MY WIFE AND I HAVE BEEN IN THE CARPET CLEANING BUSINESS SINCE 1989 AND HAVE ALWAYS LOVED IT. AS I'VE GOTTEN OLDER MY HEARING HAS BEEN GETTING BETTER OR I'M JUST GETTING SMARTER BECAUSE SUDDENLY I DISCOVERED THERE ARE PEOPLE OUT THERE THAT WILL HELP YOU GROW YOUR BUSINESS.

I thought, "Wow, I can do that!" and did. We went from a one truck operation to three trucks (really two but I own three) and have done well. I sat in my office and wasn't happy at all.

So being the entrepreneur that I am, I looked at adding duct cleaning & hardwood floor refinishing to our services. Then, I lost a job opportunity cleaning and sealing 2,000 sq. ft of honed travertine because I knew nothing about natural stone; and yes, it still hurts because it was a great opportunity.

Then the light bulb came on and I knew that stone restoration should be the next step in our business. I told everybody that we now do stone restoration and to my amazement I received a call right away. A large construction company needed a bid on six unfilled travertine walls 20 feet high x 30 feet long.

All I could see was early retirement, which was mistake number one.

The walls were very dirty & streaky after being washed by a cleaning company, so I bid to restore them for about $850 each, which meant clean and polish to me back then. I handed in the estimate and guess what? I got the job! Then the thought hit me, I might need training.

I found a very good stone school, attended and passed. I asked the instructors about the streaks, they thought were probably etches. I thought, no big deal-mistake number two. Boy was I stupid; the stone had been etched, etched again and re-etched because the wash company had cleaned it with a strong acid.

Being the professional know-it-all I still thought I could just polish off the streaks, and was way too proud to call my instructors for help; mistake number three. But I held my ground and successfully negotiated with the construction company to provide the lift. I felt better about handling the job.

My original bid was for 5 days, at $850 per day. Not bad, I thought, for my first stone job. Two men, a little polish, and away we go. Not so fast-it was 10 degrees outside, and guess what? No heat inside, either. It was so cold after day 5 that the water pipes in the ceiling froze! Then the construction company brought in space heaters, so it was nice and toasty.

So there we were, working on 20 foot lifts. I have to pat myself on the back, for I designed a water feed system to our Makitas that only mildly shocked us when we got too wet, plus I captured all the water that ran down the wall. Our technique was getting better. After 30 days and rehoning the walls several times, they turned out great.

I really don't want to know how much money we lost on our first stone job, because now we refer to it as a training opportunity. I now have finished many walls, floors and countertops and love doing this type of work. I've attended many schools and made a lot of friends along the way.

So if you want to be a Rock Star, my best advice would be to attend many different types of schools, ask a lot of questions, but most importantly get your instructor's cell number because you'll have many questions and a few panic attacks, or sometimes you just need to be told that someone still cares. Always be passionate about what you do and kick stone butt!

Phil Campbell is the owner of Campbell's Stone Restoration in Independence, Missouri and is an IICRC Certified Master Textile Cleaner, Certified Stone Pro Partner, and Stone CSI Certified Stone Inspector.

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