Soap Warehouse Blog

If equipment costs this year have put you in the red I have a suggestion to turn that red to black next year.

If you have been in business for at least two years and up to now have had a good profit track record, now may be the time to switch from owning your own pressure washing equipment and rigs to leasing them or at least any new ones.

If you are wanting or needing to expand your business and need another rig but just can not find the financing due to banking changes or you need the benefit of cash liquidity in your current business dealings look into leasing.

There are numerous companies that will lease complete pressure washing rigs; to find one is as easy as doing a computer search engine query for "name of your town or state, along with the words "pressure washer leasing" or "leasing for pressure washing equipment". Many of the best deals can be found with local family owned companies but there are a few National franchise chains as well that lease, such as Hotsy and Hydro Tek.

The value in leasing vs. buying out right are many, but here are a few.

1. Less of a large up front cash out lay, as needed if you are buying outright or making a down payment for a loan.

2. Monthly payments are usually lower per month with a lease vs. a loan repayment. Generally you can make your lease payment up in a day to two. Giving you the freedom to make money for yourself the rest of the month.

3. Tax benefit in being able to write off most if not all of the lease payment expense every year instead of having to amortize the equipment cost over 5-10 years of tax returns.

4. Selling older equipment or rigs that may be getting close to the end of there working life span now and using that money to get industry cutting edge equipment that may be out of your price range if you had to purchase it out right your self.

A leasing contract is also usually easier to get approved then a bank loan since the company you are leasing from deals in this type of equipment daily, and can reclaim the equipment more easily than a bank can if you are unable to met your monthly payment obligations. Also leases are easier to get out of if the equipment is not performing to your needs and might even be able to be changed or adjusted while only having to modify the lease slightly as your business needs change.

I hope this has given you some thing to think about if you are needing to improve your equipment next year while lowering your overall cost of that equipment. Happy New Year.

For similar tips go to www.pressurewashers.lifetips.com.

If you’ve been feeling somewhat discouraged about business this year and feel that you were not moving in the right direction, now is a great time of the year to take stock and review your accomplishments.

Operating your own business can be like a wild roller coaster ride. There are the highs of a really good day and the lowest of lows of the really bad ones, or when a great job prospect falls through. Often when you’re feeling down on yourself and your business it’s really not warranted. Here are some tips to make yourself feel better:

1. During the year, monthly, or even weekly if you have time, record your progress for that time period. At the end of the year, you’ll be able to look back and see how much you really have accomplished. If you did not do that this year it is not too late to get the appointment book or job accounting records, take a look at your email account and take a trip down memory lane. Make your self a list of the following:

• all the contacts you’ve made in person;
• all the one-on-one email, Facebook or similar contacts you’ve made;
• any networking events, lunches, meetings you’ve attended and the benefit you got from them;
• press releases you published or any free publicity you’ve received;
• any classes you’ve taken to further your business and how they improved your business plan;
• any recognition, award or nomination you’ve received;
• new clients you’ve signed on and how much they financially impacted your bottom line;
• volunteer projects you’ve taken on;
• potential clients who’ve shown an interest in you that you can revisit this next year;
• creation or improvements of your web site, business cards and other marketing materials.

2. Join a business Success Team. These weekly group meetings with other small business owners are great for sharing ideas and the agenda often requires participants to report what they’ve done the past week and set a new goal for the following week. This is great incentive to do what you said you would. Not all “B&I” groups are the same so find one that fits your marketing style and has members you think you can learn from.

3. Ask clients for feedback on the work you’ve done for them. Get verbal testimonials over the phone, in writing is better and if possible shoot B&A video of jobs with the customer’s reaction after work in finished. Photo B&A will work too.

4. Keep an e-mail folder where you keep testimonials and any positive feedback you’ve received for something you’ve done. Go back and read it when you’ve feeling down.

5. Call up a friend, networking buddy or another entrepreneur and go for coffee. Getting out of the office and sharing similar concerns with a like-minded person is a great morale booster. Knowing you are not the only one in the same boat leaves you feeling better.

6. Finally make your self a list of how you can use these positive things to promote and make your business better in the next year.

Happy Holiday and Happy New Year to you all.

Hopefully you have had a chance to view our newest video for our new graffiti remover Blast Off.

The company that made that video for us is iMotion. If you think that video was hard for us or expensive to make, think again. Learn what we did earlier this year by downloading this PDF and action guide that won't cost you a dime: https://imotionvideo.infusionsoft.com/go/xmas1/a196/

iMotion Video wrote this short guide to tackle the biggest obstacle that they face every day..."How to make video commercials that sell" They produce hundreds (literally) of videos each month for businesses in all sorts of niches so they see their share of challenges for sure.

