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Rob_Mac

Re: best trade association ?
« Reply #40 on: June 29, 2008, 09:51:07 am »
D. A.

I am not a knocker of what has been achieved by yourself and others in Scotland.

I do not believe for one minute that we should have a given right to a level playing field, the beer brigade have two arms, two legs and a mouth - exactly the same as me - and anyone else.

ALL NEED is certainly not in my reply. People make choices in life, those choices will determine where they end up on the heap, some people are deflected by circumstances. Others by things that happen that are out of their control.

Other than those set of circumstances that are completely out of your control it is not an excuse to say that because we are born we have a right.

The SLWCN cannot be free if you want to see a return on the fees you pay.

I look at the industry as a whole and it is sadly lacking in advancement. That has not affected my business - if anything it has helped my business because I have been able to set an example and peoples beer brigade attitude can carry on for me.

I spend a lot of time helping individuals to advance themselves, I go into a local school once a year on their industry day and try and input into those coming up to leaving school age by offering an insight into being self empoyed. I will always go out of my way to assist where I can, anyone who is genuinely looking to improve themselves. What I am showing with this is that this is not a completely selfish approach to the way I work.

What I will never do is try and drag the victims of life. You have dedicated what would be perceived as an incredible amount of time to someone elses cause.

If you had utilised all of that effort to a very few like minded people would or could you have achieved more by example.

My background is from the miners strike in 84 - I came out of the army into this decimation of a whole region and men that had stood side by side for a whole year, proud men that had to have soup kitchen hand outs, that were crushed by a government that wanted to introduce economic strategies that had nothing to do with the miners or how much their individual mortgages were costing - Arthur Scargill still took his £50000 a year salary!!!.

I am southern compared to Scotland but I would not call Stoke on Trent the affluent south - this is where I started my business - amongst the beer brigade on a pound a front and £3.00 all round.

I have been in the industry for long enough now to know that I can help more of the right people by example and individual one on one than thinking that a trade association is someones right.

Please understand that I am not attacking what you are doing and nothing is a personal attack. I wish you luck but whilst most on here were looking at the same old threads yesterday I spent the day holed up in my office looking for the icing on the cake businesses to form allegiances and working supply chains and that is the difference between the few and the many.

Rob ;D

Nathanael Jones

  • Posts: 5596
Re: best trade association ?
« Reply #41 on: June 29, 2008, 10:14:24 am »
I think of all the window cleaning associations, the SLWCN is the most active, has achieved the most, and is possibly the best known, and has to be given due credit for that.

That being said,... I haven't met a single person outside the window cleaning community (And many who are shiners too!) who have heard of it, or any of the other associations either.

In Scotland I'm sure it is known by the public, but since the majority of people here are not living in Scotland, I think the majority of people here would benefit no more from having the SLWCN logo on their van than any other logo.

Joe public doesn't know the difference, even if Jock public does!

elite mike

Re: best trade association ?
« Reply #42 on: June 29, 2008, 10:25:41 am »
hi rob

can you tell us the  price of the licence, and the benefits of being so please.

regards mike

Rob_Mac

Re: best trade association ?
« Reply #43 on: June 29, 2008, 10:28:48 am »
Elite

Have you looked properly at my reply - I think you need to be asking D.A Services

Rob ;D

elite mike

Re: best trade association ?
« Reply #44 on: June 29, 2008, 10:31:00 am »
sry  rob      sunday morning    :D

DASERVICES

Re: best trade association ?
« Reply #45 on: June 29, 2008, 06:42:17 pm »
Cheers Rob,

I know where you are coming and daft as it seems it is free. This is my view and may not be shared by others, we could not charge for something if it was not acheivable but now we have turned the corner it may come to that in time.

There are a lot of legal issues involved so it is a huge learning process and I personally feel it will take a couple of years to achieve our goal.

