Reply To: Conventions aka "Golden Nugget Time"

[mitchellreid]

Techs and Owners,

I am not sure if anyone in the field is monitoring these forums, but just in case there is someone doing so, I would like to encourage you to attend this years convention and fill out the 2020 Convention Response Form listed on the Dr. Vinyl Website. If you are as inept as I am in the technology field and have a hard time with this I am sure that a call to the Corporate office at 1-800-531-6600 will suffice in alerting Headquarters that you are indeed coming to the Convention on March 5-7, 2020. I really hope to see you there. Dr.Vinyl Corporate is trying to provide those of us in the field with this opportunity to help and benefit each other.

I personally would like to share what I have learned in the Upholstery world and would like to learn, in turn, from you as well. There is a wealth of knowledge that we have at our fingertips. That knowledge is stored in the hundreds of hours of experience that we have all spent in the field honing our craft. We merely need to allow each other to access that vast knowledge. I assure you we will all benefit. The perfect access point for this is at the conventions each year. Please consider coming to share what you and others have experienced in the last 12 months.

If the knowledge is not enough, there is always the opportunity to be encouraged by your peers. This is often overlooked at conventions but is so effective in motivating us for the upcoming months. I remember sitting at a table at a convention with a Father and Son run Franchise. They were a little down about what more could be done to grow their rural area. I took it upon myself to tell them about how our Franchise was also very rural and how we had gone about growing it. They were surprised to here that when our Franchise Owner originally inquired about purchasing our area Corporate was very concerned about him not being able to make a living in this rural setting. I let them know that we never gave up and tried our best to grow our Franchise every year, even if it was just a little bit of growth. I wanted so badly to encourage the Father and Son team and I did my best to tell them everything I could to help them. Lo and behold, the next year they came back to convention with a very different perspective and attitude. At first, I just thought they were happy to see me, as we had become fast friends and had spoken on the phone a few times over the last year. However, I was very surprised at how their demeanor had so drastically changed. When we sat down at a table again, just like we had done at the previous convention, they were very excited to introduce me to their two new techs that had come on board with them in the last 12 months! They had been motivated and encouraged enough by the last convention to strike out in their area, beat the bushes, and grow their business. At that convention they definitely encouraged me. To this day I remember them whenever I am feeling down or question what more I can do to grow our business.

Very much hope to see any and all of you within the sound of this forum at the 2020 Convention.

Mitchell Reid
The Wandering Upholsterer