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FCPWLLC

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Posts posted by FCPWLLC

  1. Posted · Report reply

    There are plenty of Industry related Organizations out there such as the PWNA,*****,WRAPI,IWCA,BOMA,IKECA etc, etc, etc. None of them is the topic here and please don't use any of the above as to what you see what some of the problems are. This is a true Virgin post that uses no other org's as examples. Answer as if this was the pontential to be the very first org. on record.

    Here are a couple of questions that I'm just wondering how others feel.

    1-Do you believe in organizations in this industry or do you think Bulletin boards are enough? If your answer is no about orgs then stop here.

    yes

    2-If you believe in Organizations what would you supposed would be a fair price to be a member?

    Price should equal value received. Also, there should be restrictions to membership and a system for handling complaints against members. If a member isn't worthy, out the door buddy.

    3- Should there be different price structures for its members such as a distributer compared to a contractor?

    yes

    4-Should the Org. be a non profit or profit org?

    Non-profit that is run like a for profit biz. Just as we strive to do our work better in order to be profitable, so should the Org. Profit should motivate to be the best.

    5-Should the org. allow all types of members such as contractors,Manufacturers and Distributers to have a chance to be the president?

    May the BEST Man/Woman be president.

    6-Should the org. look to do certification classes that are tied into the org.?

    Yes. However, this should be a part of the membership fee. And it should be difficult to obtain. The training or certification standards should be set by a board of contractors with no ties to any products or distributers. True methods that work no matter the tool or product you use. Methods that are in the contractors best interest and not a distributor or Product maker.

    7-Should the org. be an internet driven org. on top of the basic way org's are ran thru advertising, phone calls etc.?

    Yes, It should have an EXTREME internet presence. When a consumer searches the internet, This ORG. should be in thier face saying " Do business with a member" When a contractor is searching the internet, this ORG should be there with "Grow your biz, Join Today"

    8-Should the org. only be a state size org., Nation wide org. or shoot for the moon a world wide org.

    9-Should the org. promote all other orgs that relate to this industry and NOT be selective as to who they want. Anotherwords be fair to all.

    10-Should this Org. have a yearly convention or maybe a few smaller conventions during the year such as Roundtables be classified as mini conventions?

    Should be doing smaller "Awareness building" type get togethers. Perhaps teaming with its members in an area to do an event that helps to promote the org and the local members to the public. This would be more valuable to a member.

    11-Should this org. be a super creative org on top of being just business, business and more business. Example maybe every other year or every third year the org. can put together a trip for its members to lets say Cancun where if they can get enough people involved there would be a tremendous group rate discount? (I like this idea...and I never heard this expressed anywhere).

    12- Should the org. look to set aside funds to help some powerwashers in need or maybe build up a kitty to support some relief causes such as donating money to some charities that we all vote on.

    Yes.... It needs to be well thought out.

    13-Should this org. look to be a non profit org. where the BOD's can be paid for there services(plenty of non profit orgs have this) so this way we can shoot for grants and also make the Board of Director positions very competitive where many many members will want to run for these positions(Face it volunteering is a noble thing to do but to get an org. to move along at a lightning pace you want hungy people to be put in place to make this happen).

    Yes, pay them. However, there needs to be restrictions on WHO is allowed to hold a BOD position. Very borderline ethics are in play when a distributor or Manufacturer is in a decision making position. To be fair here, Contractors that compete nationally wouldn't be looked at fairly in a BOD position either.

    14-Do you want this org. to be the org. that wishes all other org.s to do well and to never point fingers as to whats wrong with some other orgs. Another words be the voice of the industry in always a positive manner(Ethics) and let other org's deal with there own problems but we can except them to be members of our org. which would be a non bias org.

    This is a No-Brainer

    15- Since there are so many other org's do we need anymore??

    Always room for an ORG that Actually delivers a VALUE to its members.

  11. Posted · Report reply

    This thread was a thinker, really got into my head.

    I'm thinking the only qualification necessary in an instructor is the ability to instill confidence. If the instructor is confident about his message, as a student, you will walk away with a belief in what you've studied. All minds process information in the same way. First you think about something, then you believe something, then you know something.

    Regardless of the qualification of an instructor the best they can ever hope to achieve is having you believe something. If you believe in what you study, you will have the confidence to apply it. It is only after applying what you believe in the real world that you come to know something.

    So the question is not what is the qualification of the instructor, but rather what is the quality of their material. Where did the material come from? If I do a good job of teaching you bad information, it's not going to help you succeed.

    If I compile a bunch of material that is readily available sit you down and cause you to believe it, you will have the confidence to go out and know for yourself. Certainly there is value in that. True, you could just research it yourself and learn the information on your own but what you really paid for was courage. You've put your faith in the same information, but it was the instructor that helped you believe it.

    If I teach you something new and original, something that is not readily available, certainly there is value in that. The obvious downside is, the newer and more original information is, the less it is backed with experience. All new ideas eventually either die out or become common knowledge. The key here is in knowing what new information is a shooting star destined to become tomorrow's status quo and which is about to fizzle.

    There is no real way to quantify the concept of "Quality" or "Value" when it comes to information. Information is subjective and will have a different impact on each individual. "Success" is another word that can't be pinned down. One man's vision of success is another man's view of hell on earth. It comes down to what is most important to you.

    Some will teach you the fastest way to make a buck, all be damned but you.

    Some will teach you to believe in what benefits the teacher most.

    Some will teach you quality to the point of diminishing returns.

    Some will teach you the key is finding joy in what you do.

    Many will teach you a little bit of everything.

    To boil this rambling bit of opinion down to a single statement I would say. . .

