Soap Warehouse Blog

I have seen this issue coming up a lot lately and I even started working on this series last year but never finished it. So I think now is a good time to get it done and posted.

The number one expense per job in a service business is your labor costs. So you need to be sure that the money you spend is for someone that is qualified to do the work and will expand your businesses good name.

The four steps to hiring employees: 

You have a set hiring procedure in place before you every place that first want ad.
First you should have a detailed application just for your company not some office supply store form.
Second is the interview process to help select the right potential candidate.
Third you should have an employee handbook, that is given to every new hire and signed for.
Fourth by following the rest of the steps spelled out in the handbook that applies to the job such as the need for a background, credit check and drug screening.

Taking these steps will not only give your customers value that you can spot light in your marketing but will give you added value as well in the long run by knowing you have skilled, qualified, drug free employees representing you and your company. The old adage 'You get what you pay for' can be attested to by anyone that has just hired someone off the street or because a friend of a friend said he was a good worker and knew what he was doing, only to have anything from major trouble to just routine annoyance caused by this person. Hopefully you have not been damaged too severely so far but by following these steps you will greatly improve your odds of never having to worry about it.

These steps can save you money by reducing employee absenteeism, possible reduction in insurance premium rates, reduce or eliminate loss due to theft, increase the quality of employees that should work better and safer allowing you to do more jobs without increasing man power.

I will go over in the next four blog posts this weeks information on each of these points, that you can go to, and use on your own.

If you are lucky enough to have reached the point where you can have a crew or two working for you handing the actual work of your business congratulations.

But now how do you use this new found freedom of not working daily out in the field on a job site to improve and grow your business the best way you can?

Well that can not be easily answered in just a short blog post, so sorry in advance for this ones length. It will take each person a lot of time, trying a number of different things over days, weeks, months and even years to get this accomplished. But there are ways to make this process move along faster.

First you have to know the type of person you are and what work style gives you the best results. It is not going to be the same for every business owner out there and you have to learn and nurture what yours is.

You can buy books, get into a program, go to seminars put on by other very successful people but there is no guarantee that even if you do exactly what they did you will be as successful even if they have a carbon copy of you and your business, which of course no one is or does, even as a twin or with a franchise.

You first have to not only know your business but know yourself. What makes you the most productive? Look back over the last month or so and make notes as to what tasks you have had to do, what steps did to take  to get them done and do you think you did them the most effective way? If you could have had perfect control what would you have done to get those tasks done sooner? better?

Ex: You had a company ask for a bid and it took you 3 days to get it ready and deliver it to them and they went with someone else that was not lower in cost but faster in their response. Examine what steps you took to do that task and what could have been done better. Where you delayed by scheduled work? Well that problem is now solved. Did it take you too long to get an accurate calculation of the scope of the work? Did not have time to get to the site, Google Maps didn't have a clear view of the area or building? So time will not be as big of a facture moving forward what else could have helped?

Next you need to know how and when you are the most productive.

Are you a morning person, like to start the day early and get as much done right away to leave the rest of the day open for new things as they come in? Are you a slow starter and like to build up to more difficult or more time consuming tasks as the day goes on? Are you a list maker that can work down a list item by item completing each one in order? Do you need complete separation from distractions to get a task done? Can you delegate tasks and not feel you have to micro manage and revisit tasks others are doing for you? Do you work better by breaking a big task down into smaller pieces that you can do in short burst of time and maybe not in a certain order and be able to do other things in between them?

You need to know what works best for you and then create and implement a routine. No one can tell you their perfect system and know it will work the same for you.

But here are some tips others have used to be more productive and you can see if they will work for you.

Organize your day or week into blocks depending on when you have found your are most productive. Some as I mentioned are early risers, some are night owls while many are at their mental peek mid-day from 11 am to 2 pm. Some people want to start the week off with the biggest task they will have to have done by Friday while others want to clear all the small tasks out of the way and work best undisturbed under a deadline on Friday. If possible set these blocks of time to be undisturbed, turn off the cell phone, don't look at e-mail, let everyone know that during these few hours every day or on certain days, like Tuesday and Thursday you are not to be interrupted.

Inside of these blocks, do the things you don't want to do first. It is easy to do the things we love to do and hard to even think about starting the ones we do not. But if you put that hard task first and not allow yourself to move on to something else until it is done, the feeling of accomplishment once it is finished is much more pronounced and will make it easier the next time.

