Dying here

[CLASSICPW 14]

I'm pumpingt out a $850/mo magazine ad, $60 a week for 2 areas pennysaver ad, doing mailers from home and getting maybe 1-2 calls a day. I'm losing my mind!! I was so busy April through July that I thought I needed a shrink, making about 10K/mo. Now If I get 1k a week in work it's good. I'm losing it!! Last year I was bringing in at least 3-4K a week right now. Do you think it's the gas price situation that's scaring people? I don't know what the hell to do, but I'm realllll scared!! I've got a family to support and here in Maryland my season ends in December. I have been getting more commercial calls than residential so if anyone has any tips on how to target commercial accounts please help me........I hate to beg, but thanks for the help.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Call me later on my cell. I'll help you however I can.

Beth

[Henry B. 4]

Hey Classic,

Give me a call also, I might be able to give you a few ideas that will help. Don't give up man, just hang in there and give me a yell.

301 353 9234

[PressurePros 249]

I'm not in MD, but give me a call. Two heads are better than one. Stay strong, bro, everything goes in cycles. While you are down it's a good time to take apart your marketing campaign and analyze it very closely. The amount of money you are spending is not proportionate to your return.

[CLASSICPW 14]

Thanks for the offers folks. I'm going to start contacting paint contractors, construction companies, service companies etc.. I've just always relied on residential as my bread and butter, but they're failing me. I do have 2 main probs w/ my ads. The clipper magazine is where my one ad is. I share a page with my buddy Classic Chimney. They had the balls to place his biggest competitor on the page next to us with cheaper prices. He's not paying them a cent for the ad and I feel that it might have hurt me too. I'm changing advertisers.

[Russell Cissell 65]

I can't speak for MD but our trend data for the St. Louis, MO market shows an annual period of decline during the weeks from mid July through early September. Some years are more effected than others but the trend is constant Then in September there is a rush close to that of spring that lasts into October and some times into November.

By my best estimation this is trend has two primary drives. The first is this is a common time for Families to take a vacation so they are either out of town or short on disposable income. It is also the time of year when families are turning their focus to back to school activities and sending older children off to college.

To combat this in the past I have taken advantage of this time to book a lot of Realtor work. Or other work that is difficult to bid at a premium. The idea is to take work that is sub premium and book it during this time. It could have been a job you bid in April but if you absolutely feel you cannot get 100% of your going rate you offer a discounted price IF they book in August. If you work this angle all spring it is not hard to fill the weeks. You may not get your $10k/wk but 7 or 8K is better than 1k yes?

You may want to try some variation of this, the point is to have a plan. If you've got a plan you are much less likely to go crazy. Also call every one who offers you help! Use their knowledge and ideas to help formulate your plan. Then stick to your plan, ride it out and collect data. Over the down time analyze the data interpret changes and formulate your new plan based on these improvements.

And you are not begging. It's called networking and it is key to your success! A little scared is OK too! Keeps you on your toes, just trust in yourself and repeat what is successful for you!

Good Luck to You!

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Jamie,

Call me.

Beth

[Atlantic Power Washing 14]

Mid July threw August is always a slow period for residual work. People just aren’t out enjoying the nice weather anymore, the kids are out of school and people are on vacation a lot. This year, here on the east coast, it has been VERY hot and humid and people were staying in their houses, even the grass around here wasn't getting cut. That's why this years slow summer period was slower than usual.

What I do is take my income from the privies year say $105,000 then subtract your overhead. $30,000, then divide $75,000 into 52 weeks......your weekly salary is $1,442. If your wife is helping you by answering phones, scheduling jobs, paying the bills, keeping the books straight and what have you, then a portion of that money goes to her...$600. So your income is $842 week. never take a penny more even if you have a week where you make $5,000......this way you should be able to pull yourself threw the slow months of summer and the real slow months of winter. Hope this helps.

[Degraffreed 21]

Atlantic,

$105.000 a year for Washing.....Wow.

[FullBlast 14]

My residental dropped off to here for awhile but it is coming around here this week.

I just hit the $200,000 last month.

[wesley 15]

Hey Fullblast, are you adding res. and comm. together or are you saying that you hit 200K in housewashing?

[FullBlast 14]

All together.

[wesley 15]

200k sounds good any way you add it as long as your overhead isn't to bad. Keep up the good work.

[Atlantic Power Washing 14]

last year was $105,000 and my over head was $27,500..Right now I'm at $69,629, but i have $4,290 on the street......last year at this time i was at $71,696 that's -2.9% over last year but i hope to catch things up soon. I have never been down on my numbers since i started business in "97" I have grown at least 10% each year.

[PLD 14]

Guys,

May I take you guys up of the offer of some phone time? I too though I had this thing figured out only to hit a brick wall last month.

FWIW, I screamed all summer and the end of the first week in August, the well ran dry. We made it through Aug on pre-sold work and a week of well needed vacation but the last week was hour to hour. The first week in Sept was similar, and things have picked up sharply this week but we'll still only book about 80% of available hours.

Also, I'm running two newspaper ads, one ad in monthly 32 page booklet, and two phone book ads.

[PLD 14]

I'm pumpingt out a $850/mo magazine ad, $60 a week for 2 areas pennysaver ad, doing mailers from home and getting maybe 1-2 calls a day. I'm losing my mind!! I was so busy April through July that I thought I needed a shrink, making about 10K/mo. Now If I get 1k a week in work it's good. I'm losing it!! Last year I was bringing in at least 3-4K a week right now. Do you think it's the gas price situation that's scaring people? I don't know what the hell to do, but I'm realllll scared!! I've got a family to support and here in Maryland my season ends in December. I have been getting more commercial calls than residential so if anyone has any tips on how to target commercial accounts please help me........I hate to beg, but thanks for the help.

I don't know if I got this across in my previous message, but your situation and mine are frighteningly similar. $ amounts, advertising $, falloff timing. Feel free to call me anytime and compare notes.

770-460-0469