previous year, I retained many friendships with other teens from the School.
A friend named Gary Brown talked of owning his own (what we called them then)
"candy store" in the
Vailsburg section of Newark, and he wanted me as a potential partner. The
thought of co-owning a business sounded good to me because I was now 18 and
knew I finally had to get a job to
help support my single mom. (However, the
thought of having a "boss" over me didn't appeal to me in the least.
At least Gary and I would have been equals.)
Soon after, however, I got a very good-paying job with the
Newark Post Office which didn't last because I was mentally lazy and even
physically so (and, also, because I didn't like having a boss).
I bounced around in a few other temporary jobs over the next
year or so, but I never lasted. I worked at Nane's Metal Factory a few weeks in
late June '74 to raise money to go see singer Cat Stevens live in New York City
that summer (the only thing resembling a "goal" that I had in those
days) and then I quit. A few months later, I did volunteer (free) work at Mount Carmel Guild in downtown Newark
via my contacts at Sacred Heart Cathedral. Neither of those did much to help my
struggling single mom, and I'm ashamed now at my laziness and lack of vision.
I was working there at the Guild in late December 1974
when I met the new Superintendent of our apartment building, Bob Wade. Bob was
a older man, a Christian studying for the ministry and before you knew it, I had a part-time
job (for a small salary) as Bob's assistant. My mom and sister Liz also resided
in this building, 69 North 9th Street in Newark, and I lived with them on the
fourth floor at the time.
3 months later I became a Christian through studying the Bible with Bob in
March of 1975, and when he and his family moved from Newark to Belleville in
June, I became the Superintendent of “69” via his recommendation. A very old man
named Solomon Friedman was now my boss, but he was a distance away from this
building he owned and rarely visited in-person. I was only 20 years old, but
the Lord was training me for self-employment because I suddenly had a lot of
responsibility for a young, single guy. It was my job to make sure every one of
the 30 or so tenants (it was a 60 unit building, but only about half of the
apartments were rented due to the deteriorating neighborhood) were safe and had
their plumbing and electrical needs met. I also was responsible to keep the
building clean and rodent / roach free. My biggest concern was taking care of
the huge boiler in the building. I had to obtain a Boiler License, with Bob's
help. As a Christian now, it was the first thing I ever studied for that I
applied myself to with my whole heart.
I started going to church where Bob and his family did,
though it involved walking two miles and taking a bus for about ten. Attending Trinity Baptist Church,
then in suburban Essex Fells, I heard wonderful sermons regarding a Biblical
Work Ethic by Pastor Al Martin that fall. For the first time I saw, from Scripture,
that work was something noble and something by which we could actually glorify
God! It wasn't a "necessary evil" to me anymore but I'd learned it
could actually be pleasurable and profitable
financially, physically, mentally and even spiritually. I also started to think
seriously about getting married one day, and slowly realized that none of the
girls there at Trinity would want to settle down in the inner-city of Newark.
In fall '75, I added a second part-time job, as Dennis O'Connor's assistant Super,
in Elizabeth and the next Spring I took the same role of Assistant Super where
his mother lived, in nearby Bloomfield, in addition to my Super's job in Newark.
(At that point, I dropped the second job in Elizabeth. It was too complicated
to travel to, as it involved two buses. The Bloomfield job only involved one bus for me. I had no car because my
main job, as the Super in Newark, didn’t require one as I worked "on-site." And,
to get a car insured in dangerous NEWARK would have cost far more than I could
afford, anyway.)
My first exposure to
Carpet Cleaning
That summer, I needed my new carpets cleaned in my Newark
apartment, courtesy of Katos, a black Labrador Retriever I had purchased from
Bob for protection. Katos made a few “doggie” spots and I called Dave Edwards,
a man from Trinity who had just begun his own carpet cleaning business, to the
rescue.
Dave used his portable machine to make my carpets look like
new, and I was impressed and fascinated by the steam-cleaning process he used.
