Has The Great Recession Worn You Out?

[Shane Deubell]

It sure has beat the hell out of me, between the first 2 start up years and the great recession i am just whipped.
In the middle of an extended leave .... , not sure how long between 2 weeks to a month.

Really am trying to stay away from the daily grind for a little while and map out a plan for next 5-10 years. We made it and are doing pretty good BUT its time to work on the future and plan out how to reach that next level.

So its a combination of extended leave and brainstorming....

 

[hogjowl]

Whenever I get like that, I just take a nap and wait for the phone to ring.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Yea I don't watch the news anymore, too depressing!

We nuked ourselves here, we need to sell off a couple of properties and lower our expense and we'd be fine. BUT this not the best environment to sell anything in. Not even sure if we should fire sale or continue to ride this out and see if it gets better. ???

We meet several times a day, marketing, management, current & big picture, it's always something.

We have a lot to be thankful for but it's no longer easy, everything is a struggle but I'm fairly confident if we can maintain our focus we might get out of this alive.

Might!


Take your time, in fact don't do it alone. If you have friends or mentors ask their opinion too. Sometimes you can get too focused on the present and not see the big picture.

Here is my "Big Picture" story, hopefully it at least makes you smile if even for a moment.

Hang in there!

The Big Picture

When I was a kid I loved to play football, I was but an average player but I had a blast playing the game. More than anything I loved hitting people, I wasn’t a dirty player but I did want someone I hit to remember how hard I hit them.

Anyway one of my more memorable games was one where we were playing the cross town rivals, the rich kids. On the first kick off I was so torqued up about hammering someone that when the ball was kicked I had tunnel vision and made a beeline for the kick returner.

I was running flat out, hell I had and ear to ear grin on my face as I ran as hard as I could down the field.

I was so focused on that dude that I was completely unprepared for what happened next. All of the sudden out of no where I felt a jolt to my body and next thing you know I’m airborne.
Boom, I land flat on my back, seeing only sky! WTF hit me, what happened?

My friends (Friends?) rush over laughing at me. They ask if I’m ok and said ”you should have seen it!”.
SEEN it? Hell I lived it.

So they help me up ask if I’m ok, which at that point I couldn’t speak. They are still laughing at me and ask, “You got the wind knocked out of you didn’t you?” I nodded my head yes.

I spent the rest of the game looking for the private parts that got knocked off me on that kickoff.

What I learned that afternoon was that while focus is great you still can’t ignore the big picture!

I was so finely focused on hitting the runner to pay attention to the bigger picture of the guy coming from my blindside who cleaned my clock.

P.S. That incident changed me, from that point on I played differently than I had prior to “the hit”. I played with a little more compassion for my fellow player than before ‘the hit”.


Yep from then on, I looked for those that were too focused on the runner and neglected the big picture, I was giving out life lessons if you will. ; )


Oh what about the compassion? Oh yea I showed them compassion by helping them up to their feet… after I smoked them.

Ain’t football great! ; )

 

[hogjowl]

What did you do about your private parts? Did you ever get them back?

You probably have a higher pitched voice now too, don't you skippy?

 

[Desk Jockey]

Nope never found them. Have donkey parts now!

I forgot YOU might read it!

 

[bob vawter]

you could become a pony fluffer in Tijuana..........

 

[Desk Jockey]

Hell, I didn't even take the coats off the horses after "the incident".

I made my wife do it, and I don't think they got a further with her than I do.

 

[Jack May]

Shane, a suggestion that I do, don't talk or think business for a week at least, preferrably two... THEN do your brainstorming and planning. I practice this almost annually and find it works really well allowing your mind and body to rest while you're having a holiday and then the brain storming and planning on a fresh and clear mind is much more productive.

Richard, I was there a couple of years ago, I got a business mentor that was able to look at things objectively and point out some of our weaknesses that we hadn't really seen down in the trenches. Sure, it cost me $250 for a consultation but we were loosing multiples of that each week carrying on blindly. Sometimes someone that is not financially or emotionally involved can see that bigger picture clearer. It meant I had to make some really tough decisions and that hurt some of our loyal staff, but in hind sight, I should have made those actions up to 6 months earlier, always hoping next month will turn around, or there'll be a huge fire or floods to turn the tide. We are leaner, meaner and trimmer than we have been for almost a decade and that has enabled us to get back to a good position for bouncing off the future. We have axed our fire/drug lab division as it was becoming a drag on the company, 2 key permanent staff have gone and most of our temps but we're overall better.

John

 

[Desk Jockey]

Fortunately we have many options, it's choosing the best one and not making rash decisions but those that will serve us best down the road.

