Epic Entrepreneurs

How A Local Carpet Pro Built Trust, Team, And A Thriving Service Business with Bret Wooton

• Bill Gilliland

Share episode

What does it really take to turn a hands-on trade into a trusted local brand? We sat down with Bret Wooten of Heaven’s Best Carpet Cleaning to trace the path from employee to owner and uncover the simple, repeatable habits that drive customer loyalty, strong teams, and steady growth. Brett’s journey is grounded in purpose and proof: commit to quality tools, follow the system, finish every job right, and give clients a little more than they expected.

Brett explains how he broke free from early decision paralysis—agonizing over ads, vendors, and offers—by acting faster and treating mistakes as “expensive education.” We dig into how this shift powers everything else: hiring coachable people, maintaining high standards without shortcuts, and turning first-time clients into recurring customers. You’ll hear how he builds a calm, productive crew culture where feedback is direct, respectful, and focused on outcomes. We also explore the real economics of ownership, dispelling the myth of instant riches and highlighting the true reward: dependable freedom built on consistent execution.

Beyond carpets, Heaven’s Best handles upholstery, leather, tile and grout, area rugs, hardwood floors, stretching and repairs, plus HVAC ducts and dryer vents. Brett shares how the franchise’s ongoing innovation keeps quality high while keeping processes simple. He walks through practical growth plans across Western North Carolina into neighboring Tennessee and Virginia, using a radius approach anchored by travel time and reliable staffing. Along the way, we talk planning routines, vacation coverage, and why family time and faith keep him grounded through busy seasons and quiet spells.

If you want a candid blueprint for service business success—systems over guesswork, people over ego, commitment over shortcuts—this conversation will stick. Subscribe for more stories from owners who build the right way, leave a review to help others find the show, and share the episode with a friend who’s ready to grow.


Guest contact info: 

hbofwnc@gmail.com

Thanks for Listening. You may contact me or our team at https://billgilliland.biz/

All the best!
Bill

Thanks for listening. Please hit the subscribe button, leave us a 5 star review, and share this podcast. You can reach me at williamgilliland@actioncoach.com or at https://billgilliland.biz/

All the best!

Bill

SPEAKER_00:

All right, well, welcome to this week's episode of Epic Entrepreneurs. I am Clifford McRae, filling in for Bill Gillan with your local business training and coaching firm, Action Coach Business Growth Partners. I'm excited to have Brett Woten on with Heaven's Best Carpet Cleaning as the focus for our Epic Entrepreneurs podcast episode today. So, Brett, please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself and your company and kind of what you offer the community.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, like you heard, my name is Brett. I've been working for Heaven's Best Carpet Cleaners in this temporary job now for about 20 years. I used to tell people that through a ridiculous twist of fate, I took ownership of the company uh January 1st, 2016. Uh now I tell people that it was through God's providence that I took ownership of this company. As it turns out, heaven's best carpet cleaners is my calling. It's what I was meant to do. Uh fortunately, the systems and tools that we use are top of the line. They make it easy for us to do the best, to be the best at what we do. And with all our years of practice, we've gotten very good at being the best. Our market is middle and upper income homes and businesses, and we do a quality job at a fair price. There's other things that we do besides carpet. Uh you want to know about that?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that'd be great.

SPEAKER_02:

All right. Uh aside from carpet cleaning, we do upholstery, upholstered furniture, we do leather, tile and grout, uh, area rugs, hardwood floors. Uh we also do carpet restretching and repairs. Uh we also clean heating and air ducts and dryer vents. I think that about covers our our menu.

SPEAKER_00:

Great, great, great. All right. So if you had to start your business from square one tomorrow, what would you do differently?

SPEAKER_02:

I wouldn't be afraid to make my decisions and uh I wouldn't agonize over the decisions I made. I remember uh when I first started, uh every decision I made, I I agonized over. Uh but as it turns out, all I had to do was just not mess it up.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, okay. So you're saying you would dwell on any any is that just larger decisions or every single decision made for the business you used to dwell on?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh when when I first started, I I agonized over every decision who I would advertise with, how I would advertise, uh things like that. Made a few mistakes, uh learned from my mistakes. Uh now I just uh make a decision and generally it works out pretty well. If it doesn't, uh I learn from it. I call it my expensive education.

