I wrote the following article with my locksmith friends in mind but the overall concept is apropos to any small business and the entrepreneurs who operate those businesses.

Elbert Hubbard advised fledgling businesses to “find a niche and fill it.” Sometimes  that niche is offering a service or a product that no one else offers. At other times it’s simply a willingness to accommodate the needs of your customer even when their request is outside your normal business parameters.

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Of Pots and Pans and Garbage Cans

By: Jake Jakubuwski

Copyright 2012. All rights reserved 

On a recent forum visit, some of my locksmith forum buddies were discussing their preferences as to the types of locksmith work they favored.

As you might expect, the discussion was all over the place. Some specialized in one thing and some in another and several were simply General Practitioners, so to speak.

One poster to the forum said that he would perform whatever locksmith services were necessary (And presumably legal) in order to make a living. I agreed with that but told him it was better if you could offer the services you preferred rather then a lot that you “had” to offer just to keep groceries on the table and your son or daughter’s college tuition paid.

The whole discussion got me to thinking that things today really are a whole lot different then they were when I was at the point where I knew everything there was to know and I was ready to spread my wings and fly! 

Actually, I was fifteen and I wasn’t exactly soaring with the eagles so much as I was riding Shank’s Mare (Walking) with my thumb stuck out and pointing in the direction that I was headed. Every now and again, some good-hearted soul would see my thumb and stop and give me a ride just down the road or maybe even to the next small town, large city or the next crossroads.

Of course, there were always a few folks that looked at me and pointed their index finger towards the sky as if I they thought I needed to correct the direction I was traveling!

Regardless, I learned a lot about working to keep my belly filled, my feet dry and staying at the Y or a mission.

I picked apples in Western Maryland, peaches in Georgia, watermelons and tomatoes in Florida  and when I wasn’t busy pursuing those lively hoods, I was mopping floors in restaurants, washing dishes, scrubbing garbage cans, sweeping parking lots or trying to get the remains of “homemade” bean soup out of  a ten gallon cooking pot.

Since most of the jobs that I had did not require a Master’s Degree, I looked on myself as sort of a handyman-jack-of-all-trades who could, at a moments notice, drop my broom and clean a restroom — or peel a bag of potatoes.

For more on my varied and checkered career, you can download my FREE book: “PURE JAKE: The Book” and gallop along with me on some of my travels and travails.

 http://www.purejake.com/wp-content/uploads/catablog/originals/PURE%20JAKE%20THE%20BOOK.jpg

Somewhere along the line, I picked up my GED, and wanted to settle into something solid, stable and secure. I drove a laundry truck, worked construction, did handyman type jobs and finally landed a job at Sears selling sewing machines and vacuum cleaners. That was after a stint selling used cars.

 What does all of that have to do with locksmithing? Even more to the point, what does it have to do with anything at all?

 Well, by the time I finally stumbled my way into locksmithing, I had left Sears, owned my own commercial floor cleaning company, a carpet cleaning company, and a campground reservation system. When I started my own locksmith business I would not hesitate to hang a security mirror, put a new handle on a commercial oven or replace a florescent tube in a light fixture.

 I was a locksmith but if I saw a couple of bucks laying around that I could pickup  by installing a new mirror over a sink, re-gluing Formica to a countertop or installing a mailbox on a fence post — my time was my customer’s as long as they were willing to pay for it.

 In other words, I did whatever I had to do to make a living. Just like I did when I was ‘on the road’.

 So … here’s my take on specializing. If you can specialize in any aspect of our craft and make enough money doing only what you like to do best — go for it.

 I know a lot of locksmiths who live and work in areas where the locksmith sandbox just isn’t big enough for them to make enough money specializing in safe work, or automotive, or EAC. If you’re in that situation, do whatever you must to make the money you have to make to keep yourself in business, your kids in school, your health insurance current and still have enough to enjoy a dinner and a movie occasionally.

 That means being willing to go where the money is, or do whatever is necessary to make a living. Sometimes, that work may not exactly fit the normal job description of a locksmith but the person who is willing to do pots, pans and garbage cans can always make a living.

 That’s one of the reasons I so often suggest door service and repair. Or Electronic Access Control. Or even saw and knife sharpening. All are easier, neater, cleaner, and smell better then garbage cans.

