Why should I look at a home-based business?

Why should I look at a home-based business? I just heard on the news today that businesses (specifically in the Phoenix, AZ area) are not quick to hire anyone and for those positions that are open, instead of looking for someone who can be either molded or can create the job, they are looking for someone who will fit into a pre-determined box they call a specific job task. If the candidates resume does not fit within the box, the employer will not even call the job-seeker in for an interview. Because there are so many people looking for work and there are much fewer jobs available, employers have the luxury of picking and choosing candidates. Not only can they choose the specific qualifications of each candidate, but employers are also able to define what they want to pay for that particular skill-set.

Please don't get me wrong. Working for someone else is not a bad thing, it is just not something that most people will do if they want to become financially independent. I have yet to meet one person who worked for a company or organization and became wealthy just from working for that organization. Your wealthy workers were those who found other uses for the money they earned. These people took the money that they worked hard for and then started making that money work for them. By the end of their working time with an employer, their money was making money and they had no more need for trading their time for someone else's money. That is why many people, when coming upon retirement age, find that they cannot retire when they wanted and live the life they had dreamed.

The key here is to find something to do with that little extra money you keep putting aside. Putting your money in a bank savings account is good, but the interest earned on that money is minuscule compared to what you could earn with other investments. I am not about to give any of you investment advice on where to put your money, but am here to suggest that you start looking for additional ways to earn an income. Going back to the job situation again, even if you are gainfully employed, there is no guarantee that tomorrow your current company will let you go, either due to down-sizing or other issues. In today's work environment, companies are looking very hard at their bottom line and may decide to let go of their higher salaried people because they can obtain the same skill-set for less money because there are so many unemployed people out there.

By starting to get your money to work for you, you will free yourself up from the "rat-race" of trying to make a buck - trading your valuable time for their money. Once you start having your money work for you instead of you working for your money, you are starting on the road towards financial freedom. Eventually, it is entirely possible that your money will be earning enough that you won't have to worry about working for anybody else. That is the true form of financial freedom.

So, as you continue to save a little bit here and a little bit there from your regular 'job', think about how you are going to get your money to work for you. You may decide to try your hand in stocks and bonds, or you may try real estate, or there are some very profitable home based business out there that can also become self-perpetuating. Be sure that the money you do start to invest is something that you can afford to lose if the investment does not pan out. As we have discussed in prior Millionaire Focus articles, many of those millionaires have put money into investments and lost the investment. But, they kept looking for other investments to get into. They continued to find ways to make the money work for them, not the other way around.

If you are interested in some home-based business opportunities, please check out our website. We also have some ideas for starting your own waterless car cleaning business if that is what interests you. If you would like to discuss other investment ideas, we are here to talk to if you want to bounce some ideas around. No matter what you decide, find something you love that will also help your money to grow at a faster rate than you would find in basic bank savings and CD accounts. These are some reasons why you should look at a home-based business.

Until tomorrow...

What is My Greatest Achievement

While searching for an interesting topic for tonight's blog, I came across a great question from Plinky.com. Tonight I am going to answer the question, what's your greatest achievement? How many of us can actually answer that question? There are so many small achievements to be proud of, but to find one that you would classify your 'greatest", well that takes some serious thought.My greatest achievement to date is having started Hawgwash, LLC and kept it running successfully for over 4 years. We have beaten the odds for new start-up companies so far. This January Hawgwash, LLC will be 5 years old. This is a huge achievement, especially since we have had a declining economy for most of those 5 years. (no the decline in the economy is not because we started Hawgwash, LLC)

I had been a corporate person for the majority of my adult life, working my way up from general sales, into accounting and finance. It had been tough, slowly climbing from rung to rung, long hours, minimal pay increases, but with time I succeeded in the corporate world. The difference was that I was still working for someone else, helping them to get rich. Four and a half years ago, with help from Steve, I left the corporate world to start Hawgwash, LLC.


We now travel around the country, from various shows (Motorcycle Rallies, Car rallies, RV Rallies) meeting the neatest people and promoting our products ad services. When we first started Hawgwash, LLC, we had a pretty basic business plan and a limited product offering. We were the Waterless Cleaning people. We would detail cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats and RV. Basically any vehicle you had, if it had decent paint on it, we would clean it for you.


As the economy started changing, we started adjusting our marketing strategy and expanding our product line. Our initial products went from the waterless cleaning items, to towels and additional cleaning supplies. At the suggestion of a good vendor friend of ours, we began carrying other items not specifically related to waterless cleaning techonolgy. This way, if we were in an area where they could care less about keeping the paint of their vehicle clean, we had other product offerings to entice customers.


We continued experimenting with other product offerings and removed products that did not produce solid results. As time goes on, we will continue to expand our products and services, always on the lookout to provide the best of the best for our customers. This philosophy has served us well over the years and we will continue to review products and services to be sure we are providing the best value for our customers


Because of our constant search, we have changed our goal of Hawgwash, LLC. We are not just the waterless people anymore, but are now Second Income Specialists. We offer several small business opportunities for people looking for a second or additional income stream. We have business offerings in the legal, nutritional and waterless technology fields. We are always open for questions and are more than willing to help guide people to find an opportunity that best suits their needs, even if it is an opportunity that we do not work with.

If you are interested in what we have to offer, or have questions, please check out our website at www.hawgwash.net or feel free to e-mail us. We welcome your comments and suggestions. As you can see, after almost 5 years, I am still very proud of this business of ours, Hawgwash, LLC. I consider it my greatest achievement to date.


Until tomorrow...

Grasshopper, who's a grasshopper?

It was just recently I heard a friend refer to someone else as a grasshopper. I had never heard that description before, it made sense, but I had never heard it phrased this way before. We had been talking about other marketers and we had a mutual friend who seemed to always be moving from one opportunity to another, and not sticking with any one opportunity for any significant length of time. Calling them a grasshopper was very descriptive and very accurate.

