Gearing Up For Gustav

Well, if you live anywhere along the gulf coast then you are probably a little bit nervous right now. Gustav is headed straight for the gulf coast and it is expected to arrive early next week.

Of course, no one knows where landfall will be at this point. So there's really no reason to get too nervous just yet. So relax.

Of course, if the storm does hit our area - we will be ready. Two Maids & A Mop has already been through two major hurricanes and we came away with valuable learning lessons. So don't worry. As long as you want us in your home, we'll be there just as soon as the storm passes....

Today Is National No-Housework Day

National No-Housework Day

If you normally do the housework around the house, cease and desist for this day. Instead, kick back and enjoy the day. Relax and do anything except housework.

Now go get in that hammock!

Win A FREE Housecleaning

Share your clever story with Bounce and your story could become one of the next Bounce print ads! Lifestyle expert Sissy Biggers has teamed up with Bounce for their new "Do You Bounce Beyond the Dryer?" campaign. People across the country are encouraged to submit their stories of the different ways they use Bounce dryer sheets outside of the dryer.

All Bounce alternative use stories submitted on bounceeverywhere.com will be entered into the grand prize sweepstakes judged by Sissy Biggers, and the winning story will be made into one of the next Bounce print advertisements in a leading lifestyle magazine. Bounce will also select one lucky winner each week to win one month of free cleaning services for their home.

Click here for the full press release.

The Services Sales Tax May Be Coming Back To Florida

The state of Florida doesn't currently tax domestic services such as residential cleaning, window washing, or carpet cleaning. In 1987, the state enacted a bill that mandated domestic service companies tax it customers. The bill was revoked within the first six months. However, state legislators are contemplating the bill again.

Click here to read the full story. (Caution: lots of boring tax talk)

Commercial cleaning is currently taxed based on the local sales tax rate. For example, if we clean an office in Escambia County, then we are required to collect an additional 7.5%.

Now taxes aren't necessarily a bad thing. After all, our government must receive revenue from its people somewhere along the way. But here's the problem when you tax a domestic service.

The professional cleaning companies are the only ones taxing its customers. Not only that, the unlicensed cleaners get to increase their rates because of the 7.5% increase forced on professional cleaning companies.

As a customer, you think cleaning is simple, mundane and easy. As a customer, you think that the only tangible difference is price. You don't care about sales taxes. If you did, you wouldn't hire them now. Because hiring an illegal cleaner means that you are skipping payroll and income taxes. So you hire the cheaper alternative. The illegal alternative.

So yes, this new law scares me. Professional cleaning companies are already working behind the eight ball. Professional cleaning companies have to pay more than illegal cleaning companies.

For the record, I'm not against taxes. In fact, I'm all for taxes. Our government needs its people. But a tax system can only work if everyone plays fairly. And since a domestic service such as house cleaning is invisible, there's no way to enforce the measure. Which means that it's not fair.

The Redneck Vacuum

Hey, we are located in the Redneck Riviera! But no, we don't really use this vacuum.

World's Busiest Mom

Bemis Manufacturing, a toilet seat manufacturer company, recently sponsored a nationwide contest to find the world's busiest mom. Each contestant was required to submit an essay explaining why they should be crowned as the nation's busiest mom. The winning mom receives a full year of free maid service, along with other free services for her home. The mom deemed the busiest in the country is Robin Kirton of Murray, Utah. Take a look at her story (as told by her husband)....

My wife, Robin, is definitely the busiest mom. Why? She ensures that our lives are as "normal" as possible. You see, she's not only the mom of six children—they're all Autistic. We have three boys age 3, 8 and 13 and three girls age 2, 5 and 9. And, Robin has fibromyalgia, causing her to be exhausted most of the time.

Robin doesn't have a typical week. Our home is a constant, ever-changing, swirling combination of meals, diaper changes, laundry, housework, mopping, wiping, crying, comforting, appointments and so much more.

This past year was an especially busy one. We were just discovering and dealing with the emotions of finding out about our children's Autism. Then, our family was hit by a heavy blow. Robin commented to a social worker about her frustrations and need for a break from the daily disasters in our home. As a result, our children were taken from us.

At first, the state Child Protective Service thought how we dealt with maintaining our home and children was unsafe. Within two weeks our children were returned to us when the court realized exactly what we were dealing with. The judge ordered my wife to be evaluated. Robin has borderline clinical depression and generalized anxiety disorder (not surprising). She is now on medication to help her through each day.

