Thank you for the support!

Thinking some more about the plight of my unfortunate clients, the economy, the industry itself, and many other factors it dawned on me that I too often worry about the negative and injustices of the world.

I truly do know how lucky I am most days and that all things considered I lead a pretty charmed life. So, in that way I am grateful, but I don't acknowledge the people around me that contribute to that. In other words I don't say thank you enough to the people that matter and that support me, even when I'm down and don't know they are.

This often comes from unexpected places. Sometimes it's from acquaintances I hardly know, sometimes from past clients I run into, the forums I view and the people out in the world who offer kind words and encouragement even though we haven't even met. The most obvious are the people who have commented on this blog.

Thank you sincerely, I don't think you realize how big something so seemingly small can be to someone when spoken at key moments in their lives. I have to try and be more positive to others around me, because you never know when they really need it the most!

Putting things into Perspective!

What started out as needing a break turned into needing some perspective. My entire life had become overwhelmed, inundated and overtaken by my business. The problem was that on many levels it was actually getting too big and I felt the pressure to let it keep growing which was turning into ridiculous time lines, bid wars, over bloated projects, and ego driven decision making.

I took a deep breath and a short hiatus and really examined what it was I enjoyed about this business and which aspects were important to me. Once I answered these questions truthfully things started to sort themselves out.

On top of all of this, I recently saw a news story in which a very good client of mine suddenly lost their home to a fire! The house was valued at 1.6 Million dollars and declared a total loss! The fire was beyond control within 15 minutes! 15 minutes. A blink of the eye. It takes me longer to update this blog.

Despite the value of the house and all of the belongings, I know that the most important thing in the world to them besides the safety of the family is their two dogs, which got out safely. So in their mind they didn't really lose much in the grand scheme.

How many people really hold those kind of true values and would so easily see how lucky they really were in the face of such tragedy and heartbreak?

It's clients like that, people like that who really inspire me to see how lucky I am everyday.

Trying to get in some downtime!

Sorry about the gap in posts but I have been a busy guy lately! Getting ready to start a new project on Monday and getting together the last minute details. Trying to use the slowdown in the market to get a few ducks in a row. I hope the falling gas prices and the election being over puts people in a better mood and gets things going at a more regular pace again. The holidays are sure a lot more fun when you have money!!! Took my son to see the new James Bond film last night. It was a pretty cool movie but the saddest part is that I think I spent more time looking at the distressed walls and run down buildings in all of the exotic locales than I did on the plot of the movie! I'm such a nerd. Here are just a few. I have to get out more often!

Adapt or Die!

It's a long standing catchphrase in the entrepreneurial world. And it's never been truer. Right now our industry is facing a major downturn thanks to the volatile housing market which in turn is hurting the economy. Not to mention the whole "old world" look is starting to wind down also. The worst of it seems to be that the look and style so many of us are executing is going to be a constant reminder of an ugly time in the marketplace. Maybe not so much to the average homeowner but to the builders and designers it's always going to remind them of when things were great and when things went ugly. It's tough being associated with something like that. Couple this with the green movement which is also taking on a whole new look and style and things don't look so good.

That's the bad end of things. The good end is that it's forcing us as an industry to become more creative than ever. To come up with new color schemes, textures, and green looks and effects. It's forcing us to look at who our clientèle was and who it's becoming. It's forcing us to look at our pricing structure and the products we use. In short it's forcing us to re examine our business' and what it is we're trying to accomplish.

Why is all of this good. Because for those of us who are in this for the long haul, it's going to weed out the weak, the pretenders, the under cutters, and the quick buck people. It's good because we get to become a little closer to our business and learn something new at the same time. It's good because we get a chance to add a whole new facet to what we offer. We are getting back to basics and starting over in some ways by networking to new people, marketing in a different way. This can only make our business' stronger in the long run.

It's a lot of work that most of us thought was behind us when we started out. I for one am exhausted lately from getting adjusted to the new world of faux but in order to survive we really do have to adapt or die. It's that simple. So instead of seeing the negative and all of the hard work, just look at it as a chance to get better and make more money. It's just not easy money!

Drumroll Please!!!

At long last! I can finally post some great pics of a tough job that I thought might never end and close another chapter of my faux called "life"!!! Sorry about the delay guys. Even the pictures were a slow process! I know I'm going to look back on this and laugh, I just hope it's sooner than later! I hope you enjoy them!

Some Days are Harder than others!

Man I'm wiped out! The School II is almost done and it's about drained my will to live in a lot of ways! This job is tough sometimes because of the deeply personal nature of what I do it gets easy to get drug into the drama and politics of a bad work site. Everybody blames everybody for things gone wrong. Deadlines come and go. Promises made are often promises broken. The worst part is that it sometimes forces me into working in uncomfortable situations in ways I'd rather not. Safety issues, time lines, and quality are too often put to the test.

With that said the good news is that the end is near and I am free to move on! The one thing I do enjoy about this job is that if something is bad it will come to an end once the project is over. Most people are just stuck with a toxic work environment until they find a new job which isn't always easy.

The best news is that it turned out to be a beautiful project in the end. In a couple of days I will have a lot of pics posted of the completed project for everyone to see.

Marketing! Marketing! Marketing!

I feel like this is all I think about! I learned a long time ago that the marketing you do today determines if you'll be busy six months from now. I don't know if that's ever been truer than right now.

I am so sick of hearing about how bad things are in the economy! I try to make this blog a place of positivity so I won't get hung up on this for too long but when this election season is over and the world can try and return to some sort of normalcy I'll be thrilled. I honestly think that election years tend to show a slowdown in my work because all people hear about during this time are the negatives of the world. That's the one nice thing about not being rich, I don't have nearly as much to lose!

At any rate I have been marketing like a madman for the last couple of months and I hope it pays off. Most of my efforts have been done digitally because it's a little friendlier to my budget to do things online like this blog and my e-newsletter. Speaking of which I have to get cracking on this months newsletter before I fall behind. We'll be talking about the holiday season and the need to plan ahead.