John T

Besides weather being an issue for many, you may want to check your website to see if it's still searching well. Google has switched up on a few things that have hurt some peoples rankings. Also with so many new websites out there, the competition on the net has magnified. SEO is more important now then ever when it comes to websites.

^^^^^ That's great!! I seen Kevin D speak in NOLA a few yrs ago and he was a phenomenal speaker. Very interesting dude who does something great for ya... He makes you think. Can't ask for much better then that;)

Looks like another blast of a show. Great topics!!

Hey John-- we use Paychex and because of my PWRA discount we get I believe up to 10 employees for $39/month for all. Paychex figures everything out and then sends us the paystubs via email. All my wife has to do is sign the checks-- Done;)

The problem I have with workers comp was on the audits. We clean commercial buildings such as a few movie theaters.. Because of this I have to pay 31.4% of payroll. I hate it but chalk it up as the cost of doing business. Also god forbid if one of my guys get hurt, they'll be compensated accordingly.

Where so backed up with work that I still need to do this. Being busy is never a good excuse to slack on the marketing end.

NY & the closest we come to doing KEC is eating at restaurants; )

My wife does all the books also. We have a payroll service that takes out the taxes etc for the guys checks. We also have Workers Comp which is a killer because they are hitting me up @31.4% of payroll. I'm going to contest that next month. I will add this.... The most valuable assets to my company is my employees in particular these 2 guys.

My wife does all the books also. We have a payroll service that takes out the taxes etc for the guys checks. We also have Workers Comp which is a killer because they are hitting me up @31.4% of payroll. I'm going to contest that next month. I will add this.... The most valuable assets to my company is my employees in particular these 2 guys.

Tap the Spanish market. Look for hard working "Legal" people who are looking for a job. I've fired at least 20 guys before I started to go to the Spanish route. I got a few bums at first that didn't work out. Eventually I got to my star guy who was let go from a Landscape company because he was making to much money. They fired him & 4 other guys who worked for this landscape co. for 10yrs because they were at the top of the pay scale. He was out of work for just one day when I found out about him. I signed him up immiedetly and then a few months later he got me another star employee. My main guy eventually won a lawsuit for $37,000 against his last company. Today my 2 guys get paid well, work year round for my company and there both El Salvadorian who are both legally in this country and they pay their taxes. In 9 yrs they not once have been late or didn't show up. There so good they also collect most of my residential money. These guys are gold and they make my life sweet. There super motivated because of what there life is like. These guys are hungry and they should be considered for any labor intensive job because they take this livelihood very serious. I am Succesful because of them and we work my business like a well oiled machine day in and day out. If you go this route make sure their legals first:)

I think the PWNA Convention ends a few days before the CETA/ISSA begins. I wished they butted up against each other so some more from from the PWNA Convention can go to this one. Its slim to none for me to go to both because like all of us we have to get back to our business but if I can stick around a few more days I'd love to see your presentation. Can you keep us in the loop as to when your speaking and what's scheduled at the CETA/ISSA event?

As long as there willing to pay then stripping can be done. I use to do solids and to prep a deck that had a solid stain on it I would give it a good cleaning and also do some sanding to level out some of the old stain and then just reapply the solid stain right over it. I did us primers as well when needed. To strip an entire deck of this size will be labor intensive and if there willing to pay for that then go for it but it doesn't really seem necessary since your going to just re coat it with another solid.

What's the dates in November? If it's around the 7th I think I'm going to just miss by only a couple of days--shoot:(

David Olson meant a ton to me and many other contractors. He was a past www.pwna.org Treasurer as I was. He impacted many of us. I had Babe Ruth's family honor him in the past because he really was like Babe Ruth to many of us in the Powerwashing Industry. I know another Industry org has just started to give out a David Olson award even though he never belonged to that org. Thats OK because he did indeed impact many of us:)

Same place I met you Thad and your pretty awesome yourself. Beth had a lot to do with that RT in the planning of it but for me it was talking almost all the time with Dave about organization stuff. Here's the only picture I have of back then with David. It's circled in.

Mike-- your guttersource bulletin board was ahead of it's time. Good memories. You were one of the few to this day that was an administrator to at least 4 bulletin boards PWN-PWNA-*** & Guttersource. You may have been the only one who did that much and you did them all well:)

Blast from the past is right. Good to see you here Mike!! You still look like a youngster in your avatar. When do you hit the big 40?

Yes Mike your are so right... David was a true treasure and was a blessing to me on giving me advice to move up to the PWNA Treasurer back in the day. As for the PWNA I'm back in from where I started. Should be interesting. Also I never forgot when you told me to get involved years ago. Good memories:)

I'm having a problem posting a picture. I'll try again

Only once I had to submit an hourly wage on a bid. The beauty of this bid was that we were going to be paid whether or not they used us at all during the day. It was for 40hrs a week all thru the college yr. even if we did no work at all. Major home run if I got it back then but the college decided to pass.

In 19 yrs I aways been prepared. This is totally my fault. I would say I got lucky. Here's the damage-- my 2 big Powerwashers the pumps are fine. My small diesel PW I just put together for Chemical spraying purposes well the pump has lost pressure and is pulsating plus leaking water. I'll take that and I'll replace that pump out soon and then rebuild it. It was a good 19yr run were I never had a pump ruin from ice... Always a first

We had some ground coverage with snow. My guys showed up to work and they went out... Called me to let me know the pump lines are all frozen solid so they came back and today's jobs were all rescheduled. We have a Walmart to do to tomorrow @4am and then residential after that and it's supposed to be freezing then to. As for now I hope my pumps aren't ruined since none were antifreezed. This global freezing sucks.

Within a week or 2 I'll have that guy you recommended to set it up for me. Once I get that setup I'll show it on these forums.

Over the years we had a few jobs that came thru TGS. Customers have searched us out and have either contacted Beth herself and she notified us or they just called us themselves. To this day we maintain an IPE deck on the water here that came from this site. Our biggest one and done job here was a house/deck staining job we did in the Hamptons that came from the customer researching TGS. If I remember later I'll post pics of that house. So who else got work thru TGS?

If Beth and Rod have impacted your busines in a positive way then post it here. In my case I believe I was Powerwashing a couple of yrs longer then Beth/Rod but I was not a fan to use chemicals(soaps). My customers never complained but they also didn't know any better. Beth kept after me in around 2000 to try HD-80 and use a brightener afterwords. I thought she was nuts. Low and behold to this day the most fascinating thing I ever seen short of cleaning Babe Ruth's monument(resting place) was watching the brightener turn the stripped wood to magic while it brightened right before my eyes. You wont get much wood to clean any nicer then this. To Beth/ Rod I am forever great full to you both for allowing me to come to TGS from the very beginning and to just soak up all the info on this very professional site. I love you both and you two will always hold a piece in my heart.....always:) So who"s next? Bear your soul and Tell us a compelling story on now this very professional couple of Beth/Rod have helped your business over the years.