SMS Assist

Chicago’s latest unicorn is all about grit. Flashy new technology, probably the same as the others.

SMS Assist, a No-Glamour Start-Up, Becomes a Unicorn: Unicorns – or private, venture capital-backed companies that are valued above $1 billion – are often defined by flashy new technology or millions of users, and often based in Silicon Valley. But the ones based in the Midwest have tended to be more about sprinkling digital dust on the dirtiest industries.

SMS Assist connects property managers with outside vendors, such as snow removal services, landscapers and window washers, through a cloud-based digital platform. SMS’s customers include retailers like Family Dollar and O’Reilly Automotive, as well as real estate operators, such as Colony Starwood Homes.

Turn a reactive event into a planned service: Exterior Maintenance technology creates real-time customer validation, satisfaction and feedback for continuous affiliate monitoring & quality control.

Using the SMS technology, a snow-plow serviceman can take pictures with his phone before and after the work is done and submit them to the property manager to show a task is completed. All invoicing is done through SMS’s cloud-based technology, and ratings are given to all vendor to assess their work. It allows companies with a lot of offices or real estate a way to keep tabs on the upkeep of properties.

On Tuesday, SMS announced that it had raised $150 million in new capital from the same Goldman Sachs team that invested in Uber, Facebook and Spotify, according to a news release. The new round, its Series D, sets SMS’s valuation at $1 billion, a spokesman for the company said.

Michael Rothman (pictured), founder of SMS Assist. Credit SMS Assist

That is almost double its valuation from a year ago, when a previous round of fund-raising was led by Insight Venture Partners. In the current market, private companies have had a difficult time raising capital at higher valuations, as investors have become pickier, looking for more reasons — such as profitability — to sink their money into something.

“This is a huge market opportunity, yet historically, the sector has lacked innovation and customer needs were largely unmet,” Christopher Dawe, co-head of venture capital at Goldman Sachs Investment Partners. “SMS Assist stands out to us as the only player delivering a scalable solution that improves both quality and transparency to its customer base while at the same time reduces costs.”

Michael Rothman founded SMS about 13 years ago, using the “bootstrap” method – which means he got started without much outside financial help. In 2008, a close friend invested $2 million, and several years later, he received his first infusions of capital from institutional investors, the Huizenga Group and Pritzker Venture Capital Group. “SMS Assist is a profitable company experiencing explosive growth,” said J. B. Pritzker, the managing partner of Pritzker Group, in the statement on Tuesday.

Mr. Rothman is a serial entrepreneur of sorts – always in the industrial services industry. One of his businesses was sold to Waste Management, while another, Kenny Industrial Services (which managed coatings and cleanings for industrial customers), made some acquisitions and reincorporated under the name K2 Industrial. In 2003, he left to start SMS.

Reliable Window Washers A Godsend In The Booming Service Industry

Kyle Graham gives a Kew office window a sparkling view.

Reliable window washers a godsend in the booming service industry: To the scantily clad woman who ran in panic to the bathroom last week – window cleaner Kyle Graham, hanging on a rope at the time, wasn't trying to grab a picture with his camera phone. He was just taking a call. 

And by the way, there was a notice in your mailbox saying he'd be working that day ... so, keep your eyes peeled next time. "When we're doing apartment blocks we put up notices a few days before, but people don't notice that stuff," says Graham, who has been doing rope access work for three years – and has subsequently learnt a great deal about people.

Kyle Graham the window washer plies his trade in Kew.

"You sort of see into their lives: what books they're reading, what movies they're watching, how their bedrooms are super messy and piled with their junk, and the rest of the house is tidy, how they're sitting there in the morning in their underwear, that kind of stuff."

On one occasion, when Graham had long hair and a beard and looked much like Jesus, he descended to a window where a woman was kneeling in front of a cross and praying. "I don't know if I gave her a religious experience, but I sure gave her a fright," he says.

The other people routinely startled into action by sudden appearance of Graham are lazy office workers. "You see them on Facebook or the phone and it's obvious they're just slacking off. Once they see me they immediately get back to work."

As a species, the window washer – much like the pool man and gardener – has been the source of much ribald humour for, like, ever. They are, of course, people just doing a job – more of them with the growth in the service industry, the cultural blow-out of middle-class brunch and outsourcing of old fashioned weekend chores, and reality television's almost moral elevation of the home beautiful.

Cameron MacSween started cleaning windows 33 years ago as a teenager. Those were the days of the four-storey ladders (since banned) and a little anxiety when the ladder slipped a little or sunk in to the grass and threatened to tilt backwards. MacSween experienced the latter while cleaning at Xavier College one day and may explain why he tried another line of work for a while, before founding Cam's Window Cleaning 17 years ago.

Competition has grown with opportunity, and the technical demands of high-rise work, the advent of different grades of glass, and Occupational Health and Safety guidelines has turned a bucket-and-squeegee game into more of a trade. "There are now maybe 15 high-rise companies, 20 or 30 general window washing companies, and maybe 10 of them are mainstream ... then you've got your sole traders doing domestic work, down to your pensioners who get out and clean the local shops."

It's taken MacSween a long time to establish a reliable team who actually take an interest in their work – no-shows were once epidemic – and aren't prone to falling off ladders. He tells the story of an elderly Greek worker who resisted all gentle hints of retirement, no matter him falling into swimming pools and crashing the company car three times in a month. "In the end, I had to say that was enough."

While the new-world seriousness has taken over a game that once suffered too many cowboys, a saucy side lives on. MacSween long ago put a slab of beer on offer to any of the workers who might get "picked up" on the job. However, an outbreak of professionalism has meant the slab has gone unclaimed.

Graham, the Jesus-like rope man who works for MacSween, was recently confronted with a woman holding a phone number against the pane. He wasn't sure if it was a joke, a referral to a girlfriend or what. "I didn't follow it up."

There remains, however, the legend of a window cleaner called Peter Perfect. "He was a very good-looking bloke, worked out, had a good physique – and he knew it," says MacSween. "He sort of dressed to show himself off. We got a lot of requests from the ladies for Peter Perfect. He's now in another line of work."