Not going to go on any more as I will sound like a broken record ;D

Nat,

All licensed window cleaners will soon be aware of the SLWCN and so will the general public. Not all are joining as there is a huge percentage of window cleaners that are near the end of their career and having spoken to a lot they all hope we succeed for the future generation.

Mike,

A license can cost from £30 to £350 depending what area you work in, the benefits none at present but we hope that it will change soon which we are aware of will do as there are changes happening within the Councils and the Police.

On a last note we do need an association in Scotland as there are big changes happening so there needs to be a voice within the Councils to make sure these changes work for the better of our industry.

I think enough said on this topic, cheers guys.





Paul Coleman

Re: best trade association ?
« Reply #46 on: June 29, 2008, 10:04:18 pm »
SLWCN is FREE, we all help each other as a network.

You hit it on the head Rob with "We all start with a level playing field"

The answer to that in a lot of areas is NO, to many beer brigade about. You are probably not effected that much down South but there are huge issues in some parts which the licence should resolve it.

Hence I would totally agree with your statement " We ALL need to be on the same level playing field"

The Councils and Police need to give back more to the Industry if they want us to be licensed, there are hundreds on licensed window cleaners throughout the years have been asking the Council to do this. They have never done anything but now as a united front they are now willing to work with us.

This is not a war and has never been, we just want a return on the fees we pay which thankfully we will soon see. The license was empowered by the Police as a community safety issue so they should be backing us as well.

There is also a lot wrong but why not work with Councils and make it work for the industry which all licensed window cleaners can have a say in it.

Hope this makes sense ;) ;D


Maybe I haven't read your posts closely enough in the past but the licensing issue in Scotland makes some sense to me now.  I had always had the impression that licensing was initiated by window cleaners which seemed rather strange to me.  However, as licensing was initiated by the police and the councils in the first place, I see now that you had a choice of whether to fight against licensing or to go with it and do your level best to get your moneysworth.  As licensing had already been imposed from outside the industry, I do see that getting your moneysworth is a better line to take than fighting against it. I imagine that it is easier to lobby for an existing law to be imposed than it is to get it repealed.
I was never clear to me in your previous posts that this licensing law had already been forced onto the industry in Scotland from outside.  Mind you, I have tended to skim read posts about licensing I must admit.

sjm

Re: best trade association ?
« Reply #47 on: June 30, 2008, 06:31:13 am »
Its only my opinion , but I cant see a problem with a fed being backed by a company !  This here site CIU has a sponser after all , and thanks to it , I am building a cracking little business  :D  If you wanted really good advice where is the first place you would go ????             It would be great if Express cleaning supplies could get involved in a fed somehow , but after all the knockers that come on here and shoot everthing down I doubt they would  ???   Just a note that since joining this site , I have learnt more in a few months , than in 26 years struggling with prices, awkward customers, and now going onto wfp  ;D   Why not let one of the big boys set something up , so we can all bennefit ?  Rant over , and sorry for going off on a tangent  ;D

elite mike

Re: best trade association ?
« Reply #48 on: July 01, 2008, 07:06:50 pm »
Cheers Rob,

I know where you are coming and daft as it seems it is free. This is my view and may not be shared by others, we could not charge for something if it was not acheivable but now we have turned the corner it may come to that in time.

There are a lot of legal issues involved so it is a huge learning process and I personally feel it will take a couple of years to achieve our goal.

Not going to go on any more as I will sound like a broken record ;D

Nat,

All licensed window cleaners will soon be aware of the SLWCN and so will the general public. Not all are joining as there is a huge percentage of window cleaners that are near the end of their career and having spoken to a lot they all hope we succeed for the future generation.

Mike,

A license can cost from £30 to £350 depending what area you work in, the benefits none at present but we hope that it will change soon which we are aware of will do as there are changes happening within the Councils and the Police.

On a last note we do need an association in Scotland as there are big changes happening so there needs to be a voice within the Councils to make sure these changes work for the better of our industry.

I think enough said on this topic, cheers guys.



         thanks d a

mike

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