The three youngest are still in diapers and the 3 and 5-year-olds are completely non-verbal. We have to put them in one-piece outfits, backward, to keep them from stripping. Our three-year-old climbs on, breaks and rips everything. We call him "The Destroyer" (like Conan the Destroyer).

I often hear the dryer's buzz at 3 a.m. The washing machine runs nearly 20 hours a day. After the children are in bed, Robin will dash to the gym.

If any mom needs a break from her busy life, it's my wife Robin.

Read all of the nominations by clicking here.

Hiding The Maid

Every now and then we get involved in sticky domestic situations. After all, we are working in your house. So witnessing an argument or seeing something you shouldn't see is bound to happen.

Just last week we were caught in a sticky situation. We walked into the home ready to clean. However, the husband didn't know that we were supposed to be there. And he definitely didn't know that he was supposed to pay us for the work. So he told us to leave because we were at the wrong house.

Now we knew we were at the right house. We had been going there for weeks. But the husband was never home. He was always working. But he was home for lunch this day. And his wife wasn't.

It turns out that his wife had been hiding the maid from her husband. And now we have one less customer. And now his wife has one more chore to add to her list.

This isn't the first time. It's happened a few times before and it always ends the same way. We lose the customer. And it has nothing to do with our work.

There's no real moral to the story. It just stinks because we earned the business. And we kept earning it every time we cleaned the house. Life isn't fair all the time.......

The Perfect Mother's Day Gift

It's staring you right in the face.

Click here to figure it out

But if my idea wasn't good enough for you.....click here for more ideas

Happy Mother's Day!

Come Clean And Get A Year's Worth Of Free Cleaning

Here'e a chance to receive free housecleaning for a full year. And all you need to do is come clean. Click here for details on the contest. Or just watch this video.

On Tipping The Maid

I hear the question a lot during in-home estimates. Should I tip the maid?

The short answer is no. You don't need to tip any additional money to your maid. However, the long answer is yes. You do need to tip your maid - just not with money.

At Two Maids & A Mop, the best tip that you can provide our employees is your feedback. Your opinion is important. Your opinion can make or break your two maids paycheck. So it's crucial to hear from you on a regular basis. So the best advice I can give you is to take 120 seconds from your day and use it to provide feedback regarding that day's housecleaning.

Now that doesn't mean you can't tip your two maids with a little legal tender. Many of our customers tip our employees on a regular basis. The choice is yours. But keep in mind that our employees are paid well above the industry average as long as they make you happy. So your opinion is really more important to them than your $2 tip. Because your opinion can be the difference in much bigger amounts of money.

Cleaning - Supermodel Style

Naomi Campbell has to mop the floors of New York's Sanitation Department. She's forced to mop because she threw her cell phone at her maid.

Click here for the full story

How To Clean Your Ear

No. We're not adding this service to our business any time soon. But you're welcome to try it at home. Or just use a Q-tip.

Click Here To Clean Your Ear

Thought Of The Week

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full, and the students responded with a unanimous “Yes.”

The professor them produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

Now, said the professor, as the laughter subsided, I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things. Your family, your children, God, your health, your friends, and your favorite passions. And if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car.

And the sand is everything else. All the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first, there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. And the same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18 holes. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of your golf balls first -- the things that really matter. Set your priorities -- the rest is sand.

Hat tip to Craig Garber

12 Ways To Cope With Thanksgiving

Everybody's a little stressed right now. You're either going out of town or getting ready for a big family gathering. There's lots to do in a short time.

Click here to find 12 ways to cope with your Thanksgiving stress.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

The $500 Per Hour Maid

Two Maids & A Mop can go toe-to-toe with just about every other cleaning business in the world. However, there is one cleaning business over in England that we simply can't compete against. They provide certain things that we'll never be able to provide. Of course, they better be good because they charge $500 per hour for the service.

Click here to read about this unique cleaning service.

Seth Godin And The Retraction

Every now and then you'll see a small side story in a newspaper that retracts information from a big story published earlier in the week. Why isn't the retraction just as visible as the original story? Because nobody likes to admit mistakes. And nobody likes to admit being wrong. Kind of funny that the truth is harder to print than fiction.

But I digress.....

I have my own retraction to publish. I recently critiqued some comments from my favorite marketer - Seth Godin. He hurt my feelings just a few days ago when he blasted our company. Or at least I thought he did.

Upon further review, I was out of line. I was wrong. Seth has acknowledged that he wasn't referring to our company. Or any company for that matter. He was referring to the fictitious company that I presented him that had major personnel problems.

