Articles Wanted for The Floor Pro Community

[Bud Cline]

Jerry from the looks of things you have been playing "catch up". That's why the information is here.

In fact you would be a perfect candidate to solicit some information from that would encourage some additional articles from anyone here.

For example, (for those that don't know) you and your wife have a serious interest in getting into the tile installation business and your wife has already completed several nice jobs in your absence. You haven't hesitated to ask questions and clear up confusion at times, that's a good thing. The ADMIN here is always looking for someone to write articles that are beneficial to the pro flooring installer.

So........why don't you and your wife get together a list of things you would like to know more about ( relating to tile and flooring topics) and that you guys think would be beneficial to someone in your positions and let us know. I'm sure there are many pros here that would be happy to take the time to write some articles to add to our collection here.

[TFP Admin]

Excellent idea, Mr. Cline. There just might be a little something in your stocking this year after all.

My best regards.

[Jerry LA Tile]

Wow Bud, I really appreciate that idea. I do have allot of questions. Some of which get answered before I even knew I had a question I tell ya, these forums are truely a wealth of information. I'll get right on that list Thanks again.

[Jerry LA Tile]

Well Bud, I am taking you up on that offer and thought I'd just throw out there what I have been wondering about in building a tile buisness. From what I've read so far, all flooring businesses can be built similarly. I personally want an honest name,a great product(my finished tile jobs), and probably most of all I want to be profitable. I'm not sure if I want a retail store down the road but possibly. Maybe even running strictly tile setting crews? Don't really know until I get home and get into the business. I do know when my wife and I were shopping around for different contractors to work on our addition we encountered the good the bad and the ugly. I just want to be the good guy. One that you feel you can trust before I lay one tile. And when I'm done with the job, confirm that feeling Well, here I go with a few questions off the top of my head:

1. How do I, and how much do I get insured and/or bonded for?
2. Is there a health insurance for small businesses?
3. How do I know how to price jobs in my area?
4. How do I write up a contract or can I get generic ones?
5. I would like to know more about selling and closing a deal with the customer in home. To include selling "quality".
6. What are some of the most cost effective ways to market your buisness?
7. Without a buisness degree, how do I plan the growth of my buisness to get me off my knees
8. What growth options do I have for my flooring business?
9. What kind of tools are out there for floors? Do I have to buy them or can I rent?
10. Where do I find trade standards to work by? (I found it for tile already )
11. What do I need to keep track of for tax purposes?

I guess I'm asking everything I could have learned in college huh I'd rather hear it from the guys in the trenches . Anyway, thats a few things I have questions about starting my buisness. I guess a good topic would be "How to start and run a successful flooring business?"

I resume the right to add to these questions at any point

[TFP Admin]

This deserved a topic all its own. Great ideas, Jerry, all of them. We have some very knowledgeable pros here and I want to mention once again that we are very interested in anyone's article submission. You don't have to be a writer, you only have to put your thoughts, knowledge and ideas in an email or PM to me and we will dress it up, correct the spelling and give it a prime location for all our visitors to read.

[Bud Cline]

Lest we miss the objective of this thread I would mention that after reading Jerry/L.A. Tile's above questions my first impulse was to try to answer some of his questions as I would in a regular DIY Forum. This of course is not the reason the questions were asked so I'll try to contain my impulses.

Since I became a member here just a few short months ago there have been over 300 more new members sign up on this website. Of all those members some of them have extensive experience and insight into all of the questions Jerry has put to us. ADMIN keeps saying "come one come all" and I would encourage everyone that has ever wanted to contribute or see their name in lights (if you will) to pick one of the above subjects or categories Jerry has offered and lay-claim to writing an article on said topic. I should mention that in my opinion a person DOES NOT have to be a flooring installer professional or a retail flooring store sales professional to make an offering. Not evryone signed up here is a floorcovering installer and that's a good thing. Everyone's contribution is greatly needed and appreciated.

In an effort to somehow coordinate these writing tasks I guess the best thing to do would be to grab a topic and notify ADMIN as to your intentions to write a response so that the interest in various articles can be tracked and efforts aren't being unnecesarily duplicated. Some of the above topics could be combined in order to offer well-rounded information in my thinking.

So.... what's everyones thoughts? Step up to the plate and jump in with both feet.

I'd snag one for myself but the truth is I am already behind on some contributions I have been working on, seems that once again in my life I have opened my mouth and inserted my foot, now I need to find the time to get busy and perform as promised.

[Jerry LA Tile]

Hey Bud, Any action on this yet? Just checkin'

[Peter Kodner]

Jerry, I had volunteered to ADM to tackle a couple of these but he keeps insisting I also give him a bio and a photo One look at my picture and nobody wouold read the article (and make sure small children don't see it- could cause permanent damage ). The bio is easy- it would be about my favorite subject

izHere is my written commitment: I will commence work on the insurance issues on Wednesday. I will see if I can get my old insurance agent to proof and add anything he thinks needs covering. His primary business was providing business insurance for specialty contractors and also did a fair chunk of work for GCs.

You do have a great list of topics and I'm sure some articles from others would help all of us manage our businesses better. I'll be happy to tackles one or two more if this first one proves helpful (and only you, the readers, will be able to tell me that )

[TFP Admin]

Don't worry too much about the picture, Peter. I always edit the images and look how good I fixed up Bud's for his articles. He looks like a real person.

An article on insurance will be great. I'm looking forward to it.

[Nick Arrera]

I'm sure i could do something in Adobe for you also peter .. hee hee ..Look at my photo in my article . I don't know that guy .. T who was that guy who made that morphing program ? Ki or something like that ..

[Bud Cline]

Peter just go to MY Space or someplace like that and steel a photo of someone, send it to ADMIN as if it was your photo and don't say anything to anyone, no one will know the diiference and ADMIN will be happy.

Just don't tell anybody you got the idea from me.

[Peter Kodner]

I sent him a pic of Brad Pitt and he wouldn't buy it Go figure...

[TFP Admin]

I just wanted to bump this topic a little to remind our members reading this that you may have a great article in you and don't even know it. How about putting some of your thoughts in a PM or email to me and see if we can't put some new articles together. It's a fantastic way to support the site and a great way for your expertise to shine through.

Articles can be about anything flooring related, including those we discussed above, like insurance and other business related issues. It can be a how-to or just general information about something of interest - historical, topical, luminaries in the industry, special problems - if it's interesting to you, it's probably interesting to others.

Remember that we deal with consumers and do-it-yourselfers too. There's never enough how-to topics to go around and you might also have something in mind that will make shopping or selecting styles and colors easier and more fun.

It doesn't matter how well you write or spell, or if you don't have complete information. We are willing to help you develop and compose an article at any stage. Just drop me a line and we'll talk about it.

[TFP Admin]

I'm thinking it's never too late to bump a topic like this. Please read it (again?) and see if you might have something to offer. You can even use this forum to help you write. It's private - only you and staff will see your particular topic - and we will help you all along the way. Go ahead, you know you wanna be published on TFP.