Fugitive Dust

Paul and I have been living in fear.

This is the wall leading down into our basement.

Our home was built in 1910. We were sure that there was lead paint in our basement. Our two oldest children have been tested for lead poisoning and I have a lab slip for my third child's imminent blood draw. It's hard to pretend that a one year old that takes the stairs on all fours would not end up with a paint chip or two in his mouth.

Enter the EPA. Apparently the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in partnership with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD), have declared war against lead poisoning. Their goal? To eliminate childhood lead poisoning by 2010.

Wait. Isn't it..?

Yes, it is already 2010. We are behind the eight ball and so is the rest of the country. Contractors, Construction Companies and Builders are now scrambling to become Certified Renovators in the State of Wherever They Are From. We were scrambling too. Paul and I attended a class March 27th, 2010 provided by Brindley Byrd of Qx2. Paul is now a Certified Renovator in the State of Michigan. We have been trained to contain the fugitive dust that is our enemy. No really. That's a phrase coined by the EPA. I did not make that up:)

Back to the kids.

As a part of the training, Paul was given the opportunity to learn how to test painted surfaces for lead using the LeadCheck Test Kit. As soon as we arrived home and tucked our pint sized pea squishers into bed, we made a bee line for the basement wall. We were both full of anxiety. Due to the full day of training we knew that if the test for lead was positive we were in for a weekend of more than just scraping and painting.


If your home was built prior to 1978 and you have children under the age of six you need to test for lead before you disturb any area larger than six square feet. Why? Because lead poisoning affects the nervous system of your steadily developing child permanently. It can affect their brain, fertility and motor skills. For more information on how to determine lead hazards watch this video from the EPA.

Paul cleaned the area, scraped a knotch in the paint (as if it wasn't chipped enough already) and tested. Nervously, I watched him rub the test over the surface of our multicolored walls for 30 seconds. If the test was red, then we had a lead paint situation. If not, scrape and repaint with a regular dust mask at your hearts delight.

This is what we found.

Phew.

Throughout the informative training class we kept eyeing each other with concern. We work in an industry where anyone with a hammer and a truck can call themselves a contractor. We have spent hours correcting the cracked, popping unbonded tile installations of Joe Handy and his gang. We are saddened when we see a customer that has spent thousands of dollars on a tile installation that should have lasted thirty years and we are replacing their floor in five. It's not fair but you get what you pay for.

"How in the world are we going to convince our customers to pay us extra for the additional steps it takes to protect their family from lead? "

I think that we will serve the same great clientele as we have in the past. We will serve those that find comfort in our 10+ years of experience. We will serve those that know that our license and insurance is available to protect them as much as it is to protect us. We can now offer an added benefit. We are trained to protect our customer's family from lead!

We know the peace that can bring.

Old Town Grace

I hate my closet. It was constructed a hundred years ago when clothing was hung on hooks and not hangers. It is a dangerous combination of deep and narrow. There are shelves on the back wall, which would be fantastic, if they weren't behind the rod where my clothing hangs. It defies reason and is a source of aggravation to be sure.

I dream of a well organized personal dressing room. You have seen them before. Dare I dream to have a closet like Oprah's (a more modestly priced version) or like Goldie Hawn's closet in the
movie Overboard where shoe bins revolve. You can tell that I have spent a lot of time thinking about this since I am bringing up a movie from the early nineties to make my point.


Last week, I found my ideal closet. I walked into Old Town's Grace and it was magic.

When the door shuts behind you the world is gone. The hardwood floors (not installed by us but we don't hold grudges) muffle the sound of busy shoe steps that you might find in a run of the mill department store. The lights are dim and jewelry is displayed like joyful little works of art. The music that filled the room was not the obnoxious disco beat that says, "Buy here, Buy now!" in a constant drone. It was what I would play in my home on a relaxing afternoon with...well maybe without my family, truth be told.