Focus on one task at a time, the biggest first. A lot of smaller tasks can trip you up into not getting the bigger usually more important thing done within the time you have set. Plus it is easier to move the smaller less important tasks forward into the next block of time you already have set up.

Work in the moment. If you are overwhelmed with how much you have to do, that is all you will think about instead of the task at hand. Do not try to multi-task and do not allow interruptions to stop you.

Have a To-Do List broken down into different sections. You might even want to create your own.

The three things that have to get done today no mater what, then the rest of To do today, this week, this month, for a long term goal. Try to get everything off your to do today list by a certain time each day, one or two off the this week section, each week one or two off the this month section and try to work on a least one task a week off the long term goal section.

Deal with it only once. When an issue comes up that should not be ignored, deal with it now and have it over and done. Ex: A customer calls not happy with something on a job, take the call, find out what the problem is, and if possible resolve it right then. If you need to speak with a crew member before it can be resolved, call him right then get his side, tell him how you want it handled and call the customer right back with what you have instructed to be done and ask if that is satisfactory. Do not tell the customer you will have to first speak with your employees once they are back in the office and will get back with them later or tomorrow. Or if the solution is not satisfactory to the customer keep going until it is. Then you are free to move on back to your set tasks.

Set up a calendar for repeated tasks, this is one that I do. For instance, I have to submit a script for a monthly video by the 8th of each month, at the first of the year I look to see when the 8th falls each month during the year. If it is during the middle of the week I can plan on needing to know my subject and set time during those few days, at least 3 hours in total, to write the script, enter and download all the photos needed for that video. If it is on a Friday I want the time set up and done before I take lunch. If it falls on a Monday I can start on Friday afternoon and set my block of time Monday right after lunch. At the end of each month I need to have decided on what our product specials will be for the next month, find a photo, create the Facebook cover shot to be ready to post it on the first which can take at least 1/2 hour of time, what my daily Facebook and Twitter post should cover during each month so that I can write them and set them all up in Hootsuite as many at a time as I can in the time I have set for that day, that can take a few hours to research, enter and schedule. I also have tasks that fall only once a quarter like filling out and filing our quarterly sales tax return before the 20th of the following month. Things like that should be an item put on your weekly to do list when that time comes around.

The calendar is also a way to set up long term goals. I have to choose and know when the industry shows we will attend are during the year, will we just exhibit or am I also going to be a speaker and set up all the tasks that will be required to do the best job I can at these events. I have been doing some tasks for these events for this upcoming Fall since January. Things like choosing event swag, will it go on sale or be discontinued before we need to order it. How much and of what type of products will we take, what will be our booth drawing prize, will we be featuring a new product, if I am presenting am I revamping a previous talk or making a new one from scratch, will we need new collateral materials made for the events, signs, flyers, SDS's catalogs, etc.

And one I love, Don't be paralyzed by perfection. Some people are afraid to make a decision or say they have finished a task because it may not be perfect. It is better to let something be done or go out the door that may not be 100% perfection rather than hold on to it hoping to remove every flaw and miss opportunities. I am never 100% happy with a blog post or an article, or a presentation, but that allows me to go back and improve on it and send it out again in a new better version a little while down the road.

Well again congratulations on your new found freedom of not working daily out in the field but hello to the new challenge of making the best use of this time to move your business onward and upward.

This was the a talk I gave last year at some local and National industry events. I wanted to give a short outline of the steps and then give a link where you can ask for and get my eBook taken from that talk.

First why do you have to have training at all. Well OSHA, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration, was given the power back in 1970 by the United States Government to put in place rules and guidelines, called standards that all employers must follow to insure the safety & health of their employees while on the job.

There are over 100 standards in the OSHA Act of 1970 and many of these concern training. OSHA wants employers to give 10 to 30 hours of safety training to employees depending on the type of work they do. Most only need to have 10 hours of basic training in the General Industry category but with pressure washing contractors many job tasks would also fall under the Construction category with even a few falling under the advanced designation and needing to complete 30 hours instead of 10. The best way to know where your business falls would be to contact your local OSHA office and speak with an agent. Go to www.OSHA.gov to find the closest location to you.

Here are the main steps.

