Table of Contents

• COMMITTEE REPORTS
  • MEMBERSHIP REPORT
  • SOCIAL REPORT
  • SPEAKER COORDINATOR REPORT
  • TREASURER REPORT
• LEADS
• NOTABLE MENTIONS
• MIGHTY MINUTE
• QUESTION OF THE DAY
• MAIN SPEAKER

Committee Reports

Membership Report
(Click here to go to the Membership page)

Roman Okonowski brought in James Bache as a guest and possible new member.  He is an attorney that practices in the area of wills and trusts.  Part I of the membership application was completed and sent out earlier this week.  Jim is very interested in joining our group.  But he forewarned us that he will spend much of his time here bragging about his two daughters.  There were no objections☺

MEMBERSHIP DRIVE TEAMS
Dean Synan	Greg Stewart	Paul Kavanaugh	Andrew Jensen
Randy Clark Gus Dekavallas Jana Green Joe Hesch Bill LaLonde David Lathrop Keith Miller Roman Okonowski Stuart Schindler Fred Vandervort	Jean Batt George Booth Robert Busch Dave Crissman Don Ellis Bob Dowle John Gruber Chuck Hultstrand Phyllis Prater Carole Weishaar	Patricia Cox Ralph Cunningham Mark Dreher Brad Evans Dennis Johnson Buck Nance Jim Rieder Lisa Schnaidt Brian Verbraken Wayne Unruh	Althea Bussert Dave Coyne Jim Crosman Chris Curran Sandro Menasci Gary Nelson Dave Spiess Bob Uber Mike Whalen Joe Zingale
MEMBERSHIP DRIVE INCENTIVES
NEW MEMBERS
The Initiation Dues of $150 and the usual quarterly (pro-rated) dues of $150 will apply. A New Member can recoup that Initiation Fee by using other MABE member services. The New Member is given up to 6 months to use other MABE member services to recoup  the $150 Initiation Fee.  They can do this any number of times if they like, with a $25 minimum repayment (6 X 25 = 150) OR a single use of service getting ALL of the $150 initiation fee back at one time. A receipt from the service will be required and given to our Treasurer in order to obtain the repayment.  This will keep it simple for any of our MABE businesses to conduct business in the usual way.
NEW MEMBER SPONSOR REWARD
The MABE member who sponsors a new member will be given a one-time use of a $25 credit, that will be good for 6 months.  It can be used to recoup any  service from another MABE member. A receipt from the MABE business is all that will be required and should be given to our Treasurer in order to obtain the credit.  This is your reward for bringing in a new member.
SUBMITTED APPLICATIONS
[membersonly/archives/applications/submitted_applications.htm]

Social Report
(Click here to go to the Social Event page)

No report.

Speaker Coordinator Report
(Click here to go to the Speaker Schedule)

• 02/13/04     Dave Spiess
• 02/20/04     Open
• 02/27/04     Stephan Chilton

Treasurer Report

We are rolling in the money.  We have a few dues outstanding.  Please get them in.

Leads Report

16-32, 08-14, 20-24, 20-28, 17-34, 23-13, 32-15, 12-16, 12-32, 12-33, 12-06, 12-04, 26-32, 26-28, 10-05, 07-28, 15-10, 15-14, 15-27, 21-48, 06-13, 04-23, 04-27, 27-21, 31-23, 40-41, 40-19, 02-13, 25-28, 09-10.

Notable Mentions

Board elections are coming up.  We took nominations today.  The nominees included:  Brian Verbraken, Chuck Hultstrand and Mike Tanner.  We will open the floor to nominations again next week.  The following week will be speeches followed by elections.  Dave Lathrop will be dropping off (but sticking around as past President) along with Carole Weishaar.

If you interested in being a part of a golf tournament see Chuck Hultstrand.  If you are interested in a discounted cruise see Carole Weishaar.

The new Buddy Lunch is posted.  Get them scheduled.

We still have plenty of brochures.  Take as many as you need.

MABE shirts are available for purchase in either navy or white.  The cost is $24.65 + tax.

Mighty Minute

John Gruber was today's Mighty Minute.  Like several other members, John is in his 25th year of business.  Unlike many businesses, they do not replace the old equipment with new.  They keep it all and use it.  This enables them to help customers transfer data from old formats to the new.  Also think about them for your business promotion needs.  They can help you with anything related to video.  John does offer some advice about buying into the latest fad.  If it seems exotic, you should probably hold off.  He has seen new formats come and go in under 6 months.  And don't stock up on VCR's because you think they will become obsolete in the near future rendering your collection un-viewable.  Like some formats, VHS has so deeply penetrated the market that it still has a long life expectancy.  But BETA is definitely out!

Question of the Day

No question.

Brian Verbraken
Verbraken & Sons Painting & Decorating

Brian's childhood was pretty normal.  He was born and raised in Waterloo, IA.  He moved out here during high school and graduated from Mesa High.  He then moved back to Iowa where he attended and graduated from the University of Iowa.  It was during his senior year that he met his wife Stephanie.  They have been married seven years and have one son, Noah, and another child on the way.  Besides his wife and kids, hockey is his life.  He passed around several pictures from his hockey career beginning at the young age of seven.

Brian's great grandfather started the family painting business back in Iowa.  Brian's dad moved to Arizona and opened a shop here.  After Brian graduated from college he moved here to work in the family business.  His father didn't want him too.  He thought Brian could do better things with his life and degree.  But Brian persisted.  This was 10 years ago.  His father has since stepped down and left Brian in charge.  They also closed their only retail location back in Iowa. 

Brian's uncle still works with him.  He is in charge of quality control out in the field.  He is particularly good at weeding out new employees.  When Brian hires a new painter he sticks them out in the field with his uncle.  If they can last the entire week, Brian knows he has a keeper.  In fact, of the 25 painters they have, 16 have been with them between 5-18 years.

What separates their company from the rest is in the level of quality they provide.  Brian takes each job personally.  This attention to customer service keeps them coming back.  Brian is a member of the PDCA, an organization that set the standards in his industry.  Unfortunately, not many companies don't know these standards let alone follow them.

They don't do a lot of specialty work.  It is just not cost effective.  Brian's first driveway paint job was for Phyllis Prater.  They do some stucco patching but if it is a big job they will contract it out because it isn't covered under their license.

Speaking of their license...Don't be scared away if you go the contractors site and see their old license listed as "suspended".  This was the result of incorporating their business.  Their old license was suspended and they were issued a new license.  But it looks bad the way it is listed and has cost them some jobs. 

Brian showed us a software program he is looking at using.  It is nice for customers because it shows them what their house would look like in different colors.  Unfortunately, it is time consuming to set up.  Once the picture is imported, it takes Brian several hours to plot it out.  He may only use it on jobs over $15,000 to make it worth his while.

All manufacturers have good quality paints.  Even Home Depot stocks some high quality paints, they just don't push them.  Basically, the more expensive the paint, the better it is.  A good paint will cost him $18.  it will cost $30-35 at the retail level.  Just remember, when buying exterior paint, make sure it is 100% acrylic.  Vinyl acrylic is no good.

Business is doing good.  Brian has six painters dedicated to residential jobs.  The other 19+ handle his commercial jobs.  It would be very hard for anyone in this group to get him commercial leads.  He has eight contractors in the Valley that he works with.  He has one estimator that works solely with four of his biggest contractors.  He has a second estimator that bids job down at the Dodge room.  But Brian will take all the residential leads MABE can hand him!