Friday, June 29, 2012

Free enterprise

I'm not picking on baseball because other sports are bad, too. But, as I watched a game the other evening, the announcers were talking about a player getting $20 million a year. Teams throw dollars around like they were Monopoly® money but when they want to build a new stadium they ask taxpayers to pick up the tab.

Professional golf is the exception. Games are played on private or public courses that are used most of the time by regular folks. A professional golfer's winnings are determined by attendance, TV coverage and sponsorship of the event. The money is split by the entire field according to the individual player's finish. And they all pay their own expenses.

In true free enterprise, baseball, football and basketball teams would build a stadium which they would pay for themselves. Attendance, TV revenue, hot dogs, beer and souvenirs would have to support the team. If they had a mortgage on the ball park and taxpayers weren't picking up the tab for their playground they'd be more prudent in what they pay players.

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Please e-mail me at wfbane@baneclene.com.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Not a sell-out yet

"Connections" has been touted as being the largest trade show in the cleaning and restoration industry. A layout chart of the hotel that was published recently showed only 20 exhibitors have reserved booths so far. Collectively, the twenty have rented 66 of the 260 booths available, if I understand the layout chart.

Attendance has been falling at such events for the past few years. We saw this trend developing ten years ago when we stopped exhibiting at Surfaces. Folks are just not traveling much these days due to erratic airline fares, rude TSA officials, high gasoline prices and the vast amount of information available on the internet.

At the last event I attended, an exhibitor looked at my badge as I stopped at his booth. He said, "Oh! I see you're a peddler, too. Not many "guppies" here are there?" It was obvious there were more sales types prowling the aisles than prospects.

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Please e-mail me at wfbane@baneclene.com.

Monday, June 25, 2012

E-mail may be of interest to others

Mr. Bill Bane: I've been in business for seven years and don't have your equipment yet, but I do buy my chemicals from your company and someday I will buy your machine. I saw a post on a bulletin board that quoted you about some of the percentages for operating a cleaning business. Can you tell me what the true labor percentage is? Margaret

Thanks Margaret. The discussion was probably referring to a report on percentage comparisons of costs and how things have changed in our company over the past 40 years.

Here's the link:

http://www.baneclene.com/cleaning-digest/2012-Spring/articles/40years.html

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Please e-mail me at wfbane@baneclene.com.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Congratulations

Jasper and Pat DeVidal, of Decatur, Illinois, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary this weekend. Jasper has been a loyal customer since October 17, 1980. Congratulations and best wishes from all of us at Bane-Clene to two wonderful people.

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Please e-mail me at wfbane@baneclene.com.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Hiring

Things must be picking up for many of us in the cleaning business. Thirty-seven e-mails in the past month have asked for advice on hiring people. Many of you are expanding or taking on outside help for the first time. Where to find good people is one of the topics covered in my class at Bane-Clene Institute along with how to recruit them and where to interview the prospects.

After you find the person you want to hire, be careful what you say in an interview. For example, don't ask what kind of an accent they have or even if they prefer "Ms., Mrs. or Miss," because it may be politically incorrect or even illegal. Be sure you have an employment agreement for new employees to sign which may prevent the loss of customers somewhere down the road.

Have an employee handbook so they understand the policies and rules of your company. Be specific about your expectations and the consequences of not fulfilling obligations. Spell out pay, promotion and day to day procedures. Check your insurance to be sure you have worker's compensation coverage in case an employee is hurt on the job.

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Please e-mail me at wfbane@baneclene.com.

Monday, June 18, 2012

KeyBank honored

According to the Central Indiana Better Business Bureau, KeyBank was honored as a large bank that supported the most jobs with its SBA lending program. KeyBank made the most loans and loaned the most dollars utilizing the most SBA programs. Meanwhile, Open Bank was a small bank that approved the most loans and dollars. Open Bank also was recognized for approving the second highest number of loans to underserved markets.

There were some good tips in the article about borrowing. Bankers look at your personal credit history (credit cards, mortgage payments and personal bills) to get a sense of your track record with financial responsibilities. A banker won’t approve a loan that he doesn’t think has a chance of getting paid back. Have a plan for repayment when applying for a loan.

Lay out details of how the venture is going to make the revenue necessary for a profit and be prepared to have collateral. Explain why the loan is critical and don't wait till you need a loan to approach a banker. Develop a face to face relationship with a bank so they get to know you. Financial statements prepared by a CPA are important to a successful loan application.

©Bane-Clene® Corporation 2012 Reprinting or electronically publishing this article is strictly prohibited without permission from Bane-Clene Corp.

I'd like to hear your comments on this article.
Please e-mail me at wfbane@baneclene.com.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Dealing with gas prices

Fluctuating gasoline and diesel prices are creating havoc with operating costs. Right now there is exuberance because prices have fallen below the $4 mark. Remember when they bumped $4 the last time and then fell. Talking heads said prices would continue to fall but instead they went right back to $4. The same thing will probably happen again or worse. There are serious predictions that the price of gasoline will go over $5 in the near future.

