Barley keeping my eyes open

Today was a long day. After dropping off my daughter at school this morning, I made my way to Longboat Key for a cleaning job. That is approximately a 35 minute drive from my house. The weather was lousy, rain and high winds made my commute seem never ending. I was supposed to be there at 9am. I called the client at 8:20 to let them know that I would be late. I was so happy when she told me that she figured as much because the rain is falling harder there and to take my time. I got there at 9:15. I didn't start cleaning until 10 because she is a talker. I was estimating that I would be there for 3-4 hours since this was a new client and I already knew it needed a thorough cleaning since they are snowbirds and only down here for the winter.

The apartment has not been cleaned in 6 months and the last cleaning lady never cleaned it after they left. It took me 5 hours! My client felt so bad that she gave me $20.00 dollars more than I told her the job would be. Apparently she was pleased with my work because I have now become her new cleaning lady. She gave me a key to her apartment and I will be cleaning for her every week and then once a month while they are up north for the summer. I also realized today that I am enjoying the independence of having my own cleaning company and being my own boss. The down side? I come home completely spent and exhausted. I had Chris and Katie help me with dinner tonight. They didn't mind. They could tell by the look on my face that I was fighting to stay awake. I am hoping that once I start to lose the excess weight that it won't be a problem. Only time will tell though!

Can you spell RECESSION??!!

I have known for quite some time that my family could possibly be affected by what many "officials" dare not to speak of.... I am talking about recession here... As of March 11, 2008 I am no longer employed.

I got the news two minutes before my work day was through... I know he had a very difficult decision to make and I know he did not want to do this but when the company wasn't bringing in nearly enough money, I knew it was just a matter of time. What sucks is that I had absolutely no time to search for anything else... not that there is anything out there to begin with. I was the one to comfort my boss because of how chocked up he was and because he is a man with a huge heart it hurt me to see him so upset. I have been with this company for almost four years and I have thought of each and everyone of my co workers as family.. yes we would sometimes get on each others nerves and yes we have had our moments but so do we with our own families. What I did not know until I went in to the office the next day to collect my things and to help the office manager out with a few details was that my boss was cutting into his own paycheck for several weeks trying to keep me on. Who does that? He does.

So.. I am taking it easy and trying to devote more of my time to keeping the house clean (whew) and my school work. I will be getting a severance package that will last a few weeks and then If I haven't found anything, I will be filing for unemployment. I have some leads in the works so we shall see..

At least I will have some time to post more:)

Sales is the key

The Plumbing company that I work for traditionally sends a technician or two every year to a seminar that emphasis on sales training. We are one of a few companies nationwide that rely on selling the job versus charging our customers a hourly fee on top of labor and materials.
We send our technicians out to a home or business at no charge so the tech can visually see and troubleshoot for the problem and what is the best way to handle the job at hand. We give the customer a guaranteed price in writing. We also on top of correcting their plumbing issue warranty our service a full year. I know there are not many companies that do that. The one thing that stands out with our company besides the great service and our educated technicians is if our customer does not like our price for any reason they can decline and they are not charged one penny.
Our technicians are trained not only as certified plumbers but they are also trained in selling the jobs we send them out on. We pride ourselves in our customer service, specially skilled technicians and the fact that we have been in business for over 27 years.