Then I got to thinking, grasshopper, who's a grasshopper? Do people think I am a grasshopper too? Perception is everything in the marketing world, so after our evening chatter, by the time I got home, I really started thinking, am I a grasshopper too? All of a sudden that reference didn't seem as harmless. It made me take a step back and really reassess what I am doing and where I want our business to go.

All businesses have to change. Change is required, if you don't change, you most likely will not be in business for very long. The difference is that the changes you make in business have to be relevant to where you are and where you need to go. Change for changes sake is not going to help anyone. So, if change is necessary in order to grow your business, the tough part is to figure out how to implement those changes and not be labeled a grasshopper... Interesting problem. It is an angle I hadn't considered before.

I then took a look at how Hawgwash, LLC has changed over the last two years wondering if we looked like grasshoppers too to the outside world. Gratefully, I don't believe we fit that bill. The other aspect of a grasshopper is someone who would work on one opportunity, drop it and move onto the next, better-looking opportunity. They do this on a regular basis. They look more like opportunists rather than business people. Hawgwash, LLC has not dropped one opportunity for another, but rather, we have expanded our business opportunities to meet a wider range of interests. We have not lost sight of our original business opportunity, waterless wash technology. We also recognize the fact that not everyone is interested in waterless technology, heck there are many people who don't want to bother cleaning their car, with or without water.

So that we didn't turn into a "scotch tape store" we began to expand into other income opportunities that suited us personally, but would also suit our customer base. The other income opportunities we offer are not just opportunities that looked good on paper. The are opportunities that we personally use and believe in. So, unlike some who may change their business model based on the profitability of the month, we are in it for the long haul with our selection of income opportunities. We work all of the opportunities, and don't plan on abandoning them for a newer fad.

Tomorrow we will review the various income opportunities that Hawgwash, LLC has to offer and discuss why we added them to our master business plan.

Until tomorrow...

The "NO HASSLE" MLM Test Ride

Test the waters with an MLM Company without having to join the MLM Company!

Have you ever wondered, really, if you should try selling products from an MLM Company? Most likely you have heard so many bad things that happen to people who join an MLM Company and now, as much as you would like to earn an extra income, you are not comfortable joining any MLM because of all the bad press about so many of them.

Well, we have a solution to your dilemma.

We would like to offer you the opportunity to purchase a full Waterless Detail Kit at $75.00 (Retail Value of $100.00) plus shipping and handling, to try the products and show 5 of your friends.

The full Waterless Detail Kit includes:
16 oz Bottle of Ultra-Ion Waterless Wash with 8 oz Applicator
Premium Metal Polish
Fabric & Upholstery Cleaner
Tire & Trim Treatment
Oxygone

If any of your friends end up purchasing a Waterless Detail Kit at full Retail (plus shipping & handling), then we will pay you $25.00 for each kit sold at full Retail, up to 5 kits sold.

For an initial investment of $75.00, you can earn up to $125.00.

If after that, you believe that you can market this opportunity, you are more than welcome to join our team, but you are not obligated to do so.

No strings attached!

You are getting $100.00 worth of products for $75.00 and no further obligation is necessary. The advantage is if you do show 5 of your friends, and they purchase a Detail Kit, you can earn up to an additional $125.00, still no strings attached.

This way, we can show you that you do not have to twist arms, harass your friends and neighbors and still earn additional income.

How much better can it get than that?

E-mail us at hawgwash1@yahoo.com to order your "NO HASSLE" MLM Test Ride today.

Until tomorrow...

Kentucky Ride In 2010

Today was the last day of the Kentucky Ride In 2010 put on by the local GWRRA (Gold Wing Road Riders Association). This was not a typical motorcycle rally for us, more like a weekend for Gold Wing Riders to literally ride in and just hang out together. It was a nice change of pace for us, we were able to present our Waterless Cleaning Products to the riders and not feel like we had to work hard. One reason for that is our table was set up inside an air conditioned pavilion. So even though it got over 90 degrees outside with a high humidity, we were very comfortable.

Since the majority of riders at this event were Honda riders, we focused on presenting our Waterless Cleaning Technology products for them to see. Since we were essentially at an indoor event, we did not have much opportunity to demonstrate our Waterless products. The good news is that many of the riders were familiar with Waterless Cleaning Technology, so demonstrations were not super critical. What was really nice about an indoor show is that all the attendees were happy to be indoors and had a good attitude when looking at the products we had to offer.

This event was a great way to connect with many people. Since it was not a crowded event, it gave us a lot of time to wander around and spend time talking with people instead of constantly demonstrating our products. For many vendors, this may not have been a good thing because it was a very casual event, designed more for socializing than selling. But in these casual events, you get to learn more about what people are interested in and you actually have the time to spend time with people instead of looking for that next customer. We had great opportunities to talk with the District Staff and find out more about what Gold Wing Riders like to do. This is great information for when we attend other Gold Wing Rallies in the future.

Since I spent a LOT of time socializing, it is VERY late right now (after midnight) so I am going to call it a night. We are looking forward to attending next year's Kentucky Ride In assuming that it will be held after Memorial Day (for us personally...) otherwise we will be sure to have one of our associates attend the Ride In so that our Waterless Products continue to be represented here.

Until tomorrow...

GWRRA Georgia Wing Fling

Last night was the closing of the Gold Wing Road Riders Association (GWRRA) Georgia Wing Fling rally. Personally, I had never participated in a Gold Wing rally and am very, VERY impressed about how they organize it out here in Georgia. I also was not entirely sure how we would be received at a Gold Wing rally, I had no idea what Gold Wing riders were interested in. Generally the rallies we attend are basically Harley-Davidson focused, even though other bikes are more than welcome. What I have learned is that rallies for different types of motorcycle brands have different ideas of what happens at a rally.

For instance, at the BMW rallies we attend, the riders are more focused on light-weight camping gear and clothing for riding rather than cleaning their bikes. Actually, they seem to find it a mark of pride to have a dirty bike. The more bug-caked their bikes are, the higher their standings are. Their focus is on riding, not cleaning their bikes. Therefore, our Waterless Wash products do not really go over too well with BMW riders. The only thing they really liked our products for was cleaning their windshields and face shields on their helmets.