    Go with your gut, if you get a bad feeling about something run, if it feels right stick around a while.

    But that's the same advise I give about everything.

    Great, Great, Great!!!!

    This is it exactly.

  12. Posted · Report reply

    Actually I've got T-1 speed here. There's just so much one could say about this thread.......

    I, for one, NEVER like to hear the word "experience." I have walked into rooms where there were 20+ year experienced guys standing there scratching thier heads trying to solve a problem only to have me walk up and say "Maybe if you do this, then that and so forth, then the whatchmacallit will fall into place and the Item will run smoothly"

    Just because someone has lots of years doing something in an inefficient manner, doesn't make them good at anything other than being inefficient.

    A new comer with Outside the box thinking can very well come into ANY industry and bring to the Table some very good knowledge.

    Who would most of you rather take advice from?

    a/ A guy that made $100k this year working only 3 days a week with lots of time to spend in the forums or with his kids. He is Successful.

    b/ A guy that made $100k this year working 7 days a week because he had no skills in Proper Marketing or Sales or a grasp on TRUE business numbers so he was forced to sell jobs based on price and volume. He calls himself successful.

    I would listen to what a guy has to say when he says he can get $0.25/sqft versus getting $0.04/sqft.

    Some of the "experts" in our industry, teach out of date methods or not enough info to arm a student with what he REALLY needs to know to be successful in business. Teaching a guy to spray water and then sending them on thier way has gone on long enough. It has been creating low-ball pricing and high supply of technicans. Why is $0.04/ sqft all someone can get? Because he is forced to bed against guys that took a class on spraying water but only knows how to sell on price.

    The new move is toward educating Technicians how to run profitable businesses so that the industry doesn't continue to be drug through the ditches. Everybody can admit that spraying water isn't glamorous in the eyes of the public. I was at a New Years Party with some "Successful" people that aren't impressed when I tell them I own a Pressure Cleaning Service. Even though I make as much $$ as some of them do. My accountant makes less than I do, but he gets more respect when he shakes someones hand and tells them his occupation.

    A good example is this..... My friend is a Chef and makes Huge $$$. The fry cook at Mc Donalds does not. For the industry to look like Chefs we have to take a different approach than what has been. 20 year vet at flipping burgers isn't going to be able to teach and produce Chefs. If people close thier eyes to new teachers or methods then they will be working more for less.

    Someone mentioned wanting to take advice from a "Proven" roof cleaner to learn to market Roof cleaning. I would take the advice from a fresh out of school Marketing Grad before I'd seek out someone that's been cleaning roofs for 20 years. I'd look to the Roof Cleaner for advice on chems or best practices for hose management efficiency.

    Too much to say here. I'll be at the St Louis RT and I love to talk. Problem is this...... As long as someone is closed minded to the idea that a guy with just a few moments pressure washing isn't qualified to give advice, then they won't learn much anyhow. The industry needs to get outside the Box.

    Even better, it needs to get WAY outside the box to see more than one side of that box.

  15. Posted · Report reply

    I started out selling crack in a mall. Oh I meant to say crackers...

    Sorry I couldn't resist

    I have a background in restaurants. Got my first real job at 18. Unless you count my paper route. It was a restaurant in a mall. The manager I had was transfering to Cincinnati and I asked how I could get into management and he laughed hysterically. This bothered me, especially since he was the LAZIEST sun of a gun I have ever met. Four years later I had worked my way up to area manager for the chain, then purchased the unit in which I had started. The other guy... he was fired. I operated the restaurant for four years and the mall tripled my rent due to doubling my sales volume. $84.000 a year for 748 sq ft! Being a student of Stephen Covey I took the "Win-win or no deal option". Went back to work for my franchisor as a district manager and oversaw 18 restaurants. Six states and Washington D.C. was the geography. Had a child, downsized the travel and relocated to Lexington KY where the corporate office of Fazoli's is located and have been here for four years. I own rental property as well. I attended a Disney Univerity marketing class, and even got to speak at Disney on sales building to all the leaders in my past organization due to my success with them. It was about 1000 people, that was a BLAST! I received several great career offers that week. I have also been certified in "7 Habits of Highly Effective People", "Business Think" & "Franklin Coveys- "What Matters Most". I have also had the opportunity to teach success classes and mentor others. My personal mission statement is "To help those whom I lead to succeed". Pressure Washing has become my escape zone. It is the time when I can just relax and have quiet time, (from voices anyway). I don't know if I could see myself going full time anytime soon, perhaps in a few years.

    Scott has a great work ethic. We teamed up on a job recently. We had agreed to meet at the site at 5:30 am. I am always early, so I show up at 4:45 am only to be putting my Truck in park and see Scott pulling in right behind me. That is one of the biggest things that impresses me. Being on time or early.

    OK back on topic.

  18. Posted · Report reply

    Holy Cow. Beth are you available for SEO. I'd have to make change on a $20 to sell RAD. Now I am hellbent on figuring out how to improve ranking. I have good Google ratings and my website had 128,000 hits this year. I would think that would make it worth something?

    If anyone is in the know, give me a hint. Is it possibly because my URL is a redirect?

    Edit: Had a chance to read more. Its not rated upon what I thought it was rated. The longer your site (info-wise thus creating more non-ranked search engine hits) and the longer its been around (and archived) is what affects the score the most. Dashes are penalized as well. A live person hass to nalyze the true value. With all due respect to you, Beth there is no way anyone would pay that kind of money for SDR's domain. In every possible think keyowrd combination I could think of Henry's website ranked number one on Google and his value was listed as far less. Interesting stuff though. Phew, I can breathe easier.

    Ken, It's the hyphens.

    pressureprosinc isn't worth much either... LOL

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