At least it's not cleaners this time

More than 4,000 cases of Kawasaki Syndrome, a rare disease that affects young children, are reported every year in the U.S. It's more common in Asia, particularly in Japan. Kawasaki disease was discovered by Japanese pediatrician Tomisaku Kawasaki. Back in the "80s the "scientific" type blamed carpet shampooing as the culprit that caused the illness.

Now, climate researchers are getting into the act and blaming the direction of the wind circulating in the troposphere. They say wind currents blowing in one direction, across Japan, then across the Pacific to Hawaii and the West Coast, increase our number of cases. When the wind blows in the opposite direction, the number of cases fall.

I interviewed Dr. Wendell Brown, a well known Indianapolis pediatrician, back in the day they were blaming cleaners. He told me that he never saw a single case in his practice, but when he did pro bono work at a free clinic he diagnosed several cases.

Dr. Brown said, "Bill, this disease is caused by unsanitary living conditions. I doubt any of the cases I saw at the clinic even had carpet on their floor. If they did, I'm sure they never had it cleaned." If research grants went away so would bogus scientists.

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Look out for the 1099-K

Business owners may receive new tax forms from credit card and online payment processors. The 1099-K is intended to keep someone from hiding income. The IRS says 53 million forms will be issued by eBay®, PayPal™, Amazon, Visa, MasterCard® and American Express®.

1099-K will show total gross revenue for the year from the payment processor. It breaks down revenue month by month. The amounts reported to the IRS are gross sales numbers with none of the expenses normally deducted taken out of the gross sales amount.

Business doesn’t pay taxes on gross income, but on net income. If June ends your fiscal year, be sure to discuss this situation with your CPA if you use payment processors. If your fiscal year ends with the calendar, you have more time.

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Happy Birthday...

...to a very special person.

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Marketing

Most advertising in the cleaning business is directed to the largest part of the market which is the price shopper. It's estimated that 75% of those who have carpet and upholstery professionally cleaned look for the cheapest price. The other 25% are concerned with quality, their safety and the performance of the service company.

This smaller 25% share is the market suggested to those who attend Bane-Clene Institute. The success of this strategy is more evident in this period of recession than during good times. The high end market remains fairly stable and fertile while the price market has contracted considerably during the past four years.

Working for the high end market, those who consider cleaning a necessity not a luxury, doesn't necessarily mean that you have to be the highest in price either. In fact, many of the so called "price" operators charge substantially more because of their hard up sell, bait and switch tactics and high advertising and operating costs.

Many victims of 'bait and switch' eventually become customers of a company that shows stability, sensibility and credibility in their advertising and pricing. Attend Bane-Clene Institute for the latest in successful advertising strategies. Learn how to attract that 25% of the market that doesn't stop cleaning in a recession and reach it economically.

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Tighter hiring rules

The Better Business Bureau has warned member firms that the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) has a new policy that puts employers using background checks on shaky ground. Refusing to hire someone with a record could cause problems.

They say it's OK to consider criminal records in hiring decisions, but if you exclude all applicants with criminal records, you would generally violate the employment discrimination law unless you can prove that exclusions were “job related and consistent with business necessity.”

The EEOC says employers should consider applicants with a criminal record in a way that examines the gravity of their offense. The time passed since the offense, the nature of the offense and the job to be filled should also be considered.

Blanket exclusion is discriminatory because of current incarceration rates. They show one in seventeen white men will serve time in prison during their lifetime, compared with one in six for Hispanics and one in three for African American males.

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Using one credit card to pay the interest on another

Prudent people know that's dumb, but the Federal Reserve Bank doesn't get it. They're buying Treasury Department debt to prop up the economy until after the fall elections. This creates a false appearance of demand for U.S. obligations and removes any sense of urgency to reduce the awful budget deficits. Watch congress raise the credit limit again, too!

Many foreign investors fled and have been looking elsewhere until we make some attempt to curb spending, reduce our borrowing and narrow our terrible deficits. Without these foreign buyers, the Treasury has resorted to the Federal Reserve to make the purchases. That's like taking it out of one pocket and putting it in the other.

Meanwhile government is growing more dependent on borrowing from itself to finance itself. Treasury securities have reached nearly 9% of GDP which is more than double the level before the so-called 2008 money crisis. The Fed keeps interest rates abnormally low which punishes people who live on fixed incomes and try to save money.