New Service Business Model Dubai - Jim Will Fix It

Another new addition to the company’s offerings is window cleaning, which is due to be available by the end of 2015. “Not a mop and bucket,” says Thomas, but a high tech system that’s being brought in from the UK and uses pure water as the main cleaning method to eliminate smears and droplet marks caused by ‘total dissolved solids’ (TDS).

Fixing up the maintenance industry: If you have lived in, or even just visited Dubai in the past seven or eight years, you will have almost certainly seen the purple and yellow Jim Will Fix It vans going from job to job. Their noticeable presence not only speaks volumes about their eye-catching branding, but also the company’s success in redefining the emirate’s approach to home repairs and maintenance.

Offering a range of services including DIY, plumbing, electrics, air conditioning, carpentry, and painting and decorating, the business was founded in 2007 by two men who wanted to change a maintenance landscape which they believed was restrictive and often poor quality. Colin Thomas and Daniel Garner both arrived in Dubai from the UK in the early years of the new millennium – Thomas with Sony PlayStation, and Garner with Morgan McKinley. But despite the heady days of pre-global financial crisis Dubai, there was something that the duo felt compelled to address. So much so that they started their own business to deal with it.

“I was living in a big place in Al Barsha, and the whole nugget of the idea came when the AC broke down,” explains Thomas. “On three different occasions I phoned three different companies. They either needed an annual contract and wanted all the money upfront, or alternatively it was a guy who spoke no English and came with one screwdriver. “We thought surely there’s a better way of doing maintenance than this. So we kind of started from there.”

Joining forces with Garner, the duo “sort of did it backwards” by quitting their jobs before embarking on a six-month research period, culminating in a business plan. “We did our market research - we were stood outside Spinneys and Choithrams every evening for about a week, and that research came back to say quite clearly that there was room for something that was radically different,” continues Thomas. “And that ‘different’ is exactly where we sat. Back home you would never have somebody coming to you saying ‘pay me £3,000 for the year and I’ll look after your house for you’. People would laugh them out the door. So we couldn’t understand why up until then Dubai had been operating in that way.”

The important thing in the early days was for people to try out the fledgling company. “The real key to the business was: can we get the quality service without needing an annual maintenance contract, so people have the option of trying us to work out whether we›re as good as we say we are?” says Thomas. “If we offer them a warranty not only on parts but also the service that we do, then they can have the peace of mind that they haven’t spent a small fortune before finding out whether we’re any good or not, and they have a warranty so if anything does go wrong they have that peace of mind there as well.”

The timing, however, was not ideal. The company launched in 2007, shortly before the financial crisis engulfed most of the globe. But while many new businesses were struggling to stay afloat, Thomas says Jim Will Fix It proved to be somewhat recession-proof. He explains: “It was quite clear within a month or so that the recession was very much upon us here in Dubai and at that stage there was a big question mark of whether or not the business would work. “But what became clear was that things break even in a recession, and you either lived with it or you get it repaired. It kind of grew exponentially from day one. And that’s continued for the last seven years which has been fantastic.”

Part of the company’s early success, according to Thomas, has been its balance between offering a full range of services, and building a reputation for honesty with clients. “We couldn’t just look after one particular facet, like a plumbing service,” he says. “We really needed to offer people enough of a breadth that we were almost a one-stop-shop for their maintenance needs. “That said if there was something too specialist, unlike some companies that claim to be experts in everything, we had to be prepared to walk away from it if it wasn’t within our core expertise. That’s really helped us build a rapport with our customers. They know if it’s a job we’ve taken on then we’re good at it.”

This kind of rapport has helped Jim Will Fix It compete against other companies in the facilities management sphere, but for Thomas there is a much more important differentiator. “What you tend to find with those guys is that they’re very much competing on price, while we’re very much competing on quality,” he explains.

“For us it was important that we had the right staff - really capable people who come to us with qualifications. For example all our AC guys are three years qualified in the Philippines and then we retrain them again, so they go through a really rigorous training process with our senior technicians to ensure they’re the required quality.  “Then we have ongoing training. So every three months they go through a refresher course on customer training, and then we have a refresher team on the road that just trains, trains, trains and shadows each of our teams.

“It’s permanent because we have to maintain that quality, even as we’re growing at a very quick rate.” The company’s tag line – ‘one call, one visit, job done’ – is “more than just a mantra”, according to Thomas. He explains that the quality of service needs to be strong throughout the entire process, starting with the initial call to the bookings team. “The first call is critical because that call is for us to be able to determine that we’ve got the right person there, make sure we have the materials we need to do that job, and make sure the customer understands exactly what that job is. “And that’s followed up by the fact that our staff are all English speaking - they are able to communicate, and are constantly retrained in communication with the customer. “They are there to eke out the maximum amount of information so that we can go there in one visit, can get the job done, ensure it’s going to be right, and that we’ve got all the right materials to proceed.”

The company also has back-up plans in place, just in case the job turns out to be more difficult than first expected, or if parts aren’t available. “We now have a fleet of very big vans that float around Dubai and work as mobile warehouses as well,” says Thomas. “So if we do have a job where those parts aren’t available, there’s a good chance they’ll be in the mobile vans, so we can get the parts to people quickly and still get everything done in that one job. “However, there are always going to be those jobs where you’ve got specific items, so when a technician is still on the roof, for example, from the roof he can call the parts team in office, and they will call in immediately the part details. The parts team will then call our driver who is already in the area of the supplier. So in effect from diagnosis to part being available, it can be as quick as half an hour. It’s something we’ve really worked on perfecting as we’ve got bigger.

“We’ve now done 55,000 jobs and we’re kind of at the stage where we’ve seen everything before, without a doubt, and we’ll know how to deal with it.” The focus on quality is something that Thomas and Garner were adamant about from the very beginning. While starting out, they took advice from friends who had also launched businesses in Dubai, and decided that there were certain things they would leave in the hands of other professionals. “We sat down with those guys to learn from their mistakes, and what that told us was that we didn’t need to worry about the bureaucracy of setting up. We could focus on our business and find a facilitation company to look at the set up requirements. We’ve got a great one that we still use to this day.