Harley riders tend to like lots of leather. Leather jackets, chaps, vests, purses, belts, basically any type of wearable leather. Harley riders do like cleaning products for their motorcycles, especially our Waterless Technology cleaning products. That is mostly because there can be a whole lot of chrome on Harley-Davidson motorcycles and with a waterless cleaning product, they can quickly and easily clean their chrome without making a mess.

Gold Wings are large bikes and do not have their engine showing like the Harley's or even BMW's usually do. There is a lot of fiberglass or plastic on a Wing, and usually not a whole lot of chrome. The Gold Wing riders take a lot of pride in their bikes and like to keep them clean, so we figured that our Waterless Wash Technology products would be a good fit for the Wing riders. I just wasn't sure about the reception of the other products we had to offer (like our Doo Rags and our wheel cleaning stands). I should not have been concerned. What we had to offer for the Wing riders is what many of them were looking for.

Back to why I really liked the planning of this particular GWRRA Georgia Wing Fling. what I really liked about this type of rally is the fact that they not only had poker runs for the riders, but there were seminars and educational lectures for the riders and their passengers (also called co-riders). The BMW rallies we have attended also had seminars for the riders, and it is nice to know that other groups also find seminars worthwhile. Some of the seminars covered a wide variety of topics from "How to have fun at a Rally", "Remembering Names" (boy do I need that one...), to "Motorcycle Awareness" to name a few of the choices available.

The theme of this year's GWRRA's 25th Annual Georgia Wing Fling was the American Bandstand, so they had 50's style dance contests, bingo, a "Twist it up Talent show" and all kinds of activities. There was even a scavenger hunt and a trivia quiz that included many vendors. I thought that the wide variety of activities really kept the participants very busy and having a whole lot of fun. Everyone we met was in a good mood, and that could have been a major challenge because it did get quite warm during the days here.

Not only did the rally organizers have all these activities going, but they were going on in a timely fashion. There seemed to be no delays, and when they say something was to occur at a particular time, golly, it did. The vendor organizers also had their ducks in a row. They had already had areas set up for the vendors and worked very well with the vendors to make sure everyone was satisfied with location. What I thought was awesome was that the Assistant Georgia District Directors continued to wander around the vendor area making sure the vendors had cold water to drink and checking to see if the vendors needed any assistance with anything. It is extremely rare that organizers take that much care of the vendors. It is wonderful to find people that care about others. We have found a whole lot of people here in Georgia really care about other people....

We are looking forward to attending next years GWRRA's Georgia Wing Fling.

Until tomorrow...

Back to Business

Well, it is now after Memorial Day and time to get back to business. As you may be aware, we take about 2 weeks off each year and participate in Run for the Wall to honor our heroes. I have posted some of what we did on the last series of blogs, so you may have a sense of what this event means to me personally. Now it is time to get back in the saddle and back to work.

This weekend you can find Hawgwash, LLC in LaGrange, GA. We will have a display up a the Bikers On Main festival in LaGrange, GA. Not only will we have our Waterless Wash products, but we will be detailing motorcycles there. Again, this is a great opportunity to advertise your business. If you are struggling trying to get your business recognized, try attending some rallies. They don't have to be motorcycle rallies, but perhaps farmer's markets, art shows, whatever type of outdoor event that would be a good match for the services and products you offer.

Tonight's blog is going to be relatively short, it has been a long two weeks, and my brain is still more angled towards Run for the Wall rather than on business. Today was the first day that we really focused on business since the beginning of RFTW. Granted we detailed many bikes prior to the beginning of the Run, but once on the run, the mission took over and the business took a back seat.

As you work your business, it is critical to be able to take time out for your personal time. Running a home based business can become all-consuming and you may lost focus on the important things in your life. Our re-focusing time is the motorcycle trip across country for Run for the Wall. It is a great way for us to get back in touch with life's priorities. Then, when the event / mission is completed, you are better able to reset your priorities and get back to your home based business with better focus and vigor. I do not recommend Run for the Wall for everyone, but you should find some event or task that will take your mind off of your business for a short while. Everyone needs to take a break from work, otherwise you will find your life will feel out-of-balance.

So much for my ramblings tonight. Tomorrow will be another day.

Until tomorrow...

More Info on Hemp Hearts and Why

Well, today I finally tasted the sample products we received yesterday, Hemp Hearts. No, they didn't taste like chicken. They tasted like a cross between sunflower seeds and pine nuts. Not a bad flavor, and tasted great when mixed with yogurt. The jury is still out about whether this product can do what all the posted reports indicate, but it is only day one of my personal guinea pig trial...

You may all be wondering why I am allowing myself to test other nutritional products when I currently have one that I love dearly, STEMTech. There are several reasons why I keep an open mind towards other nutritional products. First off, the STEMTech products help promote healthy cell production and growth. StemEnhance and StemFLO do not necessarily provide nutrition to keep those new, healthy cells healthy. So, I am on the hunt for products to help keep the healthy developed cells healthy. We currently offer MonaVie nutritional drinks for maintaining healthy cells, but sometimes nutritional drinks alone do not inspire others. Some people may not like the taste of some of the MonaVie nutritional drinks, others may not want to spend the money on a nutritional drink.

So, I continue to search for alternative methods to maintain those healthy cells. For those of you that know me, I am always looking for the best of the best. That even includes waterless vehicle cleaning technology. If you have looked at my website, you will notice that I carry two different brands of waterless cleaning technology products (UltraLuster and Dri Wash 'n Guard). That is because I feel they both are currently the best in the field. I am always looking for the best in a particular field. I want to be able to offer my customers the best in the market, without them having to do all the research. The research is properly my job. Therefore, I am also searching the nutritional field for some of the best nutritional products out there.