The Fed hides the true size of the budget deficit, prints money and hides true inflation figures to conceal this outright theft from frugal citizens. True inflation and sub-standard interest rates are stealing from prudent people who live within their means to pay for the large percentage of people who have no fiscal responsibility, just like the government.

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History lesson (Do Communists hate Capitalists and vice versa?)

After the "War to end all wars" ended in 1919, the American money trust that helped finance the 1917 Communist revolution in Russia, and the Rockefeller family in particular, called in their markers. Standard Oil of New Jersey was granted rights to oil fields in Russia and Standard Oil of New York built refineries there. Chase bank, with a branch at 1 Karl Marx Square in Moscow, was instrumental in founding the American-Russian Chamber of Commerce.

Until World War II, Standard Oil did a land-office business supplying oil to Europe. As recently as the 1970s, the Rockefeller's bank financed a truck factory in Russia's war on Afghanistan.* In fact, American money interests financed rubber and aluminum plants in Russia and helped sell Soviet bonds in the United States. This is the same Russia that provided weapons for the North Vietnamese and earlier for North Koreans.

And if you think that's strange, old John D. Rockefeller, a staunch capitalist, is quoted as saying, "Competition is a sin." In fact, all of the old "Princes of Free Enterprise" were monopolists and were enthralled by Communism. A Communist government is a pure monopoly and has total power over politics, the economy, education and the media. Socialism is a close relative of Communism and is very well-liked by the money folks.

As Casey Stengal, the famous old baseball manager, would say, "You can look it up!"

*The Russians gave up on Afghanistan after eleven years. Remember the "Charge of the light brigade?" The British learned earlier about this sink-hole of assets and humanity. We've been there ten years and haven't converted them. Will we never study history?

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Another "Angie's List" report

Overall: A
Price: A
Quality: A
Responsiveness: A
Punctuality: A
Professionalism: A
Member: Cathy Freyn, Indianapolis
Category: Carpet Cleaning
Services Performed: Yes*
*More Weight is given to a report where work has been completed.
Work Completed Date: May 03, 2012
Hire Again: Yes
Approximate Cost: $240.00
Home Build Year: 1996

Description Of Work: We called to schedule carpet cleaning and I spoke to Jan. She was very nice and knowledgeable. I gave her room dimensions and she gave me an estimate and explained that they would determine the final cost once they had seen our rooms. Their price is so reasonable!

Member Comments: I had used this company before I was an Angie's List member and I remembered how much I had liked them and their work. I was delighted to see that they were on Angie's List, and even more delighted that it was the same two gentleman from the past job. They were a pleasure to work with and except for a much cleaner carpet, it's like they were never here. Very clean in their work and efficient with time. Very accommodating with our questions. Great with explanations. Our carpeting looks so nice!! We will always use them for our carpet cleaning and we can highly recommend them to anyone for their needs!

Thanks so much for the privilege of serving you Ms. Freyn. Since we started in this business, it has been the unselfish referral of patrons like you that has been responsible for our success

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Heads up!

In the spring of 2009, excitement loomed large in carpet land. A new miracle was upon us with fibers made of corn to compete with that nasty old nylon that's made from oil. I think the whole idea was to appeal to the "Greenies." But, Ethanol is an example of this failed strategy. Have you noticed how corn-related food products have shot up in price?

The Federal Trade Commission has even gone so far as to reclassify the PTT fiber to a new generic polymer called Triexta. It really isn't all that new, but that's another story. If you will remember, polyester had such a bad reputation it wasn't selling very well. The new fiber was said to be stain-resistant for life and soft as certain baby body parts.

There were frowns when I said, give it time to see if it's for real. Remember what happened when polypropylene was blended with nylon fibers? They wanted a cheap product and it was just that! No matter what they call this new stuff, it's still polyester. Here's a recent report on the fiber from a friend who's an inspector. He sent it to me as an FYI and heads up:

"The complaint from the carpet retailer was that it didn't respond to cleaning. The carpet cleaner says after pre spraying, and 10 minutes dwell time he used a gas-powered truckmount to extract it. It didn't respond so he used a rotary scrubber and extracted again. The carpet has a dingy look over all and is really bad in the traffic lanes. I'm recommending replacement, but I'm betting the mill will fight it."

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Every May I think of this one

May in Indy means racing. A. J. Foyt won the Indianapolis 500 mile race four times. When ever he is asked in an interview how he reacted when there was a wreck or a problem on the track, AJ's response was, “I speed up because everybody else slows down.”

