New Beginnings for beginners

I would like to send out a BIG thanks to Ross Quaife. I have just taken on the ownership of Carpet Doctor, a local carpet cleaning business that’s been operating since 1983.

I bet you are thinking that carpet cleaning is a very different trade to fine dining. Well it all started at a larder bench with a window facing the ocean at Burns beach.

After being made redundant, well not even redundant just a lawyer opening the door of my 8 year job and saying there’s no longer work here for you or the 30 other staff that work here. No pay-out, no option to work at the new business that might be there, no couple of weeks notice that you about to loose your job and 3 months before my wedding!

So I found myself, a former head chef of 25 years with French, Italian, Asian and fine dining experience chopping larder for 9hrs straight in a small beachside café that I hoped would be like the café at summer bay, but it was much more like the monotonous drama found on MKR.

As I chopped and stared longingly at the jet skiers zipping up and down the coast carefree and happy. How can I get myself there I thought. How can I be carefree, and full of life enjoying the day rather than just working myself to the bone.

“Buy a restaurant” a voice in my head chimed in. I had already owned 2 of my own at this point. Spend 400K and put your house up as security so if you loose, you loose it all job, car, house and eventually your wife. Stress yourself out so you don’t even recognise the pale thin white face in the mirror with dark circles encasing your eyes. Live the dream of a small business owner in WA, give all your profits to the rent man.

So I searched all the websites, papers and gossip for a restaurant. For a small shop with good street presence and cheap rent. For a shop at ground level with good parking. I was signed up to all the job websites looking for the perfect chef job or the perfect business. Asking myself what my weekends were worth. All the events I have missed because I was working in a kitchen; valentines day, mothers day, boxing day, Christmas day, birthdays, Easters, weddings and special get togethers all missed because of what? Money? Self worth? Material items? Home ownership?

Nope, I may not have finished high school but I am no fool. Who makes all the money from a restaurant? The rent man! There has to be a better, more full filling way to earn a living.

And then one day 3 years later there was.

The big thing about Carpet Doctor was there was only 2 carpet cleaning businesses for sale, the other being franchised which is like buying a business with a rent man. I called Ross and spoke to him. What a kind man. Cheerful and ready for a happy retirement. He loved his job but his life was taking him to better places and the business of 30 years had to passed on to the next generation. I went out with him and spent a week learning what I would do and how much I could laugh if I decided to become a doctor of sorts.

So as you can see I bought it. I threw my hat into the ring, I seized the day, I took the leap. I sure am happy I did. Now I can enjoy weekends, afternoons and nights and the occasional cheeky no wind day on my own jet ski.

So team. Don’t fret if what you are looking for is not here yet. Don’t rush into projects without doing your homework on them. Don’t ever give up on trying to improve your circumstances. Work hard, persist and surround yourself with motivated, confident, happy people. Stop enabling someone else’s dream and start working on your own. And get your carpets cleaned do you know how many germs are living in them?

Fortune favours the bold.

New Beginnings for beginners

I would like to send out a BIG thanks to Ross Quaife. I have just taken on the ownership of Carpet Doctor, a local carpet cleaning business that’s been operating since 1983.

I bet you are thinking that carpet cleaning is a very different trade to fine dining. Well it all started at a larder bench with a window facing the ocean at Burns beach.

After being made redundant, well not even redundant just a lawyer opening the door of my 8 year job and saying there’s no longer work here for you or the 30 other staff that work here. No pay-out, no option to work at the new business that might be there, no couple of weeks notice that you about to loose your job and 3 months before my wedding!

So I found myself, a former head chef of 25 years with French, Italian, Asian and fine dining experience chopping larder for 9hrs straight in a small beachside café that I hoped would be like the café at summer bay, but it was much more like the monotonous drama found on MKR.

As I chopped and stared longingly at the jet skiers zipping up and down the coast carefree and happy. How can I get myself there I thought. How can I be carefree, and full of life enjoying the day rather than just working myself to the bone.

“Buy a restaurant” a voice in my head chimed in. I had already owned 2 of my own at this point. Spend 400K and put your house up as security so if you loose, you loose it all job, car, house and eventually your wife. Stress yourself out so you don’t even recognise the pale thin white face in the mirror with dark circles encasing your eyes. Live the dream of a small business owner in WA, give all your profits to the rent man.

So I searched all the websites, papers and gossip for a restaurant. For a small shop with good street presence and cheap rent. For a shop at ground level with good parking. I was signed up to all the job websites looking for the perfect chef job or the perfect business. Asking myself what my weekends were worth. All the events I have missed because I was working in a kitchen; valentines day, mothers day, boxing day, Christmas day, birthdays, Easters, weddings and special get togethers all missed because of what? Money? Self worth? Material items? Home ownership?

Nope, I may not have finished high school but I am no fool. Who makes all the money from a restaurant? The rent man! There has to be a better, more full filling way to earn a living.

And then one day 3 years later there was.

The big thing about Carpet Doctor was there was only 2 carpet cleaning businesses for sale, the other being franchised which is like buying a business with a rent man. I called Ross and spoke to him. What a kind man. Cheerful and ready for a happy retirement. He loved his job but his life was taking him to better places and the business of 30 years had to passed on to the next generation. I went out with him and spent a week learning what I would do and how much I could laugh if I decided to become a doctor of sorts.

So as you can see I bought it. I threw my hat into the ring, I seized the day, I took the leap. I sure am happy I did. Now I can enjoy weekends, afternoons and nights and the occasional cheeky no wind day on my own jet ski.

So team. Don’t fret if what you are looking for is not here yet. Don’t rush into projects without doing your homework on them. Don’t ever give up on trying to improve your circumstances. Work hard, persist and surround yourself with motivated, confident, happy people. Stop enabling someone else’s dream and start working on your own. And get your carpets cleaned do you know how many germs are living in them?

Fortune favours the bold.