Make sure you get this action guide today because the form will also get you registered for their "Done For You" discount video productions, the same kind of program we are using.

This week, on Wednesday, they are going to have a 24 hour sale for their discount membership which is already a ridiculous deal.

We joined a few months ago and already are seeing the benefits. If you want to start promoting your business with video but don't know where to start or think you will have to spend a lot of money on equipment or time you don't have, the action guide will give you some good pointers to consider. If you're looking for a competent yet inexpensive video company to actually make your videos for you then you'll be as happy as we are.

Either way, make sure you get your action guide today before they take the page down: https://imotionvideo.infusionsoft.com/go/xmas1/a196/

The PDF and action guide are free so grab it while you can.

https://imotionvideo.infusionsoft.com/go/xmas1/a196/

This post it to finish off our detailing our new graffiti cleaners, the last being Cleen Fast, we know it is spelled a little different but it cleans a little different too. Cleen Fast was designed with the commercial fleet industry in mind. Cleen Fast contains all natural ingredients and is fully biodegradable. Clean Fast is very effective on cleaning, including mold and mildew staining found on vinyl and fabrics in commerical vehicles without harming most surfaces and doesn't need to be rinsed after it is sprayed on and wiped off. It comes in a trigger spray bottle ready to use and it deodorizes as it cleans, leaving hard surfaces streak free.

Cleen Fast contains No chlorine, bleach or butyl's making it easy on the user and the fresh lemon scent makes using Cleen Fast more enjoyable than other cleaners.

Cleen Fast can also be used wilth Blast Off and Shadow Away to clean up the loosened paint mess from graffiti cleaning. Cleen Fast will also stop the action of Blast Off if it is accidently sprayed on a surface it shouldn't have.

To order or to get more information call Soap Warehouse at 1-800-762-7911 or go to our web site

Special pricing is availble until the end of 2010 to introduce these products to the public. Blast Off and Shadow Away come in 22 oz trigger spray bottles, in 1 gallon refills and in cases of both. Cleen Fast comes in quart size spray bottles and in a case of 12.

There is no reason to let graffiti build up on your property, it is a known fact that once a wall area or object has been tagged it is more likely to be tagged again in the next 48 hours.

Stop graffiti fast and easy with the products from Soap Warehouse.

Soap Warehouse is introducing it's latest group of products.

Blast Off Graffiti Remover, Shadow Away Graffiti Remover and Cleen Fast commercial spray cleaner.

First we will tell you about Blast Off, it works like nothing else on the market today for removing graffiti.

You spray it on a dry hard surface that has a graffiti tag of paint or permanent marker on it, wait around one minute or less and then just wipe off with a dry cloth.

See for your self, watch our 60 second video. No water is needed, in fact water reduces the effectiveness of the product and the surface needs to be dry before applying Blast Off for it to work properly.

You will not believe how easy graffiti will come off. Blast Off works on metal, plastics, fiberglass, vinyl, tile, grout, composites and many natural stone surfaces. It is great to use on vehicles, metal buildings or machinery casings, in bathrooms on walls, stall dividers, and fixtures.

Blast Off is pH neutral, biodegradable, non corrosive and contains no petroleum distillates and is safe of factory applied paint and powder coats. Easy and very safe to use.

Blast Off can of course not be used on surfaces that have been spray painted, or painted with Latex or Epoxy paints as this is what it is designed to remove. It should also not be used on Screen printed signs as it will remove the dyes as well.

Blast Off is most effective on new graffiti on hard non porous surfaces that have not had any other cleaner used previously to try and remove the tag.

Our next product Shadow Away is for larger graffiti tagged areas on concrete or masonry or when a shadow has been left from trying to remove graffiti with a cleaner that did not entirely finish the job.

Shadow Away is also pH neutral, biodegradable, non corrosive and contains no petroleum distillates and needs to be applied to a dry surface.

Shadow Away will remove shadows or ghosting that has been left behind by other cleaners. It is a spray that is designed to make a gel to get down into the pores of concrete, mansonry and to cling to verticle surfaces. Shadow Away will continue to work and stay on the surface dissolving the paint or marker as long as the area is keep wet with the Shadow Away or Blast Off until it has completely released the stain from the surface. A brush may be used to push the paint around to be sure it has been completely released. A white powder will apear as  the product is allowed to dry but that will easily from the surface wash off once you know the painted area has been loosend and or removed by wiping. Once you have released all the paint with Shadow Away you may use a pressure washer to rinse the area clean.

This has gotten so long I will talk about Cleen Fast in the next post.