It seems more appropriate than ever to quote A. J. Foyt once again. Real estate is still in decline, the economy is in the dumps and there is double dip recession talk. Should we batten down the hatches and prepare for another bad year? When the economy is slow, most carpet cleaners make the mistake of cutting back in their advertising programs.

The broad market for our services may be slow, but the entire market does not stop spending. Target marketing will reach those who consider cleaning a necessity, not a luxury. The upper income folks are doing better than ever. The commercial sector of the market remains strong, so promote cleaning as an alternative to replacing carpet with commercial prospects.

Residentially, direct your advertising to those who can afford you and are the most likely to use your services. Opportunities are there for those who take positive steps during uncertain times. The advertising class at Bane-Clene Institute defines the market that is strong and specifically tells you how to reach it economically.

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The social media

There is much discussion lately about the social media and its place in communicating in business, especially in advertising. The obvious attraction is that it's "Free." Many carpet cleaning firms have abandoned their traditional advertising programs and have gone exclusively with Facebook, LinkedIn®, Twitter, et al.

There is growing concern about privacy in the social media since "Free" means payment may be in the form of data. A record of your activities can be collected without consent. You may even be linked through a "friend" to law enforcement checking Facebook walls for "persons of interest." And it could become a method of planned surveillance in the future.

Giant data collectors like Google and Facebook have created an atmosphere where data itself can be rather harsh. Competitors can anonymously place uncomplimentary comments about you. These sites are like a carpet that can be vacuumed to collect data of all kinds. Many European marketers are concerned about being followed by the "privacy police."

Several people that have gone the social media route for advertising instead of traditional venues, have told me they suffered serious drops in revenue and number of inquiries. When considering using the social media in your business, my advice is don't be too hasty.

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Anniversary gift from Angie

This e-mail report arrived on our wedding anniversary. Couldn't have been a nicer present!

Angie List Report Date: April 26, 2012
Member: Gladys Minor, Indianapolis
Services Performed: Yes
(More Weight is given to a report where work has been completed.)
Overall: A
Price: A
Quality: A
Responsiveness: A
Punctuality: A
Professionalism: A
Work Completed Date: April 19, 2012
Hire Again: Yes
Approximate Cost: $300.00
Home Built Year: 1996
Description Of Work: Cleaned a large carpet in my rec room and on 2 flights of stairs.
Member Comments: I am completely satisfied with the company. My first phone call was answered by a very pleasant and knowledge young woman who scheduled my cleaning. I received a call the day before to confirm. The carpet cleaners were on time. They did a great job. They were careful to be very clean and respect the rest of my house. They were articulate and efficient. They cleaned 2 flights of stairs and a huge rec room in my lower level. They finished in no time and did an excellent job for a very reasonable price. I will definitely use them exclusively. I highly recommend them.

A special thanks to Ms. Minor and I'm really proud of the folks in our service company.

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Not for profit?

A reader sent me a link that was posted on a public bulletin board recently concerning the IICRC Clean Trust. It was allegedly a copy of the organization's federal tax return. If it's true and not a hoax, it appears they had some extravagant expenses.

An example was their reported income of about four million dollars. $2,207,714.00 went to Kenway Consultants, AKA Tom Hill, for management fees for running their office. I believe Hill was a board member of IICRC at the time, too. Sweetheart deal?

Our company practices very frugal management. Looking over our own tax returns, labor costs and overhead expenses, I think we could manage the IICRC's little $4 million business for them for only a million dollars and we'd show a nice profit, too.

This is the link to the downloadable zip file:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10890298/IICRC%20Financials.zip

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More on oil prices

Barack Obama recently admonished "futures traders" as being responsible for the high price of gasoline. He may be on to something. But guess who are the biggest traders in the futures markets? If you guessed big banks, you'd be right.

They got billions in bail out funds to save the hides of rich investment bankers on Wall Street? Instead of lending, they bought smaller banks or sat on it to make their own balance sheets look better. Would you believe most of their stocks are way up? Right again!

Let's face it. New York banks control the world. It began a century ago when the Rothschild interests from Europe sent a family member to marry into the prominent New York banking circle. Together they aimed to control world money matters and they've done it.

The big New York money interests founded the CFR (Council on Foreign Relations). CFR has its fingers in government at every level. Their members have been on president's cabinets and filled nearly every high ranking office in most administrations for the past century.

Back to futures trading, "skin in the game" is the answer. "Skin in the game" would have prevented the housing bubble and bust. But it's pretty hard to regulate industries that have donated so heavily to politicians, isn't it?

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