“There’s a real decision to make when setting up a business, which is what will you spend money on, and what will you focus on yourself. We knew that our product delivery had to be better than the lowest common denominator operators, and the established operators as well, and we couldn’t just match it, we had to be significantly, demonstratively better. We wanted to focus on that.” That focus paid dividends almost immediately.

Despite the challenges the founders faced in the form of competition and a generally poor perception of the maintenance industry, the quality that they were so intent on establishing shone through. “Within probably six months of us starting, Dubai’s word of mouth kicked in massively for us and it made our significant advertising efforts pale in significance,” says Thomas. “Expat Woman was probably the best source we had for word of mouth and we were getting 60-70 percent of our work on referral alone. For us that was absolutely critical.

“As well as that, there were just huge amounts of hard work and graft. When you’re signing the cheques yourselves, and it’s money you’ve earned yourselves [the start-up money came from the founders and their families] it makes you beyond hungry to make sure it works. “So for us it was ridiculous hours, ridiculous days. I lost a huge amount of weight, and for the first six months I spent a lot of time on the road going to the jobs, being on the roofs in 50C heat to ensure our service delivery was right, and I’m able to talk about jobs knowledgeably, which was absolutely key.”

Having established a strong following, and ensured a consistent quality of service through continual training, a system of spot checks, and customer feedback, the company began to expand its offering.

In order to provide the best possible service, Thomas explains that he and Garner keep a close eye on new products and procedures available in other parts of the world which could enhance their offering in Dubai. One example is the addition of duct cleaning to their AC service. Thomas explains that they have brought in a specific piece of equipment from the US which cleans AC units and ducts much more quickly and efficiently than they were previously able to do. Another new addition to the company’s offerings is window cleaning, which is due to be available by the end of 2015. “Not a mop and bucket,” says Thomas, but a high tech system that’s being brought in from the UK and uses pure water as the main cleaning method to eliminate smears and droplet marks caused by ‘total dissolved solids’ (TDS).

With any new product, there needs to be a tangible benefit to the customer and the company, explains Thomas. “If we can keep our quality level, but use the technology to make it faster while maintaining that quality, and get to the point where we reach a really nice competitive price, then it means it’s feasible for the Dubai market, and feasible for us. “There’s a bit of chicken and egg situation with new products, in as much as we know it’s being used in a certain way, but can we tweak it to get the quality we need, and can we get the economies of scale that we need to get to a price that will make it mainstream in Dubai?” The answer for an increasing number of products appears to be yes. But while the breadth of what they are able to do is increasing, the geography in which they do it is not. Yet.

“At the moment we’re in Dubai, and the reason we’ve stuck to Dubai so far is that for our services and the reputation we have here, we have a really strong amount of growth year on year, every year,” continues Thomas.

“But we are looking at Abu Dhabi, without a doubt - it’s just a case of how soon we will roll it out.

“We also get approached on an almost weekly basis for franchises abroad. To date we’ve decided not to do that. It’s so critical that anything we do, we do to our quality level, and to package all of that up into a little manual is not really possible in the way it might be for a fast food outlet. ‘If our key is quality, then it doesn’t really franchise that well, in our view, and we have to stick to maintaining that quality.”

Speaking with Thomas, it is clear that his business is about much more than making money. The company’s dedication to quality service is matched by the partners’ assertion that it should be a place their employees feel comfortable working. People are at the heart of what they do, and the quality they are keen to provide at every turn is a constant reminder of this. Having helped fix the reputation of the maintenance sector in Dubai, no doubt Jim Will Fix It will continue to be at the forefront of its development in the future.

The Rise Of The App' Based Service Middlemen

Apps do your chores: shopping, parking, cooking, cleaning, packing, shipping and more.

There’s an Uber for Everything Now - Apps do your chores: shopping, parking, cooking, cleaning, packing, shipping and more: The fabulously wealthy may call their servants by ringing a little bell. In the lifestyles of the geeky and lazy, one can now summon a household staff just by tapping on a smartphone.

There's a maid, masseuse, doctor, chef, valet, personal shopper, florist and bartender. Each has his own app and can arrive at the door in as little as 10 minutes. Yes, this sounds ridiculous. But it might also be the future of how busy non-billionaires get all kinds of chores done.

A concierge economy is sprouting up on phones, and no place more so than in my city of San Francisco, the capital of Internet La La Land. These startups like to say they’re just like Uber, the car service that has upended transportation, because they use phones to connect customers with nearby workers on demand.

All of these prices could go down if services became popular, but that’s a big if.

There’s an Uber for everything now. Washio is for having someone do your laundry, Sprig and SpoonRocket cook your dinner and Shyp will mail things out so you don’t have to brave the post office. Zeel delivers a massage therapist (complete with table). Heal sends a doctor on a house call, while Saucey will rush over alcohol. And by Jeeves, cutesy names are part of the schtick—Dufl will pack your suitcase and Eaze will reup a medical marijuana supply.

Q Raises $775,000 From Big-Time Angel Investors To Become A Godsend For Office Managers Everywhere: When your day at the office is ending, it's just beginning for another set of workers: the cleaning staff. Cleaning staffs are often hired by buildings or companies through legacy agreements. There isn't some sort of app to help speed up the scheduling, management, or payment process between the cleaners and the offices who book them. Often, companies have to hire employees dedicated to office management to oversee the process; they also handle day-to-day issues such as changing lights, fixing Internet problems, and stocking fridges.

Q (named after the Star Trek character and James Bond's Q Branch) is a software and management startup that wants to make it easier for companies to work with cleaning services and other service providers on a routine basis. Its mobile platform allows office managers to book cleanings, leave notes for the cleaning staff, assign tasks to be completed, and pay for the service all in one place. Q buys hours in bulk from cleaning services in the NYC area, then turns around and sells them to offices at a slightly higher price, for $25 an hour.

