Eric Sprague
The reality in the cleaning and restoration industry is that the majority of companies are smaller, Mom & Pop type organizations. Most of us start our business because we are good at the technical work of our trade and we desire more freedom and more money by not working for “the man”. However, we also […]
Eric Sprague
Life of the Restorer We work 16-hour days.We chow down on gas station food. We rarely say no.We show up exhausted.We roll out of bed in the middle of the night to help people during their worst moments. We are there for others when they need us most—but in doing so, we neglect ourselves. We are […]
Eric Sprague
Let’s cut straight to it—most of us in the trades didn’t get into business to become HR specialists. We got into it because we’re good at the work, we wanted more control, and maybe we thought we could do it better than the guy we used to work for. But now here we are running […]
Eric Sprague
As much as I hate to admit this in print, I am 58 years old. It feels really old when I type it out on the page. For those of you who haven’t yet reached my level of “seasoning,” it’s a weird age to be. You’re still young enough to be driven and want to […]
Eric Sprague
I remember years ago we had a restoration company come visit our office to watch how we conducted our morning huddles and how we interacted with our team. The visitors were in the midst of major culture issues in their business and heard we were able to turn our culture from one of fear and […]
Eric Sprague
I remember sitting at my desk one night at my cleaning restoration company, thinking about how much harder and more frustrating owning this business was than I ever imagined it would be. We had people quitting, we were plagued by employees who were not engaged in their work or the company, and my business partner, […]
Eric Sprague
We all heard the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears when we were kids. Goldilocks tries out the bear’s porridge, chairs, and beds in search of the one that is “just right.” Not too soft, but not too hard. Not too hot, but not too cold, either. Goldilocks was on a quest to find […]
Eric Sprague
Zig Ziglar has an amazing quote about training staff, “The only thing worse than training people and having them leave is not training people and having them stay.” Zig’s quote hits home for many restoration professionals. Do I invest in people and then fear they leave for a few extra dollars or start their own […]
Eric Sprague
One of the biggest complaints I hear from restoration and home service owners today is this idea that “nobody wants to work anymore.” I hear it everywhere. At conferences.On coaching calls.At dinner tables after long days.In shops when another young person quits unexpectedly. And look, if I’m being honest, I’ve said versions of it myself […]
