Guy- Since you didn’t have the intestinal fortitude to address me directly, I will reply to your post here since you have decided to start a smear campaign against a fellow PWRA member that’s operating in your service area as well. It’s an absolute shame too, especially considering that I just messaged you not even 5 days ago asking for your help and/or guidance with an equipment issue that I was having. Had I known you had THAT big of a problem with my company (DCS of Fayetteville) or myself, I would’ve never asked for your assistance.
Fellow Members of the PWRA and Guests - I am grateful for those of you that let me know I was getting bashed online. I am honestly flattered that it is believed that I have fake Google business reviews and have my first (I think the kids are calling them “haters” now?). I hate to be the one to burst anyone’s bandwagon bubble, but I can completely understand why you would believe what an industry “professional” would say about other people working in his service area. So, allow me to elaborate and tell you all a little about myself (for those of you that do not know me very well - Including you, Mr. Blackmon).
After 13 years of service in the Marine Corps and Army, I was medically discharged from the Army almost 3 years ago. I served in the Infantry and Special Operations throughout my time in the Army (the final 7 years of my military service) and I had been stationed at Fort Bragg since 2007 (for those of you that don’t know, Fort Bragg is one of the largest military bases in the US and is the home of the Army’s Special Operations Command and it just so happens that this huge military installation is located IN FAYETTEVILLE <------I capitalized that because you will want to remember that tidbit of information). So after I got out of the Army, I started looking for a job almost immediately and submitted my resume to hundreds of places. I interviewed quite a bit, but the moment the companies found out that I was a disabled Veteran and had to go to the VA multiple times a week for physical therapy, they pretty much blew me off after I disclosed that information to them. But, I DO happen to have integrity, so being honest with my interviewers and recruiters was very important to me. To make that LONG story a little shorter, that’s actually what got me into pressure washing and what sparked my interest of being a business owner and my own boss! For those of you that have served in the military for any amount of time, you can understand the appeal of being your own boss, hahaha. So that’s how it ALL started and what sparked my passion for pressure washing.
Well, MANY of you have no idea who I am, but a few of you do, and you KNOW about my struggles in getting my company off of the ground and earning an income for my family and I. I just made it through my FIRST winter as a professional and unestablished company. If you’re reading this, I’m sure you’ve been in my shoes. There were days that I had to choose between putting fuel in my machine and truck OR going to the grocery store and buying food for my family. ‘But what about the VA, don’t they help you military guys out?’…Well, you’d be sickened if you knew the ways the VA has hung me and my family out to dry after 13 years of service and being blown up. So, we’ve been all on our own with the exception of a little help from family and a friend or two. Anyways, you might ask what I did all winter since I didn’t have that much work. Well, I focused on building my online presence and learning everything I possibly could. I would literally read about websites and how to build them, pick my friend’s brains with questions, and asked for help. I turned ALL of that energy and effort into my website! I literally invested HUNDREDS of hours into building my site, seeking help, and applying everything that I learned to my own site. Mainly because I had an absurd amount of time and no money to hire someone to do the work for me. Each day that I didn’t invest into my website, or if I needed a break for a couple of hours, I would simply hop on the forums and YouTube and study every single professional’s advice, videos, and posts (Yep, I’ve seen ALL of your videos and how-to’s as well Guy, and I learned quite a bit from you).