Appreciate the advice!

 

[Mikey P]

Thanks for sharing guys.


real estate is kicking ass here for sellers.


all ten of them


everybody is holding their cards so the few house we do have for sale here and over in San Jose are getting multiple bids, in San Jose some are getting over 100.


Not quite 2007 prices but excellent assuming you bought pre-hype.

 

[Royal Man]

Shane hang in there. Areas with snow and cold always slow down to nothing in winter,especially in February. Have a winter fund. I notice when I get out that people are talking about spring. This is a good time to start marketing to your past clients with an early spring sale. In times of recession people will hold on to carpet v/s replacement. So, play off of this with your marketing. Explain how you can help carpet/ furnishings to last longer and clients can clean instead of replace. Make sure you have some kind of USP to separates your company from the rest. Seems like all I've been getting this month is emergency spots, pet spots and clients that are getting new furniture. Cleaning is event activated for the most part. Soon there will be more events that facilitate cleaning, people will wake from their winter slumber, open the curtains, let that bright sunlight in and see that their carpet and furnishings look like crap and it will be balls to the wall.

 

[Steve Toburen]

We meet several times a day, marketing, management, current & big picture, it's always something.

We have a lot to be thankful for but it's no longer easy, everything is a struggle but I'm fairly confident if we can maintain our focus we might get out of this alive... Take your time, in fact don't do it alone. If you have friends or mentors ask their opinion too. Sometimes you can get too focused on the present and not see the big picture.

Those are some good reminders, Richard. After my ex-business partner (who is still a good friend) left our partnership he moved to Texas and started a company (not carpet cleaning) that now does 40 million a year in sales. The recession was very tough on them and they had to let almost half their staff go.

Chris recently told me, "Steve, we're still making money. It's just a lot harder now than it was pre-recession." Hang in there!

And Shane, you have done a superb job in a very difficult time. Time to relax and reward yourself. Building a business is SUPPOSED to be fun and gratifying.

Steve

PS I met yesterday with a friend of mine who is a cabinet maker who is renting part of my warehouse. I'm an inveterate snoop into other people's companies so we started kicking around business topics. Here are the three principles we came up for his business:

1. What's in the pipeline? Who cares how much money you have in your account now? I want to know where I'm going to be 30, 60, 90 days from now. And then let's try to see into the murky future a year or two down the road.

2. Make your marketing/referral "funnel" larger at the top. Too many entrepreneurs depend on a very limited group/methods to get business.

3. Charge more. Duh!

 

[Desk Jockey]

Wow that's awesome, hope it comes this way!

When times were good we were wheeling and dealing but right now I'd like to cash in my chips! ; )

We own a 5000 sq/ft building in Lawrence and a primo piece of lane in an industrial park in Lawrence, neither will move unless we take a major hit on them by fire sale them. Lots of money tied up that doesn't need to be, a few dreams will be shattered but at this point we don't need either property.

We may just refinance this building, keep the investment property and see how deep the worm hole goes??? The only reason I don't like the refinance idea is we only have six years left on this building and it's paid off.

Hate to make emotional moves on the moment and later regret them as the future unfolds. Although it's an excellent time to grab more market share, possible expansion, there are many of avenues I'd like to take advantage of, if we were just a little more liquid.

If we felt we needed to, we could suck it up and borrow from my mother......but that would be the last option we do. We wouldn't do that unless we had a real need or things got really desperate!

I hate borrowing from my mom! ; )

Much too early to get too excited either way but as we layout the future decisions need to be made. John we have our consultant stumped as to which direction he would suggest too. He was here yesterday and left shaking his head as to what he would do.

 

[Shane Deubell]

We are in the opposite position of most cleaners, the sales/marketing part is something i truly enjoy. You guys would punch me in the face if you knew how much work we turn away.

Right now we have a big time labor problem, for almost year now we have been shorthanded and it has completely stalled the company out. Simply can find enough quality candidates to complete jobs, its truly frustrating. At least 80 hours a week short right now and putting jobs together with duct tape basically.

So the mission now is

What are the qualities i am looking for in employees?
Putting in place dedicated recruiting system so resumes are always trickling in, every week.
Taking time to score resumes, interview candidates
More RE-training, i do a good job of intial training but a poor job of continued support

and most importantly more EMOTIONAL support of employees, i can be a total iceman and need to increase my emotional IQ which is currently a 0.

We have tons of work but in order to grow I need to change a little bit and create better long term structure.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Have you tried the temp agency's?

That's the only way we hire, they do background checks for you, they do the initial interview, which saves time.

