What am I doing?

I am wondering why I decided to start this business in shuch a volitile economy. Then I think it was doing fine in the beginning so, maybe it is me that is ruining this business. I think I am doing what it takes to be sucessfull but maybe I am not. Is it normal to have doubts when in business, even if you think your doing what it takes to be a sucess.
I am very proud of myself I just modified a 20 year old pleated shade to work with a modern day cord lock. It took some modification but I helped the owner of the shade save a few hundred dollars and that is one of the reasons I am doing what I do. It should last at least two years before needing to be fixed again. Hopefully they will have budgeted in some money for new shades by then.
It is amazing how few people budget for window coverings even when they buy a home that has no window treatments at all. Then they want the cheapest blinds they can get and they say " we will get new ones in a few years" then they keep these "temporary" blinds forever. That is why I am repairing some mini blinds 15 years later for the 10th time. Most people do not realize they can put the cost of new blinds into their home mortgage that way they can get the quality they want up front.
Hopefull things will pick up here soon. Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you I know you have a damaged shade in your home, and yes I can repair it!

Great Trip

It was a great time relaxing in San Diego over the weekend with our friends Mitch and Mary Martin from Colorado. The weather was perfect, 85 and sunny. We stopped by my favorite little greasy spoon called "The Night and Day Cafe" on Saturday morning. It is in Coronado on orange avenue and they have the best food, in my humble opinion. 

On Sunday it was sad leaving San Diego and our friends however I was going down south for training, so we drove over to Phoenix (5 hrs), and stayed there while I attended class. Kristi stayed at the Hotel by the pool mostly while I was in class. She did walk over and do some shopping at a local mall, anyway I digress.

The first two days of training were for the Master shutter installer. It was very cool I feel much more confident in ordering and installing specialty shape shutters. you know like circles, arches, angle tops etc... These can be very overwhelming and most sales people tell there clients to leave the arch open because it looks better, but in reallity they just are afraid to install shuch an odd shape. Specialty shaped shutters are one of the most lucrative window shades there is. I can't wait to go out and sell some of these. 

Day three was for motorization and home automation. This class was really cool too. At this point I can install ther shade and wire it to a home automation system which then can tell the shade what to do. So in reality, right now you could be reading this article and remember you left your shades up in the family room  log onto your home automation system from the internet and lower your shades. I can set up a light sensor so the shades go down when the sun comes up. It is really cool stuff. 

These are the two areas that I am trying to become an expert in. I feel anyone can install a blind but not anyone wants to install these as it takes much more skill to do so. 

I will be back soon God Bless!

 

Master Shutter Installer

Tomorrow I leave for San Diego. Kristi and I are going for the weekend, we then drive over to Arizona. While in Arizona I will attend Master Shutter installer training along with motorization training for Hunter Douglas. These classes will make me one of the most knowledgeable window coverings expert in the Northwest. At this point if I can not repair it or install it I don't know many people who can! Wish me luck in my class. Hopefully I will be back on here as soon as I get back!

Jim

long time...

Well it has been a long time since I said I would be blogging regularly. It is difficult to get on here. So today we finally moved soe of our things into our new location in Vancouver. This will give me much more room to repair blinds. I hope you all are well and I will be back soon. 

Jim

"The Blind Recycler"

I'm New to this...

Well here I go. I am starting this blog for my daily business life. Maybe I will be able to remember to do some of the things that I forget to do, if I type them down at the end of the day. So today started off pretty slow, Kristi went for a job interview as I stayed home to watch the kids. When she came home she was very excited about the company and the whole interview process. I then went on my first apointment where I measured for some window treatments at Bruchi's in Salmon Creek. I think the screen shades will look best in their establishment. Then I installed a few blinds for The Davenport's in Ridgefield. These are great people. I used to work with their son Mike at 24hr fitness. Well I guess this is easy enough, I just need to remember to do this every night when I can.