Mattress Cleaning? When was the Last Time You Cleaned Your Mattress? Clean a mattress…what the heck are you talkin’ about? Mattress cleaning is a newly developing and untapped business opportunity. Mattress cleaning is an absolute necessity, proven and evidenced over the last decade by the steadily decreasing $billions spent by Europeans annually, on respiratory and allergy medications. Nearly 4,000 mattress cleaning businesses have sprouted up throughout Europe in the past twelve years and continue to sprout up there and in other places such as Australia, the Far East, and the Pacific Rim. Now, North America has become virgin territory for the up and coming, mattress cleaning professional.Actually, Mattress Cleaning is Far, Far, from being a New PracticeFor thousands of years, mattress cleaning had been a routine task typically done each spring and if the weather permitted, again in the fall. Mattresses were toted outdoors, propped up against a pine tree, and then had the crap (literally) beaten out them with big tree limbs. Certainly, I suppose around the 1900′s, the use of tree limbs may have been replaced with baseball bats, 2×4′s, hockey sticks, tennis rackets, 9-irons, or whatever else might have been handy and still including the ever present tree limb.Grandma and Grandpa knew decades ago, what the Europeans have recently learned. I now know what grandma and grandpa knew. I can recall back in the ’60′s, that if I wanted to go out on the lake and fish for bluegills, I had to first tote all the mattresses outdoors, prop them up and beat them mercilessly. This laborious and mundane chore slowly evaporated to the point that we have completely forgotten about it. During the ’60′s and beyond, the U.S. population became more and more mobile. Grandparents moved to Florida or Arizona, or maybe stayed behind while their children and grandchildren moved away, thus, this miserable, dusty task, which had no apparent visual change…died.The Connection between Poor Indoor Air Quality and Unhygienic MattressesIndoor air pollution has been pinpointed as the reason for increasing respiratory illnesses, year after year, since 1980. Construction methods implemented in the ’70′s due to the energy crisis, called for improved insulation and more “air-tight” buildings. The negative effect, unknown until recently, is that the decrease in natural ventilation has allowed for an increase in poor indoor air quality, allowed dust mites to thrive, and allowed harmful allergens to accumulate. Within household dust, 80%-90% of the allergenic composition is directly produced by dust mites. Every home in the U.S. has dust mites and over 50% of the homes are infested with dust mites.The dust mite allergen (DMA) called “guanine” found in fecal matter of dust mites, is a very potent digestive enzyme that breaks down and destroys living tissue. An average-sized mattress harbors 2,000,000 dust mites excreting 20 to 30 fecal pellets each day. Due to its light weight, the guanine allergen easily becomes airborne and is so small in size that it is easily inhaled, destroying healthy lung cells. It affects everyone to varying degrees, but has very serious consequences for infants to age five, the elderly, and persons with chronic illnesses. Very unfortunately, this group of people is also the same group that spends 95% of their life indoors. The percentage of new cases of asthma and asthma deaths, have outpaced the population growth across the U.S. and is now at nearly epidemic proportions. The number of persons suffering from allergies has increased likewise.Dust Mites, Government, Health Associations, News Media, and TV HostsThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has replaced their previous #1 concern, outdoor air quality, with indoor air quality. U.S. health organizations, across the board, have partnered with the EPA to educate the American public of this latest major concern. National, as well as local, news media have aired many television reports and have at their disposal, public service announcements (PSA’s) created by the EPA, ready for broadcasting. (see the EPA’s, new in 2007, website: http://www.noattacks.org ). All major news networks such as FoxNews, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, and Headline News, have featured prominent personalities such as CNN’s, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, FoxNews’ Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld, NBC’s Matt Lauer and Katie Couric (formerly of NBC) and most recently, on March 21st, 2007, ABC’s “Good Morning America” aired a segment reporting on this alarming issue. Featured on GMA, were two university professors and the CEO of the American Hotel and Lodging Association.Every Day, Major Corporations Promote the Need to Remove Dust MitesIf you still feel the above exposure does not warrant the need to start your own “Home Indoor Allergen Control” business, focusing mainly on the removal of dust mites and DMA’s, then consider this fact. Dozens of big businesses such as; Tempur-Pedic, Trane, Fil-Trete, SC Johnson & Son, Oreck, Bissell, Dyson, and Sharper Image, are all “jumping on the bandwagon” and spending millions of dollars advertising on television, radio, and in the print media. It’s no wonder why, because the potential size of the targeted market is not just huge, it’s magnanimous!Over 20% of the U.S. population suffers from asthma, 50% suffer from allergies and everyone is impacted by the harmful ill-health effects of guanine. Now throw into the mix the “health and wellness” movement that continues to build momentum and retiring baby-boomers with disposable income. That’s big money to be made! Major corporations want their share of the “pie” and are aggressively marketing their products as the “end all/cure all” solution to the problem of indoor air pollution and dust mites. By doing so, this huge spending spree is also educating the public, marketing, and advertising the NEED for YOUR new business opportunity! Are you still not motivated, are your eyes not open to the possibilities, do you need MORE convincing? Okay, no problem, I got more, read the next paragraph for the “kick in the butt” that you need (and maybe, deserve).How Can A Mattress Cleaning Business Compete with Big Corporations?Four words, “their products don’t work!” Every one of the products being aggressively marketed as the “end all/cure all” is a passive, or a static, product that does not “attack” the sources of indoor contaminants. They are “defensive” products that do not take an “offensive” approach. Each one, either in use by itself or in combined use with the other products, still don’t provide the necessary results or provide the necessary relief needed by millions of people.Only a proactive, dynamic offense that attacks, removes, or reduces the contaminant sources to an acceptable level, can achieve positive results. Professional mattress cleaning technicians provide the needed results by using technologically advanced, high-performance HEPA-rated vacuum cleaners designed for servicing “cleanrooms” in the hi-tech field, special UVC light wands with Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI) capabilities, and odorless, all natural, non-toxic, non-flammable enzyme cleaners. The trained eyes of professional mattress cleaners are also needed to identify the horrifying, blood-sucking bedbugs, which were once nearly eradicated but are now making a come-back.Research the “Mattress Cleaning Business” to See if It’s for YouEnter “dust mites” and “mattress cleaning equipment” or “mattress cleaning business” into the search engine of your choice. Some companies charge $5,000, $9,000 or even $23,000. Do not pay over $2,500. Combine the efforts of U.S. government and the desire of health organizations’ to educate the public, the “Health and Wellness” movement, the ever increasing indoor pollution effects on our health, free national media exposure, corporations advertising the need for the service, the publics awareness of the need for “green” or “environmentally friendly” services, this may very well be…the business opportunity for YOU!