What I have discovered is that there is a much bigger field in nutritional products than I had ever imagined. I knew on some level that there were a multitude of options, but wow, it is hard to figure out where to start. In order for me to narrow the field down a bit, (and really, that is still hard to do) I am trying to decide on what type of nutritional product I would like to focus on. The STEMTech products are revolutionary because they promote your own body's ability to restore and heal itself. The next question is which direction do I wish to take in order to keep those newly created healthy cells healthy.

I am not a medical doctor, nor have I had any medical training. What I have been doing is asking various health professionals what they would recommend for maintaining optimal health and why. Golly, the answers I get are as varied as the nutritional products that are on a health food store. So, back to my dilemma, what to do....

What I have decided to do is to look for new ideas in nutrition, some that have legitimate science behind them instead of empty theories and old wives tales. That does narrow the filed a lot, but still, it is difficult to sift through the statements to validate which has scientific basis and which are unsubstantiated claims. The Hemp Hearts concept has some scientific basis and has been recommended by many doctors, but it has not gone main stream. Not sure why, and will continue to dig until I understand the concepts more fully.

In the mean time, I will continue to use the samples that were graciously supplied to me by the distribution company and will keep you all posted on my personal results. I did have more energy today than yesterday, which is one of the claims of the distributor. But, the real key is in discovering if this new-found energy is continuous, day after day, or just because I had a good day today. I would really like to discover that Hemp Hearts will be an awesome nutritional, I love the concept that they promote, and technically the proteins, vitamins and enzymes that are listed are all the great things our human body needs. I will continue to monitor my personal physical results, and keep you appraised every few days.

In a nutshell, the product, Hemp Hearts, claim that they are the most concentrated source of essential nutrients known. Theoretically those that consume a set amount of Hemp Hearts each morning will notice that they have more energy, will expel wastes after every meal, and are not hungry until mid-afternoon. This product is also promoted as being able to allow a person to lose weight because by consuming Hemp Hearts will reduce your appetite and allow you to eat smaller portions of non-processed foods. If you follow their diet regimen, you could lose up to a pound a day. The Hemp Harts product claim to have sufficient nutrients for tissue health, sufficient long fiber roughage for colon health and sufficient energy for success and good mental health.

I promise to keep you posted.

Until tomorrow...

Motorcycle Rally Event Today

Today we participated in a motorcycle event that was a lot of fun. It was called "One for the Son" and was located in Fort Lowell Park, Tucson, Arizona. It was a Christian Biker Fellowship event for 2010. We all had a wonderful time.

Actually we had so much fun that after the event started, I forgot to take pictures. The attached pictures show what our booth looks like (before the event began) and then once all the major festivities and activities ended, I had enough time to take a picture of the parking lot and then of the view we enjoyed while at the event.

This event was intended to benefit the local Christian charities: Victory Worship Center's Mobile Medical Clinic (helps local Tucson people with free medical care), Christian Faith Fellowship and the Church on the Street (has homeless programs that are open to all who walk in the door). The event had wonderful live music throughout the day and only relied on "canned" music when the bands needed a little rest. The music was modern and uplifting and (this is the best part) not too loud, but loud enough for everyone to hear clearly. We have been at many events where the music was so loud you could not carry on a conversation at all.

They also had face painting for the children in attendance, and there were quite a few children attending the event. There was also this really cool "train" made up of a lawn tractor, and five 50-gallon drums cut out and made into individual train cars. The children had an absolute blast being driven around the parking lot in this very different train. What was a lot of fun to watch was how much fun the "conductor" had while driving the children around the lot. He would turn the train so tightly that he could high-five the child in the last train car. Everyone (even those of us too old to fit in those drums) had an enjoyable time watching the antics of the train and the children in the train.

There were several vendors in attendance and lots of people wandering around checking out what was for sale. What made this event so wonderful was the fellowship shown by all the participants. Everyone came for a good time, and everyone seemed genuinely happy to meet and greet strangers. It is not usual for a motorcycle rally to be so welcoming to everyone who arrived, even general users of the park. We had bike games where many people did participate, there was a great bike show and finally a raffle for donated prizes. Again, what made the show and the games so enjoyable is that all motorcycles were welcomed. Not just Harley-Davidsons participated in the bike games and we saw some very interesting solutions to some of the biker games. No, I am not going to tell you how some people won, you will have to figure that out by yourself.

We had lots of opportunities to show how our Waterless Wash product, UltraLuster, worked on dirty motorcycles and cars, and also had the opportunity to talk to people about our new nutritional product, StemEnhance and StemFLO. Several people were interested in what a Stem Cell Nutritional product could do to benefit them, and we provided them enough information so they could make an informed decision.

If you have the opportunity to attend this event next year, I highly recommend it. It is family oriented, and bikes and people of all ages were welcomed. Since it was an extremely long and windy day, this blog is ending now. I am pooped and more than a little wind-burned. Time for some much needed rest.

Until tomorrow...

Quick Blog Tonight

Today was a wonderful day for a detail of a beautiful Jaguar. The day dawned bright and sunny, and even better, not too hot. By 11 am we were heading out to accomplish our detail of the Jag. This is the Jaguar that we have been detailing for the last several months, and this car (I should say, FINE MACHINE) definitely loves to be detailed.

Since it is maintained even when we are not cleaning it, the paint feels like it is brand new. How many times have you run your hand across the paint on your car, even after you washed it, only to have the paint still feel a little bumpy? The paint on this car is still as slick as it was (if not slicker) than when it came off the factory floor over ten years ago. As you can tell, it is a dream car to clean and it glitters like a diamond when it is freshly cleaned.

Our waterless product, UltraLuster protects the dark paint from the harmful UV rays of the sun, so there has been minimal fading of this paint. Granted the car is kept garaged and covered when possible, but combining that care with a UV protectant allows the paint to continue looking new and fresh far longer, especially in this hot Arizona sun.