When a cleaning is booked through Q, the workers clock in on a Q-provided iPad in the office. They can check off what they've done (vacuumed floors, cleaned desks, etc) so the office manager can see. Offices are required to book at least 4 hours worth of cleanings per week on the platform. Q also has a network of local service providers (electricians, exterminators, etc) that can be booked and payed for through its mobile app.

Founded by Daniel Teran and Saman Rahmanian, Q launched this past April with 15 customers. The technology is used by companies like Uber, Elite Daily, and Flatiron Health, and Q estimates it will be used by over 100 offices by the end of this summer. "Right now, no [office manager] really knows what they’re paying for," Teran says of hiring a cleaning service. "There's a paper list of things people say they’re going to do...We're creating an operating system for offices, providing the products, services and technology to make it easy to run an office."

Already, Q's looking at an annual run rate of more than $1 million. It recently raised a $775,000 seed round from notable angel investors including Behance co-founder Scott Belsky, College Humor founders Ricky Van Veen and Josh Abramson, Barkbox co-founder Henrik Werdelin, Max Burger and Jay Livingston. Path founder Dave Morin and early Facebooker Kevin Colleran also invested through their fund, Slow Ventures, as well as Panarea Captial's Len Blavatink and Alex Zubillaga.

MyClean is a similar mobile platform for booking residential cleanings in New York, but there didn't seem to be similar widely-used product for local businesses. So Teran and Rahmanian met with 30 local cleaning services to gauge interest and onboarded some of them to Q.  Q currently has 14 employees including a former Apple employee who leads its tech operations. The team is split between New York and Buenos Aires.

Eventually, Q wants to expand beyond cleanings to run more like one of its customers — Uber — with on-demand services for anything offices need. Scott Belsky, an early investor in Uber, sees that promise in Q. "I love businesses that replace the pipes and upgrade the user experience for some aspect of everyday living — I  call these 'interface layer' businesses," Belsky told Business Insider via email. "Uber did this for transportation. Shyp [another investment] is doing it for shipping. And Q is doing it for office/space management."

Belsky says that Q might look like just a cleaning service platform right now, but it has the potential to become a lot more than that. "I was impressed by the potential for customers to rely on Q for other services such as ordering more office/cleaning supplies, handymen, etc.," he says. "The interface of Q has the potential to revolutionize many industries that operate underneath."

We're operating in Delhi right now, with 1,500 service providers.

Is There a Market for 'Uber for Handymen' in India? These Startups Think So: Need to get your AC repaired? Maybe your door's latch has gone out of alignment and needs to be fixed? Or perhaps your fridge has developed a strange odour and you want someone to come and clean it until it's as good as new?

There's a whole crop of Indian startups that now exist to address such needs; companies like Mr Right, Housejoy, Local Oye, and Urban Clap allow you to hire a carpenter, a plumber or a cleaner with just a few taps, while others like Goodservice and GetMyPeon offer a digital concierge where you can ask for a wide range of services through the apps. But are they finding many takers in India, a country that has traditionally relied on the unorganised sector to bridge this gap?

Most of these startups are inspired by international companies like Homejoy (not to be confused with the Indian company Housejoy) that have shown the model works. The Indian companies have added local flavours like cash on delivery and are finding favour, especially with young professionals relocating for work across cities or to a new part of town. If you're busy with a demanding job - very likely in a startup yourself - then you won't be able to track down the various handymen you need around the house.

Even if you find someone, there's no guarantee of quality, and no way of knowing what a fair rate really is; instead, you just have to hope that the electrician didn't fleece you when he came over to repair your malfunctioning switches.

Interest in the space is booming; Mr Right was launched three years ago, as a full service company that had a regular staff of cleaners and other handymen on its employee-list, but changed into an aggregator at the start of last year. Meanwhile, the idea of an Uber-for-repairs has been gaining traction in India. Housejoy, which launched in January and already has a pan-India presence appears to draw inspiration from the US-based Homejoy for both its name and its model, and the company has raised $4 million (approximately Rs. 25.5 crore) from Matrix Partners.

Local Oye, which operates in Mumbai, started operations in 2013 and in April it raised $5 million (approximately Rs. 32 crore). Urban Clap, which was founded in October 2014, has raised Rs. 10 crore from various funders, also in April. Mumbai-based errand running service GetMyPeon just raised its first round of seed funding for Rs. 1.5 crore - clearly the sector is seeing a lot of interest from investors, if not customers themselves.

Also see:

Amazon Now Offering Home Services
Now Google Go Head to Head with Amazon Home Services

Finally... Quality Sought In The Service Market

At last a service that focuses on quality.

Juan Chaparro, who years ago worked with his wife as a house cleaner in Texas, and had to hitchhike from job to job because they had no car, began with an awesome heartwarming story. “We were full of dreams and wanted to make a big business,” he said. Today, Mr. Chaparro is cofounder and CEO of Serviceful—a “digital concierge” that books and manages all your home services, from pet sitters to gardeners to window washers. Talk about a success story.

Serviceful the first of it’s kind Dedicated Online Home Concierge for busy homeowners. Order household services with a short request and let us do the rest. We blend the best of the web technology and local service to keep your house running smoothly. We free up the homeowner's time and offer peace of mind. Request any home service with one short message.

• Track & monitor your scheduled service providers. Keep record of all your maintenance costs & your home’s health in one centralized place.
• Bonded & Insured providers within your community.
• Included with your membership, every quarter you will receive a home visit for a routine maintenance inspection and small repairs.
• Snap & Done - With our app you'll be able to take pictures of things around your house in need of repairs or some TLC.

A Little Safety Advice For Service Clients

Crime Tracker: How To Handle Unexpected Guests On Your Doorstep - (SPOKANE, Wash.) - Door to door solicitors seem to pop up at your front door as the weather gets warmer.  Even though most of them are honest business people, the Spokane County Sheriff's Office reminds us to take precautions when answering the door for people we don't know.

