One falls off the bucket list!

The movie “Bucket List” didn’t really resonate with me when it originally came out. Being a very forward focused person, stopping to reflect really doesn’t come very natural to me.. Even today, I nearly have to set an alarm to get me to stop and take a look around. That’s why today is a special day. Depending of course on when you open this, I am going to be on a plane, riding up front for the first time. Business First Class. Yes, that was on my bucket list. Don’t hate me for it, we’ve all got our reasons for what is on that list. Maybe I’ll talk about that one more later. The important take away for me is the things we have to work through to get to cross those kind of milestones, and the fact that the work leading up tends to take so much more energy than the event itself. Strange how we do that to ourselves. Whether flying first class, climbing a mountain or having the yard that is the envy of the neighborhood it is going to take work.  Sometimes we’re the right or only person that can do the work. It wouldn’t really do me much good to have someone else exercise for me if I’m the one that is supposed to climb the mountain.  Knowing when and how much you should take on with a project like that awesome back yard is something a good counterperson can help with. It is also time well spent. It reminds me of a time many years ago when I was spraying insulation into my attic. Proudly bragging, it took me only a short time to learn that I could have paid a contractor to come in and do the entire job for less than it cost me to buy the material and do the work myself.  When you’re planning those projects, give us a call. Who knows, the money and energy you could save might just help pay to cross something off your bucket list. Our Friday special offer for you on this list is a first come only excavator rental. No one but you will see it. I’m telling our guys to let one excavator go for $100 and you can have it for the weekend. That is less than 25% of the normal cost. The special conditions are this; Only one is available, whoever requests it first by calling 541-492-7368 gets it. The price does not include a trailer to haul it or delivery. Damage waiver will not be offered. If you break it, you pay for repairs to fix it. You can put up to 4 hours on the machine over the course of the weekend, additional hours on the machine will be billed at the normal rate. You can have one bucket (get it, bucket list..?) of your choice based on availability It needs to be returned clean and full of fuel as per our normal procedure. Funny thing. Thinking about you, on this list, I already know you’re a doer. I didn’t even have to mention getting up off the couch, it was just how to make the most of your time. That’s pretty cool. If you are reading this on our blog, you're coming in late, and missing out on snagging specials like the one listed here. These go out to our email subscribers first. To get them, sign up here > Umpqua Rental Insiders Club -Tim- Real live phone people Roseburg 541-492-7368 Myrtle Creek 541-863-4385 Roseburg Rental Website, you can request a reservation here even after hours

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Preventing unexpected equipment rental expenses

You brought it back and now they are asking for more money?

In the rental business it is one thing to save money using your time wisely, but one of the big fears is additional expenses. Lets talk about how to prevent them. The top 3 reasons additional money will added to a contract; Returned dirty or low on fuel We’re not asking you to hand wash the equipment (we do that each time it comes through), but we do need you to leave your wood chips, mud, or other debris at your site or stop by a wash facility on the way back to the shop. This additional cleanup time isn’t included in the rental rate. We send the equipment out full of fuel and it should come back the same.  Damage from incorrect application of the equipment Our stump grinder is a good example. It is engineered and does a great job tearing up stumps (wood fiber), but will succumb to rocks and dirt in a hurry. You wouldn’t put your lawn mower blades or chainsaw into the dirt, the same holds true for the stump grinder. Those teeth are quite expensive and we won’t cover premature wear because it was used to grind rocks and dirt.  Pushing equipment beyond its intended use Some folks will come into this with the mindset that cheaper is better, not considering the wear and tear that happens when you push something to hard. It doesn’t work out well if you rent a cheaper mower but have to pay for replacing a belt because you tried to mow grass that was too tall. We have mowers engineered specifically for tall grass. They cost a few more bucks but are much more robust and do a lot better job. The same applies to much of our equipment.  The easiest thing you can do is spend a little time discussing your project with the counter person and once the best equipment has been chosen, getting to know the equipment better.  Along that line, we’re working on adding more user manuals and video’s to our website to make that easier to do from the comfort of your own home. Again, since this is just starting up, if you know your going to be renting something soon and don’t see the video for it, shoot me an email and I’ll put it to the front of the list. -Tim- www.roseburgrental.net Real live phone people Roseburg 541-492-7368 Myrtle Creek 541-863-4385 Roseburg Rental Website, you can request a reservation here even after hours

