May - October 2005

2005-12-14T19:09:00.000-05:00

First Report

Dresdene Flynn-White and I reviewed the enlightening results of both the Client Pre-Consultation Questionnaire and the Personal Assessment. My first meeting with my coach, Cary Broussard of Wyndham International is scheduled for Mid-May. Dresdene and I will meet again Mid-May to document both my personal and business goals so that we can develop a strategic plan to help Make Mine a $Million!

May, 05

Winning the Make Mine A Million promotion has put a whole new set of challenges and opportunities before me. It has had an impact on so many aspects of my life including ones I did not think about a head of time. It is interesting to note all of the reactions created by my winning - employees, family, and friends all are impacted by an event such as this. I am not the only one experiencing the highs of winning and some of the lows of reaching out for success.

Challenges include leaving the spotlight of winning to find that my truck was broken into the day after the event and all my tools stolen. I put an immediate call in to Open from American Express and received an increase in my credit line to replace $4000 in tools. So much for keeping me grounded in my business and how great to have just met several staff at Open from American Express. Thanks to American Express, I was able to get the tools purchased quickly and get my truck back on the road a 48 hours later.

I took immediate advantage of my Count Me In loan and used the funds to relocate my business to 4000 square feet of workshop space, storage, and offices. I got to move out of my garage and into a real repair shop. Now I am in the middle of packing, loading and getting moved into the new space. This was a great opportunity to get the funds from Count Me In and get the location we needed to expand. Now if I can just get all those shelves put up!

I met with my coach in a get acquainted session to share each of our histories and experience. She is very enthusiastic about my business and gave me great advice about sending out a press release on my move and new location. My sister is a writer so I have an assignment for her to get this written and out to our local papers. We are awaiting our coaching plan to begin our work on the business. I look forward to working with her.

June, 2005

Thanks to the Make Mine a Million award June has been an exciting month! The ProServ sign is up and we're ready for business at our 4000 square foot commercial location! It's great to have an office to go to in the morning and best of all to leave in the evening. When you work from home it is so difficult to create boundaries between your personal and business related activities. Next month, I'll begin interviewing for a part-time Administrative Assistant.

Action International completed my Alignment Report and it arrived this month. My business and personal goals are to develop a broader customer base, increase the average number of transactions per customer, provide our customers with a full range of services and add a profit sharing plan for the company and myself. Next month, I'll review this report with my coach and begin work on a plan to reach these goals.

I attended my industry's bi-annual trade show, the Clean Show '05, from June 23-26 in Orlando, Florida. Manufacturing representatives and I met to discuss service and distributor opportunities for ProServ Laundry Maintenance within the North Texas area. Industrial laundry equipment manufacturers from around the World; such as, B&C, Braun, Brim, Chicago, Jensen, Milnor, Washex, WashTech had their Washer/extractors, dryers and flatwork finishing equipment on display. Next month, I'll follow-up with letters to all the people I met at the Clean Show.

July, 2005

I'm pleased to announce that I added two new members to our team. Marjorie Evangelista manages accounts receivable and James Childers performs preventive maintenance on laundry equipment. The ProServ web page www.proservlaundry.com went live, so please visit our site and send comments via the info@proservlaundry.com link. I met with the National Sales Manager for WashTech Industrial Laundry Equipment mid-month and was awarded the North Texas distributorship.

On August 18th, I flew to NYC to update the Make Mine a Million creators in person. It was great to see Nell, Kathy, Cori and Lexi again, as well as, meet more Count Me In ladies. It was great meeting my fellow M3 winners. However, the best part was meeting the rest of the women involved in creating the M3 program and thanking them in person.

August, 2005

In August, ProServ Laundry Maintenance hosted the 3rd Quarter meeting for the North Texas Chapter of National Association of Linen Management. The owner of Ozone Solutions (our water purification manufacturer) made a presentation to the group. The next day, we met with the director of engineering at Wyndham International Corporation to pitch our water purification system on a nationwide scope. Thanks to my first M3 coach Cary Broussard who helped setup this meeting with Wyndham.

On Aug 9, I met with my new coach, Sherry Darden, at the Fort Worth Women's Business Center. Sherry and I set three clearly defined goals based on the alignment report created by Action International. I'll provide monthly progress reports via telephone and we'll meet again face-to-face in three months. I also met with Toni Booth regarding marketing concepts.

Next month, we will begin excepting Visa, MasterCard and Discover card payments. (We already accept American Express.) Also, we will pilot a new parts inventory service. If it is a hit with our number one parts customer, we will rollout the service to our other customers in October.

September, 2005

In September, ProServ Laundry Maintenance worked on process improvement. New forms and process flows were created to improve our Parts Procurement and Accounts Receivable procedures. We have already seen a reduction in ProServ's average collection time from 50 days to 35 days. We now accept all major credit cards which has improved cash flow and created a convenience for our customers. In response to the surge in fuel prices, we have implemented a fuel surcharge on all service calls and parts deliveries to recapture some of our fuel expenses. I continue to make progress towards accomplishing my first of three goals set by my coach and I. I have acquired quotes for promotional materials from three different marketing companies and shall select a specific designer by the end of October. Next Month, ProServ will perform its largest and most complicated equipment installation to date. New flatwork finishing equipment will be installed and old equipment removed for the Westin Park Central. This project will last approximately nine days and require coordination with four sub-contractors (plumbing, HVAC, masonry and the rigging).

October, 2005

In October, ProServ Laundry Maintenance hired two new Service Technicians: Jose Tamayo and Al Long. We completed our largest and most complicated Equipment Installation at the Westin Park Central Hotel in Dallas. This Install included the removal and replacement of all their Flatwork Finishing Equipment (an Ironer, Feeder, Folder and two Stackers. An important alignment goal was completed by creating two new marketing tools. This includes a Tri Fold Brochure that describes our overall services and a 16 Point Inspection Slick that is used exclusively to market our Preventive Maintenance Program. Beginning in November, I will visit all of my current customers at least once and I will have a monthly sales incentive to share with them at our meeting. Marjorie will prospect daily for new customers using sales scripts we create and I will visit four prospects weekly. Next Month, ProServ will install one Washer, 4 Dryers and sell all of the flatwork finishing equipment removed from the Westin Park Central. On 11/3/05, ProServ will host the Quarterly North Texas Institutional Linen Management Association (NTAILM) that is attended by the General Managers of the largest laundries in North Texas.

Mary Childers

May - October 2005