1. Create a written Safety Program.
2. Have and provide any and all needed PPE, Personal Protective Equipment, to employees.
3. Have individual training materials for each employee.
4. Hold training as needed and directed by the OSHA standards.
5. Have employees sign that they have received training and take tests to evaluate what they learned.
6. Keep sign in sheets, testing results and records up to date.
7. Post and make accessible any required materials, including Right to Know posters, SDS binders, etc. to employees during work hours.

Types of training to cover in the basic 10 hour or extended 30 hour training sessions for General Industry or Construction:

• Employee Right to Know
• SDS's and labels
• Equipment Safety - Can be general or specific, ex: Ladder Safety
• Chemical Safety - Can have different levels to this, ex: Chemical Spills
• Fork Lift Safety
• Scissor Lift Safety
• Confined Spaces
• Defensive Driving 

To get a copy of our 17 page eBook please go here. http://info.soapwarehouse.biz/how-to-set-up-osha-training

I thought I would pas this along during this Safety Week.

With all the new OSHA GHS label and SDS requirements coming down, contractors that make up their own chemical mixes out in the field may need to make sure they do not cross the line and become manufactures in OSHA's eyes.

The definition of a manufacture to OSHA is "Companies which blend or mix chemicals must comply with the standard by transmitting the relevant label/MSDS for the components of their mixture (which they, in turn, received in good faith from their suppliers) to their downstream customers."

So as long as the contractor is the definite end user and is not handing down, giving (other than their employees for doing their work) or selling their chemical mixture to others (creating downstream customers) than they can use said mixtures but they still must be able to provide their employees with the SDS of the original chemical materials used to make the mixture and label mixture containers to the best of their ability.

They do not have to pay for testing, chemical analysis or creation of new SDS for the mixture for their employees. But they need have some knowledge about what they are doing, for example what not to mix together and to assume that a hazardous labeled for example "8 Corrosive" chemical when mixed to make a new solution will continue to pass on that "8 Corrosive" characteristic and be treated and labeled as such for use by their employees.

So be sure you label all mixtures no mater where they came from and fight the urge to physically share your greatest new chemical find with your fellow contractors. Better to give them a list of the ingredients and tell them to go mix it themselves.

There are two ways for your employees to work while on the job, safely or unsafely. Everyday at every second an employee has and makes the choice of which it will be. This is a voluntarily action and unfortunately is one where the employer can not force compliance even if you were standing right with everyone of them all day long. Employers can only teach and preach safety and hope that the employees understand it is in their best interests as well.

The Top 10 reasons why employees need to buy in to work safety.

10. To maintain production/performance numbers. Nothing slows down work faster than an injury. Employers need to praise and admire good safety performance. As workers feel valued for their working safely they will get others to do the same.

9. To become a person of influence. Employees that follow safety protocols without being forced shows others how to make good choices and becomes an influencer and team leader regardless of whether they hold a management or supervisory position.

8. To set themselves up for promotion. Employers see and more often promote smart and cooperative employees. Not ones that make stupid decisions and risk theirs and others safety on the job.

7. To get positive recognition. Awards, promotions and bonuses go to good performers and good performers are most likely the ones with good safety values. Employees are negatively noticed when they are not following safety rules dragging everyone else on the crew down with them.

6. To remove friction and drama. When employees follow safety rules there is no need for the employee to be chastised, scolded or singled out making them look inept. Voluntarily following safety guidelines and procedures allows things to run smoothly.

5. To maintain job security. When times get tight and cut backs are needed those employees that can not follow the rules including those for safety will be the first to go.

4. To have a good retirement. It is already hard enough to plan for retirement employees do not need to add on to that a physical disability that was caused by a work accident from not following safety procedures.

3. To plan for a long career. Employees need and want to build their work experience and create a upward moving ladder of opportunities and with all that goes with that. Not working safety may wreak that or be left to chance.

2. To allow family to worry less. The bread winner of a family should want to protect that family; physically, emotionally and financially. It is hard to do that if your family has to be worried about your safety and that they will be taken care of.

1. To maintain a positive cash flow. Even if an employer supplies or the employee buys the best insurance coverage possible, if they are catastrophically injured at work. not everything will be covered. And eventually the coverage will stop along with the cash flow and then were would you be? Better safe than sorry, follow all safety rules 100% of the time.

The weather may have been dreary outside but those that came to the UAMCC Atlanta event didn't mind.

