Archives: Chapter Notes

The CFI had an intensive, hands-on stone and tile cleaning and restoration class in the Napa Valley on April 9 and 10th. Dan Humbert, a third-generation stone restorer was the instructor for the two days. Students enjoyed a day of classroom time and one day of hands-on stone repair and cleaning at Cuvaison Estate Winery.

This class was a great opportunity for intensive training and sold out at 15 students. CFI was able to offer members and students a non-product-specific class, meaning the focus was on learning not on product demonstration and selection.

Dan spent the classroom time on the different classes and types of stone. Emphasis was placed on how different stones are made, how to identify the different stones, how to determine what technique is to be used in cleaning and repairing the stone, with clarification about which stones can be cleaned with acids or alkaline cleaners.

On the second day, everyone met at Cuvaison Estate Winery, situated on a knoll in the middle of 200 acres of vineyards, where we were met with the challenge of cleaning and restoring the tasting room and exterior viewing decks natural stone.

Dan demonstrated tricks of the trade and students were given hands-on training on how to perform repairs on stone and how to professionally grout repair. Students then broke up into teams to start doing the hands-on restorative cleaning of the winery’s interior and exterior stone and to the quarry tile in the prep kitchen. Dan explained the proper way to prep the areas to be cleaned by masking all edges with paper to protect moldings, prior to the teams cleaning performing the restorative cleaning.

Everyone had a chance to do every part of the cleaning and seems to enjoy the class. After the floor dried Dan showed how to properly apply a sealer to the stone, then the students had a chance to do it. Application techniques were reviewed and all necessary detailing was performed to leave a beautifully restored finish to the interior and exterior of Cuvaison’s stone floors

CFI would like to thank the Cuvaison Estate Winery for letting us use their facility to do the class, Dan for teaching the class, and Clean Quest Products for their donation of products and equipment.

Chapter report for the meeting hosted by Cole’s Carpet on the evening of February 20, 2019.

CFI had as guest speaker’s Mrs. Beverly Stone & her business partner/assistant Mr. Rene Nariz from BJS Insurance Services Inc. from Southern California. They spent part of the evening sharing valuable insights and information to CFI members on the importance of Disability Insurance coverage. As independent service providers in the cleaning industry, we have to find ways of protecting the most valuable asset we bring to our business, which is our health. When we are presented with a medical emergency or any serious impediment which threatens our financial livelihoods at home, we are presented with challenges on being able to have some financial stability and security to weather the crises. Having peace of mind by incorporating a reasonably affordable solution is key to helping run a business that is one step closer to being stress-free. Beverly and her team are advocating for the insurance companies to create a program specifically tailored to fit and offered to small to medium-sized businesses like CFI as a group pricing option. We look forward to having many CFI members take that step toward financial stability once the insurance program is made available in the next few weeks or months.

Our second guest Mr. Akex Khodadad of Delphi Realty Group came as an advisor based on his Marketing knowledge and experience through online social media. He is sought after throughout the country to provide workshops on the importance and power of social media and professional networking with other business professionals in any service market. We appreciate the time that Alex gave insight as well as visual examples of what types of marketing help to brand our company name as well as company image. CFI is on track to utilize the potential growth of its membership by spreading the word about who we are and what our vision is through its online presence as well. Having advice from a service professional like Alex who has built a name, as well as a company brand from the ground up, is very helpful in learning what pitfalls to avoid along the way.

CFI thanks all the special guests that gave their time and resources to spend an evening with us. We look forward to having them visit us in the near future and share any updates or nuggets of wisdom for our members soon.

Sincerely,

Jose Solorzano
Central Coast California Director
ccadirector@cficonnects.org

CFI Family,

A huge thank you to all involved for making our recent CFI Meeting an enjoyable as well as an educational one for all who were able to attend. On November 7th, our very own Bill Corridan, with Prestige Carpet Care, hosted our event at his San Jose facility. We thank Bill for a very powerful and educational session at his facility. I also wanted to thank our new CFI President, Charlene Locke for sharing new and exciting news which will kick off in 2019 – starting the new year off with a bang. The new website is being finalized which will be a great leap forward into the tech interaction world for both current CFI members and those looking to learn about CFI and become new members. More details to follow soon.

For well over a decade, Jill Frillman, founder and owner of Bookkeeping Etc. Inc., joined us to share sound advice for everyday self-motivated entrepreneurs. She and her staff help small to mid-sized businesses clean up and maintain their accounting practices to get accurate and timely reports on the health of their businesses. This common-sense information was self-taught out of a small home office, to assist her husband’s financially struggling construction company. Soon, word got around to others also looking to financially manage their accounting and retirement. Her skills and guidance are sought after throughout the country.

Here are some thoughts from CFI members that attended our Nov. 7th meeting:

Jill Frillman’s bookkeeping advice on ‘Profit First’ is instrumental to any small business and creates a whole different level of organization. She references Mike Michalowich’s ‘Profit First’ book as a must read…..Barry Williamson, Barry’s Professional Upholstery Cleaning.

It’s Not about QuickBooks. When I got to the meeting place, they told me the subject was on QuickBooks. My immediate thought was I don’t need this. I have a person who does my book keeping already. I decided to stay anyway because I need CEC’s for my certified firm certificate. Jill’s first question was, who takes profit first out of what they earn? Only one out of ten said they did. She said that was normal. Jill asked another question – who knows when they will retire, and will they have all the money they need when they do retire? Well now she had my attention and for the next hour and a half we talked about a system that anyone can do and will help you to be profitable. It works with any type of business and she showed us just how we could accomplish it in our business. She offers a service where they will help you plan for improving your tax situation. They also provide a service where if you implement her system, they will keep you on track. This was by far the best CFI chapter meeting I’ve ever attended and if you weren’t there you missed a great one….Ken Harte, A-breeze Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning.

I am sure all who attended that night’s event walked away empowered with information that can immediately be applied and put into place in any business. I recommend everyone order or pick up a copy of the book she recommended, ‘Profit First’. Email or call Jill and her helpful staff for a professional consultation. Jill has generously offered all CFI Members a huge discount to take advantage of her professional services and advice.

We hope that all members and their guests who were able to join us for CFI’s Annual Christmas gathering in December had a good time. This is a great event full of love, laughs, and comradery.

Suggestions for great speakers, like Jill and many in the past, are greatly welcome. As well as workshop topics and locations. Please call, write, text or email me any and all your thoughts, comments, and concerns.

We have taken a consensus to plan accordingly for our 2019 S.F. Giants game-day to be held mid-June into July. We will select a date as well as provide pricing as soon as possible. Don’t miss out on the tickets which always sell out fast.

Lastly, as we round out the year and said goodbye to 2018 and hello to 2019, I want to thank all past and present CFI colleagues and dear friends who are a valuable asset to this organization. With your wisdom, experiences, and most important – participation, we have reached an important milestone of being a valuable resource to all independent service professionals and others for over 64 years. We thank you all for your dedication and support. Here’s wishing you and your loved ones a wonderful time celebrating a New Year.

Jose Solorzano
Central Coast California Chapter Director
ccadirector@cficonnects.org