In 1994 after spending 10 years in the restaurant business I decided to try my hand at a new venture. I had been looking through the newspapers for opportunities when I came across a Carwash & Laundromat going up for auction.

I did my homework, went to the auction and became the proud owner of a 4+1 Carwash and a 3000 sq. ft Laundromat. I paid $205,000.00 and got financing from the SBA at a wonderful fixed rate of 7%. I was going to get rich the easy way. In addition to the purchase of the business, I was able to secure (steal) four 1000 in ground propane tanks from the propane company that owned them because they did not file any UCC's. Boy were they ever pissed off.

I probably would not have done that, but when I called them for propane prices (before I bought the Wash) they told me they owned the tanks and they would charge me what ever they felt was in their best interest. That did not sit well with me and I did what I had to do to insure low fuel costs. Well, to get on with the story, I think that I was so happy to get out of the restaurant business that I somehow never considered the fact that it was December (I live in New Hampshire and it is well below freezing by that time of the year) and that the foreclosed Wash had been shut down for 3 months.

I just went walking in the day after closing, turned on the pumps and couldn't figure out why nothing was working. I think back to that now and it is really quite funny. But let me tell you it was not at the time. I had gone into this completely undercapitalized. I only had 5000.00 in my bank account and that was borrowed. I simply could not afford to bring someone in to fix all of the problems with the Wash, and there were a lot of problems.

The first thing that I had to fix was the main waterline coming into the Carwash. It had been run in a troth above the Laundromat and Carwash and had frozen and split. After that, I unthawed all of the bays and the Automatic. Of course the next day they were all frozen again because I had no idea of what I was doing and had no idea of how to set the weep system up. I learned the hard way that water and metal and skin in freezing temperatures do not mix well. After I finally figured out how everything worked and had everything completely unthawed, I opened for business.

Thing were really going quite well until a couple of days later when I noticed that all of my bays were flooded with a semi frozen mush. I mean, how was I supposed to know that just because the Wash had been closed down for so long that the pits would be frozen a foot thick above the water outlets. I can't possibly even begin to explain what a nightmare that was. I was out in those pits day after day, in below 0-degree weather, with a sump pump and a pick ax. I'd suck out as much water as I could, and let me tell you slushy water does not suck up well, and then chop a hole though the ice about a foot in diameter.

Every time I'd hit the ice it was like frozen shotgun pellets hitting me it the face. I couldn't wear goggles because they would be covered in ice after the fist couple of hits to the ice. At any rate, I was able to chop a hole in the ice just big enough so that I could get through that days customers. The next day the hole would be frozen over and I would go at it again. And, if that all seems bad, it didn't get any better. Remember those propane tanks that I stole?

Well, the company that I ended up contracting with for propane gave me a great price, then filled up all of the tanks but only turned one of them on. So of course, on the coldest night of the year, (the temperature dropped to -45 degrees Fahrenheit) I ran out of propane. The entire wash froze up again, except this time so did everything in the equipment room. I had fittings broken everywhere. All of the pumps and holding tanks were frozen. The Hydrominers were frozen. On top of that I was still dealing with frozen pits and floor heat that couldn't keep up. I guess what goes around comes around.

I was able to get the Propane Company to agree to pay for all of the parts if I did all of the work. It is truly amazing what one is able to get done when under pressure. I had the wash up and running in less that 3 days and had learned how to fix every piece of equipment in the place. Thank God the Laundromat did not freeze. That winter I think that I came about as close to a nervous breakdown as I would ever want to come.

Do I look back on that first year with regret? Absolutely not! I learned a lot. This year I will be going into my seventh winter and rarely ever have a freeze up. Business is good. I am now fully attended and have a manager and 7 employees. I have ripped out my old Automatic and replaced it with a Laserwash 4000. I added a Video Store and a Tanning Salon to my Laundromat and designed a "Cashless Payment System" that I have brought to market.

The Carwash business has been good to me and I will be forever grateful for the lessons that I have learned, and the education and opportunities that I have gained while pursuing it.