We recently connected with Larry Snider and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Larry , thanks for joining us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.
In 2012, In a downturned market, I opened Texas F.S.S., L.L.C. Taking a risk opening a Janitorial Company in Houston, Texas, competing with the Largest Janitorial Companies in the United States that I worked for over 30 years……. How could I stand a chance with other companies and there million-dollar budgets??? Well Back up a little. Upon leaving my last company, I was passing by customers for my exiting Greetings. Upon mentioning I was leaving to one, and I was fed up and going to start my own, because I was tired of how companies did not maintain good services and customer relations. Well, right there in front of my eyes, she said that I could have the contract to the building we were standing in, and there was more than enough business in Houston for all. After leaving that meeting, I was literally freaking out…I mean… I had No Office, No Insurance and No employees. SOOO, I contacted a friend and we had coffee…. after the brief meeting….he gave me a check for $20,000 and said do it! It was unbelievable…I started receiving phone calls of past customers… within 3 months we were in the 50k a month zone…yes over a half million a year….. So now, in 2022 we are still ENJOYING what we do, “taking care of our employees who take care of our customers who take care of us”. While the nightly crews are doing jobs, I love to do the oddities…. clean 30,000 sq feet for Club Nomad and The Superbowl, Cement polishing the Archives at The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Clean the carpet in a 1942 Lockheed Load Star Airplane, same class as Emelia Earheart, Quoting and waiting for The Texas Monument floors….. Everyday is a New Day, Pick up the phone, opportunities are abound!!!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
We are a janitorial company who strives to take care of facilities that large janitorial companies do not have time for. Doing what needs to be done and not being afraid to pick up the phone, go out into the field and identify what the customer is actually requesting. If a call comes in that we cannot handle, we communicate and see if one of our associates can handle, Pressure washing the 1940’s Air Museum… we have you covered!! Striping the Parking Lot at a Food processing company, we have you covered!!! DO NOT BE AFRAID to say no and DO NOT BE AFRAID to try something new. We learned how to stain and diamond polish cement by watching You Tube Videos, 150k over last 5 years :) It is like being a MAVERRICK in the wild west!!!

Have you ever had to pivot?
A small business owner I strived to grow, At the end of the first year refused to pay over $ 9,ooo in commission, at Christmas, I thought I was in a horrible Christmas movie!!! It caused me to go to the dark side and open my own company!

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?
Customers change form one entity to another without prior communications or notifications and then the invoices have to be reissued at last minute and checks have to be over knighted. COMMUNICATIONS IS THE GREASE THAT TURNS THE WHEELS IN THE MACHINE!!!

Contact Info:

• Website: WWW.TTEXASFSS.COM
• Facebook: Texasfacilityservicesystems
• Linkedin: Larry Snider C.B.S.E.

Image Credits
Bianca Davis Sophia Snider Veronica Snider Larry Snider II and Larry Snider III Applying finish at 1940s Air Museum Caleb Guillory Auto Scrubber White Marble Veronica Snider and Caleb Guillory Cleaning Capsule for I.S.S. Space Station 1940s Air Museum Pressure Wash Miscellaneous floors that We have stained and Polished