Soap Warehouse and Iron Man Pressure Washers hosted this event on Thursday March 19th at the Fairfield Inn & Suites at Gwinnett Place. Most came from the local metro area, but there were also contractors that came from out of town, from Augusta, GA, Palmetto, GA, Greenville, SC and as far as Fort Pierce, FL.

It was a fast past packed full day of sessions mainly focusing on marketing and OSHA compliance. With sessions shortened to only 30 minutes each, a lot more focused material was covered, which kept the day moving and so no one could be uninterested for long. Sessions covered: Linda Chambers from Soap Warehouse gave talks on Inbound Marketing, Why you should use Videos, and Referral Programs.

Soap Warehouse gave away a 60 second professional video as a door prize after the Why use Video session and Todd Reese of Georgia Power Washing won.

Three speakers came in to cover Outbound Marketing with Online Yellow Pages and Adwords. Then Arrie Parker from Iron Man had a session on Occupational Health followed by a healthy lunch of Subway sandwiches, fruit, chips and drinks.

Things went so fast a few extra sessions were squeezed in. After lunch Nichole from UAMCC discussed the new revisions of their certification program and other benefits of membership. Arrie gave again a session on Cold Calling he gave at this event last year, which was followed up by Linda giving how to set up OSHA training, after which Soap Warehouse gave a way a $50 product gift card and Ryan Fox of Outback GutterVac won that door prize. Ryan is on the right.

Next was Spill kits why you should have one and how to make one, ending with the hands on OSHA Spill kit training at the end of the day on how to put together your own DIY spill kit and actual spill kit practice inside in the hotels pool area simulating a small spill of a potassium hydroxide concrete cleaner.

The event finish just before 4:00 allowing everyone to get on the road to try and be ahead of some of Atlanta's well known traffic. 

Thursday March 19th is the date and the  will be the location for our next UAMCC free event. (Free with ticket, see bottom of post on how to get yours)

At this location we will have a larger meeting room then our last event,

for those that come and stay over, there is a special room rate for some very nice rooms,

 a very good free hot breakfast, 

and indoor pool.  For those that are local and just come for the day, coffee and danish will be available in the meeting room starting at 7:00 am during registration until we start the meeting at 8:00.

We plan this time to have more topics with shorter 30 minute siessions to keep things moving and keep everyone's attention. The 15 minutes after each presentation will be for Q&A for the speaker and for anyone that needs to, pop out to the restroom or to grab some more to drink or eat what is available. Lunch will be 45 minutes, provided by the sponsors on site.

Right now the topics to be covered are:

What is Inbound Marketing, Why you should use video to promote your business, which will include at the end our giving away a free 60 second, professionally made video, for the business of one of the attendees, a talk on Referral programs, a video and discussion on Occupational Health, an additional session on Marketing of which I have not been given the title as of yet. A talk from the one of the UAMCC staff about their benefits and their certification program. Why you should have a spill kit followed by a hands on spill kit OSHA training class that you can learn and take back with you to be able to use to train your own staff. We are also working on having a representative and one or two lifts from Sunbelt rental on site to either give a talk about their services and hopefully actual lift training at the end of the day.

Lunch right now is planned to be catered cold sandwiches, chips, fruit, soft drinks and cookies. But if we get enough people to register we might make it a hot catered sandwiches like BBQ instead. See schedule.

The Fairfield Inn and Suites is right off the I-85 North Interstate, just up from the Gwinnett Place Mall

with restaurants of all types for dinner the night before and after the event. Bahama Breeze is just across the parking lot and has a full service bar and if enough attendees are staying over I would suggest we all meet over there Thursday night to continue networking and getting to know other fellow contractors.

If Sunbelt can not come we may add one extra session but the plan right now is to let the local folk be able to head out if they want by around 4-4:30 to get a jump on the Atlanta traffic. But we will have the room until 6 for those that want to stay and Network or even get a roundtable discussion going on about any topic of choice. Will also be a good time to continue speaking with any of the speakers or sponsors or if not yet a member join the UAMCC.

The sponsors for this event are Soap Warehouse and Iron Man Power Washers (equipment leasing)

To get your free ticket with a number to use in the registration call either Soap Warehouse 1-800-762-7911 or Iron Man Power Washer 1-855-662-8171.

To register for this event Go Here

To book a Hotel room call the hotel directly 1-678-924-1023 and mention UAMCC event.

Prices are $96 + tax for King or Queen and $120 + tax for Suites. This rate includes a hot breakfast.

I hope to see you there.

