Tulsa, OK, December 20, 2006--After years of working for others, David Iseley, the founder and chief executive of Tulsa-based OxyMagic Carpet Cleaning, has turned his war against dirty carpets into a franchise company that is quickly gaining ground, according to Tulsa World.
The newspaper quoted Iseley, a former chemical salesman as saying, "When I first started, everyone thought I was a nut case. But I kept thinking, If I have something that's better, why can't I franchise it?"
What Iseley created is an untraditional method for pulling dirt and pollutants from the depths of soiled carpeting--a process that uses a combination of two oxygenated cleaners that leaves fibres soft rather than hard and crunchy.
"It was just me" for a couple of years, he said. But in 2000 he was able to hire an employee, and he also invested in a printing company now relocated in Claremore that provides all the printed materials for the franchises.
Prospective franchisees have signed on after reading about OxyMagic on web sites that list franchise opportunities, and sales managers on both the East and West coasts recruit operators. The Tulsa database has grown to 1,200 customers from word of mouth and the company's advertising program.
"We were only in three cities" in September 2005, Iseley said. Today, a four-person call center in a small office high up in CityPlex Towers takes inquiries from locations in 40 cities.
"By this time next year, I should have a 10- to 14-person call center," he said. But Iseley could soon outgrow even that optimistic estimate.
By spring, OxyMagic's unique cleaning process will be seen by millions of television viewers. The cable home show "Designing Spaces" will feature Iseley and his product on a house-cleaning segment, "The Big Spring Clean," that will air 20 times and reach 80 million people.
