Make your standards visible.

On a 5 year inspection Firetrol tech noticed pipe was dry and looked to never had water inside. On a wet system. Under further investigation we found this mechanical tee that had not been drilled out. This is the feed main to the lower office area system in a warehouse building. It has never had a water supply. To my industry competitors, we can do better. Our job is fire & life safety. Take pride in the work you do and train your staff. No amount of profit is worth anyone losing their life or a building. This was done 4 years ago per the pipe fab labels. Today it is fixed and the occupants of the building are now safe. Things like this are what make our industry look bad and kills our statistic. TAKE PRIDE IN YOUR WORK

I was forced to let go of my best staff member and hand him over to my competitor.. 18 months ago, I was faced with a make or break decision. My business was struggling with cash flow, and after trying everything I could to get us back on track, the only option I had was to let go of one of my lads. The hardest part was that he was halfway through an over 25 apprenticeship. So I gave him two options. He could stay with me on a self employed basis on less pay while I tried to turn things back around. Or he could pick up the phone to my competitor, ask for a job, and have the security of being employed with a consistent wage. He chose the second. As hard as it was to watch him go. In that moment, his future mattered more to me than my competition. Sometimes doing the right thing for your business means making the decision that's hardest for yourself. Now whenever I see him drive past in his new work van, we stop for a quick chat and I’m reminded that he’s in a much more secure position than if he’d stayed with me at the time.

I walked away from a very good new client opportunity this week. Operationally, it was exactly what we look for: consistent and simple direct-to-consumer fulfillment, a clean setup, and meaningful monthly volume being shipped into Amazon fulfillment centers. But throughout the process, nearly every term became a negotiation. Once we resolved one issue, another appeared. Most of the requests were minor or reasonable, so I went along with them for a while. But at some point, the way someone behaves during the sales process tells you what the relationship may look like once their inventory is in your warehouse. This one felt like it could become an operational battle at every turn. So I sent the client back into the 3PL search. Swifthouse is looking for new business, but it needs to be the right new business. Not every client will be a peach. But the bar for joining the Swifthouse club has risen. Empty racks are better than a bad fit.