The best piece of advice if you are expecting someone: know who's coming.  For example, if you schedule a window washer to come to your home, ask what vehicle they're driving and the name of the person providing the service.  That way, you'll know who and what to expect when you get that knock on your door.

The Sheriff's Office also recommends a locking screen door.  The door provides a barrier between you and the person on your doorstep.  It allows for a conversation but provides a layer of protection.  The Sheriff's Office also says to keep the door closed.  It says there's nothing wrong with asking the person to leave a business card on your step and telling them you'll look at it when you have a chance. 

The next tip: make yourself known.  The Sheriff's Office says not to hide.  Don't make it look like you aren't home.  It says thieves looking to break-in don't want you to be there.  If you yell through the door and let them know you're home but too busy to answer the door, the Sheriff's Office says they'll typically move on.  The same goes for children who are home alone. 

Finally and most importantly, trust your instinct.  It's more important to be safe than to be polite.  If someone is pushy and insists on coming into your home, keep the door shut and call Crime Check at 456-2233.

How secure is your home? Read these tips and tricks to find out how to step up your security measures and keep your home safe. Locking your front door isn’t enough to keep your home, possessions, or your family safe. Follow these tips and tricks from ADT security to ensure that your home is safer than Fort Knox.

Assess your weak points
Stand outside your property and inspect it as if you have been locked out. Are there any weak spots in your security? If you can get inside without keys, so could someone else!

Start from the outside in
Security starts at the border of the home. This may include a locked automatic gate for vehicle entry, an electronic release on the small locked front gate, an intercom, lights to illuminate the gate area and a wall or fence with electric fencing. Also all shrubs that can hide intruders should be removed or cut back.

Shed some light
Light is a burglar's biggest enemy. Installing exterior lights outside your home that are activated by movement will light your garden and deter unwelcome visitors. Perimeter floodlights can be used when you are home alone or away and can be time activated if you are on holiday. Beams can also be installed in the garden to act as an early warning system.

Cover your entrances
Next tackle the front door. If burglars can get to it, it is easier to get your belongings out! Install the best locks possible. A deadlock provides good security but a mortised deadlock is even more difficult for the burglar to overcome. Guard against exposed door hinges, as the hinge pin can be easily broken. A 180-degree peephole is another essential and the front door area should also be clearly lit at night. Fit security gates over all exterior doors including the upstairs balcony.

Install burglar bars
Relatively few burglaries involve breaking large glass windows as this takes too long, is too noisy and there is a risk of injury. However, a burglar will break a smaller window to tamper with the window catch. Consider installing keylocks on your widows and install burglar bars.

Get a good security system
The above hints plus a modern security system linked to a reputable armed response service should encourage burglars to move on to a less secure home. A good security system should include alarm sensors on doors and windows to detect intruders and panic buttons in the home to summon help from the armed response company in case of an emergency.

19 ways to think like a burglar and prevent theft: Thinking like a criminal and anticipating their moves is your best chance of avoiding theft and burglary, law enforcement says. Davis County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Susan Poulson said people can prevent a lot of theft by thinking ahead of a criminal and taking care of neighbors. "We just recently had a case that was solved in one of our contract cities that a burglar was going house-to-house taking whatever was left unlocked or open. We had a resident who was observant and called it in." Poulson said. " He was able to give us a description of the suspect, what he was taking and where he was going." Richard T. Wright, a criminology professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, interviewed more than a hundred burglars for his book "Burglars on the Job." The patterns he found included what Poulson suggested, as well as some others.

Below are 19 things a burglar thinks according to Wright.

Familiarity
I've been in your house: I'm the carpet cleaner, the painter, the delivery person, the landscaper.
I used your bathroom. And I unlatched the back window while I was there.
I'm polite. I always knock before entering. If you answer, I'll ask for directions or offer to do something around the house.
I won't look like a crook when you see me. I'll look like I have a job to do instead.
I've looked in your windows. I know what electronics you have and where you keep your jewelry.
I'm your Facebook friend. And I saw your posts about vacation.

Scoping the site
Toys in the yard tell me you might have gaming systems inside.
You've opened the window to air out your house. That's my invitation inside.
Your garage door is open. That's an advertisement of the things you own to me.
Can see your alarm panel and whether or not its set from the window? Consider having it installed where I can't see it from outside.
Newspapers piled up in the driveway, fliers on your door: both are welcome signs to me.
Your driveway has an awful lot of snow on it. Consider getting a neighbor to walk through it or hire someone to keep it plowed if you're not home.

Keeping me out
The sound and flicker of a TV deter me better than any alarm system.
If your neighbor keeps looking at me when I'm in your yard, I'll leave.
Loud, barking dogs blow my cover and keep me away.
An armed alarm, complete with motion detectors above the kitchen sink window and on the second floor make me nervous.

Once I'm inside ...
I check your sock drawers. I'll check the medicine cabinet and bedside tables, too.
If your safe isn't bolted down, I'll take it with me and crack it later.
I don't go into kids' rooms.

The list may seem over-cautious, but Poulson said thieves will look anywhere for clues and have no problem striking anywhere. "Unfortunately, that's the day and age that we're in. But, you just need to make sure that you keep yourself and your belongings safe," she said. "It's too bad, but that's the way it is." Also see "Burglary via obituary a growing problem."

A Window Cleaning Service Experience - A Customer Speaks

Through Dirty Window Screens; I Can See Clearly Now By Laurie Kapugi: After a bad experience with a window washing service, the company tried to salvage me as a customer, did they succeed? I’m one of those customers that will go out of my way to recommend a company that has done great work for me. On the flip-side; if the service was below average I will not recommend, and most likely inform people of the sub-standard experience I’ve had in the past. I recently had some routine work done around my house that fell into the sub-standard category. My dilemma in this situation is the fact that the prior year this same company did an outstanding job. I will not throw anyone or any company under the bus in this column, but I will include the fact that I had my windows washed. My house has three stories so I leave the window washing to the professionals. This columnist has a fear of heights!