SPEAKER_00:

Love it, love it. So what have you what would you say are your biggest learnings that you know been as an owner and employer since you started your business? The biggest things you've learned.

SPEAKER_01:

Um just to do it.

SPEAKER_02:

Don't be afraid. There are a lot of variables in all the things that we do day in and day out. Uh some of it's guesswork. Uh that's just how it is. I mean, there's different different products that we work with, uh different things that we're working on from day to day. Uh just a matter of doing it, getting the job done. Completing the job is is everything. And uh make people happy. It's not that hard.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, okay. Love it. So, what are some common misconceptions about running a business and how do you handle those?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, a common misconception is that if you owe the business that you're rich. That's that's what a a lot of people think. And uh but uh I'm I'm rich in as much as uh as long as I work every day and do the things that I do at the quality that it needs to be done, uh I'll be able to uh continue to do some of the fun things outside of work that I like to do.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, okay. I like that. Whatever you attributed to your growth so far in your business, obviously you took it over in 2016.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, uh Well, I had 10 years of of training to be an owner. Uh not not taking shortcuts. Don't mess with the system. If it's working and it's it's working well, don't change it. Don't try to look for a shortcut if there isn't one.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. You said you had 10 years of training. Would you would you attribute that to anybody in particular? Like, did you have a good trainer? Anyone that kind of helped you out along the way?

SPEAKER_02:

I was an employee for for 10 years before uh 2016. Uh and uh the previous owners were very kind to me and generous to me. And uh they taught me how to be kind and generous to the people around me also. Uh excellent training. Uh they they cared about uh about who I was. They cared about the work I did, and they cared about giving the customers a little bit more than what they bargained for consistently.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. So how would you say you balance your personal life with the demands of running a business?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, the business uh wants to consume me, but I've got uh I've got a wife, four kids, and eleven going on, twelve grandkids. And uh I think uh the balance kind of works itself out. Uh if I'm if I'm I'm here and uh everybody's here for for Sunday dinner or something like that. Uh if the phone rings, I'll answer the phone, of course. Uh that's my that's my job. Uh but it as long if it's not ringing, like on a Sunday, I'm playing with my grandbabies. There's nothing like a pile of grandbabies through the house uh causing mayhem.

SPEAKER_00:

Understood. How do you handle vacations?

SPEAKER_02:

Uh uh I plan well in advance and uh leave people in charge that are able to be in charge. Uh people that will do a quality job that I can trust them. And uh well, uh my lead man now is my my oldest grandson. Uh he's 19 years old. Uh he's been out on his own since he was 17. He's uh very good with the customers, and he knows and well, he knows what I'm looking for because I can speak straight to him and uh he doesn't get his feelings hurt a lot of good like some employees I've had.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so so getting into the employees, that's actually the next question. Well, what qualities do you look for in employees that you hire, and how do you foster a positive and productive work environment?

SPEAKER_02:

Wow, I'd I I don't know, it might just be dumb luck that I've hired uh some quality human beings uh to work with me. Uh some good and godly young men uh that understand that it we can't say we're the best if we're not the best. And so that's what we give our customers. We give them the best. And uh if they if they have a question about something that goes on, they could always give me a call. I'll do my best to answer for them. And uh they need to be able to hear what I'm saying. It's if uh if I'm critiquing something, it ain't because I'm trying to hurt your feelings, it's because I'm trying to convey what I'm looking for and convey how to get what I want, which is what the customer wants. Uh customers call us back all the time. These are these are excellent compliments in my mind. When a customer calls you back and says, Hey, you cleaned my carpet or furniture or something last year, I want you to come back and do it again. That's that's a compliment in my book.

unknown:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

And what part do you play in fostering a positive and productive work environment?

SPEAKER_01:

I treat my employees uh like the quality human beings they are.

SPEAKER_02:

I give them respect and I tend to give them more than what they bargain for, also. And uh I'm well blessed to have good employees that uh that will do a good job, that can do a good job, and understand the system and understand that there are no shortcuts in our system.

SPEAKER_00:

All right, perfect. So we'll go ahead and move on to the quick fire round. So basically what this is, I'm just gonna say a word and you just let me know what that word means or or basically the first thought that pops into your head when I when I say that word in regards to how it it matches up with your business. Sure.

