RyanH

Intrinsic motivation is my primary push. I'm driven by the internal need to do what is ethically and morally proper, and take utmost pride in my work. And I'm a firm believer that what you do and how behave when you believe that no one is looking is a testament to true character. Of course, there was that night on our honeymoon when my wife and I thought no one was looking.......:thinking: :eek: :banana: :applause:

Boy, this sounds like a question on a Business Management 101 exam!! I've always thought of entrepreneurs as individuals (or even partner groups) starting a company from a dream or idea and "making it happen." I generally think of entrepreneurs as being kind of the small fish in a big pond and that if something happens and that business should go under, there will be an insignificant ripple in the pool that flattens out before it ever reaches shore. A business leader will take that entrepreneurship and turn it into a practice that has a relatively high social impact. It will have an impact on how a particular market or industry operates, it will affect many lives (good, bad, or indifferent), and it will grow the business beyond the point of having to stay focused on one central role. If a business leader goes under, Tokyo gets wiped out. Also, having your name dropped by other industry players at gatherings and conventions is an indication that you have attained business leader status. Fancy this in a Venn diagram: All business owners who are business leaders are entrepreneurs; Not all business owners who are entrepreneurs are business leaders.

Ladder stabilizer with rubber footies will keep the siding safe. I've tried to get away with not using the ladder and staying only with the extensions, but you just can't do a good job on windows without one.

I couldn't even offer a guess on the cost of one of these machines. In GA, the closest thing we have to that is a jet ski, and they go for average $6k for a cheap one. We just go out there and rent the machines at the lodge. Usually they have brand new sleds and we get to break them in (and we definitely buy insurance on them!!!). I can't even remember now the make of the kind they usually have, but I'm thinking Skidoo sounds familiar. My only complaint is that there is no heat for your feet or legs. They have heaters built into the handles to keep your hands warm (those things can get HOT), but it seems they could vent air over the engine and back out onto the rider. That'd make things much better. They did enter me into a drawing for a free sled when I made my reservations, though, so if I win, I'll sell it at a good price to ya!

My friend and I like to go snowmobiling every year in january or february. Going back to Jackson Hole, WY in a few weeks and can't wait! This will be the fifth consecutive year, so I guess we have to make it a tradition now. So far my wife and I haven't made any steadfast traditions, but more than likely it will turn into something to do with Disney World <groan, better get a FOURTH job now>. I like tropics and the beach, also. Jamaica is really cool (in a warm way) too and I'll probably get back there sometime mid part of next year.

In my opinion, my definition of a lowballer is one who washes according to their own sense of satisfaction and completion, not the customers'. I've had customers tell me that a previous contractor did the job and finished when the job "looked good" to them. They truly thought they were finished, when in fact they had miles to go before they sleep. Sometimes a customer has high expectations and calls a contractor on the carpet when that reasonable expectation is not met. A lowballer will argue with the customer and complain that they simply cannot meet such an expectation and that it is unreasonable when they realistically don't want to work any harder to accomplish a better result. A professional will go the extra mile to make sure the customer is happy. Certainly there are customers out there who request some impossible things...we have all discussed those issues here. But, when a customer says that they want their house and windows washed, and the contractor takes that to mean rinsing the windows from a distance with water, and then the contractor maintains that that is washing, well, you get the point. Lowballing is a philosophy of work and in general their severely deflated pricing is an internal realization that they aren't worth any more than they're asking. Lowballing does not mean pricing competitively, setting up your equipment such that you can perform faster and cheaper than others, or asking $100 less than the "big" guys out there because you can afford to live on that income. It means promising the world, giving inferior service, and then trying to convince the customer that that's the best they should expect, and that a "big" service that charges three times the amount cannot provide anything better. I started out as a lowballer in that my first job ended up being $75 for almost 9 hours of work...very stupid. I had a brand new pressure washer, a lance, and some hose. Nothing else except the trailer I showed up with. Fortunately it was for a friend, so I didn't compromise my integrity. Since then, I have accumulated some useful tools and priceless knowledge. I still have the HD special unit and a rickety trailer, but the service I give has never vacillated and the impression I leave is always stellar. My prices are actually a little higher than the competition now, and I still operate with the same equipment available through HD and Northern, but perseverance makes up for that. And I don't advertise nor actively compete against the full timers, so hopefully they don't send evil thoughts when I go rolling down the road with my weak looking setup.

http://media.ebaumsworld.com/index.php?e=icescraper.wmv This is hilarious.

I wanted to wash my car the other day before I went on an interview. The wife reminded me that water freezes pretty quickly in 25 degree weather. Doh! :lgcold:

I etched the glass on my truck windows when some of my TSP mix got hijaaked by the wind. After I saw the results, I threw the remainder away and went with something else. Fortunately none of it messed with the customers' windows since I constantly rinse glass to prevent this. Essentially, etching is what happens when certain chemicals react with the silicone in the glass and change the composition by making it appear to have permanent, opaque streaks. I think it's possible to polish it out, but imagine the effort and time to do something that can be so easily prevented. "Strategic" rinsing can also prevent the need to cover or protect in some cases.

Another for Georgia...thou shalt not commit oral *** :lglolly: whatever.

On a cigarette lighter: Not to be used to detect gas leaks.