Before you knew it, I was helping Dave occasionally on a few of his jobs to
make extra cash. I also admired how Dave was an entrepreneur...he didn't even
have a "far-away" boss like Mr. Friedman to answer to! His business
was between him and God alone. I
liked that.
I recall cleaning Grace Presbyterian Church in Upper
Montclair with Dave, a job he obtained, I believe, through the Christian Yellow
Pages. I mark this as my first carpet cleaning job ever. It was hot and sweaty
work there in August 1976 as I got buckets of water for Dave, but I enjoyed
seeing "quick results" from our work and it was very satisfying labor.
I also saw potential to make large amounts of money cleaning carpets.
"Supers" were compensated with free rent, free utilities and a very small
salary (not to mention the advantage of being able to survive without a vehicle
to get you to-and-from your job), but I wanted to make enough money to buy a
car and be able to marry and support a family one day.
In September 1976, I moved up from Newark to take a Super's
position at a very nice building near The Green in (at that time) suburban
Bloomfield. I wanted to relocate in a better neighborhood, and my new building,
11 Park Place, was right around the corner from where the Wades now lived! But
suddenly Bob had a new job offer in Michigan and quit his job taking care of
boilers at Bloomfield College to move with his wife and young daughters to the
Midwest. I kept that Super's job for six months, and the only thing that interested
me about it was when the fuel truck would deliver oil in the long hose that
extended from the vehicle into the building itself. You see, unlike the
location I managed in Newark, this one was totally full...but it was totally
full of elderly people who I had
nothing in common with. With the Wades gone, I therefore felt very lonely. In
March 1977, I moved into the house that Dave owned, at nearby 90 Thomas, in
Bloomfield with several other young single guys from the church. Dave and his wife
lived on the first floor, and the rest of us single guys occupied the second
and third floors (a single young lady from the church lived in the basement).
Dave was now my
landlord and my employer, as I "signed
on" to be his regular helper in his carpet cleaning business. I come from
a broken home so my dad and (later on) my step-father didn't do much to train
me for a career, but it's clear that the Lord used Bob Wade, Dennis O'Connor
and Dave Edwards to "restore the years the locusts have eaten," as Scripture
promises. God used them to nurture and prepare me for my career as a self-employed
carpet cleaner. Dave sold me my first car and I became a "sub-sub
contractor," working under him as he sub-contracted his carpet cleaning
services for Adler and Son using portable shampoo and steam-cleaning equipment.
From April 1977-December of that year, I lived at Dave's house, still attended
Trinity, worked for Dave / Adler and Son and dated several different single
girls from the church, looking for the right one.
My first two Carpet
Cleaning businesses
In January 1978, the "Slow Season," I drove out to
visit the Wades in Michigan, planning to stay for a month. (I had actually
flown out to visit them around Easter of 1977, so it was my second visit.) On this
trip, I met Beth Zinke in Trinity's “sister church” there, and fell in love. I
stayed with the Wades for two months,
and, because Dave allowed me to bring the portable equipment in my Vega in case
I "rustled up any side jobs," Bob and I started "B&C Carpet
Cleaners" in Grand Rapids ("B&C" stood for "Bob &
Chet.")
"B&C" didn't do too well, but
"C&B" ("Chet & Beth") DID, and in March I
officially moved from New Jersey to Michigan to court Beth. I got a job with
"Ayoub's Carpet Cleaners" in Grand Rapids and began working full-time
there. It should be noted that
"Ayoub's" had truck-mounted carpet cleaning equipment, quite a step
up from what Dave and Adler used, and it was my first exposure to it. I liked
the way the long hoses could extend from the truck into the houses, just like
those fuel delivery trucks! Dan VanderMeer worked with me at
"Ayoub's" and I learned a lot about diligence working under Dan.
