Planning for growth

Dude… I was rocking hard 06,07,08,09. Learned how to clean windows on National Window Cleaning Directory.net forums… Met Chris and some other OG WCR peeps… migrated over as soon as Chris launched the new forum. Back then I was fresh out of ‘somewhere’ and couldn’t get a job. I had a shaved head, a missing tooth… (a common theme in my life, really need to learn how to fight one day) and a sketchy history.

That was when I was reborn into a new life… I was willing to do ANYTHING to make it. I had lost a HUGE amount of money and was completely broke. I mean bankrupt on so many levels… Emotionally being one of them but the corporate one is what got me down. Previously I was the CEO and Founder of the Re-cell Technologies Corporation. We were “recycling” used cell phones. I had a sales office, warehouse, and outbound call center setting fundraisers for schools and non profits where they collected cell phones and I bought all of them good bad or indifferent for $1 each handset. I sold them for anywhere form $10 to $120 wholesale to Pre-Paid Vendors all over the globe. My first deal in that industry was 150,000 nextel i700 bricks to Vietnam. I made $37,500 commission brokering a $150,000 deal. After that I managed to maintain a volume of at least 10,000 pieces per month. The average was 20,000 used handsets a month. The ebay store alone did more than twice the annual median income for the nation.

All I had to start that company was a cell phone and a laptop. No money. Until I brokered that deal, which I found on the web… and through some mentors I had at the time.

@JfromtheD That was before the bubble popped but I believed in myself, I was doing positive things. I stayed in the positive always. Thanking God daily for the positive results I didn’t even have yet. But I acted like I had them. I even pictured myself with a new truck and nice place. Every time I would do a house I would picture myself living like my clients and thank God for letting that happen to a bum like me.

(Don’t let your butt pucker, God could mean Good Orderly Direction for you… I don’t know. Maybe replace with Good Old Dude. I did still call God Dude all the time. There is more than one way to get to Dennys, I’m not preaching either. I said spiritual; not religious.)

Basically I believed in myself and what I was doing enough to keep pushing despite what people around me were saying.

I started my first window cleaning company during the bubble. Everyone said I would fail. I proved them wrong. Tell me I can’t do something… I will tell you to watch me.

In 2006 I borrowed $50 from a guy to get a squeegee and a bucket because I was living the spiritual path and didn’t want to do anything suspect at all. I still live that way… glad that stuck. :slight_smile: Well… we all fall short of our chosen ideals from time to time. We are human. It happens. Don’t beat yourself up. Just do better on the next one.

I learned the Biz… Here. I darn near doubled in size every year in Edmond OK. For a while though… I would average $1500 weekly all year round by myself because I had all my resi on a quarterly or semi annual route. I worked about 20-25 hours a week and just focused on my spiritual growth the rest of the time. So I can see how one might wanna get complacent. I did it. But now I know what not to do.

Back then… I wasn’t as jaded as I am now. I believed what people said on the internet was true. But I am a big believer in my own investigation of the truth. I don’t blindly follow what people tell me. I ask my self… “Self, why are they telling me this? Maybe I should consider the source on this one before making a decision.” Just in case you are interested. Here are the four decision making principles that guide my thoughts and actions throughout the day.

**The Four Absolutes: **

Honesty
Purity
Unselfishness
Love

So I live by practicing honesty at core levels with all my interactions. You guys have seen that here on the forum. Sometimes I amaze myself with my overshares. The real questions to ask when faced with decisions in life…

  • Is it Honest or Dishonest?
    Am i honest with myself about my motivations for wanting or doing this? Am I being completely honest with all those involved?

  • Is it pure or is it not?
    Would it be the “right thing” to do for all involved?

  • Is it selfish or unselfish?
    What are my real motivations? Is it a win win? Am I being kind with ulterior motives? Is that not dishonesty?

  • Can I honestly say if I do this it is being done with God Centered Love?

If I can answer the right answers to all four questions. I know I am making moves in the right direction.

Even during a recession.

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@Kyle_Stafford I wasn’t quite sure when you started, but that’s why I mentioned I was feeling good about your sustained growth.
Wasn’t trying to pick on you, man. Not at all.

It’s just there WILL be times where we (I mean we/you/me/us) will have a tough year.
We just need to prepare for it, because it’s better to expect it than not.

  • ride the wave and wait for calm again.
    That’s all I meant.

@Louie_the_Window_Guy that was heck of a post.
I read every last word…

I was on Wind Cleaning Directory as well.
But I didn’t learn “how” there…
I probably had the same know it all attitude, you all have come to know and love. :blush:

It’s been a while, but I do remember the talk of Chris starting a new forum, and it felt like Civil War almost.
I took the time, and read… and declared my allegiance.
And long story, short…here I sit.

I’m not real religious, but my family is, for the most part.
And I respect that.

Enough so that if I swear to God, I mean it to the point where I’m stating something with enough conviction,
that I would risk everything those who believe, those most important in my life.

No need for acronyms here… in fact, I take that whole aspect as ‘caving.’

There’s an old adage I learned in school, about business ethics…
The “Front Page” Test.

  • would what you are thinking about doing, be embarrassing if it were in print in the newspaper?
  • would you want your family to know this action you are taking?
  • etc…

As much as I like my anonymity here, it’s strictly so I can freely bitch about my day.
I DO care what other members think, and after 7 years here, I do have something to lose.

