I T ALL BEGAN because a
college student needed
spending money.
In 1953, Don Aslett, a
farm boy from southern
Over the next 60 years, Aslett rose to become
the self-styled “King of Clean,” operating a nationwide janitorial empire with annual revenues of
$190 million; authoring more than 40 books,
such as Clutter’s Last Stand and How I Swept My
Way to the Top: The Don Aslett Story; appearing on
QVC, The Oprah Winfrey Show and several other
nationally televised programs; serving as a motivational speaker for business- and government-related entities; and, in 2012, establishing the
Pocatello, Idaho–based Museum of Clean.
After his teenage years on the family
farm, Aslett attended Idaho State College
(now Idaho State University). Being on “his
own pocketbook,” he says, he offered himself
The king of clean
P
H
OTOS
:
CO
UR
TES
Y
O
F
DO
N
ASLE
T
T
N
AT
H
ANIEL
M
CDI
ARMI
D
for hire as a cleaning man.
“To earn my way through school, I started
cleaning toilets, washing walls and waxing
floors,” says Aslett, now 80 years of age and still
active in his business. “I hired fellow students to
help—first a few and then up to 100. Many of
them stayed with me all the way through school.”
Work was part-time between classes and
often 14 to 18 hours on Saturdays. Aslett got a
boots-on-the-ground education in business
risk, scheduling around classes for himself and
all his student employees, making payroll, cash
flow and balancing home life and social needs
as the business expanded to three states.
In 1957, after graduating with a teaching
degree, Aslett and fellow student Arlo Luke
formed Varsity Contractors Inc. (now Varsity
Facility Services). The company continues to
do business from coast to coast, employing
about 4,200 people.
Aslett considers the Museum of Clean,
filled with more than 10,000 antique and modern appliances and cleaning-related items, his
crown jewel of accomplishment; it showcases
his successful journey from student to long-term professional, and, as he says, “the power
and value of clean.”—T. Foster Jones
Top: Don Aslett in his college days. Bottom:
Aslett’s “crown jewel,” the Museum of Clean.
AS AN ARCHITECTURE student at University of
Southern California, in the early 2000s, Costco
member Nat McDiarmid saw technology changing how he and his classmates worked. “Year one
it was all hand drafting,” he tells The Connection.
“By year three it was all color printing.”
Seeing a need for a color-printing service
among his classmates, McDiarmid bought a
printer for about $5,000 and started a business,
PlotPro:pm, in his 250-square-foot apartment.
The business did so well that he rented a small
office and ran as many as six printers at the
same time, often with a line of students out the
door. All the while, he attended classes during
the day and worked assignments between
print jobs at night.
Why did students choose his service?
McDiarmid explains, “I processed orders effi-
ciently and accepted large files online, making
it easy for students. I created an exact system to
fulfill my client’s needs.”
After completing his architecture degree,
in 2004, McDiarmid took a job in general con-
tracting; with a business partner, he contin-
ued to produce large-scale color prints for
students. After about two years, he decided to
pursue his printing business full time. It
expanded to the point where he had student
reps working on each local campus in the
architecture, art and design schools. But with
Big-picture branding
the financial crisis of 2008, business began to
dry up. Fortunately, by that time McDiarmid
had taken on professional clients who had
once been student clients.
In 2011, McDiarmid incorporated the business as Brandex, turning its focus to turnkey
DIY professional signage products to handle
all of a company’s office branding, from lobby
signs to wall graphics. Big-name clients include
Red Bull, NBC and Jersey Mike’s.
Now printing on a state-of-the-art printer, McDiarmid’s latest
venture is
wallawall.com, which
sells snap-up, interchangeable
fabric wall coverings that can be
printed with any image of the
customer’s choice.
Having to balance
school and work
trained McDiarmid
to work long
hours and stay
busy. It “helped
me to try to
maximize
efficiency in
everything I
do,” he says.
—Stephanie E.
Ponder
BUSINESS CLASS
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 39
DON ASLET T
Varsity Facility Services • Pocatello, Idaho
varsityfs.com; museumofclean.com
TOP TIP: Trust people. Work
hard. Never get behind. Keep
your word. Be generous (more
than fair) with neighbors,
merchants and helpers. Be
in control of what you have
responsibility for.
NATHANIEL MCDIARMID
Brandex • Corona, California
brandexmedia.com
TOP TIP: If you have an
idea and want to build
something, commit to
your idea, constantly
re-evaluate and improve
and never quit.