In April Beth and I got engaged and were working towards a Grand
Rapids wedding in October 1978, but various circumstances made it clear that
God wanted us to delay the wedding until January 1979 and move back to New
Jersey. So, in September 1978 I headed back to Jersey alone to get my old
apartment back (with basically the same guys at 90 Thomas, and Dave as my landlord
again), and a job working directly
for Adler & Son (not under Dave now, so I could make more money.) Beth
stayed behind in Michigan, knowing I was going to prepare a place for her where
we both could live, after the wedding. One of my roommates gave me a car which
I used to haul Adler's equipment around (back to the portable shampoo and
steam-cleaning equipment again...ugh) but I was highly motivated to work hard
towards our marriage. Actually, as I think of it, my boss, Harvey Marks, loaned
me his station wagon until I could get the Vega
station wagon I was given by my roommate (Pete Caruso) on the road.
Adler & Son allowed us to have our own "side
business" cleaning carpets with their equipment, after hours, as long as
we didn't steal any of their customers. My brother-in-law Lawrence Cooney, who had
just started working at Adler, teamed up with me to start "Karpet King."
That was my second attempt at starting "my own" business, and it did
better than "B & C" did earlier that year, in Michigan, but still
these were partnerships and so they
weren't my own business in the truest
sense.
As 1978 ended, the winter, and "Slow Season" was
approaching and so was my wedding (January 7th, 1979.) Dennis O'Connor arranged
for me to become Super at Marian Gardens,
a 48 unit garden apartment complex on 263 Bloomfield Ave. in Bloomfield where I
had previously worked as his mom's assistant
briefly. It was to be my third (and best) Super's job with a second floor (not
basement) apartment. Oh yeah, I was called "Resident Manager" now,
not "the Super." The free rent was another attractive perk for a couple about to get married who had
very little money! For the last two months before the wedding, I moved in with
Rich Immitt, who also went to Trinity and worked at Adler, to be closer to
Marian Gardens and supervise the readying of my apartment. In all of this shuffle,
"Karpet King" just kind of died a natural death when Harvey laid
Lawrence and me (and many of Adler's other "subs") off for the winter
(we had to turn in our equipment every Slow Season.)
Additionally, my car was in a wreck and I couldn't afford to
buy a new one (nor did I need to, as
I was going to be a Super again and carpet cleaning was "done" until
the spring.) "Karpet King" had
only done 13 jobs in not even three months, the largest of which was for Mrs.
Capelakos, from our old neighborhood in Newark ($135, which Lawrence and I
split.) In fact, most of the jobs he
and I did together were from friends or relatives who felt sorry for us! But I
now lacked a vehicle and equipment, so that was the end of "Karpet King."
There were no tears of sorrow at its demise, however. I was focused on getting
Beth to New Jersey from Michigan for our wedding on January 7th and on beginning
the new Super's job on January 15th. I was headed towards my future, and
"Karpet King" was in the past.
At this point, everything was in threes for me.
*I had had three
regular jobs before I was a Christian (Post office, Nanes, Mount Carmel Guild.)
*I had three jobs as
an Assistant Super (for Bob, for
Dennis, for Dennis' mom.)
*I now had had three
jobs as a Superintendent (69 North 9th St. in Newark, 11 Park Place and now
"263" in Bloomfield.)
*Three times I had
been employed working as a carpet cleaner for someone else ("Dave's
Discount Carpet Cleaning Service," "Ayoub's" and "Adler and
Son." By this time, by the way, Dave had changed his business name from
"Dave's Discount" to "A Master's Touch.")
And now, with the new Super's job providing a roof over our
heads, as a newly married man who was motivated (because my wife quickly got
pregnant with our first child), I wanted to take a third stab at having my
own carpet cleaning business!
Whereas "B&C" and
"Karpet King" had just died natural deaths after very short lives,
"ALL-OUT CARPET CLEANING" (later changed to CleaNERS) was the one I
started in May 1979 and the third time WAS a charm…it lasted 35 years, with God’s
blessing!! GLORY TO GOD FOR THE PRIVILEGE OF HAVING MY OWN BUSINESS AND PROVIDING ALL THAT I NEEDED SO THAT I COULD PROVIDE FOR MY FAMILY!!