It's true that the cleaning industry has its share of employee turnover problems. It's also true that the cleaning industry doesn't really do anything to correct those problems. But at Two Maids & A Mop, we're trying. We're trying to make the job better. We're trying to give our employees respect.

As Seth points out, an employee needs a face. And we're trying to give our employees a face.

Right now, my face is red. Sorry Seth.

Probing Seth Godin For Answers

Seth Godin knows his stuff. He's got one of the most popular blogs in the world. He's the face of marketing right now. But he doesn't know housecleaning.

Here's a question that I posed to Seth just last week,

"Ok, you've just started yet another housecleaning company. You've got your business model in place. You've got your employees hired. And you've finally got your first real clients. But your new employees don't show up that first day. The short term answer is to go clean the dang house yourself. But how do you fix the long term problem of employee turnover in an industry where employee turnover is historically high?"

Seth responded,

"There's employee turnover because you're focused on cheap, on commodity service, on faceless people doing a faceless job. No wonder!
If that's what you're selling, then you're going to have live with people reclaiming their lives when they can. The win comes when you offer employees a special place, and customers get offered special employees."

Seth's not entirely wrong. But he's closer to wrong than right. And here's what I think about his response.

1. Faceless people doing a faceless job. Tell that to the employees in our company that have earned top pay in our pay for performance program every week this year. Earning top pay means that you have made a lot of people happy. Earning top pay means that your work has been recognized. Earning top pay means that you have a face. And your customers respect your face.

2. Employee turnover is the result of a cheap, commodity based service. That's true if your service is cheap. That's true if your employees are paid poorly. That's not true for Two Maids & A Mop. Click here for proof.

3. Seth's correct in his assessment that you have to realize that people will reclaim their lives one day. Nobody wants to clean toilets everyday forever. Not even if your wage is $30 per hour. Cleaning is hard. Cleaning is dirty. Cleaning stinks. But it can be rewarding if you work for the right company. I'm proud to say that our employees get paid well above the industry average. But I'm not proud of our employee turnover rate. It's still high. And it causes us problems everyday.

Why do we lose people? Because you can't clean forever. At some point, you move onto bigger and better things. And that's ok because they're bigger and better things than cleaning for a living. But in the meantime, we're a great place to work. Click here for more on employee turnover in our industry.

Why can't a commodity based industry have a purple cow?

Paying For Performance

When implemented properly, there's no better motivational tool than a performance based incentive compensation plan.

Click Here

Earning And Giving

This has nothing to do with housecleaning, customer service, or paying for performance. However, it has a lot to do with my favorite businessman...Warren Buffett.

He's giving away most of his money. He's earned it. All $44 billion of it.

You don't have to agree with everything Mr. Buffett says. You don't even have to agree with this move. But one thing you have to agree on is that this man is a hero. He's certainly mine.

Hotel Maids

The person that cleaned your hotel room probably makes minimum wage. The person that cleaned your hotel room has cleaned that same hotel room forever. The person that cleaned your hotel room hates that job.

Hotel maids have no incentive to deliver customer satisfaction. Hotel maids are expected to clean fast, not good. And that's exactly what happens.

It's safe to say that you get what you pay for. A $35 room probably should be dirtier than a $200 room. But, even the $35 room could provide better service and quality. Here's a profound approach to providing incentives to an employee: pay for performance.

Pay the hotel maid based on customer feedback. Pay the hotel maid for quality instead of quantity. The same goes to every other cleaning company out there.

Wake up. You're making us look bad.

The Oracle Speaks

This past weekend was my Super Bowl. Warren Buffett gathered his followers together again for the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting.

Here's a recap of the meeting.

And here's why I admire Warren Buffett.

You can wake up now.

Looking In The Mirror

There's a tire company out west called Les Schwab. It started small, with just one location back in 1952. Since then, it has grown to more than 400 locations in seven states. Why I am talking about a tire company?

It's like looking in a mirror. Here's a company that has more than 50 years experience and $1.5 billion in sales annually. Yet, Les Schwab looks just like Two Maids & A Mop.

There's really only one similarity between the two companies, however. The parallel.....both companies give more power to its employees than any other related company in the industry.

Les Schwab empowers its employees by giving 49% of the profits back to the employees. You can manage the store or you can change a tire. Either way, you're getting part of the profits. Every single employee feels like they are part of something bigger. The actions of the employees matter because their actions determine the success of the business.