Grace is a respite. A place where femininity is celebrated and then adorned accordingly, as the sign on their door reads. Loosely quoted. When you leave, Summer, the owner of Grace, spritz's your shopping bag with perfume and you take a slice of heaven with you. I think that was my favorite part. The smell that lingered in my car reminding me that I had snuck off during the middle of my work day to buy a handbag at a delicious boutique in Old Town.

oh, BAG!

I almost forgot to mention THE bag.

A few days before my visit I stumbled upon this note on Facebook
Grace Old Town: eco-friendly. authentic. handmade. fair-trade. GORGEOUS!

I am a sucker for good causes especially when related to women and children in poverty. I love supporting local businesses but international poverty tugs at my heart strings too. I also aspire to be a more earth friendly family/company every year. I read the blurb about Es & Yaa Co. and I had to pop in to have a look for myself. I did and here is what I found, loved and purchased knowing that my money would serve someone in Ghana.

I love when shopping equals good karma.

For more information about Grace, visit their website www.oldtowngrace.com, become their friend on Facebook or their Tweep on Twitter. Personally, I would suggest that you get in your car, drive into Old Town and visit with Summer and her Italian bags during her Swing into Spring Shopping Party. You won't regret it.

Entrepreneurs Don't Listen

Tonight I am returning to the classroom. I have been invited by Denise Peek to join other graduates to speak to the new class of new business owners or old business developers at the Entrepreneur Institute of Mid Michigan. I remember sitting in their seats last year skeptical that the class would do more than serve as a networking tool. Ask anyone how many people Denise knows and you'll understand my misconception.

The first night of the class Denise passed out our books and gave us instructions on how to put things in their proper order. Five minutes into the assembly of stacks of reading material and we were already failing. Everyone was either moving to fast or performing the instructions out of order. Denise made her point very quickly.

See. Entrepreneurs Don't Listen.

I am not over educated but I am not a stupid woman either. I know when to take someone's meaning. From that moment on I was all ears. When we listened to the guest speakers, who ranged from Bob Fish from Biggby to Gordon Ferguson from the Michigan Small Business and Technology Development Center, I listened and took notes like a college pro. I spent a few weeks with the amazing, no exaggeration necessary on this one, Liz Kudwa at the Capital Area District Library researching who my target market is so that I could find them and get them to notice me. (Liz is no longer the business librarian but I would bet my bottom dollar she knows who is) I went home on fire with new ideas and the ways I wanted to develop them.

Paul followed me with a mixture of fear and excitement. Everything we learned in the weeks I attended the class was new, risky and somewhat questionable. Not questionable in the way emails from Nigeria are questionable. Questionable in the way stepping outside of the box you created for yourself feels like a tortoise leaving it's shell.

The Foundations of Business Planning is not the end all of business education. Denise Peek, in all of her awesomeness, does not have all of the answers. The benefit of the class is taking yourself, as a small business owner, out of a vacuum and placing yourself in an arena of focus and incubation with people who support you. It's also about putting yourself one phone call away from the person who just might now what trade association would be a perfect fit for your business. It may even be about finding out before you spend thousands of dollars that your business idea is lame and you need to tweak it. We had some of those realizations too.

Tonight I will step into that classroom on the day that a press release that I wrote, in partnership with my friend Maureen from PR Edge, was used for a story in Capital Gains Media. We were also one of the winners of the 2009 Capital Area Michigan Works Employer of the Year Award. My profit margin is up, my social media usage is on fire and I am confident in my ability to grow this company into something beautiful.

The class is not about the cost.

It's about loving your business enough to plan for it.

*P.S. For the record, my husband does not think it fair that I reveal all of these resources in my blog. So, whatever you do, don't tell our competition. LOL!

Chris Singer of My Smart Hands of Lansing wins “Name Our Blog...Win Big” competition sponsored by Heritage Flooring LLC

Lansing– With his winning entry “Completely Floored”, small business owner and blogger Chris Singer won Heritage Flooring’s “Name Our Blog…Win Big”. Singer won a $20 gift certificate to Cravings Popcorn in Old Town and 2 tickets to Ignite 3.0 where he was also a featured presenter.

