16-45, 37-26, 37-2 (x2), 32-41, 41-13,
41-26, 29-32, 12-18, 12-47, 44-06, 44-18, 44-12, 44-32, 45-30,
45-32, 21-33, 35-45, 43-11, 19-41.
Former member Frank Coombs had breakfast
with us this morning.
The change of the guard took place this
morning. Dave Coyne introduced Dave Lathrop as our new
president. Dave Lathrop's response, "I've waited so for this
day." I think I even detected a tear in his eye...or was
that Dave Coyne that was crying?
Can you believe it is brochure time again?
We are down to only 100. We have 2 new members that
need to get pictures and bios in. Other members need to make
sure to get all modifications in to Stuart "before" the deadline
which will be sometime in September or October. For
instance, Ralph Cunningham will want to get his business name
change (Teddy Bear Computer Service) in the new brochure.
Just to remind members...We have a business
card box behind the podium. You can add your cards and take
cards of other members.
Mighty Minute
Wayne Unruh told us that a lot of his business now is related
to cabinetry. Most people got into the '80's fad of
whitewash cabinets and now he is replacing them with darker, more
formal looking woods. He is also getting a lot of
calls from people who are buying new homes and wanting them
remodeled before they move in. He gets leads from his
website, home shows and referrals. They will always go out
to a potential client's home when showing them ideas.
What looks good in the show room does not always look good in a
person's home.
The recession officially ended in November
2001. The housing market seems to be fueling the recovery.
People are refinancing. They are pulling money out of
their homes and pouring it into the market. How are you
going after that money in your business?
Gus Dekavallas - A lot of people haven't been
putting as much away for retirement. We are seeing more
come in now. Bankruptcy is high.
Wayne Unruh - The home improvement business is
up. People are taking the equity in their house and
putting it into remodeling.
Dave Coyne - We sold our home of 16 years and
are putting the equity into remodeling a new house. Instead of
using our discretionary income, we are just rolling it
over.
Mike Whalen - The best thing to do with that
money is to load up on lots of trophies.
Should we be concerned that rates are
increasing? Or what if we over build or there is no one
left to refinance? Will we see a downtown in the economy?
Gus Dekavallas - Increasing rates mean the
economy is recovering.
Dave Crissman - We don't usually see business
increase until after someone like Wayne Unruh does. We
seem to do well when the refinance market is not doing well.
We see more business when consumer confidence is high and people
are less cautious.
Chris Curran - I have been looking closely at
this as part of my plan for the future. The refinance
market is going to level out but it will always be there.
People that don't know how to manage money will take it out of
their house. New home construction has not slowed since
the 80's. Nothing has occurred in the Valley to say we are
going to slow down. The only thing that concerns me
is utilities. Especially water.
Quentin Abramo - Commercial offices are a big
part of our business. They are starting to spend again for
the first time in three years.
Brad Evans - Our company is particularly
responsible for the recovery. We keep pouring money out!
Reg and Jean Batt
Portraits by Reg
Life according to
Jean...
Reg was born and raised in a small Colorado town
outside of Boulder. Jean says he had the ideal childhood.
His father was a banker and his mother was a homemaker.
Reg was an athlete. He was always involved in swimming and
track. His family took regular trips to their cabin and
even traveled to Europe. Just call him "the Beaver."
Jean was raised on a cattle ranch. It was
not a romantic life. It was hard work. But as a kid
she never realized just how tough things were. They didn't
have luxuries like television so the kids had to find ways to
entertain themselves. They rode horses during the summer
and ice skated during the winter. It was a lot of fun.
She was also involved in 4-H and spent time raising her calf for
show.
Reg and Jean met at college. The both got
the degrees in education. They married after college and
both went into teaching. Reg taught and coached for 17
years. Jean taught mostly kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade.
But she had to teach in between babies.
They have three children. Their son works
in the family business. It has been working out great.
He is taking them to the next level of business...digital.
His presence in the company will also make it easier for them to
retire. One daughter is a stay-at-home mom and part-time
interior decorator. Their other daughter is the athlete.
