Night Clases for CEUs

Oh, you WORK during the day?  How would you like to take your CEU classes at a time that doesn't cost you?  You can take either Business Skills or Identity Crisis from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on two consecutive days.  Voila!  You can pick up 8 hours in two evening classes without missing work. More on the classes here.


Check out our schedule here.   Keep checking because we are adding classes--especially these after-hour classes--regularly.  The first ones will be in San Antonio in May. 

Are We Saying "Good Bye" to the Phone Book?

There are several mailboxes grouped together where I live. Two days ago a package of 12 phone books was draped over a couple of the mailboxes. With two day's mail having come and gone, three books had been claimed by our six households. I got one of them. I wanted to see the Yellow page ads we pay $2k for.

I know this lacks a lot in sophistication and polish. But, back in the 17th century, when the Dodo bird became extinct, don't you think people started noticing changes?

I don't use the phone book. I don't even use the Yellow Pages. I know ads there are paid for by the business that benefits. Nothing wrong with that, but now there are more credible ways.


Do you use the phone book? I know there are a lot of people that do, but how long before it's just not used?


Now, for another potential Dodo extinction: do you wear a watch? If so, why? I hope it isn't because you want to know what time it is because your cell phone already does that--and corrects itself--and you carry it with you anyway.

We are in time where we simply cannot assume that the way we did business yesterday is going to survive tomorrow. If water is precious, it will also get expensive. It will be the target of more and more regulation and oversight. And, if you happen to be in an industry that uses a lot of water, you will be centered in the cross-hairs of anyone wanting to take a pot-shot at an easy scapegoat. That would be irrigators, irrigation designers, sprinkler manufacturers, landscapers, sprinkler service crews, ...

The picture of the Dodo bird is from the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

New CAD Class Approved

ceuWOW would like to announce that our new CAD Class, a 16 hour continuing education unit (CEU) class, has been approved by the TCEQ for Texas Licensed Irrigators.

We are holding the class in the major market areas of the state now. At this posting we still have room in the Houston and Austin classes. Classes are small due to the hands-on nature of the instruction, so enroll early.

The CAD Class teaches irrigators how to use RainCAD's latest software offering, Pro Contractor Studio.

The cost of the class is $275 for both days.

In favor of the abolition of “You’re welcome.”

It’s a matter of perspective, I know. You go to a “big box” store and are waited on by a helpful and friendly employee. Because your mother did a good job of raising you, you say “Thank you” to the employee. He says, “You’re welcome.” Just a polite exchange of pleasantries, right? But so, so wrong.


The perspective of the employee is the important thing here. It is this perspective that is so wrong. The employee is looking at this encounter with the customer from the natural, unenlightened viewpoint of the hireling. It goes something like this:

“My job here is to keep this section of the store nice and neat. Safe too. I keep an eagle eye out for spills and sharp pokey things. Nothing gets past me. Fully stocked shelves, that’s my job too. And customer service. Like the manager said, ‘Nothing is more important than helping the customer.’ Oh there’s one now.”


So they help the customer and expect the customer to show their appreciation for the help. When they say “thank you,” the employee says, “You’re welcome.”


Now, lets say you own this store.


You know that payroll is this Friday and everyone expects to be paid. Not just this Friday, but also next Friday and every Friday for the rest of time. Vendors will be paid or they stop vending. And it all depends on customers buying from you. Not just this week, but next week. There are many alternatives out there and you realize that the only reason a customer would choose you is because they had a preference for you. Maybe you are the only store that could supply a certain part or service, but probably not. More likely, there are dozens of companies that can provide that part or service.

So, what is your attitude about that customer? They are the reason this store exists—that’s for sure. But, they must be so tickled to do business with you that they prefer you to the competition. You have done everything you can think of to make this the preferable business for your products.

You, Business Owner, are incredibly thankful for that customer. And, if that employee has half a mind, he will grasp that thankfulness and take it to the very center of his soul. How will you know that he did?

“Thank you.”


“Oh NO. Thank YOU.”


And he will mean it.


If you are a business owner, or an employee that “gets it,” you too will be in favor of the abolition of “You’re welcome.”

My Double Life

Only recently have I thought of my business life as going down two different paths, but, from the perspective of the customer, the paths have two very different destinations.

On the CEU side, I see the target as you being blown away by our classes. (www.ceuwow.com) We try to engage through asking a lot of questions, using surprise to teach and using different media to get across ideas. We want to be idiosyncratic with the idea that you will love us and come back again and again.

But, I also own an irrigation company. (www.rainstat.com)

And yes, we want people to love us, but on a different level. Beginning when we answer the phone, there's no theatrics. There's not even a hint of anything outside of "get your head in the game, fix this thing and get out." (all we do is repairs and upgrades)

And that's the two choices with any business isn't it.

One is to WOW and be effective and different--even fun, entertaining, having an emotional element.

And the other is to reduce the pain as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Right?

Designing the CAD Class

The past four days I've been hold up in a hotel in Fort Worth with one purpose in mind: Designing a CAD class that was something other than the same ol' type of class. I thought of every detail and every skill-set we wanted to convey and wrote it down on a Post-It note. I used the hotel's wall to start placing these benchmarks in order (right) and started the task of building slides to support it.

I hope you'll join us when we come to your town and let me know how we're doing. We are trying to make this class engaging and an experience that you will remember for a long time.

Remember this is specific to RainCAD's Pro Contractor Studio. It is not transferable to RainCAD 10. Call if you have questions: 866.728.9834 or doug.s@ceuwow.com.