"I'm really pleased to win the contest and help support a quality local business in Heritage Flooring." said Chris Singer of My Smart Hands of Lansing, a business providing sign language classes for hearing babies and toddlers.

Heritage Flooring sought customer and community feed back to name its new blog and launched "Completely Floored” March 3 as an exciting new way to share company culture with new and returning customers. “Completely Floored” will offer weekly features about local small businesses, flooring trade issues and insights and perspectives from the owners of Heritage Flooring, a family-owned and operated business.

"We are excited to find yet another way to encourage customers to buy local," said Tashmica Torok, co-owner of Heritage Flooring. "We hope to shine a spotlight on the services offered by our colleagues in the mid-Michigan area through our weekly postings. We are also looking forward to sharing our entrepreneurial spirit with other future business owners and helping them to find the resources that we have found essential to our growth and well being."

Heritage Flooring is a family-owned and operated professional installation company that has served the Mid-Michigan area since 2003. Its operations include the installation of carpet, vinyl, tile and wood flooring. Heritage Flooring has participated in projects for the Lansing Board of Water and Light, Rockford Construction, Menna’s Joint Downtown and East Lansing, MSU Student Housing Co-op and The Firm in downtown Lansing.

If you would like an interview with Tashmica Torok, please call 517-749-3128 or send an email to tashmica@thetorokheritage.net.

Visit our website www.thetorokheritage.net. We can also be found on Facebook and Twitter!

Me Jane. You Tarzan.

It is perfectly fitting that the first interview that I do for the Great Small Business Adventure is with Jane from Tarzan promotions. Speak the name of her business and it immediately conjures up images of the jungle. However, I will refrain from using any cliche phrases.

Jane specializes in making sure that your company leaves it's mark on the most important thing in your world, the customer. When we sat down at the local Biggby for a chat I had one thing in mind. What is the "it" product that is going to be the Holy Grail of my customer loyalty? The answer was surprising to me.

Jane started her company in 1994 mailing greeting cards for companies wishing to stay in contact with their clientele. After the housing decline she lost 50% of her greeting card business because her main client was real estate agents sending cards upon closings. Closings were at a stand still. It was truly a jungle out there.

Couldn't help myself.

Luckily, her customers had lead her into a more diversified business by requesting other promotional materials to supplement the mailings. Diversification saved her business and helped her keep her profits up throughout the recession. Jane enjoys helping her clients stay in contact with their customers. She believes her business is all about making other businesses successful.

An area car salesman has been employing her services for years. Initially, she sent out automotive repair tips on post cards every 3 months to his customer base. Eventually, you run out of tips. Jane suggested that he send recipe cards. This is the point where even I had a question mark written all over my face. Jane explained that she surveyed the customers that received the recipes, male and female, and found that they either prepared the recipes themselves or gave them to a foodie they knew. No one she could find threw them away. Recently, the car salesman was shocked and grateful to find an old customer he no longer remembered walking in his door ready for a new deal three years after the original sale! SCORE!

So here comes the big question. What is "the" thing. Are you ready?

Urinal Screens.

Yep, you got it. The screens that are put into urinals can have your logo emblazoned on them and they are all the rage at the promo shows! The good news is that Jane acknowledges that the next big thing may not work for you. Every business is different and it's all about finding what will work in your industry and for your customers.

Jane does not peddle products, she finds solutions that help businesses become memorable to their customers.

Check out Jane from Tarzan Promotions and the 850,000 promotional items she sells. By the way, she still sends greeting cards too! If you want to meet her in person, I usually find her at a Capital Area Local First event. You can also follow her on Twitter @tarzanpromo!

Good Fruit Video

The Great Small Business Adventure

Almost two years ago I was approached by Daphne Reznick from Vision Care Associates about joining the Capital Area Local First and I wasn't sure we needed to. How would our customers hire a non local installer? I mean, you can't set tile from across the country. You have to physically be in someone's home or business to provide that service. Daphne reminded me about Home Depot, Lowe's and Menards and the installation services they offer. Oh crap.