Two Maids & A Mop is a little different. Sure, our managers get 20% of each locations profits. But, our empowering stems from our pay for performance plan. Our employees get paid based on our customer's satisfaction level. The actions of our employees matter because their actions determine the success of our business.

Sometimes I get too excited. I see where we're headed and I can't wait to get there. But, it's hard to stay calm when you know something others don't. It's like owning next year's almanac. The future is right there in front of you.

If Les can do it, I can too.

That's My Toilet Paper

Two Maids & A Mop..........literally.

Fighting Over Toilet Paper

Motivation

Zig Ziglar says it best...............

"People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing - that’s why we recommend it daily."

In other words, you need to constantly set goals for yourself. Set life goals, set annual goals, set weekly goals, and set daily goals. Give yourself a reason to be motivated.

Don't just wake up and go to work. Your going backwards if that's all you do.

Excitement Breeds Success

We've have lots of things to be excited about around here. We're opening our third location in a few weeks. We're on the brink of becoming the market leader in Pensacola. We're making some operational changes that could transform the company. And, we're going to unveil some new marketing vehicles that should bring us even more business. I can't wait to see how it all unfolds.

What about you? What are you excited about this upcoming year?

If you can't think of a few things off the top of your head, you're in trouble. Excitement breeds success. You can't be successful if you don't have a reason to be successful.

Set some goals. Dare to dream. Think big. Be passionate. GET EXCITED.

It's not that hard to dream. Give it a shot, it's free.

Living Below Your Means

I'm always amazed at my hero, Warren Buffett. He's the second wealthiest human being on Earth, but you wouldn't know it based on his lifestyle. He lives in the same home that he purchased in the late 1960's. He drives used cars with high mileage. He prefers Dairy Queen hamburgers over fancy entrees. It's an understatement to say that he lives below his means.

I though that Warren was an anomaly. I was wrong. A man named Kerry Packer recently passed away in Australia. He was the country's wealthiest individual. He also preferred hamburgers over fancy entrees. Add him to my list of heroes.


My New Hero

Passion Makes Perfect

You can do anything when you have passion. This proves it.

Passion

The Pessimism Disease

You've had a terrible day. Nothing went right. Everything went wrong. You're tired and frustrated. The day can't end quick enough. Sound familiar?

It should. We all have days like this. Life doesn't beat to the same drum every day. The question is, how do you react to these days? Do you wake up energized, ready to tackle yesterday's challenges? Or, do you wake up just as tired and frustrated as the previous day?

To me, it's easier to be optimistic. The glass should never be half-empty. Optimism gives you reason to live. You always have a purpose.

Pessimism is ugly. It permeates through people like a disease. One pessimistic person usually infects another person. Eventually, everybody is negative. The glass is half-empty all the time.

Who wants to live like that? Not me. And you don't either. The pessimism disease has infected you at some point in your life. Your disease needs problems in order to survive. How do you get rid of the disease? Easy, never have problems.

Make your problem a challenge. Be optimistic. It really is that simple.

Quit complaining and start fixing.

Warren Buffett Sat Here Once

Right here in this chair. Right where I'm sitting. It was a while back, several billions dollar ago. But he sat right here. And he sat in your chair too.

Every successful person starts where you start. The probability of success is defined by the person, not the situation. Your biggest obstacle is yourself.

Everybody loses, nobody wins all the time. Warren Buffett lost lots of money on airline stocks. He was forced to close a failing convenience store. But his biggest failure turned into his main reason for success. Berkshire Hathaway was the merged company for two fledgling textile companies. Both companies were losing money, fast. Buffett had bought a tired, old company with no future. This is where most people quit. Of course, Buffett didn't quit. He quit pouring money into the two companies and used that extra money for other investment opportunities. The rest is history.

You don't need to be Warren Buffett in order to be successful. Success is measured by one person: you. We all start in the same place. Your distance from the starting point is up to you.

Passion

Meet Christopher Michael Langan. The smartest man in America with an IQ of 195. He's 45 years old and he's been employed as a construction worker, firefighter, and even a cowboy. He currently earns about $6,000 per year as a part-time bartender.

Meet George Bush, Jr. The President of The United States. He has an IQ of about 119. He's owned a large oil company, a major league baseball team, and governed the state of Texas. He currently makes a little over $400,000 per year.

Christopher is obviously smarter than Bush. He's proven that by taking a test. However, Bush is the leader of the world's most important nation. Christopher is smarter, but Bush has something that Christopher doesn't: passion.