Last year a team of five people showed up at the scheduled time. They went right to work and washed the inside and outside of my windows and they took all the screens off and scrubbed them clean with soap water and a brush. The screens dried and were reinstalled and the job was complete. Total time for the task was one and a half hours. I was thrilled. I put them in my calendar to call in April for another cleaning. 

The first scheduled appointment didn’t happen because it was raining. We rescheduled for the following week and all was well. The day of the new appointment they arrived within the scheduled time, but much to my surprise it was a team of one! I decided to go with the flow and let the gentleman get to work. He started counting my windows and then informed me my front windows were going to be sixty dollars each! How could that be when last year they were ten dollars? I decided to call the company and they informed me I was correct. They called their employee and informed him of the correct pricing. He went to work and five and a half hours later I saw him reinstalling my screens. I was confused by this because he never used my hose outside to clean the screens. I questioned him and he informed me, “I used a dry brush to clean them.”

Now I was extremely upset. Not only was I a prisoner of my home for five hours, but he tried to over-charge me for the window cleaning, and then didn’t clean the screens with soap and water. I paid extra for the screen cleaning and it was not done correctly. I called the home office again and they apologized and told me they would speak to the employee about the proper way to clean the screens. At this point I didn’t want to wait around the house for another two hours to have the screens removed, cleaned properly, dried and then reinstalled so they offered to remove the fees from the final price. I had a long conversation with a supervisor about the experience I had with their company the previous year versus this current service. She understood why I was upset and offered to have someone else come out and clean the screen the next day. I politely informed her that I wasn’t able to stay home for another day. She told me she would call me in one week to set-up the appointment. I hung up feeling the problem had been resolved and eventually my windows and screens would be cleaned the proper way.

Fast forward three weeks from my phone call to the supervisor. I never received a phone call to set-up my new appointment. I decided I would email the company to let them know they lost a customer. Of course, they quickly responded with an offer to come out in the next few days and all I would have to do is call and confirm. After all the time I had invested in my window washing this year I felt it was best to let this one go and move on. I never called or responded to the email and it’s no surprise that they never called or followed up with me after I didn’t respond. If they followed up I thought I still might be able to do business with them. I guess they didn’t want my business after all.

This kind of experience and lack of true customer service drives me crazy. I understand that at times there are problems and things go wrong, but that is what a customer service department is for. I was reasonable after multiple problems. I was polite and I agreed to let them make good on their promise, yet they did not deliver, or even follow through in the end. If I am the customer, why am I doing all the follow-up? A good customer service department stays one step ahead of the customer, not two steps behind.

Unfortunately, I have experienced far too many scenarios like the one above. Usually it’s a first time experience and not a second experience though. In today’s world it is so easy to get in touch with customers . We have phones, cell phones and emails. My dentist even sends me text messages to remind me of appointments. So why is it in this world filled with so many ways to communicate; companies don’t communicate with their customers? If anyone out there knows of a window washing service please send me an email with their information, I’m going to need it next spring!

Creating Memories

The Simple Truths of Service: In The Simple Truths of Service, Ken Blanchard and Barbara Glanz tell the inspirational story of Johnny, a 19-year-old bagger with Down syndrome. Johnny decided to personalize his service to his customers by dropping a thought for the day in each bag. Customers loved it and the spirit of service that Johnny started transformed the store. The Simple Truths of Service describes ten things that you can do to create a great service culture, including using outside-the-box thinking, starting with a clear vision that everyone catches and going the extra mile. Great customer service brings customers back, but the final Simple Truth of Service is this: Great service comes from the heart.

Have you created any memories lately?

Weather Got Your Window Cleaning Service Down?

Mike Draper of "Clearly Windows" in Illinois shows us how it's done.

Weather Got Your Cleaning Service Down? Has the weather got you down? You are not alone! Snow, sleet, ice...STOP WE CAN'T TAKE IT ANY MORE is the cry I am hearing from many. There is no doubt about it. When you see piles of snow, your balance sheet is likely to see RED...and there is nothing more depressing than that. Staff can't get to work, clients become indifferent, and the phone definitely stops ringing. What can you do?

Move, Don't Cancel - One way to reduce the pain of foul weather and to take charge with your clients and reschedule due to weather, and take no prisoners. Saturdays, Sundays, whenever. Nothing is off limits. Tell your staff, that you know it is going to be painful to miss out on the income, so you are scheduling extra jobs for them to make up for it. When your clients try to say "let's just skip it", use your powers of persuasion to let them know that your staff who is counting on income, has room on Saturdays, and we are even throwing in some free snow-day extras.

Become a Chauffeur - If it is safe jump in your car early and go pick your staff up and ferry them to and from the jobs. Clients will be impressed that you made the effort, and staff (though sad they did not get the day off) will be happy to not lose out on the revenue.

Money Talks - Do everything in your power to be sure that your staff does not come out of a two week period with no money. One year we had a big snow storm that hit Seattle between Christmas and New Years. What horrible timing! Clients all said "I'll just spend time with my family and see you next time". Oh dread. Nobody made money for ten days, and then came in the on-slot of resignations.

For Next Time - Make sure that for the future you have a "foul weather policy" that protects you from lots of losses. Make it your policy that in case of foul weather client homes will automatically be rescheduled, and that staff know exactly how they will be notified of what to do, so you don't scramble to fill schedules, only to find out that staff isn't coming into work.

Plan Your Spring Attack - Spring Cleanings can add tens of thousands of dollars onto your income, but only if they are well thought out. Take the time now to create a tantalizing package that nobody can resist. Think of 10-12 extra things beyond your normal cleanings that really make your spring cleaning a "must have" event for your clients. And, plan how you will get this message out. Press release, door hanger, direct mail, newspaper advertisement. How will you get fresh new leads in the door ready to spend money in the spring, and beyond.

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow - Hang on...I guarantee that the second it looks like spring that phone will ring and you can be ready to start making some money again.

