Table of Contents

• COMMITTEE REPORTS
  • MEMBERSHIP REPORT
  • SOCIAL REPORT
  • SPEAKER COORDINATOR REPORT
  • TREASURER REPORT
• LEADS
• BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT
• NOTABLE MENTIONS
• MAIN SPEAKER

Committee Reports

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

Please extend a warm welcome to our newest members, Bob Becker and Mark Grant!

Keith Miller and Amy Ahrensdorf know a personal trainer that might be interested in joining our group.  They will need to see if Friday morning meetings will conflict with his schedule.

Roger Carpenter told the group that Roy Anderson is still interested in joining our group.  Roger will try to get him to a meeting soon.

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

No report.

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

Main Speaker

• 05/20/05     Joe Zingale
• 05/27/05     No Meeting
• 06/03/05     Round Table - Negotiating Leases

Spotlight Speaker

• 05/20/05     Chuck Hultstrand
• 05/27/05     No Meeting

Treasurer Report

Dues are current.  Weekly financials are available for members to view.

Leads Report

46-23, 16-06, 16-23, 35-31 (x3), 42-41 (x2), 32-40, 12-31, 12-18, 18-25, 26-46, 26-14, 26-02, 24-20, 49-19, 49-02, 49-14, 21-43, 03-23, 27-47, 27-43, 27-23, 27-23, 27-24, 27-28, 31-02, 31-34 (x2), 31-41, 43-22, 25-28, 48-41, 48-28, 09-17.

This week's leads focus...

• John Gruber,

• Joe Hesch

• Mark Howard

Business Spotlight

Roger Carpenter was today's Business Spotlight.  There is an extreme amount of competition in the wine business.  Every grocery store and corner liquor stores sells it.  In order to compete, Roger has expanded his services to include wine tastings, music, BBQs, etc.  He is planning to add a plasma screen and lounge chairs to make it a place to come, relax and have a glass of wine. He only sells unique, specialty wines.  If you see a brand of wine on the shelf at the grocery store, don't expect to buy it at Kangaroo Wines.  As soon as it hits their shelves, Roger pulls it off of his. 

Notable Mentions

Sandro Menasci was curious to know...If you could choose a local city to open a business in, which one would it be and why?

Don Ellis - Restaurants stay away from Scottsdale and Tempe.  Mesa is pretty good as far as working with the City.

Mark Dreher - I use a Tempe address because people have the perception of my being centrally located.  When they hear Mesa they think you are near Apache Junction.

Dave Spiess - Mesa is the worst city to work in for contractors.  They charge you a premium just to bid a job.

Mark Grant - Tempe has a difficult permit process.  It is time consuming.

Roman Okonowski - I agree with Dave.  Mesa is difficult from an insurance aspect as well.  It is their form or nothing.  I know many clients that won't do business there.  Gilbert is starting to go there too.  From a customer standpoint, Gilbert is good because of the growth.

Fred Vandervort - My Tempe store does triple the sales of my Mesa store.  The customer does perceive it as centrally located like Mark said.

Chris Curran - I have officed in Mesa and Tempe.  The perception of many about Mesa...Wide streets, narrow minds.  I have made every effort to get involved civically but the bureaucracy is firmly entrenched. 

Dave Spiess - From the service side of the business, being centrally located and near freeways is important.  It makes a difference when you are recruiting employees. 

Lisa Wolfe - Tempe is a good place because all freeways go through it.

Jim Bache - For me, access to freeways is important when choosing a location.  If I had to relocate, I would move to Power Rd or further east.  Gilbert is where the wealth is.

Bob Uber
B&K Cleaning Service, Inc.

Bob has been a MABE member for over 11 years.  He was born in Eerie, Penn. on a cold, icy day.  His mother was outside and slipped and fell while pregnant with Bob.  She was rushed to the hospital where she gave birth 3 months early.  As Bob put it, if he had been born full-term he would be huge!

Bob grew up in a small town which was nice.  He got to be involved in everything including football.  But his claim to fame is lettering in track as a freshman (and riding in the getaway car after upper classmen blew up a billboard).

He attended a small college in Indianola.  First semester grades were OK but they went downhill from there.  Bob decided to try out the military.  During this time his father transferred to Phoenix. 

Bob's sister had a little pain-in-the-ass friend name Kathy.  But she grew up.  They started dating and finally got married 32 years ago.

Bob graduated from ASU in '72.  He had several odd jobs including a stint selling insurance.  He and Kathy wanted to try something on their own.  They new some people that did housecleaning and made money at it.  It cost very little to start so they gave it a try.  They advertised in the Penny Saver and business grew.  They eventually got so busy that they had to start hiring employees.  They provide a wide variety of services from dusting to cleaning bathrooms and shutter, and more.  Bob even cleans windows.  They keep very busy.

Not too long ago someone approached Bob and Kathy about a product that they could offer their clients.  The product was air purification systems.  It seemed a natural fit with their line of work so Bob is giving it a try.

The products range in size and price.  They are better products than what you would find at the Sharper Image.  There are not filters to replace and they are easy to clean.  If interested, Bob can provide you with information on the different styles available and let you know which one would best suit your needs.  He will even give you a 3-day trial period so you can see if they unit meets your needs.  Several members gave testimony to the value of these products.  

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