Cleaning firms large enough to have their own fuel storage should lock in the lowest prices for as long as possible. A small service company should check sites like "GasBuddy®" for current gas prices and plan their routes to take advantage of the lowest price. Sam's Club®, Costco® and some grocery stores with filling stations offer savings to their customers. Plan routes using MapQuest® or use a GPS to know exactly where you're going.

Avoid giving "on-location" estimates by doing as many of them as possible on the telephone or by e-mail. Clean furniture and area rugs on-location if possible to save that return delivery trip. Most important, slow down and drive under the speed limit. Jack rabbit starts and stops use extra fuel and cause excessive wear and tear on tires, brakes, transmissions and engines. Be sure never, never leave the vehicle idling.

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Please e-mail me at wfbane@baneclene.com.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Be careful

Bob Wells, owner of B & N Carpet Care in Peoria, Illinois, told Don Terry recently that a lawyer he cleans for told him that he was handling a lawsuit against another cleaning firm. The cleaner had failed to put out warnings, caution pads or mats after cleaning a customer’s carpet. The customer slipped, fell and was hurt seriously and was suing the cleaning firm.

The attorney noted that Bob used warning pads and mentioned why it was a good idea. Bob thought a reminder would be appropriate in the Clene-Times® and in my blog to be sure to use warning signs and walk off mats or better yet, both. Thanks Bob.

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Please e-mail me at wfbane@baneclene.com.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Employment numbers

Listening to a stock touter talk on a business network the other day, I was taken with how he could sit there with a straight face and praise the number of new jobs being created. According to him there were about 100,000 each month so far this year. I doubt there is any accurate way to calculate the number of people who find a job.

But newly unemployed people are easy to count because they get a check. The number of people filing for unemployment compensation for the first time has been 350,000 or more every week for the past year. That's more than a million newly unemployed every month for the past year or ten times the number of new jobs supposedly created.

As with all Washington smoke and mirror accounting, the numbers are subject to change and sure enough they revise that mythical job creation number downward each and every month. So what is the real number? I don't think the inept crowd in DC has a clue.

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Please e-mail me at wfbane@baneclene.com.

Friday, June 08, 2012

An e-mail from a viewer

I think this is a spoof, but here it is anyway:

"The IRS sent my tax form back because of the response to this inquiry: 'List all dependents.' I wrote, 12 million illegal immigrants, 12½ million on unemployment compensation, 42 million unemployable people on food stamps, 2 million people in prisons, 435 politicians in Congress, 100 Senators, the White House and hundreds of thousands of bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., not to mention all those county, city and state elected officials and their bloated agencies and departments. Apparently, this was NOT an acceptable answer." Jeremy

On second thought Jeremy may have something there.

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Please e-mail me at wfbane@baneclene.com.

Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Election Rhetoric

Politicians who talk about the recession and describe it as the worst since the great depression have no idea what they're talking about. I was there during the great depression. Things were bad. Starving people of the '30s did not have cars, smart phones or flat screen TVs. They didn't even have a radio or telephone. They didn't get 99 weeks of pay if they were out of a job and instead of stamps to buy groceries they stood in soup and bread lines.

Now the government has come up with a new way to pick the pockets of the few who pay taxes. SafeLink Wireless® gives cell phones and air time to "income eligible" customers. Tax dollars are given to a wireless phone provider (more crony capitalism) for welfare recipients to have free cell phones and free air time.

The old concept of getting ahead through hard work has been replaced with: "Why should I work, when I can get it for free?"

Click on this link to confirm this theft of our tax dollars:

https://www.safelinkwireless.com/EnrollmentPublic/Home.aspx

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Please e-mail me at wfbane@baneclene.com.

Monday, June 04, 2012

Business failures

Most failures in the cleaning business happen because the owner gets tired of the daily grind and allows the business to be run by subordinates or simply to stagnate. Anything that quits growing begins the dying process. That's a law of nature that applies to people and business.

Sometimes failure happens because management loses sight of goals. It takes discipline to make yourself go everyday. Some fail because they let finances, especially payroll, get out of hand. They don't plan for contingencies and a surprise expenditure can sink them.

Advice flows like a swift-running stream in the cleaning industry. Be careful from whom you accept counsel. Some of it can be very costly. New business owners will often seek easily attainable knowledge and many times they grow to regret it.

Success is really not that complicated or difficult. Bane-Clene® Institute has taught the 15 keys to success since the school's founding in 1978. Spend three days with us and give yourself an emotional lift, come away with a plan for success and enjoy a break from your business.

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Please e-mail me at wfbane@baneclene.com.

Friday, June 01, 2012

Constitution under assault

Last spring, the Tampa Bay Times devoted half of a front page section to glorify liberal MSNBC commentators. On the left side was an article about our Constitution being outdated and why it doesn't work. The left side seemed appropriate for this "Progressive" piece of literary trash.

I can tell the Times why the Constitution is having trouble working. It isn't even considered anymore in Washington. It's ignored by federal judges and is under constant assault by lame street media lackeys like the Times.

"Czars" (That's a communist term isn't it?) manage government agencies that aren't even authorized by our Constitution. Add the news media to the mix and there is a full-fledged assault on our founding father's dream for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Here's a quote from someone who's been under assault for more than 100 years by Progressives: "To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." Thomas Jefferson

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Please e-mail me at wfbane@baneclene.com.