You still do final interview but by then it's a qualified candidate. Plus they work for a set amount of hours for you before you actually hire them. It's "feeling out" period for both you and the temp.

The best thing is you set the parameters, no facial hair, no tat's, how much you want them to receive, some one that the agency rep work feel safe having in their home.

It's not perfect we still get a bad apple now and then but for the most part it works pretty slick. It's an avenue you might want to check into.

About half the company employees were at one time a temps we hired for a project and then found out they worked well with us.

 

[Shane Deubell]

Yeah but how many of you guys do drug testing, national background checks {local is useless} and use E-Verify?
Not to mention security/safety training for each location and specific id badges, we have like a dozen. LOL

All this stuff takes time and you have to find people who actually qualify... God Forbid

Some of this is unique to our current business plan, we target this market on purpose but sometimes it does have a drawback. Probably time to shift a little bit more to other markets and spread it around better.

 

[TomKing]

We are in the opposite position of most cleaners, the sales/marketing part is something i truly enjoy. You guys would punch me in the face if you knew how much work we turn away.

Right now we have a big time labor problem, for almost year now we have been shorthanded and it has completely stalled the company out. Simply can find enough quality candidates to complete jobs, its truly frustrating. At least 80 hours a week short right now and putting jobs together with duct tape basically.

So the mission now is

What are the qualities i am looking for in employees?
Putting in place dedicated recruiting system so resumes are always trickling in, every week.
Taking time to score resumes, interview candidates
More RE-training, i do a good job of intial training but a poor job of continued support

and most importantly more EMOTIONAL support of employees, i can be a total iceman and need to increase my emotional IQ which is currently a 0.

We have tons of work but in order to grow I need to change a little bit and create better long term structure.

Shane How many employees are you currently managing that report direct to you? They say you can only handle well about 8-10 direct reports and up to 13-15 higher performing employees that can be somewhat self directed.

I just went to a new position we call our Technical Service Supervisor. It has taken me out of the direct coaching of the techs. This took me from 4 weekly meetings to one. This individual is not a manager but is overseeing our cleaning methods and production. My wife is still handling HR issues for these employees. The TSS hopefully will grow and can be promoted to a manager down the road. It was our first step at adding layers.

We have the same problem for staffing. We have found our last 2 hires as servers while dining out. I hired both of these guys for our night crew. They work monday-thursday and love having their weekends. They often ask about helping out on Saturdays and have enjoyed the extra hours.

When you interview Can you do a 3 around interview? Have 3 people interview alone and then meet to talk about the canidate. I use my dad who was a director at a major utility here in town for the third person.

We also always sign a candidate to a one day contract and send them out on a residential truck. We know by the end of the day if they will be a fit. We also tell them they are to just watch. What we are looking for is someone who says Hey I just can't stand around can help carry something, hold a hose a door. We want that individual that just can't help but be a servant.

If they are stupid they can't stop it. Stuff like lighting up in the truck after they have been told we are tobacco free
Telling our tech I have tickets to a concert how about we go and then finish the night later. First night no lie!
Brining a hit to do in the parking lot after work. Nice!
Pouring chemical in a yard. Prior cleaner from another company

These one day contracts have saved us some hassle.

My wife and I also take every candidate and their spouse or guest out to dinner prior to hiring. If there is some crazy at home you want to know about it because it will come to work.
We have had only one guy slip buy the dinner process in 4 years.

I am like you the last 4 years getting to 3 trucks and moving to our 4th has been a little stressful and wears you out.

Enjoy the break.

Have you thought about taking some time to travel and visit a few larger operations. I have had some invites in the last few months. We are planning some time to get away and see what others have done.

 

[Desk Jockey]

The ones here will do drug testing too, it just costs more but it's a one time fee.

They will do background checks, not sure about national. Local you can also look up any court cases for free here, if you want to see if they are involved in any cases.

I know some of it takes time we ran a dozen guys through national and child protection for a Mold job at a youth detention center last month. We did cut one loose after that, good kid but he had a possession case pending that he had not told us about.

Check with them, you may be surprised at what they can do for you. Again you set the parameters as to what you're looking for and how high the bar needs to be set. I'm not talking about "Labor Ready" type temp agency's.

 

[Shane Deubell]

Thanks Richard and Tom!
I have to change it a bit though, we have tons of "helpers" and laborer types and can find 100 more easily.

My specific challenge right now is finding the independent employee and a team leader type but can't coach anybody up from our current staff. We definitely need to hire a couple guys from the outside.
I need to re-establish that 20% anchor, plenty of indians not enough chiefs ...

Any ideas on what qualities to look for specific to this industry?