Today's technology is moving at a break neck speed with every week bringing new ideas and better ways to do things in your life and for your business.

It use to be that a business could not survive without a yellow page ad and some one sitting in an office ready to answer that phone call.

Then we moved on to where you did not have to have an office as long as you paid for someone, sitting who knows where, that would answer your phone (via transferred phone number) at a answering service that you could call into to get your messages.

Now you do not even have to have a person at all to answer any and all of your phone numbers, that will record messages and even get the person that is calling directly to the person or information they need just by following an on line phone tree.

In the past decade over a dozen Virtual Phone companies have started up and some are better than others, by either the services they offer or by their cost for the features offered.

Here is a list of the top 12 contenders that are out right now:

• Grasshopper
• VirtualCallSystem
• RingCentral.com
• InPhonex
• VoiceMeUp
• Callcentric
• Phone Power
• Jive Communications
• VoIP.com
• BroadVoice
• Ringio
• Halloo

Read more: http://virtual-phone-systems.bestreviews.net/grasshopper-reviews/#ixzz3QDgk4SUv

So why is Grasshopper on top? I will go over for you the pro's and any con's I could find of using Grasshopper virtual phone service for your business.

Pro's

•Takes number of phone lines and with the web connects them into one integrated system. Toll  free, landlines, mobile and even other VoIP accounts.
•No hardware is needed.
•Get a toll free or local numbers as needed. Even Vanity numbers.
•Lines can be added or removed immediately from an online dashboard.
•Incoming calls will be answered 24/7 usually at the first ring.
•Recorded greetings can be in your own voice or with their Voice Studio.
•Have more than one business? You can have different welcome messages for each.
•Free on hold music.
•You can pay for only what you actually use, per call and length of the call.
•Unlimited plans are available for high volume users.
•Free activation to start service.
•Free 24/7 live technical support.
•No long term contracts, month to month service.
•First 30 day money back guarantee.
•Can change plan up or down each month as needed,like with the change of seasons.

•A top customer service rating.
•Businesses no longer have to buy and supply phones for employees with dedicated phone  numbers.
•Any employee can use their own device to receive and even make business calls (with an app).
•Calls can be transcribed and e-mailed to a phone as they happen instead of having to be called  up and listened to at a later time by a user.
•Faxes from callers are sent as a PDF in an e-mail.
•Analytics that can tell you where and when each call came from and where it ended up.
•Calls can be set up to go to a call queue to go to and be answered by one person.
•Unlimited amount of call handling, no busy signals for customers.
•Information extensions, like mailing or e-mail address, hours of operation, etc.
•Block robo callers or solicitors numbers at any time.
•Call screening, caller ID by phone number and name.
•Call transfer if after you answer the call you need to send the caller to another person or voice  mail.
•Need to speak to all your crew managers at once but don't want to have them all come in for a  meeting, just make a conference call and talk with them where ever they all are all at once,  saving time and money.
•Employees can use a mobile app to make calls to customers that only shows your businesses  caller ID, NOT the employees phone info.

Con's

•On the entry level plan you are paying a base $12 then a per call per minute fee which can add    up if you or your customer are not mindful of the running clock and you start getting a lot of calls.
•Some customers calling in do not like having to first listen to a message and go through a phone  tree to reach you or leave a message, they want a person from the start.
•You may have to be mindful of an employees phone and plan limitations and make compensation  to an employee that is using their personal phone for your business if they can't use the mobile  app.
•Employee could misuse your paid out going phone number (that is part of an app) for their  personal calls.
•Since this service is 24/7 your phone could be going off at all hours and be hard for an "A" type  personality to turn switch the service off and stop working.

As you can see I could not find many Con's and looked on line for dissatisfied customers without much luck. I did find a few but for the majority of users they have been very happy with the service some for many years.

So if you want to give your business a larger than a single owner/operator appearance or a professional aire, I suggest looking into one of these especially Grasshopper.

Many of you work through the Winter months and therefore you are working outside with water in the cold that can freeze into ice. So at some point you are going to have to face the issue of having ice in and around your work areas even when using hot water machines.

To counter the water freezing you most likely will want to use a deicing product, like ice melt, to keep things safe. 

But there is a right an wrong way to use these products and many different types of ice melts to choose from so let's go over them now. 