Surprising Best Tool for Pro Contractor Studio

Just press an arrow key and magic happens. At least if you're comparing your productivity to getting out the pencil, ruler and compass. That's because arrow keys invoke a tool on RainCAD's Pro Contractor Studio's CAD program they refer to as "point polar." If you're familiar with RainCAD's other editions, it would be something like the Drafting tool.

The arrow keys don't "do" in that they don't really move the cursor. But press any one of the keys and Pro Contractor Studio brings up "Point Polar," which looks something like a field compass (as opposed to drawing compass). "North" is 90º, south is 270º. Now all you need to do is enter the number of feet you want the line to be drawn and press the Enter Key and, viola! you're line is drawn in that exact direction for that exact number of feet.

I realize that the newbie to CAD might not be all that excited about this, but believe me, mastering it, although not difficult at all, is huge.

ceuWOW's CAD Class teaches this new, robust, and affordable software package to irrigators. If you're in Texas, you know our law has changed to require a scale drawing for every installation. Deviations from the drawing can be made, but they have to be reflected on an updated "as built."

If you'd like to enroll in one of our classes, we will have them in the major market areas. Just check our schedule here.

CAD Class Sheduled for Temple Killeen Harker Heights

ceuWOW will be conducting a Computer Aided Design (CAD) class at the Ewing Irrigation shop in Harker Heights on February 11 and 12th. This two-day class will equip irrigation professionals to use RainCAD's latest tool, ProContractor Studio. RainCAD'sProContractor Studio will allow irrigators to comply with the new rules that went into effect in Texas on January 1, 2009.

It will also give Texas Irrigators the ability to easily prepare multiple layouts, giving their customers more options. This capability can lead to a "good, better, best" marketing plan that businesses have used to put themselves in competition with themselves.

Before ProContractor Studio, RainCAD's software sold for $500 to $900. But, this new program costs $30 per month. John DeCell, the owner of RainCAD, said, "A contractor can use [ProContractor Studio] as much as they want during that month. But if they reach a time during the off-season where they don't need it, they don't pay that month. The next month, they can reactivate." So it's an economical alternative.

If you are an irrigator in the Temple/Killeen/Harker Heights area that wants to bring your tool-set into the twenty-first century, join us on February 11-12. That's a Wednesday and Thursday. Both days are only $275.

You will leave equipped to make professional, beautiful and complete irrigation plans.

A Phone Call You Never Want to Get (continued)

There it was in the mail. The State is so reliable in sending out these license renewal notices three months early. “Time flies,” I think to myself.

I don’t think of myself as being particularly stupid and I don’t think my bookkeeper is either. But we both did something that, looking back on it, was just dumb.

I had heard someone say that “they” (whoever “they” are) expected more license lapses due to only one notice being sent and that notice so far ahead of the due date. I’m the poster child for that theory.

When my wife called me back, she had bad (really bad) news. (If this isn't making sense, read the post below this one.) As it turned out, I gave my license renewal to our bookkeeper and told her that this was really (really, really) important. She took what I said to heart and instead of placing the bill in the normal pattern for bills, she put it someplace special–giving it the priority treatment I wanted.

Bad move.

I, having confidence in my bookkeeper, did not check on that bill’s progress–so the fault is ultimately mine. When my wife went to our bookkeeper’s office she found the bill, still in the “special” place (so she wouldn’t forget).

Let’s look at the sunny side first.

•The State said that “if I passed” they would re-issue my old license number, 4767, instead of the current 17,000+. That was important to me because I teach CEU classes and didn’t want people thinking I am a newbie.
•I DID learn some things in this beginner class and the review was good.
•I could say something about “getting away from the office,” but that was not a positive to me.
•And, I passed.

And on the not-so-sunny side . . .

•The course costs $500.
•The state’s fees were another $211.
•The course was for four days out of town so there was travel and lodging for four days.
•The test was also out of town requiring me to get there the previous day–more meals and lodging.
•I ate out three times a day for four days for the class and one-plus days for the test.
•I missed five days work taking the class and two days taking he test.

I figure the bottom line for this little mishap–figuring time at our regular rate at just eight hours a day–was $8,261.00! You may charge more or less, but it costs a lot!

And I think I have a solution to the problem.

More tomorrow.

A Phone Call You Never Want to Get

When I answered the phone, I heard the familiar voice of Michelle. She’s with the city and handles our permits. “Mr. Saylor, we did a routine check and you are no longer licensed.”

I don’t know what goes through your head when something like this happens, but my mind shared room for a certain perturbness and stark fear. “There’s got to be some mistake. I’ll check into it.” I happened to be mobile at the time so my checking ability was stunted. I called our bookkeeper first but couldn’t get her. I called my wife to go to her office and see if she could find where we paid for my renewal. That was about all I could do.

When I returned to the office, I got on the Internet and confirmed that, yes, the State shows that I am not licensed. It also ruled out another possible fly in the ointment, my CEUs. There they were; all sixteen hours. So it had to be that they didn’t get my check–or, perish the thought, we didn’t send it. Just then, my wife called. “Here’s the story and it’s not good.” My heart, which was already on the floor, descended to an abyss that I cannot easily described. My mind did a quick inventory of what this meant if I had to do what you have to do to get your license back.

First, I have to take that 32 hour Basic Irrigation Class–and spend 5 days out of town because no one does this class in Waco. I have to take this class because I’ve done irrigation (and made it my living in this trade) since before the State mandated this basic (see also preparatory, elementary, rudimentary) course.

My heart changed from despair to pain.

Second, I had to sit for the exam and pass Design, Installation, Backflow, and Hydraulics. Was I right in remembering that there is only a 13% pass ratio?

Okay, my heart changed back to stark fear.

More tomorrow.
DJS