 

[The Great Oz]

Any ideas on what qualities to look for specific to this industry?

That's a great question in regard to specific jobs (industry doesn't matter so much) as you can't "make" a supervisor or leader out of a tech unless they have the ability (and you add some training). Supervisors have to be compassionate about employees being imperfect, but also have to be a drill sergeant that sets expectations and holds people to them. They have to be firm but fair, and can't care if the employees like them or not.

most importantly more EMOTIONAL support of employees, i can be a total iceman and need to increase my emotional IQ which is currently a 0.

Good thing to know about yourself, and a good reason to hire someone to be a buffer between you and your employees. You'll just have to learn to be nice to that guy.



Mikey, the Obama administration is paying banks to keep foreclosed houses off the market. This is to create a false shortage, drive up prices and make those underwater on their mortgages feel better so they'll spend money, which in turn makes it seem like there's an economic recovery. It's working (and got him reelected) but also irritating that more tax money is being shoveled towards bankers. The problem is those houses are going to hit the market in waves, so any investment you have in real estate is not going to pay off until all that inventory is absorbed.

 

[TomKing]

Thanks Richard and Tom!
I have to change it a bit though, we have tons of "helpers" and laborer types and can find 100 more easily.

My specific challenge right now is finding the independent employee and a team leader type but can't coach anybody up from our current staff. We definitely need to hire a couple guys from the outside.
I need to re-establish that 20% anchor, plenty of indians not enough chiefs ...

Any ideas on what qualities to look for specific to this industry?

So Shane how many full time staff are you managing?

I would look at some managers in restaurants. These folks often work 60 hours for 23-27k. I would think you could find some folks with basic leadership skills from this group.

If you have a larger number I would look at someone from a pharma background. There are a lot of what are called contract sales force reps that have been downsized. Often the managers of these teams only made 50-60k. They would have some great skill sets for helping to train and lead team meetings plus the ability to help establish routing and frequency goals for your sales team.

 

[Dolly Llama]

What did you do about your private parts? Did you ever get them back?

You probably have a higher pitched voice now too, don't you skippy?

This is intended to be a discussion of ....

Go derail someone elses thread, please.

..L.T.A.

 

[juniorc82]

Wow that's awesome, hope it comes this way!

When times were good we were wheeling and dealing but right now I'd like to cash in my chips! ; )

We own a 5000 sq/ft building in Lawrence and a primo piece of lane in an industrial park in Lawrence, neither will move unless we take a major hit on them by fire sale them. Lots of money tied up that doesn't need to be, a few dreams will be shattered but at this point we don't need either property.

We may just refinance this building, keep the investment property and see how deep the worm hole goes??? The only reason I don't like the refinance idea is we only have six years left on this building and it's paid off.

Hate to make emotional moves on the moment and later regret them as the future unfolds. Although it's an excellent time to grab more market share, possible expansion, there are many of avenues I'd like to take advantage of, if we were just a little more liquid.

If we felt we needed to, we could suck it up and borrow from my mother......but that would be the last option we do. We wouldn't do that unless we had a real need or things got really desperate!

I hate borrowing from my mom! ; )

Much too early to get too excited either way but as we layout the future decisions need to be made. John we have our consultant stumped as to which direction he would suggest too. He was here yesterday and left shaking his head as to what he would do.

cant you rent out the building? As a smaller company with low overhead I am swamped non stop . However its just me and 2pafrt time guys

 

[Desk Jockey]

We've had a few offers for that but it still left me short $600.00 of making my payment and then I would still need to lease space. In the end I might save $800.00-$900.00 if we did that. A possibility but I'm not sure if its worth the hassle yet.

 

[Shane Deubell]

We've had a few offers for that but it still left me short $600.00 of making my payment and then I would still need to lease space. In the end I might save $800.00-$900.00 if we did that. A possibility but I'm not sure if its worth the hassle yet.

Thanks... another mess i have to fix!

We have a 5000 sqr ft shop we are only paying $1 sqr ft, yeah its the hood. Then a rental property i turned into an office after the recession, so i miss out on rental income AND its 2 different locations.
No wonder i need a vacation ....

 

[Desk Jockey]

Me too!

We're too busy, ya know when you just run home for shelter.

My wife calls me a cellar dweller, I take some snack and drinks, watch movies, read and get online and don't come back up until bed time.

 

[hogjowl]

Taco ... if things get really bad out there, you always have a "job" here on the farm.

 

[Desk Jockey]

We have been fairly insulated from the economy for the most part.

Most of our issues are self inflicted! Never quite as smart as we think we are....well Dan isn't anyway!

LOL