A MESSAGE FOR ROBOTIC CALLERS AND IDIOTIC ANSWERING MACHINES:

By: Jake Jakubuwski

Copyright, 2012. All rights reserved

Personally, I DETEST auto answering devices and robotic voices telling me how important my call is — and then telling me that all “service representatives are currently busy with other customers and your call will be answered in the order in which it was received.” Great shades of Ernestine!

 My thoughts on the matter: I also know these ideas could be considered self-centered and maybe even arrogant. No doubt, if you’re inclined to be kind, you’ll simply consider my thinking archaic.

I am THE customer. I am the person that keeps you in business. Therefore, I think you owe me more consideration then a robotic voice, a verbal holding pattern and some idiotic “live” talk show excerpt while I am waiting to CONDUCT business with you! I certainly don’t want a “Push for” menu regarding how I want to spend my time waiting, when what I want to do is spend my money with you and not waste my time because of you.

 I am either trying to spend money with your company, or I am trying to resolve an issue that I have had with a purchase of goods or services from your company. For some reason, robotic voices telling me that someone will be with me as quickly as possible does not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. It does not increase my confidence/convenience quotient regarding my experience with your firm.

Even more irksome is when “The Voice” asks me for information. Stuff like; “If you are calling in reference to ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­__________ please give me your zip code, telephone number, the last four digits of your Social Security Number, you mother’s maiden name, your father’s middle initial, the serial and model number of the item you are inquiring about, the store number and date where it was purchased, or will be purchased and; the size of the speakers in the last boom box you saw!”

Then when a “representative” does connect with me the first thing they say is: “Hi! My name is __________, please give me your zip code, telephone number, etc.” And, all of that takes place before I can even begin to place an order or register a complaint. 

Then, God forbid! I get transferred to “Stacy” and Stacy asks me the same questions all over. This, in my opinion, is not marketing. It is a devilish program designed to make me take my business elsewhere, or cause me so much frustration trying to solve a warranty issue that I’ll throw the $%(*@## item away and buy a new one in a brick-and-mortar-store! I often wonder if the companies that resort to these tactics actually do have a desire to drive customers away… 

I understand voice mail. I use it myself when I have to be out of contact with customers, potential customers or contemporaries. My message is short and sweet: I’m not here. I will be back. Leave a number and I’ll call you when I return. No music, no radio, no sound effects and no “dead air.”

 nd, when I am “in the office”, I answer the phone! Essentially, I say something like: “Hello” or “Hi! This is Jake!” Recently, I had a caller say: “Wow! You actually answer your own phone?”

I may be in the minority but, when I answer the phone and that robotic voice says: “Please, hold. I have a very important call for you…” Or, “Let’s take a cruise!” (With a fog horn in the background) — I hang up! I also hang up when I answer the phone and a chirpy, smiley voice says: “Hi! I’m Audrey…How’s the weather this morning inOxford?”

So; How can your on-hold message provide an opportunity for you to market to me? It can’t.

Consequently, I suggest that you make it brief and forget asking me for information that I’m going to have to repeat to a “real” person anyway. Oh! Yeah! Did I mention this? Require a real person to answer the danged call after thirty seconds — max! Then you don’t have to worry about a sales message during the on-hold time…

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Cell Phones or Hell Phones?

By: Jake Jakubuwski

Copyright, 2012

All rights reserved

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PREFACE:

I often take part in a business-to-business forum where various participants ask questions about problems that they’ve encountered and seek possible solutions to those problems.

The question that I answered below was one, as you will see, regarding personal cell phone use in the workplace.

For my part, I dislike cell phones. Sure, they are great for staying in touch and emergencies and letting folks know that you’re tied up in traffic and will be late for a meeting, church service, or your wedding.

I also realize that cell phones have changed the way we communicate. Some of that is good. Some of it I find distasteful, rude, and an infringement on my privacy.

Anyway, here’s my answer to the question that was asked:

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“Pam,

Robert said that he might be “Old School” in the way he deals with the issue of personal cell phone use in the workplace. I guess that makes me an antiquated boor and my ideas about this issue totally archaic.

Robert also said that his “worst offender” chalked up a whopping 45 hours of personal calls made during one month! Roughly translated that means that person only worked for Robert three weeks out of an entire month! That individual “stole” over a week’s worth of production from Robert’s company!

