Reading these posts the single largest thing to take away from this tread is this, "know your customer base" and also how they think and what they want.
If Cm or godsdozer would be in my area, they'd go broke in a few months, that's simply not the way its done here, if I were to go to their area and tried to operate the way I do from my experiences, I doubt anyone would hire me either. Different area's have far different ways of doing things, its human nature, for that matter I've lived in a few different neighborhoods over the years, mostly rural and just a few miles makes a huge difference as to how people think and what they consider acceptable or not. Different states, different business backgrounds, different customer bases, different types of work and the list is endless all plays a huge part in how things get done, only those that succeed have this figured out, those that fail, never saw it and can't figure it out and no amount of explaining will ever get them to understand it.
Machines can come and go, anyone can buy anything at any time, the color, brand, age has very little to do with success, its how the business is run, its philosophy, reputation and understanding of the customers needs are what makes a business succeed, and that's as simple as it is. If you want to run a few machines and stay small or run a multi million dollar operation with hundreds of employee's, makes very little difference, that's personal choice, but in order to succeed takes knowing your customers and their ever changing needs and your ability to meet those needs both today and in the future.
If Cm or godsdozer would be in my area, they'd go broke in a few months, that's simply not the way its done here, if I were to go to their area and tried to operate the way I do from my experiences, I doubt anyone would hire me either. Different area's have far different ways of doing things, its human nature, for that matter I've lived in a few different neighborhoods over the years, mostly rural and just a few miles makes a huge difference as to how people think and what they consider acceptable or not. Different states, different business backgrounds, different customer bases, different types of work and the list is endless all plays a huge part in how things get done, only those that succeed have this figured out, those that fail, never saw it and can't figure it out and no amount of explaining will ever get them to understand it.
Machines can come and go, anyone can buy anything at any time, the color, brand, age has very little to do with success, its how the business is run, its philosophy, reputation and understanding of the customers needs are what makes a business succeed, and that's as simple as it is. If you want to run a few machines and stay small or run a multi million dollar operation with hundreds of employee's, makes very little difference, that's personal choice, but in order to succeed takes knowing your customers and their ever changing needs and your ability to meet those needs both today and in the future.