SPEAKER_01:

First one is education.

SPEAKER_02:

Well you you I've learned uh uh I've had I have expanded my education through every mistake I've ever made.

SPEAKER_01:

There's value. There's value in making a mistake as long as you learn from it and don't do it again. Planning. Well, work the calendar.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh know what you're gonna need to do tomorrow. Uh the last job of tod of today begins the first job of tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01:

Inspiration. Inspiration.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm inspired by my God loving me when I wasn't unlovable, giving me a chance when I didn't deserve it. I'm also inspired by uh my employers, the previous owners of this company, who treated me so well and are still my best friends to this day.

SPEAKER_01:

I still have breakfast with the owners uh once a month. Commitment. Well you got you gotta have a sense of commitment to do anything well.

SPEAKER_02:

You've got to be committed to be the best. You gotta do the best to be the best. And we are the best. We're committed to being the best, and uh that's why we excel in the market we're in.

SPEAKER_00:

Alright. So what words of advice would you offer to other business owners who are looking to grow?

SPEAKER_01:

Keep going.

SPEAKER_02:

Even when the phone doesn't ring, there's a reason for that. It's God's in charge of when the phone rings and when it doesn't ring. Keep working, keep doing what you know to do. Don't give up, don't stop. If you get knocked down, get back up. That's the mark of a true winner.

SPEAKER_01:

Anything you'd like to highlight about your business? Uh highlight heaven's best carpet cleaners. It's the it's the best system, uh, the best franchise out there.

SPEAKER_02:

I've done the research. What I'm telling is the truth. People don't always believe it. They think I'm trying to sell them something, but those people they if they can't believe that we're the best, then they're they are not our market.

SPEAKER_01:

And what would you say is the next big thing for having best carpet cleaning? Probably expanding into another state.

SPEAKER_02:

If you're talking about my business. Uh guys, uh they are they are getting pretty innovative with uh some of the tools they're coming out with. The new one, newer tools seem to be of better quality uh than and I've worked with some of the stuff in the past. Uh they're they're being they are being quite innovative in their in their development.

unknown:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

Giving us access to better products and tools. Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

So to expand upon what you were saying there about the franchise. So you're looking to expand to different states? Is that what you're saying?

SPEAKER_02:

Um that's what I'm thinking about. That's what I'm praying about. Uh we'll see how that goes. Uh looks like that could happen uh probably in the spring, is what I'm looking towards. Uh I've got a I generally work up to about an hour and a half from the house, western North Carolina. Uh I live three miles from the Tennessee line, going north.

SPEAKER_01:

And uh uh seems uh seems like uh uh the right thing to do would be to be an hour and a half in a full full circle around my home.

SPEAKER_02:

And uh I've got people that are wanting wanting to uh work that area with me. So so I'm uh I'm looking into that uh fairly close. I think it's a it's a good plan.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, no, that is a good plan. Hour and a half from this Tennessee border would be would put you probably right in Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Georgia or South Carolina.

SPEAKER_02:

I've got Western North Carolina here. And uh that that's a pretty big market right there as it is, and I feel like I'd probably end up going uh into Bristol, Tennessee, working uh west to Newport, is what I plan on uh looking at. That's uh that's considerable. I probably won't go an hour and a half that direct north, but uh I'll have a considerable footprint. Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Sounds great. Great. And lastly, what's the best way for someone to get a uh get a hold of you if they wanted to?

SPEAKER_02:

Um I like the phone call best, uh, or you can book online on our website, heavensbest of wnc.com. Uh those those are the best ways to reach me.

SPEAKER_00:

What's the phone number?

SPEAKER_02:

828-380-0092, but we have several other phone numbers also.

unknown:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Perfect. Any social media?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh Facebook, uh, Google My Business.

SPEAKER_02:

Uh I don't know what else we do. I'm I'm the carpet cleaner guy. I've got an IT guy that works on the social media stuff. Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

All right, perfect. Yeah, well, fantastic. Yeah, thank you so much for what you know for being a part of the community and thank you for everything that you're doing, Brett. Uh, we really appreciate you having you on. Thank you. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_02:

You're welcome for the opportunity. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you.