She and her husband both recently finish the grueling Iron Man
competition in Hawaii.
In teaching, you reach a level where you have no
where else to go but into administration. After 17 years,
Reg reached that peak. He was not interested in
administrative work. They had a friend that had a
photography business and wanted to expand to Arizona. Jean
and Reg moved to Arizona to open up the new location.
It was the ultimate learn-on-the-job experience.
The partnership lasted 2 years. Jean and Reg bought him
out. They went to classes and hired a business consultant
which was the best thing they ever did. They should not have made it in business but
they did. They had an advantage over the big companies in
that they were only a phone call away. When people needed
them, they were there and the clients appreciated it.
Business according to
Reg...
People wonder how they have survived being married so
long while working together all this time. Reg explained
that being in business together, they understood the reason
behind working long hours and weekend shifts.
They began in their business venture in 1978.
Their main business was doing school pictures and senior
portraits. They wanted to offer something different from
the competition so the looked for a place that had a nice
outdoor area so they could do inside and outside pictures
without having to go on location and without the traffic.
They found that place on Lakeshore and have been there ever
since.
When they began they had 2 high schools.
Gilbert H.S. was one of them. In the beginning they only
had 50 graduating seniors. Now they have over 700.
Portraits by Reg does about 5000 senior portraits each year.
The bulk of them need to be taken care of during the summer
months. By the end of September they have to have the
prints to the school. It is becoming more difficult
because schools are in session longer and it cuts into their
time. They have 14 employees year-round and expand to
about 25 in the summer.
In late August and into September they do
undergraduate pictures for the yearbooks. They do this
just as a service. They do about 15000 pictures in these
months. Also, as school begins, they work with the fall,
winter and spring programs doing team pictures.
They do family portraits year-round but mostly
around the holidays when the whole family is together.
They do them inside and out, at the studio or at the home, etc.
Seniors would grow up and come back to have
their weddings photographed by Portraits by Reg. They do
about 1 or 2 weddings a month. They also photograph their
children and infants.
Other jobs they do include 2 or 3 business
sittings a day along with board of directors, photographing new
space, legal work and more. On the commercial side they do
truck fleets for publications. They photographed an old
John Deer tractor for their annual calendar. They even
photograph small things like eye glasses, artwork, needlepoint,
etc.
Copy work has helped them out a lot.
People bring in old pictures that they need restored. A
lot more can be done with the help of computers these days.
Reg normally goes to work around 7:00am.
However, about a year ago Reg happened to go by the studio
earlier than normal. When he drove in to the parking lot
he saw smoke coming out of the building and called the fire
department. They responded quickly but told Reg if he had
gotten there 10-15 minutes later the whole building would have
gone up. Fortunately nothing was destroyed and they were
able to keep their busy work schedule that day. They just
had to put up with the smell of smoke.
As mentioned earlier, they have been going
digital. Reg had been fighting it but as of the first of
the year they went filmless...totally digital. It was an
expensive conversion but Reg bit the bullet. They had to
research and study it. Their son was beneficial in doing
it.
One Saturday morning an employee stopped by the studio and
noticed something was wrong. Apparently the night before
someone broke in and stole all of their new equipment including
the digital cameras and computers. They had several jobs
to do that day but were fortunate enough to find two digital
cameras that had been tucked away. Roman Okonowski came
out right away, took care of the insurance and helped them get
back up and running. Then they had Dave Spiess come out
and install an alarm system. They are still learning how
to use it.
Over the years business has grown quite a bit.
Around the studio they joke that it is pretty easy to get a job
here but you have to die to get out. They still run it as
a family business. They do a lot together including
indulging in Fat Boy Fridays and keeping a book of the funny
things customers say.
We'll close with one of the best...
An employee called a client and their young
child answered the phone. They asked if their daddy was
home. The child said no, that he was at work. The
employee asked if mommy was home. The child said no, that
she was in the shower. They then asked if another grown-up
was home that they could talk to. The child responded,
"Well, my uncle is here but he is in the shower with mommy."