Milestones happen. The days drag/ drift/ fly/ rush by and then you get smacked with another "place in time" - a date that forces you to stop, appreciate on what you have accomplished and reflect on what you would do different if you could do it all over again.

I've been called a horse's behind before. Sometimes I even deserved it. How about you?

I like women. Always have. I like talking with them, spending time with them and, maybe most importantly, I enjoy working for women. I hope you do too.

"Good looks, brains and eloquence." Are you, like me, lacking one or more of these qualities that Homer enumerated almost 3,000 years ago? If so, when it comes to "putting on a show" when selling carpet cleaning, we need to make up for our failings with quality sales "props."

Some of life's greatest (not necessarily the healthiest) pleasures are just plain horrible the first time you sample them. I challenge even the most addicted tobacco smoker to say he truly enjoyed that first cigarette.

You are a carpet cleaner and, given the demographics of our industry, very likely male. Spots, stains and "uglied out" carpets just don't bother you. After all, you're a carpet cleaner- and you're a man!

The fastest, simplest, easiest money a carpet cleaner can make? Selling add-on services while he or she is already working in the customer's home.

"What do my employees want?" Ah. The eternal question. The list is long and varied as to what each employee wants from you as an employer. But one common denominator is more money.

Your business is like an airplane. Airlines have learned that it costs basically the same to fly a given route whether they have 20 passengers on board or 200. Obviously the profit dynamics of the route improve drastically when the plane is full. So how can your business "fly full"?

Carpet cleaners are crazy. Like everyone else, the carpet cleaning industry is getting hammered with brutal competition and increasing costs. But the craziness is we have a "secret weapon" to still make tons of money both for our employees and our company, and almost none of us take full advantage of it.