Barry M

Why? Just curious.

I don't get stressed to begin with, acceptance is the key. But my hobbies are weight lifting, hunting, fishing, and planning how I will take over the world.

How could you post something like this during the holidays. Telling us about that crap you put into your body, thats ridiculous to even think someone could do that, I've never heard of such a thing, eat a whole box of chocolates, come on. Thanks for the laugh Celeste. Merry Christmas to you too.

We all want to experience success and happiness. Are ideas of success may be different. But there is one big factor which all of us must learn to deal with if we are to be successful. The big factor is the same no matter what you do for a living. The one common denominator to all success is other people. Various scientific studies have proven that if you learn how to deal with other people, you will have gone about 85% of the way down the road to success in any business, and about 99% of the way down the road to personal happiness.

What's to happen if people keep popping up with cheap pressure washers, wand in hand, lowballing the heck out of everyone? PW companies will be on every corner charging next to nothing and our industry will be down the crapper. That's why I think there should be apprentice and journeymen programs for this industry. Once a person made it through the program he would be educated and know what his service is worth. That would weed out the lowballers. Customers would also realize the years of education and the skill involved in PW, and would be more willing to pay for quality work. When a person calls an Electrician, they know it may not be cheap but they are hiring an educated man who is skilled in his industry. I think it's up to us to do something about it, and keep out the lowballers before they take over!

Calling for a high of 15 degrees with a wind chill around 0 degress Sunday, here in Indianer. Not to worried about my equipment, since I don't have any yet. LOL.

I am here because I want to make a living doing this. I've always wanted to own my own business, it fits my personality. I'm sick of being a wage slave. I lurked a while because of the amount of information that is available through the search engine. There was no reason to sign up and just start running my mouth like I own the board. I've just recently started posting a few questions and was involved in my first chat the other night. Everyone has been very willing to help. I don't think there is anything wrong with testing the waters a little bit before diving in. I feel like I've known some of you for a while just from reading so many of your posts. I'm looking forward to meeting some of you at the convention. This board and others is all my business is so far, besides the name I chose. So I have a lot to learn, and I will post more in the future.

We have a high close rate, but we are not the least expensive company out there, and we measure ALL the wood on the deck, not just the floor like some companies do. Square footage adds up and if you don't measure it all, you can really get bitten. You can have alot tied up in rails, lattice, supports etc. It's easy to think you are making more than you are, if you don't measure everything. Beth, if you measure all the wood, wouldn't you just charge a lesser amount per foot than someone who just measures the deck floor? So both estimates would be about the same in the end, right?