Ben Osborne
Ben Osborne is a well-known internet entrepreneur in the floor sanding and refinishing space. His websites and YouTube videos have a combined total of over 10 million views.
My Work Story
After leaving school all I wanted to do was work and earn. I didn’t have many qualifications to my name so the work was slim picking. At 17 I was working in a call centre, trying to sell double glazed windows and conservatories.
At the time, I was going to the gym 5 days a week and I was looking fairly buff. The manager of the call centre had a partner who ran a business in wood floor sanding and refinishing. He was looking for someone who looked like they were in good shape and wanted to earn a bit more money. That turned out to be me!
I had a short interview in the backroom of the office, in which the work and pay were described. I couldn’t believe my luck at £40 per day. I jumped at the opportunity and started sanding floors in October of 2004.
Unfortunately, unbeknownst to me, my new employer didn’t have the experience he claimed he had. He had been sanding floors for only 3 months, not the 7 years that he said.
We learned all sorts of wrong ways to prepare, sand and refinish floors. It seemed we just had non stop issues with jobs and I couldn’t figure out why. Luckily, the boss wasn’t afraid of trying new things and we just about tried everything and anything until we were somewhat competent at sanding and refinishing hardwood floors.
However, it was a long 3 years, the first 3 years of my career. Learning how not to do it wrong is great, but it’s just not quite as good as being shown the right way.
Starting My Own Business
In January 2012, I started my own wood floor sanding business. I managed to scrape together enough money to buy some floor sanding equipment and a van. Scrabbled together a website and off I went.
Running your own floor sanding and refinishing business introduces you to a whole new swathe of issues that you hadn’t really run into at this point. Dealing with customers directly drove me to push my quality higher and higher. I still own and operate my floor sanding business and to this day I have never stopped pushing quality and speed up, and costs down. You can see my website at https://www.osbornewoodcare.com (please only get in touch if you are in the UK and would like a quote for restoring your wooden floors)/
Helping homeowners Do It Themselves.
The great thing about sanding and refinishing hardwood floors is that you can earn and learn at the same time! I began listening to audiobooks, podcasts, even university lectures whilst I was sanding floors. You wouldn’t believe how much you can learn while digesting that kind of content for up to 8 hours a day.
I was learning about internet marketing and internet-based businesses when one day it finally struck me. While listening to a podcast about people selling their own expertise, I decided to buy howtosandafloor.com. I figured, if I can help people do a better job on their wooden floors, cheaper and faster, that’s got to be worth something.
I recorded my first YouTube video in October of 2013. Little did I know just to what degree it would take off. It sputtered around for 2 or 3 months with a hand full of views per day. Then all of a sudden it rocketed up to the 20-30k views range and has stayed there ever since. That video is about to cross 2 million views. It didn’t take long for my website to ramp up to 20k visitors a month either.
My Goal
I hope to make this resource so universally comprehensive that anyone around the world can find all the information they need to resand and refinish their own floors. Full information on the tools available to them where they are, the products that are available, even information about their specific floor.
I am still very much pre-occupied with my own floor sanding business. However, I do intend to spend more and more time filling out this website. If you have read this far, thank you.