In knowing that I needed to build my online presence, I know I needed reviews. So, what did I do? I contacted EVERY SINGLE CLIENT who’s home I serviced within the past six months and ASKED them if they would be kind enough to leave me a Google Review. I would simply tell them that I am working on building my website and SEO and if they had a moment and could leave a review, it would help out my company tremendously. So, MANY of them did what I asked (although some of them got confused and left me reviews on Facebook or Angie’s List, or elsewhere. Hahaha). But Jared, you have reviews from people not even living in your state or even this country…what the hell is up with that?!! Well, I’m glad you asked me instead of just posting something online to bash my company. Well, remember that part about me being a Veteran and Fort Bragg (one of the nation’s largest military bases being located in Fayetteville) being in my MAIN service area? Well, through THAT many years of service and networking with friends, many of my old friends asked me to wash THEIR properties! I attained the rank of Staff Sergeant, so most staff NCO’s in the military live off post. Also, not only my friends, but because we live in a military town, MANY of our clients live out of state (and yes, even different countries) and they call or email us asking us to clean their home which is now a rental property. This is VERY commonplace here in Fayetteville and I’m terribly disappointed that someone would leave that tidbit of information out in an effort to pit people against me. And I’ll save everyone some suspense…I think I’m the best pressure washer EVER and so does my wife and our two dogs! Hahahaha. In all seriousness, we have NEVER had a bad review (yet at least) because we go above and beyond to ensure that our clients are VERY happy with our services and love the results. We constantly communicate, build relationships, we even talk to our clients about their families, current events, and anything else they want to talk about. We don’t simply show up, clean, get a paycheck and run to the next house. We’ve realized the importance of BUILDING LASTING RELATIONSHIPS with our clientele to make them clients for LIFE instead of a one-time cleaning. This often leads to myself or my wife becoming “Facebook Friends” and talking with them fairly often. Also, I will tell you all one of my HUGE SECRETS TO BUILDING PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS (especially since my business model has been formed from learning from all of YOU!). My wife and I use this little desktop calendar we bought at Wal Mart for $7.00. The moment we complete a job for a client, we move ahead 3 months, to the day, in the calendar and mark it. Once that 3 months has passed, we call our clientele to just speak with them for a moment about their home and ensure they are STILL happy with our services and we ask them if there is anything else we can do for them (also a great time to bring up add-on services they didn’t immediately need). By doing this, our clientele seem to REALLY remember us and they have a tendency to refer us to everyone they know! At the very least, they won’t forget who we are.
In closing, I would like to address everyone that reads this post. If you have ANY questions for me at all, literally anything, please feel free to contact me directly. If you have a problem with me at all, I ask that you have the intestinal fortitude to contact me directly instead of trying to rally people against me online. Although this is flattering, it IS quite annoying. I may have been overly aggressive and violent during my time in the Infantry over the course of my military career, however, I can assure you (and MANY will attest), I’m probably one of the nicest people you will ever meet and I would give you my last piece of bread or the shirt off my back if you needed it. And Guy, for the record…I wish you had a clue about how many people and businesses I have referred to you. I’m NOT one of those people that needs recognition for it so I didn’t feel the need to tell you. But if a commercial job needed something I wasn’t capable of or if a client needed a last minute wash that was impossible for me to complete for whatever reason, I ALWAYS referred them to your company. I am just so damn disappointed with the manner in which you decided to handle this. All you had to do was ask and I would’ve happily answered your questions. As an adult, a fellow PWRA member, and an industry professional, I expected SO much more from you. I really did.
Well, if I tried making everyone happy, I’m pretty sure I would get taken advantage of or worse. But, I felt that this derogatory and uncalled for post deserved the other side of the story since it was made public versus just calling/texting me to ask me directly. As with anything, take what you read on the internet with a grain of salt (“If it’s on the internet, it MUST be true” hahahaha). To reiterate, if anyone would like to talk to me directly, about this or ANYTHING else, I will make sure to take the time to reply to you. Just be patient with me because fortunately I AM getting very busy. And Guy, Fort Bragg’s population alone is 42,000 people and that’s just a piece of Fayetteville. I’m truly sorry that you felt threatened enough to slander my company online. I really think if you would’ve taken a moment to get to know me, or responded differently when I have messaged you in the past, we could’ve become a huge asset to each other’s company and reached a higher level of financial success. I don’t think I’ll ever truly understand why you felt the need to burn the bridge, but I guess that you have your reasons and they’re none of my business. Again, my only concern right now is my family, friends, business, and my clients. It’s truly unfortunate that you chose not to work with me.
) My wife after talking to her suggested we get some of our customers to give us reviews like what your stating above that you did with your business. I would think out of the country reviews aren’t going to mean squat but as far as the fake reviews go?? I bet there is a high percentage of people who do just that.