Intelligence doesn't outweigh passion. Bush wanted to become our leader. He committed his life to the pursuit of this achievement. It wasn't easy, but it happened. It happened because he was passionate.

Education is important. That can't be denied. But, success results from the combination of hard work and passion. The smartest man in America doesn't have a passion, so he doesn't have success.

Sam Walton, Warren Buffett, Sandra Day O'Connor, Bill Gates, Ray Kroc, Howard Stern. These people are leaders. They fought for something that they wanted. They were passionate. They succeeded.

The root of any man's success is passion. If you don't have it, quit and start over. You're going sideways.

Big Always Starts Small

There's one in your city. A tiny, little upstart company that's changing the world. Minute by minute. Day by day. The obscure company is gaining strength and it's going to pop one day when you least expect it.

Starbucks. Kentucky Fried Chicken. Microsoft. Ford. America Online. Google. And my favorite, Berkshire Hathaway.

Big, huge heavyweight businesses. Fortune 500 managers run these companies today. Yesterday, they were tiny, little upstarts. Nobody listened to them. Nobody knew who they were. All they had was a visionary leader who had really insane ideas about the future.

How can you explain Warren Buffet transforming a dying textile mill into one of the world's largest conglomerates? How can you explain Harland Sanders creating a global franchise out of one restaurant? How can you explain Bill Gates creating the world's most utilized software system out of his garage?

It's called vision. Big doesn't start big. Big starts small and then grows. It grows because the leaders of the small think big. Thinking big requires a lot of risk taking. Thinking big requires an unequaled desire for success. Thinking big requires sweat, tears, and blood. Thinking big is not for everyone. That's why little companies don't normally become big companies. It's too hard and it's too risky.

The time has come for Two Maids & A Mop. We're ready to take the leap. We've taken the baby steps and we're ready to jump. The big burst is coming. Hang around and you'll see.

The Big Idea

It only takes one. One big idea that can spark something even bigger. For some, it's an exciting new invention. For others, it's an innovative business plan. For me, it was a unique compensation plan that changed everything. Overnight.

The TwoMaids pay-for-performance compensation plan. Simply put, an employee's compensation is 100% determined by customer feedback. A simple concept, yet I didn't think of it until one early Saturday morning.

Big ideas are everywhere. There right in front of you just waiting to be heard. The problem is that most people aren't listening. Too busy. Too tired. Too difficult.

Sam Walton created Wal-Mart out of one tiny dime store in Arkansas. J.K. Rowling dreamed about writing Harry Potter while on a train headed for London. Tom Brady discovered that hard work made him better after he didn't make his freshman football team. Ted Turner created CNN after watching his local eleven o'clock news one night.

It's right there, just waiting to be heard. The only way to hear it is to always be listening.

Most of your ideas are duds. Many will fail. But, all you need is one big one.

Listen for it, it's coming.

The History of Stress

Everyone experiences stress at some point in their lives. Grandmothers, teenagers, small children, and even pets are diagnosed with anxiety problems everyday. Stress doesn't discriminate. The poorest person in your community can get just as stressed as the wealthiest.

Of course, therapy for stress can vary significantly. There are physical means such as chiropractic therapy. There are pharmaceutical means utilizing medicinal drugs. And, there are mental exercises such as psychology.

The funny thing is that no one knew that they were stressed until about 1956. The word "stress" was not put into our vocabulary until Hans Seyle defined it fifty years ago. What else happened in 1956? Four no-hitters were thrown in baseball, Russia began nuclear testing, a black man was admitted into The University of Alabama for the first time, and Elvis Presley made his first television performance. Each of these events sounds pretty stressful to me.

Fifty years later. Divorce rates are at an all-time high, suicides continue to surge, and life sucks for a whole bunch of people. Imagine our life without the word "stress"?

How different would it be? Losing the big game could be blamed on poor execution. Getting fired from your job could be blamed on ineptitude. Not succeeding could be blamed on your lackluster performance.

One thing's certain. Stress is in our head. We make it what it is.

Casey Stengal didn't know that he was supposed to be stressed when his Yankees played the Dodgers in Game 7 of the 1956 World Series. He just coached. And he won.

Visualize your life without stress. Think positive. Make the glass half-full.

If I Were........

The manager of a car dealership........I would dedicate the dealership to sports cars. There's too many dealerships that offer too many things. Target a market and become the category leader. (How about building a track around the lot for test drives?)