Severe Weather - 5 Tips For Coping With Weather Stress (by Sara Healy). When severe weather is upon us, we experience weather stress. Our bodies go into crisis mode. Adrenaline starts to flow in reaction to the emergency situation. This helps us take action. We seek safety and protect ourselves and our family from the impact of the weather. It's after things calm down that weather stress begins to turn on us. The adrenaline that helped us during and immediately after the severe weather does not go away. Even as flood waters begin to recede, stress levels often continue to rise. This is when weather stress can be very dangerous.

Unfortunately, we frequently don't realize what's happening. The physical crisis has passed. Therefore, we may ignore our stress. That is, until our normally calm and cool neighbor suddenly blows up in anger, our children begin to have nightmares, or we find ourselves crying on the shoulder of a stranger for no particular reason. Suddenly, we realize somethings not right. We got through the worst of it, but our friends, family and others are still showing symptoms of severe weather stress. What can we do? Here are some tips that may help you, or people around you, cope more effectively with prolonged weather stress:
 

Recognize that people may feel irritable, sad, angry or guilty after a weather disaster: These feelings are very common! So, be patient with yourself and others. People may not act normally after severe weather hits. Like any crisis, this kind of weather causes emotional trauma. Usually with time, this trauma heals itself. If it doesn't, seek out qualified help for yourself or encourage others to seek it.
 

Share your experiences with others: Getting your feelings out about a weather disaster is very important. It helps you feel more in control and less vulnerable. In addition, sharing what's happened to you and hearing the stories of others, creates a feeling of togetherness in the weather crisis, which keeps you from feeling isolated.
 

Take good care of your physical condition. Stress takes a BIG toll on your body. Eat healthy foods as much as possible. When it's safe, find ways to exercise or get out of your house. Also, remember to relax and rest, even if you've got a lot of cleaning up to do. Taking good care of yourself and your family will help relieve the effects of weather stress.
 

Help others in your neighborhood, community and town: Assisting others in your community is a way to do something positive. When you're involved in helping someone else, you don't have as much time to feel stressed about your own situation. In addition, sharing the work created by a weather disaster reinforces your sense of community.
 

Remember to laugh: However incongruent it may seem to laugh, it's actually good for you during a weather crisis. Laughter is a wonderful stress buster. It has been proven to reduce stress, lower blood pressure, improve the immune system and, in general, make you feel better. So, go ahead and laugh and encourage others to do so too.

Severe weather is a fact of life. When it hits where we live, there WILL BE weather stress. Therefore, as we prepare our homes for severe weather, so too should we prepare ourselves emotionally for the impact of this weather. Recognizing weather stress and taking steps to alleviate it is the best way to keep it from overwhelming us.

Window Cleaning Rants & Posts

Yes, here is another example of superior customer service that turned me from “disgruntled customer” into a “happy camper” – but not into a “raving fan”!

A window cleaning company employee broke a handle off one of our windows (no, I won’t get on a ladder to clean the third story windows!). The window cleaning company told me they would pay for the replacement handle – but, seriously, they broke it so they should pay for it right? However, I had to order the handle, replace it and then send them the receipt to get reimbursed. This is not the example of superior customer service! Why should I be hassled to correct their mistake? To make me a “raving fan,” – which should always be the objective when correcting a mistake - the window cleaning company should have ordered the handle and then stopped by and put it on the window at no charge to me. That would have made me want to continue to do business with them. Merely doing what they were obligated to do - pay for the replacement part - has cost them a customer and referrals – Whenever I receive superior customer service I recommend the company to the other 24 residents of our home owners association. They will not be getting a recommendation.

The example of superior customer occurred when I ordered the replacement handle from Pella Windows. Rather than go to the Pella warehouse, I asked that the replacement handle be mailed to me. When it arrived it was the wrong handle. I would now have to travel to the Pella Warehouse (a 60 minute round trip) with the broken handle to get the right replacement part. I was not a happy camper! A day later, I got a call from a Pella Service Representative who asked if I had received the part and was satisfied with it. When I told her I was definitely not satisfied, she immediately got the information about the broken handle and said it would be delivered to me the next day by Fed Ex at no charge.

This made me a happy camper and changed me from “irritated customer” to “happy camper”. What would it take to make me a “raving fan”? Perhaps a reimbursement of the cost of the handle to show they were sorry about the original mistake and the hassle (minimal I agree) it caused me.

Or am I just too hard to please? Maybe like some of your best customers?

The Bottom Line: When you have a chance to transform a “disgruntled customer” into a “raving fan” don’t stop half way at the “happy camper” stage! You may never have another opportunity to impress this customer with how much you value their business.

And you never know who has the ability to increase your business through referrals – so give every customer superior customer service (even though you may not give them the big customer discount).

The Question: How far will you go to rectify a mistake and create a “raving fan”?

What are we opening our doors to? He pushed the small package across the kitchen table. "Look what I've brought you, brother." The man looked at the object without touching it. "It is not very big. Are you sure it can do the job." "It senses movement up to one and half metres. Any movement within that range will set it off." "Obviously it is not set up now or...," he did not bother to finish the statement. "That is right but even so you must be very cautious. Listen carefully."

He went on to explain while making sure he had the attention of the one who would take possession of the device. "The contents may catch fire, the container may explode if heated, and may irritate eyes. Remember, do not puncture and not burn. Use it only in a well ventilated area and keep away from open flames such as a pilot light or any object that sparks, such as an electric motor. If you are going to store it keep it away from heat and do not get it in your eyes. Be sure to keep out of reach of children and pets."

Next was an explanation on assembling the device -"lift the front cover then lay the canister into position. Snap the canister in place. Now pull and discard the red tab to activate batteries. Now be sure to keep the unit pointed away from you and others during assembly. You see, it will automatically spray a burst 20 seconds after assembly to show it is working properly. And that, my brother, is how you refill the Glade Sense & Spray Motion activated freshness sensor."

Research by the Sierra Club of Canada shows that the inside of homes is often worse than the outside and we are willing bring in the offending chemicals. For instance, formaldehyde isn't limited to the high school lab. Formaldehyde is used in fertilizers, glues, plywood, particleboard and certain types of installation, as well as in some disinfectants, antibacterial soaps and even beauty products. So, what's to worry about? It has been classified as a probable human carcinogen by the EPA. Home exposure to it has been linked to respiratory allergies in children.