After our fun detail, we were able to spend the rest of the day taking care of chores around the house that were in dire need of doing. Needless to say, I am quite pooped after all of that and will be heading off to bed shortly.

If you are interested in purchasing some of our waterless products, please feel free to visit our website at http://www.hawgwash.net/ and press on the "Order UltraLuster Items" button for detailed product information. Please feel free to contact us if you are interested in starting your own detailing operation. You are also more than welcome to e-mail us at hawgwash1@yahoo.com with your questions.

Until tomorrow...

Honey, I Shrank the Car

Oh no, look at what happened to our car when I washed it with water...it shrank... How many times has that problem happened to you? Probably never, but hey, it might happen some time... What will most likely happen in the near future is our fresh drinking water will disappear before our cars shrink when we wash them.

It is a fact that there is a global water shortage. The earth has a finite amount of fresh drinking water in it, and as our global population expands, the amount of water per person will decrease. Starting this month (March 2010) South Florida will be instituting permanent landscape irrigation measures for year-round water conservation. South Florida is concerned about their water resources and is limiting landscape irrigation. According to the World Bank, world-wide demand for water is doubling every 21 years. Water supply cannot remotely keep pace with demand as populations increase and cities expand. The population growth alone does not account for all of the increase in fresh water demand. As standards of living improve, the need for clean, fresh water increases.

In order to do our part in not wasting fresh drinking water, we offer a waterless vehicle cleaning product, UltraLuster that can be used on your car, truck, recreational vehicle, motorcycle, boat, airplane, etc. and you do not have to use our fresh water to wash this vehicle. UltraLuster Waterless Wash allows you to clean a dirty vehicle without pre-washing or rinsing. Granted, if you have mud caked on inches thick, you will need to rinse the vehicle off first, but for the average driver, that will be a rare occurrence.

With UltraLuster Waterless Wash, you can spray the product directly onto the dirty vehicle, gently work it into the painted surface and then buff off. In those three steps, your vehicle has been cleaned, polished and protected with a liquid acrylic glaze. The finish is better than any wax or carnuba can leave, it won't get sticky in extreme heats and you don't need to re-apply UltraLuster on your vehicle (depending on use and location) at least once a month. Depending on where you keep your car and the driving conditions, the UltraLuster finish can last up to 6 months.

We also carry a full line of other waterless cleaning products, Carpet cleaner, Metal cleaner, Leather cleaner and Tire cleaner. If you have questions on any of the products briefly mentioned tonight, please feel free to contact us at hawgwash1@yahoo.com. You are always welcome to check out our website for the variety of waterless cleaning products we carry.

Good Guys Spring Nationals - Day 2

Today is going to be a relatively short talk about how much fun we had at the Good Guys Spring Nationals in Scottsdale today (because I am VERY tired). As you can see by some of the posted pictures, there was a wide array of cars to look at and drool over. It is very amazing to see the variety of cars that people have been working on. We have seen car shows before, but not as varied as this Good Guys show has been.

They again had the races, but I didn't have the time to go out and watch. We had all kinds of people visiting our booth today, so we didn't have too much time to wander around and look. The pictures were taken on our brief times away from the booth. As a general rule, we didn't spend more than 5 minutes away, didn't want the other person to get overwhelmed.

On a business perspective, this was awesome advertising for our business. People got to wander by and see what we had to offer for sale. They got to touch and feel what we did. Potential customers can place a face and voice with the name, website and product. It is much easier to make Internet sales after the customer has seen the product work first hand. We had several opportunities to demonstrate our waterless cleaning products on the really neat cars. This show also appeared to be a good fishing ground for other promoters looking for vendors for their upcoming events. We received several invitations to other upcoming car, truck and motorcycle events while at the booth. The neat thing is that the promoters of the other venues could see how we conducted ourselves and how we presented ourselves. This way, they know what to expect for their event. It is almost like having an interview. This is a great way to locate other events in the Phoenix area.

If you want to see what other events we will be getting involved in, stay tuned to our Schedule of Events page on our website. Once we finalize the upcoming events, they are posted on the schedule. If possible, we also include an address and a website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at hawgwash1@yahoo.com.

Tomorrow will be the last day of the Good Guys show. We are looking forward to this, but also it is a sad time since we have had so much fun here. The people we have met here have been awesome and very welcoming. We look forward to doing more Good Guys shows in the future.

Until tomorrow...

Business Opportunitites and Options

We have received several questions on why do we have such a variety of items on our website. Yesterday we talked about the Waterless Technology Products that we carry, and why we have products from two different companies. You will notice on our website that we have Nutritional products, Pre-Paid Legal, Stretch head wear, and various products for the motorcycle. We like to provide multiple business opportunitites so that our customers have the option to pick what works specifically with them, not just what suits us.

We have expanded our product line from the Waterless Technology Products to diversify our income streams. As we have covered in prior blogs, you need to diversify in the event the main product line either doesn't sell, or is no longer available. By diversifying, depending on the situation, we can move easily from one offering to another without problems. This is one version of multiple income streams. You can walk into any grocery store and see many brands of the same type of product and many different products. The concept of the grocery store is that if you are not interested or looking for one item, they may carry something else that you do want or need. We are not going to be like a grocery store, but we do want to offer options for people visiting our website or even visiting our booth at various shows. Providing options to customers is the name of the game.

There have been several occasions where waterless technology is not of interest to customers. What we opted to do was to expand into other areas that may be motorcycle or car related (doo rags, center stands) and then expanded into items to promote health (so that you can be out doing more stuff). In a way, all of these items are related, the vehicle wash can relate to motorcycles, the center stands relate directly to motorcycles, and by using the center stands, you can more easily clean your motorcycle. The stretch head wear relates to motorcycle riding, or riding in a convertible car. If you don't have your health, you can't do anything, and lastly, in today's life, you need to protect yourself from legal problems, so we carry Pre-Paid Legal as a version of 'insurance'.