Figuratively, I’ll probably be lynched for this statement: To my way of thinking stealing a week’s worth of production from an employer is no different then stealing a week’s pay out of the cash box!

The pathetic thing is that this type of ‘theft” is happening everyday, of every week, across the employment spectrum — employees subverting production time by using their cell phones to text and talk to friends, neighbors, play games and participate in “Social media”. None of which is germane, and certainly not beneficial, to the employers interests.

Yes, Pam, this is definitely a rant.

On the other hand, I must make it clear that since I now work alone, and free lance, I no longer have direct employee issues regarding this matter. Yet, I can readily empathize with employers who have to deal with the topic — a problem that is growing exponentially everyday!

As a consumer and observer, Pam, I DO have issues regarding cell phone use in the workplace.

I find it distasteful for the counter personnel at Mickey D’s, BK and Wendy’s to be talking on a cell phone while trying to ring up my order.

I find it irritating to be shopping and have the salesperson talking, or texting, on their cell phone.

I think it is totally ridiculous, as well as unsafe, for the sanitation worker to be talking on a cell phone while trying to wrestle a 90 gallon trash container into position to be dumped in the truck.

I have refused to deal with service personnel who come to my office with a Blue Tooth hanging out of their ear and while I’m trying to explain my problem and they give me “THE HAND” while they take a call! After all, I am paying for their time, so technically they are my employee for a given period.

I have had business dinners, lunches, breakfasts where the person I’m trying to interact with (on a personal or business level) interrupts the meal to take a call or text a message. That’s rude and constitutes stealing my time.

As a result, I don’t think any employer should have to be sensitive to any “issues” that an employee has regarding their “dependence” on cell phones and develop a “more accepting approach” as Andrew suggested.

After all, the individual works for the employer — not the other way around — which means that it is the employer who loses money for the production hours that are eaten up with personal calls, texts and game playing.

My personal feeling is that employees should be told up front (And apparently, Pam, your firm has done just that) that personal use of company cell phones is prohibited — and the use of personal cell phones are forbidden on company time. If necessary, spell the rules out as an official statement of company policy and have the employee read, agree to, and sign the policy statement. Then enforce it!

Long before cell phones became ever-present trappings for professional and personal use alike, calls of a personal nature were made to an employee through the employer’s office. Non-emergency calls were frowned upon and often harshly discouraged.

The problem, today, goes beyond emergency calls…it has become an issue that has grown to be of truly epic proportions and highly expensive practice in many workplaces. Stop to think about Robert’s single example. An employee stole 45 hours of time from Robert’s company — how many times a month are employees stealing time, with cell phones, throughout the American workplace?

In my mind, this issue is one that every employer, manager and HR department should take very seriously and work assiduously to control; if not eliminate.

I also believe that organizations that send their personnel to interact with customers on a face-to-face, one-on-one, basis should “train” those representatives to but their cell phone on “MESSAGE” until the interview, service call or whatever is complete.

Pam, thanks again for asking this question. And, thanks for giving me an opportunity to offer my probable, and potentially archaic, solutions — sometimes the old ideas really are the best. But, that’s for you and your other readers to decide.”

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In closing: You, my blog readers,  may agree with my assessment or you may disagree with it. One thing you can be sure of: It’s PURE JAKE to the core!

Jake Jakubuwski

NOTICE!   NOTICE!  NOTICE!

A FaceBook friend posted the following notice in an FB group that I belong to and I thought  might pass it on. If you’re into treasure hunting this could be a really fun day for you and your family.

Kenneth W Briggs Crl

Three Seasons Treasure Hunters LLC

The Three Seasons Treasure Hunters LLC will host there 2nd Annual Open Seeded Treasure Hunt/Contest June 2nd, 2012 at the River View Park in Cadott, WI. There will be Raffles and drawings throughout the day. We will be raffling a Tesoro Metal Detector. There will be 2 timed hunts. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. This will be held rain or shine. If you have a metal detector and want to try your hand at a timed hunt for prizes, contact Ken Briggs, President of Three Seasons Treasure Hunters at (715) 577-0235 Entry fee is $30.00 for the day. Cut off is May 15th, 2012 so we have a head count for food and prizes.

If you call ‘em to reserve a slot…mention the PURE JAKE blog…