Ever since, driving past that big orange sign has felt a little different. Don't get me wrong. Although, I am a localvore I know that the big box stores support local by hiring a local work force. So, Home Depot, I have no hard feelings. I even brought my kids to your free pot-flowers-for-Mother's-Day event. I have also been known to take a DIY course or two. However, I now see clearly, another competitor.

When Paul and I changed our name to Heritage Flooring in 2003, we were very isolated. I never attended networking events and we depended on word of mouth for our new business. I eventually joined a local Business Networking Intl. chapter and the world broke open. I feel the same way about our Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn adventures. I can now see before me hundreds of businesses in our area that I didn't know existed a month ago.

We did join the Capital Area Local First. Joining the group made us evaluate our purchasing power. We have our copies made at Gladstone Printing instead of Office Max. We go out of our way to support local eateries like Pablo's in Old Town, my personal favorite, although it's not really a sacrifice. We talk to our children about why we stopped at Cravings Popcorn for our afterschool snack.

"Because they are like us guys. They own a business in Lansing and that's how they make their living. If people didn't choose us we couldn't support ourselves."

And we love hearing our oldest son talk about how he will start his own lawn and snow company as soon as he is big enough. I am already looking at adult fliers as local competition.

*shrugs* It's the Mama bear in me.

I have a new idea. Every week I am going to meet with a local business owner and talk about what makes their business so awesome. I want to know how long they have been in operation, what services they provide and why they continue to work in this economy. After we meet, chat and have coffee I will post my findings on this blog under a buy local tag. This is an adventure I should have started years ago and I hope you will check back weekly! It should be a blast.

Thanks Daphne for opening my eyes. Buy Local!

P.S. I found this event on Facebook. On March 20th, we make a commitment to purchase from locally owned companies. Will you join us?

The Future

Our company has been on a year long quest for a tile installer. We have posted our job description on Michigan Works. We have called references and we have performed interviews. We have hired and accepted resignations. We have terminated. It has been quite a year.

Although, we have gone through the proper channels, we are still not sure whether it's the pool we are drawing from or our company that is making hiring so challenging. So now we begin to look at ourselves. Just like in any other relationships, the street goes both ways and we have to be aware of what makes our company attractive or unattractive to new employees.

On the flip side we have to keep our standards high. Our employees have to understand and meet our standards or our company will never meet the goals we have made. We cannot accept poor quality work, laziness or an inability to be flexible to the needs of our customers. We know our dream employee is out there but we are beginning to wonder why so many of the people we have met with find these principles unusual in a climate where jobs are not only sought they are hunted.

Last week we participated in a career night sponsored by Immaculate Heart of Mary - St. Casimir School. We brought our tile setting gear and explained to the children how, in small part, we set a tile floor. The children were not just interested they were enthusiastic. They were waiting patiently but you could see they were chomping at the bit to get down and dirty.

I wanted to hire them all on the spot.

Unfortunately, studies show that most of these kids won't choose our line of work. The Occupational Outlook Handbook shows that the tile setting industry will grow in demand but the concern is that it will not grow in skilled tradesmen. To me that means a great potential for our business IF we can staff our company to meet the demand.

We hope to continue to help show our community that tile setting is not only an honest days wage but a way to be creative. We take pride in the artistry that can last for over 25 years and make someone's home a unique work of art. We do hope that our children will work with us and pay their own way through college if that's the path they choose.

We shared the stage with Joe Murphy from MSU Culinary Services (www.eatattate.com), who shared with all of us the yummiest black bean chili I have ever tasted. Joe Madden, from Neogen came in with his microscopes and showed us all more germs than we knew could exist on one outlet plate. Michelle Hoffman from Hoffman Photography brought beautiful examples of her work and a full portrait studio. Chris Johnson from On Target Living showed the kids a little about living at their best. Kathleen Lavey from the Lansing State Journal was in attendance to talk to the kids about what it meant to be a writer with her two best editors, her daughters. Tim Barron from 92-X and MOJO from Q106 kept the evening lively as they broadcast spots live from the event.