This combination may sound a bit odd, but as described there is flow to why we carry what we carry. Because of the variety of our product lines, we have several income streams, and income options. We also have the ability to change what we present in our booth, making us more flexible at shows and events. We are not limited to attending just motorcycle, RV and car rallies. We can adjust our booth to suit the specific venue. You may see us at an outdoor Festival, at a swap meet, at a car show, or a charity event. We are nimble enough to adjust our product offerings to the particular customer base.

Until tomorrow...

Hawgwash and Waterless Technology

We have been asked on several occasions the origin of our company's name, Hawgwash. For those of you that have known Steve, that was originally his road name for many years because he was primarily a motorcycle detailer and he loved detailing Harley-Davidson Motorcycles. When we decided to start an official Limited Liability Corporation (LLC), the logical name to choose was Hawgwash since we specialized in Waterless detailing of motorcycles. Granted we also sold waterless cleaning products, but since our speciality was in detailing motorcycles, the name was logical.

The original waterless technology products we carried were made by a company called Dri Wash 'n Guard, Inc. (abbreviated DWG). DWG had a great line of waterless technology products for many years and at the time it looked like they would continue on that innovative path many years down the road. We traveled the country, attending many motorcycle rallies, selling our waterless technology products and detailing motorcycles. In the event there were no motorcycle rallies close to us, we would then attend Good Sam Rallies (events where people in Motor homes got together for a weekend) and car shows.

This was a great way for us to get our name out to the general public without spending thousands of dollars on advertising. If you think about it, advertising a waterless technology product is pretty difficult to do. Nobody believes that the product will not scratch your paint. It is always most effective if you can physically show a customer that the product will not harm your paint or vehicle finish. Actually, if you look at it one way, we did spent thousands on advertising our business at shows. Generally you have to pay for a space at a show or event. The difference to this type of advertising and that of mailers or newsprint, is that you get to spend quality one-on-one time with the customers. You can show them either on your vehicle or on theirs that this waterless technology really does work. Also, since you get to sell product at shows, you can easily recover the cost of the booth space with product sales. So, even though we may have spent thousands that first year on advertising by going to rallies and shows, we recovered those costs plus.

Even though we really liked the DWG waterless technology products, we always kept our eyes open for newer and better technology. When we present our offerings to customers, we are always open to learning about new items in the market. Eventually we were introduced to a new waterless technology product, UltraLuster. What UltraLuster did was take the Dri Wash technology and improve upon it.

We really liked the UltraLuster products, but in certian situations, DWG products still worked better. Because of that, we started carrying both products at our shows. We have had people who have used DWG products for years and were not about to change what they already liked. We also encountered people who were always looking for the newest waterless technology products. So, we now offer Waterless Technology Products by the two leading companies, DWG and UltraLuster. Both of these products have advantages and disadvantages, but they both remain my favorite for waterless cleaning of vehicles.

So, when you go to our website, http://www.hawgwash.net/, you will see two different pages, one for DWG products and another for UltraLuster products. This allows us to provide the best waterless technology products available. If you are unsure which waterless technology product may be better for your application, please feel free to contact us at hawgwash1@yahoo.com. We will be more than willing to help you choose a product that would best suit your specific needs.

Until tomorrow...

Waterless Car Wash and Detailing during the holidays

Hi all, today was a busy day. We spent the majority of the day detailing this awesome Chrysler 300 Touring Limo. This limo was in good condition when we got to it, but it looked awesome once we completed the Detail. During this holiday season, keep in mind, people may be worried about money, but when they attend events, they want their vehicles to look great. This is a great time to be a detailer using UltraLuster Waterless Technology.

We were contacted by the owner of the Limo to detail the vehicle with our waterless vehicle wash, UltraLuster. The owner has seen our work on other occasions, we even have their personal vehicle on a monthly detailing program. It was awesome to be asked to detail this limo, it was an absolutely beautiful vehicle.

We started the detail by cleaning and treating the interior of the Limo first. When doing a complete detail, it is always easier to detail the interior first and save the exterior paint for last. Steve worked on detailing the engine (special request by the owner) compartment while I started detailing the back part of the Limo. We vacuumed all the interior spaces and trunk before starting using any other waterless products. Since the interior was leather and mirrors (really classy) I used LeatherLuster for the seats and hand rails which made the interior smell like new leather. It also did a wonderful job of cleaning the white seats. UltraLuster Waterless Wash was used on the mirrors in the top and sides of the Limo and on the long interior glass. Since there was no staining in the carpets, we did not need to use the Fabric Cleaner this time.

Once we cleaned the interior of the Limo, we then focused on cleaning the white leather top of the vehicle. This was somewhat dirty, so we used LeatherLuster to clean and UV protect the top of the Limo. It was pretty amazing to see that white vinyl top of the limo turn from an off-white to a bright white. We then finished up the job by applying UltraLuster Waterless Wash to the paint, glass and chrome areas of the exterior of the Limo. As you can see by the pictures, this was a beautiful car.

All told, it took us about 3-4 hours to fully detail this Limo. We probably could have completed the job a bit faster, but as we were detailing, other people from neighboring businesses wandered by to see what we were doing and wanting to see a demo of our Waterless Cleaning products. The best part about using UltraLuster Waterless Cleaning products on vehicles is that you can detail a vehicle in the convenience of the owner's garage, without taking the vehicle outside in the elements at all. This Limo was garaged, and the owner was pleased to not have to move the vehicle outside so that we could detail it. The neighboring businesses were also pleased that we detailed the Limo in the garage, we didn't take up any additional parking spaces, and we did not have to worry about water over spray on other people's cars.

If you are interested in becoming a detailer, or would like more information on becoming an UltraLuster Distributor, please either e-mail us at hawgwash1@yahoo.com or look at our website, www.ultraluster.com/hawg1.

Tomorrow I will discuss how we also incorporated our AdZoneSavings business with our UltraLuster Detailing business.

Bike Night at Arizona Joe's

Well, last night was fun, we had our weekly Thursday Bike Night at Arizona Joe's. Attendance was a little light, most likely because people are anticipating Thanksgiving next Thursday. Personally, I wanted to crank it up the week before Turkey Day because we don't have a bike night then...lets have FUN!!!

