I hate it when combat warriors return to civilian life and struggle just to support themselves and their families. I hate to see military trained personnel working at fast food joints and having to work 2-3 jobs just to pay bills. I hate the anxiety and stress that US veterans go through just trying to make a living! And so, I came up with an answer for some of them. It worked for me, and it has worked for them too.
In 1968, I joined the US
Marines. In 1970, I was listed as 100% disabled. I was married and had a child. The only jobs I could find were for minimum wage and that was only half as much as I needed to keep my family alive. I fell into a very deep depression. Ending it all was a thought I struggled with every day. Unable to support my family wounded my self-image. I hated myself! The only thing that kept me from pulling the trigger was my wife and daughter. I knew that if I did it would be the ultimate act of cowardice! I was desperate. I had to find a solution!
I saw no future in being a low wage employee, so I decided to start my own business. In those days, every home was delivered a free very thick phone book. The White Pages had names, addresses and phone numbers of everyone in your locale. And in the back, the Yellow Pages listed businesses in alphabetical order. I went through each of the hundreds of listings and tried to imagine me starting such a business. I could not find anything, until I came across Janitorial Cleaning. Now, that is something that every US veteran has been trained and drilled in doing!
I had no idea what I was doing. I had no one to mentor me. I just flew by the seat of my pants. I created some business cards, gathered some cleaning supplies, a broom, and a vacuum. Then I went to town and began walking into businesses and asking who I would talk to about keeping the place clean. When I met that person, I would tell them about how veterans can clean better than anyone in America. And that if they would give me a chance, I would keep their place “military inspection ready.” — Within a couple of hours, I had a real estate business with 4 locations ask me to visit all their offices and give them a bid for cleaning them 5 nights a week!
T
hose 5 offices soon turned into a dozen more. I was working 9 hours a night and making enough money to begin seriously saving to buy a home. My financial worries were gone. I was higher than a kite! Suddenly all my dark foreboding clouds turned to sunny days and blue skies!
I had never seen a janitorial bid sheet. And there was no internet for me to find an example. So, I wrote up a simple one sheet of typed paper that listed the basic cleaning tasks I would do, the days I would do them, and how much they would pay me each month for doing so. – The way I figured out how much to charge was by asking myself as I looked around each office location, “How long will it take me to clean this office each night?” And then, “How much do I need to make an hour to support my family and pay for my expenses? Then I multiplied that amount by the total time it would take me to clean each office. – The bid I submitted to the real estate company was far more than I had ever made before in my life. It was ten times more than what I was making an hour at the time. But the amount was my best guess at what I would need to be compensated enough to pay for my business and my family. To my astonishment, when I submitted my bid, they said it was too low and added an extra $100 a month to my bid!
Starting my own cleaning business changed my life and the lives of hundreds of other US veterans who I have employed, and those veterans now employed by those I have helped to start their own janitorial business.
US Military Clean is a program of Patriotic Hearts, a 501c3 charity that focuses on getting US veterans employed well.
US Military Clean gets US Veterans started successfully in their own US Military Clean business. This is NOT a franchise. You own this business yourself. We just get you started by shooting you out of a canon!
It takes us 7-10 days to ship you all the equipment you will need. During that time, we certify you in 3 important areas: keeping offices disease free, “green” cleaning solutions, and a certificate that enables you to clean newly constructed buildings. We build you a customized business site, and business pages on LinkedIn and Facebook. After getting your business entity published, and your liability insurance taken care of, we teach you the critical essentials of marketing your business and getting immediate accounts and earning immediate income. On the 11th day after getting started with us, your veteran owned business can begin making money that day! Within a month or two, some can earn more than they make at their job. At that point, some keep their job and use this business as a second stream of income. Others, set themselves completely free of being an employee and go on to build their business bigger and bigger. Some sell their businesses and retire or take a very, very long vacation. It is up to you.
Our employment assistance and all the programs of Patriotic Hearts are free to US veterans; but US Military Clean is an exception. We take making a US veteran into a successful business owner seriously. And we need to make sure that the veterans who ask for us to assist them take this opportunity as seriously as we do.
It costs our charity $2500 to purchase equipment and to do all the other things that we give to US Military Clean owners when they get started. And then we host their sites and market them continuously. And we provide ongoing training and team meetings via zoom with US Military Clean owners from across America. We ask for a donation of this amount be made to Patriotic Hearts so that we can continue to assist other US veterans too.
If you want to know more about owning a US Military Clean business, call or text Tori at 760-730-3734. She can answer your questions and set an appointment for you to talk with me if you want to get going and change your life for the better!
