Month: January 2012

Sometimes I do a repair precisely by the book, leaving absolutely no possibility for error.  Then, at the moment of truth (i.e. testing the machine after reassembly), my heart sinks straight into my belly as I stare in disbelief when the appliance behaves just as if I never touched it.

This recently happened to me on a rather complex washer repair – replacing a tub seal – that requires extreme teardown and reassembly.  You sure don’t want to have to do it twice, but you need to put it all back together it before you can test the newly installed seal.  When I did, ouch!  The thing still had a slow, constant leak like I never knocked myself outputting in the new seal in the first place.

I was so bummed that I was grateful the washer was located in a separate room outside of the main house so I had some privacy to work through my “frustration.”  There I was in that dreaded situation where I had done everything right, and it just wasn’t clear to me what else I could do.

I decided to call GE technical support for any possible clue they could provide.  As the tech walked me through step-by-step everything I had already done, I nodded continually on the other end of the phone.  At the tail end of the call, though, he mentioned a special industrial adhesive, made by 3M and sold by GE, that is often used to reinforce the new tub seal after you install it, especially if it is not a particularly snug fit.

Although mine was a snug fit, it still leaked, so I contacted my parts house to try to get hold of some of the adhesive.  They didn’t have it in stock and said they would need a couple of days to get it in.  Did I mention they said it was $29 a tube?!

As I continued to research the problem, I stumbled on the best tip of the day!  Another technician said he uses Indian Head Gasket Shellac every time he puts in a tub seal.  The best part is, Indian Head Gasket Shellac is available at any AutoZone and costs $3.99 for what is apparently a lifetime supply.

There was an AutoZone just minutes from my service call, and I was back with a spanner wrench in my hand within an hour.  Now, while this didn’t relieve me from a second teardown of the washer, I know I felt I was not just shooting in the dark.  And, of course, the second disassembly is always faster because you’ve already freed up all the corroded connections.

I got the new tub seal back out, applied the gasket shellac to the edges and reinstalled it, then I had to have to give it time to dry before I could retest the washer for leaks.  I went on another quick service call, then returned to check the results.

Bingo!  Wow, live and learn!  Earlier that day, I had no idea that the stuff even existed, and it turned out to be a lifesaver.  It is fair to say that Indian Head Gasket Shellac has changed my life.  If you don’t think so, see if I ever go out again without it!

Just as things were building up a head of steam in the remote rural town of 18,000 people where I successfully started my appliance repair business, my wife landed a job in a city with a metro area of 1.3 million people.  So, I moved my business.

Here I am in a completely new business situation, cashing in on the upside, and dealing with the downside.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison so far:

Parts Houses vs. the Internet:

• IN THE COUNTRY:  Where I lived before, it was an 80 mile round trip to the parts house, so I had to stock a sizeable inventory, and everything had to be ordered online.  Fortunately, my customers were used to living in a remote area, and so were patient with a two or three-day wait for the parts to fix their appliances.
• IN THE CITY:  Here in the city, they expect same day repairs, but the parts houses are close by and even cheaper on some items than the internet, which means I  don’t have to stock as much inventory.

Competition:

• IN THE COUNTRY:  There was almost no competition out in the boondocks – customers were so grateful I even serviced their area, they asked for fistfuls of business cards to tell their family and friends about me.  I got tons of referrals and repeat business.  I was one of three companies that came up in a Google search on appliance repair for my town, one of the other guys was out of business, and I developed a partnership with the other one.
• IN THE CITY:  For the first couple of weeks, I was on Page 7 of Google for appliance repair in my city.  This was one of the scariest feelings I had about starting up here, and I seriously thought I would have to start paying for internet advertising.  But first, I thought I would try the free approach and see how far it got me.  In order to get better page rank, I added content to my appliance repair website, which was mainly tips and tricks for customers on how to get the most out of their appliances.  I also was forced to do SEO for my site by adding keywords, metadata, and tags.  Most importantly though, I started asking my customers to give me honest reviews on directory sites.  Before long, I was on the first search page again, so it can be done for free with a little hard work.  So far I haven’t paid for any advertising – I’m still waiting to see how it far the free approach gets me.

Opportunity:

• IN THE COUNTRY:  The worst thing about the tiny population I was dealing with was, I would get 6 or 7 calls a day some weeks, and then it would slow way down other weeks.  It was like there was only so much business to go around, and I already had most of it.
• IN THE CITY:   Once I get fully up to speed and the phone keeps ringing here, looks like I can do steady business every week.

Rates:

• IN THE COUNTRY:  There was only so much I could charge in my remote, depressed economy, so there didn’t seem to be much room for increasing my rates.
• IN THE CITY:  It’s a little early to tell, but if I undercut the competition I could be selective, and if I want to charge more, I could do less work for more money.  Or, I could work harder and make more money than ever, which sounds good to me!

Driving:

• IN THE COUNTRY:  The calls were 30 miles apart, and return trips were to be avoided if at all possible, although that was often not the case because I couldn’t warehouse every part, and had to order online and come back later to install.  The GPS also sent me on a bunch of time and gas wasting goose chases.
• IN THE CITY:  I have the luxury of being 15 minutes away from my calls, and the parts house.  I can do more calls in a day with less wear and tear on my vehicle and myself.  And the GPS works here – no more printing out Google maps!

Toll-Free Number:

• IN THE COUNTRY:  When I first started up, I decided to go with a toll-free number, mostly because I was in a remote rural area where everyone who called me would be charged for a toll call.  I thought they might not hesitate to call if it didn’t cost them anything.
• IN THE CITY:  It also occurred to me that if I ever moved, I wouldn’t have to reorder business cards, invoices, signage, etc.  Boy, is this paying off now!

It’s a challenge moving a business, and with the entirely new environment in some ways, it’s like starting all over again, but I’m going to work hard to be even more successful here than I was in my old location.