OK, my website is now secure. I hope you will all buy tons of stuff. We just had a great detail training class in our new building where all the guys did a great job, so I have some time to write. Business is hard sometimes. When times are good and you are making a lot of money it’s easy to get complacent. You get a little soft and let things slide. When times are hard and business is down, you have to try really hard not to get down yourself and think about when you “had a job” and worked for somebody. When I was working in car dealers when I was really young, I just showed up, put in my 8 hours, did my job (and only mine, most of the time), then I went home and I didn’t think about the job until the next day. When you have a business, you are really always thinking about it. And when business sucks, it’s that much harder. And maybe, in a very dark moment, (hey, we all have those, don’t judge me!), I will admit sometimes I wish I “just had a job”, but in reality I really would have it no other way. I love having my own business!

You see, I have learned so much about so much other stuff over the years. I’ve learned more about computers and websites and optimization than I ever wanted to know. But now I think I am really good at it and I can help others with websites and such. I’ve learned how to write! Literally. I never had to write much in another jobs I had, and I hated writing papers in school. Now I do it for fun and I’m pretty good at it. I’ve been writing articles for magazines for 12 years and I remember the first one I ever wrote took me about a week and needed so much correction; it took me another week to revise it. I still really can’t tell you what a conjunctive phrase is, or identify prepositions, and I have trouble seeing the difference between verbs and adverbs, but I think I use them all pretty well in my writing! That really makes me laugh. But don’t tell Stefan, the editor of The Auto Laundry News, or he may never let me write another article. Anyway, I never thought I would be doing this.

I also never thought I learn how to do a corporate presentation. But I had to for BMW of North America when I first pitched my detail training program to them many years ago. You do things sometimes because you have to. I never thought that I would understand web terms like “keywords” and “meta tags” but I have to now so I can “optimize” my website (another word I never knew or understood). I’ve learned cool computer programs like QuickBooks, Word, Power point, Excel and Photoshop. I also can do video editing. And I learned how to use You Tube! Now I tell prospective customers to look at some equipment videos on my website so they can actually see how the machines work. Technology is so cool. But if you don’t learn some of it, you will either be left behind…or pay through the nose for somebody to do stuff for you.

I also learned how to deal with Commercial real estate and what’s involved in renting and leasing. I’ve been taught how to do plumbing and run water lines as the previous shops had none or I needed them somewhere else. I have always done electrical work but now I know commercial code on how to do this. You learn EPA and OSHA stuff. You learn who is bullshitting you very fast when you own a business as well. We all learn so many things in so many different areas that we never thought we would have to know. But I am so glad I have learned all this.

So these are some of the many hats we wear as business owners. We may be better at some than others, but at some point you have to wear one of many different ones. And when you consider how many hours you really put into a business, other than actually working on cars, you may wish you still “just had a job”. I was on the phone for about 6 hours total trying to get my website fixed and not only didn’t I make money being on the phone, I know I lost money because of the state of my site. But oh well, its all part of doing business. And 2009 was a tough year I am sure for all of us. But it’s over and we hope things are turning for the better. We can only try that much harder and be constantly on top of things. The more you can do yourself; the better off you will ultimately be in the long run. Some of the things I mentioned above have saved me a lot of money and have given me much more control of my business. That’s worth a ton to me.

My little “episode” with my website has just clued me in that I really need to be on top of everything and aware of things I need to keep doing. When business was good, little things didn’t matter so much. I got a little lazy and slacked off a little. Now I have detailed notes on what to do next year with this SSL thing and when to renew it. I am trying to take that approach to 2010 and beyond and hopefully we all will. I know just trying harder may not make us all more money, but the flip side is that if you slack off or quit trying, where will you end up?

To visit our detailing website servicing Alpine NJ and surrounding areas, please visit www.njautodetail.com or our training, products and equipment site at www.kleencarauto.com