  • if a thread were started “J is a scam, because…” I would be devastated.
    (J is an ass is fine, but I’d never shaft someone here.)

Y’all may not know me, but you know me.

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In your position I’d look for someone who is looking for a part-time job with flexible hours. I have two employees in that situation so I don’t feel obligated to keep them busy. When we do have a good work load during May-July then they are usually more than happy to put in the extra hours and are also perfectly ok when they only work for a few hours. I usually always adjust their pay if they are only showing up for a few hours so it is worth their time. I’m not in the position for a considerable amount of growth so this works out perfect for my business plan. I was up about 25% in sales last year which is a lot, but we managed alright.

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This is timely for me. You could basicly say we have flat lined for the past decade, yea 2008 to 2010 was a little slower, but 2013 was huge (Hurrican Sandy, another story). The business has been staying the same, dirfting in the Ocean rising and lowering with the tide (outside forces). Just simply for no other reason than being content. This year is different, I’m making the switch to working “on” not “in” my business and moving toward “automation and systems” to achieve growth. This is embarsing, but for the first time in 27 years we are setting measurable profit and sales goals.

Stay tuned

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Dude…

Please do not let that embarrass you in any way.

The fact that you are doing something in the right direction is what counts.

There is an old saying…

You can’t save your @ss and your face at the same time.

The human ego has he power to create fortunes and hubris brings ruin?

I know… We don’t want to admit that we screwed up. What will people say? Honestly, Let them say what they want.

It is your bottom line at the end of the day.

I screw up all the time. In numerous forms and fashions.

There is no shame in being man or woman enough to admit the wrong, accept responsibility… then move forward.

Anyone that steps up and takes @Send_Jim and @Chris information to heart from those webinars and what not… Makes the admission that hey… I could do better… then starts making changes in the right direction.

I promise you… I will not judge. I think its the best thing you could possibly do for you and more importantly… Your family.

“Eating humble pie” so to speak and making changes for the better is how I got to where I am today.

If you are worried about publicly asking for help with this stuff because you can’t figure it out, contact the guys that put on the recent webinar series. I bet they can help you.

Don’t be shy. Your children’s well being and quality of life will improve I am sure.

Right now… I have watched who has made the most sense with their service industry business development, I have been reaching out to pick brains.

Why? Because I can’t do it alone. We are all in this together with the common bond within our industry’s business community.

I know business. From Corporate to Street Level.

But… Maybe someone knows something I don’t. I would rather look like a fool asking for help than I would be a fool and miss an opportunity for improvement.

Just saying.

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“All the time?”
How about, ‘Daily?!?’
I have mentioned at least 5 times this week, that I have run into objections (where I’ve felt stupid) and how I deal with them.
It’s an “in general” but point is, we all have moments of weakness/feeling squirrely.

This is about the best resemblance of a support group I could imagine.

  • and the best part is, the tools/help are right here.
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And that’s why we will always have the choice of anonymity here.

When will you decide to add it or not?

I really loved that site… I still go over and check it out a couple of times a year. With out NWCD there never would have been a WCR.

I read this article from Harvard Business Review recently about Proctor and Gamble. They have a growth goal of about 4% a year. For them to accomplish that they need to add a brand, each year that’s equivalent in sales to Tide. That’s HUGE.

Yeah, Just accounting for scale alone, growth rates, at some point must slow when we are speaking percentages. The question is when do they or must they slow down?

going away for 3 days 19-21.

For me, anything we add I want to hit hard and I want someone dedicated to driving the bus full time. That’s been the hard part. Pride gets in the way for some, others say they are lazy but I think fear stops them.

i think as long as you have several lines in the water, work will keep flowing in and force expansion .

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Agreed…

On multiple levels.

The reason I get complacent, honestly has always been fear. I said in a previous post, “I think my father and I mastered fear or we are really stupid, one or the other”. After years of introspection I can say I am a fear based individual.

There are two reactions to fear. Fight or Flight. I can’t run fast. All those years I wasn’t showing bravado. I was showing how I deal with FEAR.

The times I get complacent is because I am really scared the wheels are going to fall off.

That sense of pending doom even when things are going really really well. That internal fear that maybe all those people were right and I am not going to amount to crap.

All the times I make bad decisions. I make them based on an assumption that I am going to lose something. Something I already have, or something I really really want. So I do something self centered trying to push through to make my goals happen. Then it causes problems.

That is my life in a nutshell…

The opposite of fear is absolute faith. The great thing about the diversity of experiences I have had, I have always lived… (couple of times I was brought back) and seen how that experience could help someone else. All the things that have happened in my life have been teaching tools to be able to help others.

I know it sounds gay… but so what…

The point is. We have all had bad experiences in life. Now… Tonight before you go to sleep. Think about those experiences… and see if you can find examples in your own life as to where the bad experience became a positive. If it wasn’t for ABC, then XYZ would not have happened sort of thing.

If you are honest with yourself and really put forth effort. I bet you will find at least three things throughout your life.

That in itself is good enough evidence to realize that even if you do fall short of your chosen ideal… it’s OK. You will benefit in the long run. Why not just start doing it now?

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I didnt think you were attacking me. I know there will come a day where we level out. We try to delay that day from being today by continuing to expand into new markets and be creative in our marketing. I actually look forward to that day because that means I will be focused on squeezing every ounce of profit out of the company. :smile:

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