The manager of a hardware store......I would have booths set up in front of the store with live experts providing help. You ask a question, they tell you the answer, and they direct you in the right direction. The booth is not a customer service desk, it's a "how-to" booth.

The manager of a clothing store..........I would only sell pants. I'm talking nice, expensive pants. The kind of pants that make your friends tell your other friends, "Do you know what she paid for those pants?"

The manager of a computer store.......I would sell the cheapest computers on earth. These computers get you on the internet and print documents. That's it, nothing else. No frills, but really cheap.

The manager of an accounting firm....I would specialize in the service industry. No exceptions. Every client must sell some sort of professional service. Imagine the yellow page ad that said "We Only Work For Service Companies". How many of your local business associates would spread word-of-mouth?

The manager of a restaurant...............I would only sell food for a dollar. The first dollar restaurant. Everything on the menu cost one single dollar. Cheap hamburgers, french fries, onion rings, hot dogs, pizza, etc. No waiters, no extras. We cook it, you come and get it. One cashier, one cook. This isn't fast food. It's cheap food.

The manager of a bottled water company....I would let you personally design our labels. Create a website that allows people to send in digital pictures of family, friends, pets, cars, etc. You email them to us and we print them onto a series of bottles. Those bottles get sent out and sold throughout the country. You might buy your own bottle. Imagine the buzz created by showing real people on the bottles.

The manager of a maid service............I would be the most customer friendly housecleaning company in the world. Customers would feel special. They would feel like their satisfaction actually means something. They would throw out their old image of a maid and replace it with one that embodies respect and gratitude.

The Power of A Nail

A nail strengthens just about everything that it penetrates. A nail is tiny. It's as big as your little toe. However, it's stronger than your entire body at times. The trick is that a nail can only provide strength if it is allowed entrance.

What's your nail? What gives you strength?

If you can't answer that question, then you are lost. Everyone needs an external source for strength. You need strength to make it through the bad days. You need it to keep your creative energies flowing. You need it to just wake up some days.

Open up and find your nail.

When I Grow Up

When I grow up, I want to be the owner of a professional cleaning service.

I don't ever remember saying those words, yet here I am. I was raised in a working class family. I went to college to become a chemist. I worked in a laboratory for six years, until one day I said........ I want to own a business. I heard the same question over and over, "what do you know about business, you work in a lab?"

They were right. I didn't know much about business. I did know that I wanted to create something. I wanted to build something. Money was the last thing on my mind. Money is still the last thing on my mind. What happened? Why did I change everything about my life?

One word: ambition. I remember being ambitious early in life. I wanted to be a major league baseball player. I wanted to be a rock and roll musician. And, I wanted to be the President of the United States. Big, fancy dreams. As the years passed on, my ambitions were replaced with practicality. Go to college, get a job, pay the bills, wake up and do it again tomorrow. Slowly, I began to feel like I was becoming just another person. I was a little fish in a very big pond.

Eventually, I decided that just being wasn't enough. I wanted to be remembered for something. I wanted to build something. Unfortunately, doing this meant changing everything. Leaving the comfortable job, leaving the comfortable city, and leaving behind friends. It was huge gamble. Losing the gamble could result in financial ruin. I did it anyway. I did it because I had recovered the ambitious nerve that most of us lose somewhere between childhood and adulthood.

Children have nowhere to go but up. That's why children's dreams are so big. They've got nothing to stop them. Why do our dreams get smaller as we get older? They get smaller because life gets in the way.

Today, my ambitions grow everyday. What I dreamed yesterday is much smaller than what I dream today. Growing up doesn't mean that you should stop growing.

I may have never dreamed of owning a professional cleaning service. But I did want to be somebody. I'm glad I found that lost ambition. It's changed my life.

Start dreaming again.

About Hurricanes.....

The gulf coast has experienced its fair share of hurricanes during the past twelve months. Three major storms have plowed through the area during that timeframe. Obviously, none have been more deadly or devastating as Katrina.

Luckily, Pensacola and Fort Walton Beach only suffered minor damage when compared to our neighbors to the west. Hurricane Ivan taught our area that you can't take life for granted. We all get caught up in our daily routines. Reflection occurs once a natural disaster occurs.

Money is lost, property is destroyed, and families are torn apart as a result of these disasters. The only good thing about a hurricane is what happens after the storm. Communities grow stronger because the rebuilding requires days and days of sweat and tears.

Today is a bad day for New Orleans and the Mississippi coastline. Tomorrow won't be much better. Things will get better. Day by day, hour by hour, things will get better.