Nearly all deicers are made from one, or a blend of, five chemical materials: calcium chloride, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, magnesium chloride, and urea. What makes these products different will be how quickly they work and at what temperatures. This is determined by whether the deicer releases or absorbs heat upon contact with snow and ice. 

The fastest acting are the exothermic deicers, which release heat via chemical reaction and are effective at the widest range of temperatures. Calcium chloride granules for instance is effective down to -25 degrees Fahrenheit. Faster acting, lower temp products will cost you more as a rule.

The slower acting deicers are the endothermic or those that need the sun's heat to break down ice into brine. These work more slowly and since they depend on the sun may not work when you need them too. These will be less expensive and have an higher effective temperature range, like sodium chloride granules that only get down to about -20 degrees Fahrenheit. 

There is also the consideration of residue. You do not want to leave your customer with a mess to clean up after you have cleaned their property so well. Some ice melt like those containing sodium chloride will leave a white powdery residue that if tracked into a home or business can damage floor finishes and carpet fibers. Calcium chloride and magnesium chloride can leave behind an oily residue that can damage urethane or wax finishes used on wood floors and can be very slippery on hard surfaces and is a dirt attracter in carpets.

Make sure your customers are aware that you have used a deicing product on their property and instruct them to wipe their feet so not to track the residue into their location and to rinse the product off once the temperatures have risen enough for ice to no longer be an issue. If possible you should do the rinsing to remove the product yourself before leaving the job. But do what is safest.

Now let us move back to the correct way to use these products.

Application is key to getting the best result as the lowest possible cost. I know it is hard, but first thing you need to do is read the directions for that specific product. Just because you have used a deicer in the past does not mean the one you are planning on using now is applied in the same way.

Many that you have been use to required you to wear gloves, like with calcium or magnesium chloride but there are some newer "Green" products that are safe to handle. Check to see if the product lists any surface it can not be applied on, like concrete less than a year old or asphalt. There are shaker bottles you can use to keep your hands off the products as well. 

More is not better with deicers. Know what the coverage ratios are for the product, which can vary greatly for instance, 2 lbs per 100 square feet vs. 4 lbs per 500. I think it is best to use a mechanical spreader and not just your hands or a scoop to get the best distribution of the product. I suggest to buy a cheap hand crank seed spreader and store it with the deicer. 

You also do not have to cover the entire work area. Around the edges and a few passes down the middle or in pie cuts will be enough as the product will dissolve with the ice into liquid and spread out treating the entire work area. If you are spreading it out as a preventative place where the water is most likely be, to collect and freeze. 

Check out some of the newer deicers that now can come in colors, making it easier to see where they have been applied and are much safer for us, landscape and pets. There are even liquids that you could apply with a pump up sprayer on top of any areas you get wet to prevent them from freezing over.

But the biggest mistake contractors make with deicers, is not using them at all. Do not set your self up for a law suit or employee injury just because you don't want to spend a few bucks to remove or keep ice out of your work area on a job.

Here is to all of you having a safe Winter.

Many people start each year off with a New Years resolution, but why don't you start your year off with 5 and I promise, if you stick with even 2 or 3 through out the entire year, your business will be up too.

1. Keep a calendar or planner with everything you need to do and all correspondence always with you.

2. In your office or home have just one place all your incoming undone paperwork goes.

3. Never let a week go by that your In box is not caught up and emptied.

4. Set up, use or improve a customer referral program

5. Take time to network with peers; BNI, local group, regional round table, regional industry event, National convention or trade show.

And the reasons why these will work. Most business loose work or opportunities for work because they let little things slip through the cracks. Do you have piles every where of notes, messages, receipts, etc. If everything is in one place and always at hand you are less likely to miss things.

If you keep on top of the little mundane work, like putting way your paper work, you are more likely to have bills paid on time, not run short of inventory, able to see a problem before it becomes one.

Your happy customers are your biggest asset, so use them. Ask them for new work at their own omes, ask them to send their friends to you, use their testimonials to convince potential customers neither of you have even met, on your web site and through social media. You can save 20-50% of the cost it takes to find a new customer when a current client sends one. Treat and pay your referral clients well, like an employee, they are making you money.

Nothing improves your business more than learning from others in your business who have already learned it the hard way or have done it themselves. The cost of taking time off, travel and the other expenses will be well worth it in the long run. Go with a set list of problems or ideas you have to run by others and you will come home with game plan for improvements.

But above all have a positive outlook and a great start to your New Year!