Yeah, for those of you that know me, you know quite well that I may be a little crazy (a little CRAZY???), but I don't go too overboard. I do like to have a lot of fun, and love to tease people. Last night, in our efforts to make the weekly bike night interesting, we decided to play a motorcycle trivia game. It was actually pretty funny to see people shy away from playing a motorcycle trivia game. The general comment / fear was that we would be separating the real bikes from the play bikers. That was not our intent at all, we wanted to have fun.

As it turned out, we did have fun. Granted we had to bully some people into playing the trivia game, but once they found out it was not purely about motorcycles, and you don't have to be a motorcycle gear head to win, people started coming back to participate in the trivia game. We have cards like Trivial Pursuit, but half of these cards had pictures and the other half were either true/false or multiple choice.

The picture cards included pictures of places in the country (Devils Tower, Chicago, Badlands), pictures of State Flags, pictures of road signs, and pictures of stuff on the bikes. The advantage is that anyone who even travels would have the opportunity to get correct answers. The multiple choice and True/False questions revolved around more biker-related questions, but again, you didn't have to be a "hard-core" biker to get those correct. These questions included questions about movies that had characters riding bikes, more technical questions about which motorcycle company made which models, and also questions about where some of the National Monuments/Parks are located. Again, there was a decent smattering of non-biker questions that allowed the casual motorcyclist the opportunity to get a correct answer.

In total, we were able to get the majority of people that attended Bike Night to play the trivia game. The winners got tickets that entered them into a chance to win a free motorcycle detail. By the end of the evening, everyone was eagerly awaiting the drawing to see who would get a full waterless motorcycle detail. It was a fun time for all.

Next Thursday is Thanksgiving Day, and Arizona Joe's (AJ's) will be closed so that the employees can spend the day with their families. Thursday, December 3rd we will start the Bike Nights up again and on that night we are going to have a "Hot Buns" contest. If any of you guys think you have the buns to beat, come on down to AJ's for some good fun. AJ's is located at 417 S. Winchester Rd, Apache Junction, AZ. We look forward to seeing some of you there...

If you have any questions about how our Waterless Detail works, or want your vehicle detailed by us, please feel free to contact us at hawgwash1@yahoo.com or check out our website, www.hawgwash.net.

Until tomorrow...

Waterless Technology - UltraLuster

Tonight I will truly and honestly be brief. The winds have been blowing through Arizona for the last two days and my allergies are really knocking me for a loop. I want to briefly discuss one of our Waterless Technology products - UltraLuster Waterless Wash and Protective Glaze.

UltraLuster Waterless Wash is referred to as waterless because you do not need to pre-wash your vehicle (unless there is so much mud caked on you cannot see any color of your vehicle). UltraLuster is designed to spray directly on top of the dirt on the painted surface of your vehicle (car, motorcycle, RV, boat, airplane, etc). Once you have some UltraLuster Waterless Wash on the vehicle's painted surface, you take either a terrycloth towel or a microfiber towel and gently work the product into the dirt. After that you will notice that the wiped area hazes. That is when you take a clean microfiber towel and buff off the haze.

You will be amazed about how much of a shine will appear after you buff off the haze. In the time it would have taken you to haul out the hose, bucket, soap, sponge, and any other cleaning materials, then hose down your vehicle, soap it up and then dry it off, using UltraLuster Waterless Wash would have already cleaned, sealed and protected your painted surfaces.

The really cool thing about the UltraLuster Waterless wash product is that you don't have to clean your whole vehicle at one time. Granted, you vehicle may look funny with parts cleaned, but the neat part is that you don't have to worry about finishing cleaning. With regards to a car, you can clean the hood one day, the fenders another day, the doors yet another day...you get the picture. The best part is that once you are done cleaning your vehicle, you will find that it stays cleaner longer than if you had used soap & water.

Tomorrow I will continue discussing what UltraLuster Waterless wash does for your painted surfaces and how it works on chrome, Plexiglas, and other non-porous surfaces.

Until then...

Mobile Waterless Car Wash

Today was a beautiful day to have a mobile waterless car wash. We cleaned a 2000 Jaguar that I had originally thought was just black. We used UltraLuster Waterless Technology to clean this Jag.

After we moved it out from the garage and started some basic cleaning, I discovered that the Jag was actually more of a metal flake grey, not black. There was a lot of life in the paint on that car, the lighting in the garage did not do the car justice. This car has been lovingly maintained, so once we started cleaning the paint came to life.

As a general rule, this car had been cleaned without water for several years. The problem the owner recently encountered was finding another detailer who would clean the car without water. Due to our networking (as mentioned in an earlier article), they discovered that we were available to detail the car.

Before we were able to give an accurate quote on how much it would cost to detail this vehicle, it was necessary to see the car. (Note: do not necessarily believe the owner that the car is pristine, or do not rely on the fact that the car may be new, you don't really know what condition the car is in until you physically go and look) When we opened the hood of the Jag, we found evidence that it had gone through a spray wax process several times. It then begged the question if the fabric top was also spray waxed (which it was). This does add to the cost of a detail. It takes a lot of work to get spray wax out of fabric.

After we looked over the car, we gave an estimate, which the owner was more than satisfied with. We then proceeded to clean the vehicle using UltraLuster products. For a full detail, we clean the engine compartment, which is done first. We used UltraLuster Tire for cleaning the engine oil and spray wax in the engine compartment. We then worked on the fabric top to remove all of the spray wax and finished by cleaning all the rubber trim work around the car.

Before cleaning the exterior paint, we then used UltraLuster's LeatherLuster for cleaning and treating all of the leather interior. The fabric cleaner was used to remove sticky substances from the carpet on the floor. Once the interior was cleaned, we then cleaned the tires and rims of the Jag.

