Competition's Price?

Easy, Don, easy! You are sounding more and more like your favorite person !

Sorry if it sounds hard...sometimes the truth does but some of those lines are straight from my handouts... I try to be sure I don't make anything personal, I really am only offering sound advice to someone who has lost valuable customers and these days nobody can afford to lose too many... my sincere apologies if it didn't come across as helpful or constructive criticism or if it seemed "personal". However there is a point, I can't really define the concept I am thinking of...but it's like if you don't know a certain amount about a subject you may not realize how much there is left that you don't know...kind of the deal with pens & Christmas cards. But BTW: You, my friend, are a perfect example of someone like I mentioned who is both a businessman and a craftsman; because you have a successful business but you still paint stripes yourself...you are constantly booked (or overbooked) and have many repeat clients/property management companies etc. even though you are not the cheapest in our market by any means.... And I don't think you ever took my seminar, you were too busy giving your seminars until this year when you were too busy "working" to go give seminars ...

Garsh! Thanks for the roses, but I didn't do it all by myself. I truly believe Devine intervention turned me around and upside down. If I had not gone back to church after a 15 year hiatus or not gone back to school after 20+ years of engineering work, and not met Robert Liles, \\\STRIPES/// wouldn't be here today. Too many things happened (not by my design) that paved the way (no play on words intended). Anyway, thanks for the compliments. Oh yeah! I should mention your expertise in improving our internet presence has made a huge difference. Yes I was busy but wished to revamp our EXPO presentation with new material. Finally I have some help that can work without constant supervision. As such, I hope to get something fresh put together before next fall. As always, it is my intention to attempt to provide material that causes those in attendance to look at the striping trade from a different aspect and to not be afraid to try things differently. The only thing I try to "teach" (for lack of a better term) is..... to avoid being creatures of habit when striping. There will be more pics and videos next time around. As mentioned, I won't be "seminar-ing" this time but still will be attending the EXPO this spring in Nashville.

Don, I'll be the first to admit, that I'm by far a better "craftsman" than a business man. Coming from a background in art and music, I've always been more concerned with quality and precision. The frustrating part, is that I pretty much developed this company's striping program. Before me, it was a fry cook with a roller, in most cases. As far as marketing dollars go, I never spent any until last year when I hit the web. Never had to before that, I stayed plenty busy. The first problem is I put "too many eggs in one basket". I've always known that this could happen, but I was personally reassured by the facilities coordinator, a year or so ago, that they needed all the contractors they could get. Therefore when business picked up with the web exposure, I dove in further...more trucks, machines, employees. Not to keep up with existing work, but to insure I could handle extra work in a timely manner. The second problem, like you said, is dealing with "retention". I probably should have been more visible to the "decision makers". But working nights it's hard to get out in normal business hours and kiss corporate a##. The sad thing, is that it is getting to the point for me, like Ken, that I've got a couple good workers, that I don't have to babysit. Therefore, I'm able to do a little more on the business side rather than the actual striping/pressure washing work. All that said, I'm optimistic that we'll do fine with a few adjustments over time. Especially since someone is determined to build a strip mall or fast food joint on every square inch of God's Green Earth!

Whoa, buddy! I checked in here just in time! Hey Chip, do you have an extra room at YOUR place for The Acknowledged Goddess of Striper Success? Ken was right to credit going back to church (first, good job!), Robert, Don, PLP and going back to school....for his success. Partially. But, as many of you know, when I met him he had the following: a fledgling & part-time striping operation consisting one paint machine, one beat-up 1978 van, a 2-bedroom house, a 9-year old son...all financed on credit cards. 9 years later he has a backyard full of diesel trucks, trailers, various surface prep equipment, dedicated striping machines for 5 colors in each trailer, more LazyLiners than I can count, a 5-bedroom house, a 17-year-old son (only credit I can take there is that I kept them from killing each other!!), two employees, and ... ta da! ... most of all, ME! Somebody spank him, will you? Christmas is coming and he is going to see ashes and switches in his stocking otherwise (hee hee) Mary Beth

Behind every lucky man is a Renaissance woman.... or in my case a Renaissance English Setter....

OOPS !