If the children at Immaculate Heart of Mary weren't dreaming big before, they most certainly are now!

The CEO's

Many would agree that working with your spouse can be a challenge. We all carry our own baggage into our marriage. In the Torok household, we also carry it into our business practices. Paul's ability to hustle up work always astonishes me. On Monday morning our schedule will be empty and by Monday at noon, the week will be sold out because of his proactive attitude about projects that he is involved with. That proactive attitude does tend to chafe the procrastinator within me.

I love marketing. I love finding creative ways to promote our business and the core values that make our company unique. I spend my days leafing through industry information, beautiful pictures of completed projects and testimonials for the express purpose of tweeting it to the world. Paul doesn't get social networking and tends to stay away from the marketing portion of our business.

Last night we had our weekly meeting on our couch in the living room after the Jr. Associates (kids) were safely tucked into their beds. After the nitty-gritty of P&L's, resumes and lead training applications, we sat back and discussed the stresses of owning our own business. The last thing on our meeting agenda was how to keep our business relationship fun. Their really is no point in owning your own business with your spouse if it does not bring you joy.

So this morning, as we start our Motivational Monday, Paul followed me in his van and made faces at the squealing Jr. Associates (kids) on the way to school. We have texted each other love notes and are contemplating a middle of the day movie date. It is tough to work with your spouse. It can also be full of freedom, laughter and love.

Now this is the way to be a CEO.

Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is the beam we all balance on when we work in the service industry. We can master technical skills, marketing and accounting but in the end nothing is more important than the satisfaction of your most difficult customer. Well, that and getting paid. Did I mention we are in the construction industry?

This morning I opened our Facebook Fan Page and found a new testimonial from a customer we served years ago.

If you want the best work and service this is the company for you. I have been working along side this company for a long time now and would refer them to anyone. They put slate tile in my bathroom on the floor and around the shower and everyone that has come over loves it. They cover all aspects in the flooring industry and take quality to the highest level.

-Drew Barber

Although I do a lot of vague and not so vague soliciting of customer participation on all of our social media outlets, I did not solicit this testimonial. The fact that a customer will take the time to write a review years after their installation speaks volumes about our company.

We maintain are slogan of Quality. Flooring. Experience.

We will provide you the highest quality installation. The floor we install will not only be pleasing to the eye but it will last. Your customer service experience will be such that you remember us and feel comfortable referring us to your friends and family.

Good job honey! You hit it out of the ball park again!

Tashmica

Evolve or Dissolve

The construction industry is in a state of fight or flight. The news is broadcasting the gloominess of our economy and the lowest of the low consumer confidence. As a family owned business structured as a partnership between husband and wife this news is scary. There is no safety net in the other spouse's 9 to 5 and medical coverage in our household. We are so passionate about our business because we have no other talents that will feed our children. Unless you count my skill of sharp wit and charm.

In this months Tile Magazine Editor Arpi Nalbandian wrote a piece called "Evolve or Dissolve". That is a decision we made early in the recession. We took our slow times and poured our hearts into research and marketing. We looked at our business from the bottom up and from the top down. We wrote our employee handbook, job descriptions and a safety manual. We took pictures of our most impressive projects, edited copy and posted it all on our website. We evolved.

Through the recession we found a new identity in survival mode. We were not coasting on our skill. We were honing our talents in the practice of running a lucrative and legitimate business. We went from a mom and pop shop to a professional flooring installation company. It was a growth that was uncomfortable. Our brains felt like mush and we were often overwhelmed by the tasks we decided to undertake. We continue to see our business as an ever evolving endeavor.

We are moving out of the recession in a better position than when we came into it. We are hungry and it's dinner time.