I was watching Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel (think Facebook, LinkedIn, Friendster and Yelp) on CNBC last week talk about why some college kids might be better off quitting and starting a company.
His Thiel Fellowship gives $100,000 each to 20 young men and women under 20 who are willing to follow his advice.
I wasn’t born with the entrepreneurial gene and so I didn’t have the risk profile to do what Thiel is promoting. But it got me thinking about the story of Chad MacDonald, an entrepreneur I met a few months ago who did quit college to launch a business.
MacDonald, 47, proudly calls himself the Prince of Porcelain.
The prince has bought and sold a number of companies in the boring, not-so-small niche of facilities management, which is the janitorial and handyman stuff most businesses don’t want to be bothered with — cleaning toilets, buffing floors, cutting grass and making sure the air conditioning is working.
“It’s not a sexy business,” he admitted.
I’ll say. His companies have unsexy names such as Nissco. ServiceForce USA. Connected Services Technology.
“It’s recession-resistant,” he said. “Grass always grows. Toilets always get dirty. Buildings always need to be heated and cooled. So every time you think of toilets, toilet paper and dirty floors, think of me.”
Here’s what I think of when I think of MacDonald. He lives on a leafy Northern Virginia cul-de-sac, has a basketball court inside his home (cool) and is worth tens of millions.
He’s admired enough to qualify as the incoming chairman of the U.S. capital chapter of the Young President’s Organization, a global networking group for young top executives.
Who cares whether his business is sexy?
He grew up in Fairfax as the son of a banker and attended Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, majoring in business.
In the first semester of his freshman year in 1981, he started earning extra money working afternoons for a carpet-cleaning company owned by his roommate’s father. It paid about $100 a day for three or four hours in the afternoon.
The next summer, the roommate’s family went on vacation. MacDonald offered to rent their van and equipment for a fee and a small share of his revenue.
“I was working construction, and it was hot,” he said. “I could work harder or smarter.”
His first clients were family, friends and a list of neighbors from his lawn-mowing route. It was the day of shag, wall-to-wall carpets.
His pitch: $39.95 for living room, dining room and hallway. The real profits were in additional rooms throughout the home.
He made enough to buy a new Mazda pickup truck for $4,900. He also transferred to George Mason University his sophomore year to be near his high school sweetheart.
A key to becoming successful, especially in business, is to recognize and seize an opportunity.
MacDonald saw his.
One of his carpet-cleaning customers was married to the regional manager of Chi-Chi’s Mexican restaurant chain. As MacDonald was leaving the customer’s house, the manager said he needed an extra-special carpet cleaning at the Springfield Chi-Chi’s because the company president was coming. Springfield was the busiest Chi-Chi’s in the entire chain.
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