After all of the interior, trim, rims and tires of the car were completed, we then completed the detail by cleaning and polishing the exterior paint. This took some extra time because we had to work to remove the dead wax that was layered on the paint. As we cleaned the exterior paint, we also made sure to detail the door jams and the painted surfaces inside the trunk.

By the time we were completed, the Jag sparkled like a gem. The owner was thrilled, even more so when it was discovered that the top looked brand-new. They didn't know that the wax had been sprayed on the top, and thought the faded and cloudy white look was just the top wearing out.

This section is where networking comes in again; after payment was made for the detail of the Jag, we discussed the costs of putting the vehicle on a maintenance program to keep the interior and exterior protected. We let the owner know that if we got referrals, the price of the monthly maintenance would decrease. The owner was so thrilled, that they were more than willing to let their friends know about the mobile cleaning services we perform.

The best kind of advertising is word of mouth. If you are hiring someone for the first time, you want to be sure the person is reputable, so you ask around. If you come highly recommended and continue to produce excellent work, your business will grow faster through word of mouth advertising than any other form of advertising.

Until tomorrow...

Writing Blogs and more on Waterless Technology

The hardest thing about writing a blog is having something to say that would be interesting and informative to your audience. I committed to writing in this blog daily, like a diary, but unlike a diary, I do not just want to write about my feelings for that day. I want the information I put down to be helpful or useful to somebody. My other blog I am SUPPOSED to be updating twice a week, but I have been woefully bad at that.

I am not a writer at heart, but I do have things that bounce around in my head that could be interesting for others to read. The most difficult part for me is putting those thoughts and ideas into some form of coherent format so everyone else understands what is going on. I also would prefer to have some type of flow from one blog to another.

I suspect that I am putting too much emphasis in getting the blog "right", but that is part of who I am. If I can't do a very good job at what I am doing, I wonder why I am doing it. Tough dilemma when you are learning to do something. By definition, as you learn, you will make mistakes. My problem is that I don't have a teacher looking over my work and critiquing. Hopefully if there is something you wish for me to pursue, you will let me know.

I did have a brief comment to work on following my brief article on waterless technology. I believe the products that we offer are top-of the line, but there are other products out there that are waterless. We have seen several different types of waterless products while here in Reno. When you are shopping for a waterless cleaning product, you need to watch for how much silicone may be in the product. Silicone will make your paint look great for a short period of time and make the paint feel slick, but then it becomes sticky and tacky and will cause dust to really stick to the vehicle. I have seen some products that once you start using it, you will have to continue to add more of the product on just to get the stuck dust off. The end result is a sticky or tacky mess on your bike or car. If you are looking for a truly waterless product, keep in mind that you don't want to have to keep putting product on your vehicle in order to get the stuck stuff off. UltraLuster Waterless wash will not leave a silicone residue on your vehicle, it will not leave a sticky finish and the dust will not stick. Once you have a coating of UltraLuster Waterless Wash on your vehicle, you do not need to re-apply the product for at least a month and up to 6 months (depending on driving conditions). In between cleanings you merely need to either dust off the vehicle, or do some spot-cleaning to remove any baked on bugs. The nice thing about our products is that you do not get any type of build-up, when you re-apply the product, it removes the old layer and puts down a new coating.

Anyway, I said this was going to be a short comment, but I wanted to let you start being aware of what may be in other waterless products. If you use a silicone based product, you will end up having to clean your vehicle more often with that product, but you are still helping the environment by not using up our valuable drinking water. Whatever products you choose to use, at least we are all working toward the same goals, saving the earth's most precious resource, water. If you want more information on what we have to offer in waterless technology, please check out our website, www.hawgwash.net.


Take care and I will chat with you all later.

Continuing Water Shortages

For those of you on the East Coast right now, you are probably thinking that I am crazy to be discussing anything about water shortages. Actually, with the kinds of rains you are getting, they are not going to help the water shortage, the rain is coming down too thick and too fast and not falling in the right places to raise the water tables effectively.

As we were driving to Reno, NV we did go over Hoover Dam and boy was I shocked. The water level in Lake Mead is now set to drop below the May 1965 mark, which is very close to the trigger point for installing water restrictions in both Nevada and Arizona. Last Friday, the water level at Lake Mead was 1.096 above sea level. If the water level drops to 1,075 feet above sea level, restrictions will be put in place. The last time Lake Mead was at 1,075 feet was in 1937, when the reservoir was being filled for the first time. Lake Mead is a major reservoir for both Nevada and Arizona. There are other water sources, but those too are not fairing much better.

It is our responsibility to do what we can to conserve water. We are doing our part by promoting cleaning of vehicles (cars, boats, RV's, Motorcycles, airplanes, etc) by using waterless technology. Our waterless cleaning products allow you to clean your vehicle without using a drop of our precious drinking water. You spray the product onto the dirty vehicle, work it into the dirt and then buff off. The resulting shine is better than you could possibly expect, and the best part is that you don't have to go back over the vehicle and wax it to protect the paint. Our product, UltraLuster Waterless Wash puts down a UV protectant and Acrylic glaze. It is a better protectant than wax, Carnuba wax or otherwise could possibly be.

In as much time as it would take you to wash, rinse and dry your vehicle, you have washed, cleaned and protected your paint. By using UltraLuster you have now removed one extra step to protecting your car, you don't have to go back and wax the whole vehicle. What I like best about the UltraLuster is the fact that if you get tired cleaning, you can stop where you are at and not have any ill effects. Since you are not getting your whole vehicle wet, you can stop and pick up cleaning at a later time. The only downside would be that as you drive your vehicle around, some may notice the clean areas and the remaining dirty areas.

To date, the people using UltraLuster Waterless Wash have saved 30,577,500 gallons of water. That is pretty impressive. And, they are probably spending less time cleaning and protecting their car than all those other people using soap, water and then waxing their car.

If you have any questions about our UltraLuster products or any general questions, please feel free to e-mail me at hawgwash1@yahoo.com or check out our website, www.hawgwash.net.