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3 ways to save $ on your next rental

Just this week I saw another example of someone spending more than they needed to, and this time quite a bit because it was a large piece of equipment, simply because of poor awareness of the rental pricing system.  In this case, it was a large 8000# reach forklift that was returned after 2 weeks and 2 days.  Now maybe this guy didn’t have room on the worksite for something that big to be just hanging around, there are certainly times when that or fear of loss, damage etc., might be good reasons to not take advantage of the discounts.  #1 way to save - you should know the rate variables for the the specific item you are renting. Most equipment will have pretty steep discounts compared to hourly when held longer. Ours are typically at 1 day versus ½ day, one week versus daily, and monthly versus weekly.  Had this guy held on to the item for 2 more days he could have gotten the equivalent of 9 free days. That’s not chump change on an item that large.  #2 way to save - have your worksite prepped ahead of time. You’d be surprised at the number of people who will rent a paint sprayer and not have their doors, windows and trim masked off. This same thing applies to almost everything you do.  #3 way to save - size the equipment correctly. Power washers are a great example, for around 25% more money you get double the productivity when you rent the large versus the small. Pay for and clean everything in one day with the large, or two days with the small? If the project could be done with something larger, it will almost always cost less to step up to the larger equipment than using the cheaper equipment for longer.  I’ve mentioned that this venue will be where our leading information comes from and today will be a first for us. This has not been announced anywhere yet: We are going to be selling our JCB 8018 mini excavator. Auction site prices for something similar have been averaging upwards of $15K. I’ll let it go to anyone in the group for $12K.  Looking ahead, want to watch me stumble through my first live video feed? I’m going to try 10am next Tuesday. This will be on our FB page for Roseburg Rental. The following Tuesday I’ll be at The Rental Show in New Orleans and will probably be running one or more from there too. Real live phone people Roseburg 541-492-7368 Myrtle Creek 541-863-4385 Roseburg Rental Website, you can request a reservation here even after hours

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Felony Flats?

It is an interesting thing nicknames. I remember the cruelty of many of them while in school growing up. I guess being so far removed from those days I hadn't really paid much attention, but then recently I saw an article in The News Review (our local news paper) about how bad things were in the Pine/Mill/SE Stephens neighborhood. Its true, the area is called Felony Flats by a fair amount of folks in this community.

We put it to a test last night. Not intentionally, but a test none the less. An employee forgot to close one of the garage doors to the facility. So it sat in plain view of anyone walking or driving by on Highway 99 through town.

The call came in from the alarm company about 3:30 am, motion sensors activated in several bays. I gave them my vehicle description to share with the police and headed toward the shop.

Here's the deal, I show up, recognize that there has been no damage to the door which is odd because we normally lock them from both the inside and the out. Without a key, you're going to have to damage something to get the door open.

The Roseburg City Police had been dispatched after receiving a call from a concerned citizen who noticed the door open when they drove by. They performed a really thorough inspection on the facilities, and in the process of entering the building tripped a motion sensor, thus the alarm.

So I wonder, how many people walked by but stayed honest. The video cameras tell the rest. All evening long, even into the early morning, folks stop, look and move on. So Felony flats? I say no way. This neighborhood like any other has its share of lawbreakers, but I would say if anything we're better than average on our good guy percentage.

Thank-you to all in the neighborhood for keeping it honest, and calling it in when we're dumb. It helps keep us in business, and we love being able to offer a needed service.

-Tim-

Update #4

Momentum continues to build! We are now up to more than 25 expert participants that are going to join together to help folks with their home and facilities improvement projects! I'll try to go through today to make sure we have everyone listed here, the most recent additions coming to mind are American Home Lending (Sandy is great!) and Harrison Hardware from the Winston area. I'll put a link up soon to our flier also.
-Tim-

April 6th, 2013 - Open house!

We're announcing it here first, you'll get to hear the good and the bad! Our goal is to create an event focused on getting things done. The busy season is just around the corner, and we want to be able to help you make the most of it.