KJ...what you're seeing is what Beth was describing. Whenever someone votes in a poll, the thread is refreshed and is shown as updated. The board doesn't distinguish between a new post in the form of a message and a new post in the form of a vote. The way I tell whether or not a message post has been made or not is to see if there is a "View first unread" at the top of the screen, just under the "Post" button. If there is no "View first unread" link, I assume that their have been no new messages added and that a vote has been placed instead.

Neutral soap (or neutrasoap as many companies name it) is available at any janitorial supply place. Acrylic sealant manufacturers recommend using this to mop floors instead of other detergents (neutral pH).

Started out PT in college. Currently looking for engineering work since it is so much fun, but will keep doing the cleaning PT because of the satisfaction I get out of a job well done. And, it's a little therapeutic at times. Welcome!

Bill, What's your target "audience?" Knowing the type of customers you want to service will have a huge influence on the equipment you buy. Also, budget has alot to do with which basket you put your eggs in. If I had it to do all over again, and had the money to invest, I'd go with a 3000 psi, 5 or 6 gpm machine with hot water ability as a must. I bought one of those Home Depot machines as my first operation and, I'm not saying it was a bad purchasing decision, but they definitely aren't all they claim to be. Depending upon your target work, you can consider surface cleaners, extension wands, sprayers, ladders, the famous Xjet, specialty chemicals, etc. Some won't be necessary for some jobs, others will be indispensible. How about a little more insight into your goals and perhaps we can help you out! And if you're not 100% what you want to do with it, tell us that too. You can find many options out there and avenues to pursue. Welcome.

The Xjet is a downstreaming device that is used at the wand tip rather than at the machine. The good part about this is if you want to change chemicals, you don't have to wait the time required to clear out your high pressure line, you simply swap chemical supply lines at the Xjet injection port. It has a much larger orifice than typical downstreamers and can acheive mixing ratios as high as 1:1. Another benefit is that it allows you to shoot the chemical/water mix farther (some say 40 ft., I've acheived only around 25 effective feet) at a higher concentration, so you can apply the chems faster with with less moving about and can possible reduce your need of an extension wand. The M5 has an adjustable valve to close or long-range application...this has been extremely useful to me in the past. If you need to reduce the mixing ratios, it comes with about a dozen reducers to place inline with the injection line to lower the draw, but they are a pain to keep up with and swap out while working. The on/off valve can be adjusted to acheive the same result, although it isn't perfectly accurate, you should be able to get by (I do).

I worked for Best Buy in 1997...company sucked. Still does. The only pleasant experience you will receive is to get someone who has just started working there and has not yet experienced the beaurocracy of the corporate structure and inept management. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Do you see potential in the rest of the neighborhood? You said you pass by this house a few times each week...is it a well traveled area? If so, perhaps you can wash her house for the cost of your chemicals and fuel and a sign in the yard. She may be very skeptical about accepting such a gratuitous offer, so you will have to make her understand that it is an investment on your part. If it's a small house and won't take time away from other projects (do you have a down-day?), then it shouldn't affect you much. And if she still persists on "why?" then tell her that it's Christmas and Santa's offering free services, but the oil companies are still biting!

get a full blown engineering degree, not a management degree. Then, work with a firm and get a PE. You'll make more money than any manager and they will be listening to *you*. Well, that's what I'm doing, so it sounds good to me!

Whatcha studyin?

Peroxides are very light and heat sensitive. I've noticed that some of the cheaper house and deck washing mixes (like you can get at Northern and HD) degrade over the course of a month or so in a bottle when exposed to sunlight, or perhaps it's just the heat. I don't use them anyway, so it was only a one-time waste.

Well, what I was talking about is if you can actually generate a list that's visible on screen, you can copy the entire list into a spreadsheet or even text document, then go through and delete everything but the cities. It doesn't have to be neat, and since you aren't going to keep up with correlated information, you don't have to worry about anything getting truncated in the process. I'm not sure what format you see when it is displayed, but if it is something you can highlight and copy (CTRL-C) to your clipboard, it can be manipulated easily. I know there is a way to get Visual Basic to look into the PHP format, but I'm not sure of the entire method for that as I haven't had to deal with it before. Effectively, all I would need is a list of cities. You could email it to me. Ryan

Pretty big fire in Conyers, GA awhile back that affected regional supplies I believe. Biolab is a pretty producer of bleaching products.

Beth, What about stripping out all information and just listing the cities/states with the count of people in those areas? Or just the city/state if the number of contractors might be a detriment to market competition. Excel or a similar program could do this in about 17 seconds. Heck, one might even be able to go so far as to put pinpoints on a map and upload it to the board as an image file....or, if someone wants to get savvy with Flash or java, it can be real time so that each person can put in their location that wishes to be counted, or it can pull automatically from the user list and populate the map! Or, even better, it could see who's online and put up a real time of the locations from where people are visiting. Whew, where's my ADD medication...I'm getting a little wild here. Seriously though, if you wanted to strip out the user information and just have a list of cities, perhaps I could put those on a map and upload a JPG file with it. The GPS proggie use can do this with ease. Ryan

If you have green stuff, then yeah (or is it no??), bleach will not work. If you have the black streaks or excessive grime, bleach is ineffective. The black streaks are caused by the water overflowing in the gutters and staining the gutters with the residual oils leached from the roof. Overflow is caused by undersized or clogged gutters.