By way of introduction my name is Blake, I'm only 24 years old, and am sick of my sit-down office job. I've worked sales for several years, basically straight out of high-school. Needless to say I'm sick of working under someone and want to be my own boss. I've decided that the challenger system is what I want to invest in. I hope to start part-time and slowly let it disolve my current job. Of course I have several questions about running a business and "the best" way to get started. I'm sure that everyone has opinions on these topics. But my main question for you today is what kind of vehicles do you drive? I have 2 passenger cars currently and don't feel it would be presentable to roll up in a Maxima to clean someones carpets... Not to mention the hassle of peeling the machine out of my passenger seat. Any ideas on what I should consider purchasing as a work vehicle?

Welcome Blake! I hope you'll find the members of this forum to be as helpful as I have. We started business last month and have learned a lot from these folks.

My opinion about vehicles is that it depends on the image you want to portray. Are you going to market the "All Natural" service? If so, you may want to consider a vehicle that is environmentally more friendly than others (not a big van or SUV). For now, as we are just starting, we have a used Ford Explorer. It looks nice and everything fits perfectly. Plus it has lots of flat surface on the sides for advertisements. However, our next company vehicle will most likely be a Honda Element or a hybrid of some sort. The Element seems as though it was made for our business and if leasing would work for you, the business could easily cover the expense with a half of a standard job per month.

Just my $.02 for what's it worth.

i currently am running out of an '97 dodge neon (have pics somewhere on here) and more recently my wifes '06 taurus...

in the neon the rear seat folds down... the tarus the OP machine just rides in the passenger seat... belted in for saftey lol...

have yet to have anyone say something negative... I wow them... small biz in my area is a BIG thing so that helps... few of my customers have had their own biz at one point or another...

wow them w/ the little things... pre-vac, make sure to get the crevice tool out to the baseboards... a free bottle of spotter ect...

i will be picking up a trailer here soon mostly for convenionce (also picking up some HWE eqipment for those times i would prefer to use it (wish i'd had it on that frizes carpet)

when i have the money i'll prob pick up a mini-van but right now i'm using what i've got...

My web site shows a pic of my Ford Taurus wagon, with metal signs attached (bolted in) over the rear passenger and cargo area windows. The signs were designed by a graphic designer to give a professional look. The metal work, the graphic design, and the sign painting were all done on barter, with no dollar out-of-pocket cost to me. I now do most of my work with a Honda Element. It has a slightly edgy, very up-to-date, environmentally aware image, and, despite being classed as a "small" SUV, holds a lot of stuff.
It has the capacity to grow as your business grows. IN mine I keep 2 Challengers, a big Orbitec CX-20, and a really big Cimex 24" machine, plus all the usual other stuff: sprayers, pads, gallon containers of this & that, etc. To have this carrying capacity, I had to remove the rear seats, but whenever I need them, I can put them right back in. If you work a lot in a big city, as I do, its short, stubby body lets you park in tight spaces that a longer van would never be able to fit into.

Oh, and I forgot to welcome Blake, our potential new guy. Welcome, Blake. Where do you live?

I sure appreciate all of the advice. It sounds like you could really run this business out of any vehicle. I don't think cars get much smaller than the neon... At this point I know this is something I want to do, i'm just overcoming the initial investment cost. I live in Lehi/Highland, Utah. It's a small town right in the middle of Salt Lake City and Provo. I'm in the middle of a huge residential area and yet would have the ability to travel to 2 pretty good sized (I wouldn't say big) cities within 30 minutes. Those who run this business out of smaller cars, I would use a 99' Maxima, do you get any comments on using a passenger car to clean carpets?

Any vehicle is OK just to get started. Don't use as an excuse for inaction the fact that you don't have a "commercial" vehicle. But make getting a vehicle that is more conducive to using for a business one of your early goals. A station wagon; a small SUV; a pickup with cap, etc.

Your location in Utah sounds good. SL is a major city. (How did the Jazz have Stockton and Malone all those years, and never won a championship?) Provo is a university city, with a concentration of highly educated, well paid people who think more "green" than the population as a whole. A cleaning method that conserves water, and uses natural cleaning products, will have an advantage there.

heck 1/2 the time the customer never sees what vehicle you are using... when they do they don't say anything negative... although I don't realy like taking the neon cause it is the lesser of our cars... and also a lot tighter to put everything in... i'm looking forward to that small trailer... gota pick it up still...

honestly i think it's more of a "me" thing when looking at vehicles... the biggest thing i want is the advertising that a van offers... chevy astro vans are fairly inexpensive, offer lots of room, and decent MPG...

You could attach a "taxi-top" or "pizza delivery" type of sign to the roof of just about any vehicle (except a convertible).

Great Ideas! Thank you for all the help. Like I said, this is definately something i'm going to do. It's kind of a matter of getting the wife on board and getting the investment started.

For all those who post here, This is an excellent site. I've learned so much about the business and know that this is something I'll enjoy doing. Thanks for all the great advice.

As for the Jazz... I think it's a universal mystery how they failed to win a championship with Stockton and Malone. But hey, maybe this is the year...

There are links to all the other forums from this site:
www.ocibr.com/hub.

BTW: ocibr.com is a free marketing help site and can help with some ideas for flyers and such.

if only OCIBR was letting new people join :(...

said who? email the site admin Mark Cermak about it...i don't believe it:

ocibrmail@yahoo.com

tried to email him w/ no response still... when i goto the register section this shows up.... sucks because i want to join... have for a while.

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