My ambitions are high. I'd like to bring all the people necessary to take your project or challenges to success in one place for the day. From conception to completion, I'd like to have any resource necessary onsite. Whether a realtor, appraiser, Draftsperson/engineer, contractors, materials vendors, banker, equipment operators, and of course for do-it-yourselfers, our equipment and knowledgeable folks to train on how to use it most efficiently. We want to help you go from thinking about it, to admiring the finished product!

Our challenges as of today are; bringing in all of the support vendors, we hope to be able to share the vision with them. Marketing the event, with just 6 weeks to pull this off, it is going to be challenging! Site prep., I'm always striving to make tomorrow a better experience than today, that includes making our surroundings as pleasing as possible. Cleaning and painting are long overdue for some of our planters, parking curbs etc., Hopefully we can make time to get things looking their best for the event.

An easy 300+ jobs in Douglas County

Want to learn more about how you can help to create an easy 300+ jobs in Douglas County? No infrastructure needed, no "Big Business" to lure in, no political bickering. Its easier than you think! I'd welcome any constructive feedback you may have. Many times the best answer is the easiest, I think you'll agree, this is something we CAN do. At nearly 20 minute's long, this takes a little time, but if you'll watch this video you can see just how easy it could be. Click the link below.

Video - How YOU can make a difference!

What was once old is new again!

I've been thinking a lot lately about how fast things are changing, and the natural inclination to think that we're on the edge of something big happening soon. Generally speaking, I maintain a pretty optimistic outlook, I consciously chose several years ago to focus on the positive things in life, and can say my life made a dramatic change for the better when I did. With this in mind, and looking toward the future in these times of economic challenges, I'm left wondering what the "new economy" will look like. Where are the opportunities for a business owner, what will our local community look like? Will we have a whole new way of doing things around here? The questions go on.

Technology has given the average person with access to it the ability to obtain huge amounts of information in a short amount of time. A person from a younger generation viewed this as 2 demensional instead of 3 dimensional learning. The canvas of knowledge is very wide compared to what we had, but with the speed at which the information comes in, and the constant interruption of thought, the ability to naturally learn to a greater depth is compromised. I found this really fascinating, as the thought itself was rather enlightening.

All of this causes one to wonder, are we on the edge of something big. I have to admit, it seemed that this could be the case. All of this newfound ability to share knowledge and thought could lead to better, more inclusive decision making. Already I've had the opportunity to see some of this in action. There is definitely a large number of people using more collaborative energy to bring about positive change for our community. The ability to share information between entities can reduce the need for redundancy, and help people move forward with a better focus on a shared vision.

In business, if your going to survive, you've got to be paying close attention to the changes taking place in the world. The landscape is changing, if your not learning to adapt and change with it you will be left behind to wither on the vine. However, jumping to conclusions, and over reacting to a perceived change can be just as devastating. While I've always believed that to be fact, I couldn't really place my finger on an example until recently. There are no shortage of consultants eager to help a business owner "take it to the next level" or "fine tune your business plan" or any other help that results in a new expense item to pay for. A new management style is another example. I have seen a new push to completely change the management style to one that is more inclusive, and removes the typical age old hierarchy model. "It is time" they say, the information and communication age is upon us, sieze the opportunity or be left behind! Really....

The latest "story telling, management change" is one such example. It works for Steve Jobs, why can't it work for me? This article articulates in a far better way what I was thinking, but couldn't put into words. The hierarchal management style has stood the test of time. Our own model of democracy includes this form of governing. While there are pieces of the storytelling management style that I think can be a useful tool in leadership, to base leadership on this model is to ignore that history repeats itself.

We will look different coming out of this recession than what we were going in. It is very likely going to be an economic revolution rather than an economic recovery. I believe one thing is certain, the opportunities for the average entrepreneur have never been better. Interested in seeing which industies might be the best to consider for starting your own venture in?
This link is a good place to start!

I hope you've enjoyed the reading. Happy Mothers day to all of the Mom's out there!

How you can help create over 300 new jobs in Douglas County.

   For those that might be able to make it, I'm doing a presentation at the Tri-City Lions Club this evening. In it I'm going to show how a small shift in spending habits can have a profound effect on our local economy. When we add up all of the commerce in Douglas County excluding public spending, there is over $3.7B. I'm going to show how we can leverage that money into more than 300 jobs. No Politics, no infrastructure spending, no waiting. This is something we can do today!