Companies tend to shy away from the down-side of the toxic chemicals while promoting the benefits of their products. Air fresheners give off naphthalene, a suspected carcinogen. Ammonia-based window cleaners cause respiratory irritation. Some cleaners contain the nerve-damaging butyl cello-solve which is absorbed into the skin.

We have to get into the routine of reading labels. While assessments start from the premise that some degree of exposure, even to the most hazardous chemicals, can be judged "acceptable", for many of the chemicals already known for some time to present serious hazards, scientists just don't know the full and long-term effects of these chemicals on our health or on our environment -even at low doses!

Tightrope: Getting the word out about your business - By Gladys Edmunds for USA TODAY (pictured).

Question: Hello, Gladys, I own a carpet (window) cleaning company and so far I seem to have a fairly decent customer base. I would like to get more customers. When I checked into advertising on local radio stations and in a few local newspapers, the prices are more than I can afford. How can I get more people to know about and use my service without spending money that I don't have? — Sam

Answer: There are many ways to get the word out about your business that won't cost you a lot of money. You will need to use the most valuable assets you have — time, effort and creative ability. Keeping them in good working order is one of the enjoyable aspects of entrepreneurship. The following are examples that you can try and I'm sure there are other entrepreneurs that may find a few ideas to try as well.

Never underestimate the power of referrals. There are a couple of ways to go about this. Call or write a letter to your customers and ask them to refer a friend. Or, you can ask each of your customers to recommend three of their friends. Then, write a letter to them introducing your services.

I know there are many companies that offer cash bonuses or rebates to people who refer customers. Personally, I don't like that arrangement. Several months ago I got a letter from the gym I frequent offering members a $50 referral fee if they could get a friend to sign up. I asked one of the owners how that campaign had fared. He said they didn't get any takers. I wonder what would have happened if he had offered the discount to the person signing up. I certainly would be happy to tell my friends that if they joined the gym during a certain time they would get the cash back. So try to avoid offering to pay your customers to send their friends to you. Generally when you have customers that appreciate your service they are usually happy to help you stay in business.

With the end of winter just around the corner, spring cleaning will be on most folk's to-do list. You could design attractive leaflets and drop them off at churches, supermarkets, car washes, laundromats, gyms — any place that has a good flow of traffic. Usually there are community bulletin boards that you can post your leaflets on; by all means take advantage of that.

You can also offer your service as a fundraiser for your favorite charity. For a designated period of time give the organization a percentage of each sale they send your way. Organizations that are involved in raising money to fight breast cancer have raised millions of dollars this way.

Have you considered co-op advertising? Sometimes local newspapers offer this option. If not, pull it together yourself. Invite several small businesses that compliment your service to join in with you on an advertising campaign. For example, you could contact a window cleaning company, drapery cleaning company, maid service and maybe even a chimney sweep to join in an ad campaign aimed at building business for that coming spring-cleaning season. Once you pull the other business owners together, sit down with an ad agent from the newspaper and work out something attractive and eye-catching.

Also talk with other business owners to learn what they done creatively to enhance their market share. Try out one or two things that fit well with your company. Marketing a business is all about testing, testing and re-testing to see what works. Never underestimate the power of even the simplest marketing idea. The very thing that you think to be ridiculous could be the thing that has the most impact. Sometimes the best marketing and promotion ideas can come from simple ideas.

Spidey Senses, Spidey Tenses: Spider-Man fever never seems to die. Just Google-news search "spider" and you'll see what I mean. Apparently there's a Spider-Man Broadway musical set to be produced (and Alan Cummings has bailed out - but we should have seen that coming). I live in New York City and I can honestly say that I may never go see a Broadway musical and I will not feel bad about it. Still, I recognize the iconic/ridiculous popularity that something must reach before it is turned into a Broadway musical (see: Toxic Avenger)(did I just invalidate my own point?).

But that's not all. Now it seems you can have Spider Man clean your windows for you. A full grown man or woman who is already performing a very dangerous job will now dress up in a costume fit for a child and perform that same job for the entertainment of the many onlookers who have previously stopped to watch window washers but have felt that it lacks zest (what? exactly.). The company featuring these costumed clean-saders (get it?!!) said that they want to add fun to whatever they do. Although if we think this through, the person who is doing the job (the window washer) is probably not enjoying dangling from a sky scraper and wearing a mask. (Am I crabby today, or does anyone else feel bad for the window washers?)

Lets talk some physics. I had wanted to continue up my post about rope with a discussion about strong materials. The wonderful lecture by James Kakalios at the APS March Meeting taught me that spider silk is one of the strongest naturally occurring materials in the world. In researching this post I'm just overwhelmed with all the awesome little things I'm finding about spiders and their amazing materials.

To illustrate the strengths of spider silk, Kakalios showed a scene from Spider Man 2, in which Spidey stops a speeding train using his webs. Assuming the speed and weight of the train, and how far it had to slow down, and taking a stab at the thickness and number of web strands, Kakalios shows Spidey would, in fact, be able to stop that speeding train, while even steel cables would not. Real spider silk in a quarter inch thick strand can support 6,000 pounds. (See his answer to that and other questions here.)

So why can't we buy spider silk rope in our local hardware store? Or make a clothing from it (which would be lighter and stretchier than Kevlar, although Kevlar is slightly stronger*)? Well, apparently reproducing spider silk is not so easy. This article from Live Science in 2004 calls reproducing spider silk on a larger scale "the holy grail of materials science." A bit of a journalistic overstatement I think, but obviously intended to convey great importance. Because really, the Holy Grail of anything is the Holy Grail. There's really no substitute for eternal life, is there? I am full of distractions today.

But really, this whole post is a distraction. There's some physics in here about spider silk and its strength and flexibility, but mostly it's just marveling at spider amazingness. There is seriously so much cool stuff to learn about spiders. Did you know their blood flouresces? (See pic to the right) Did you know the pain from a spider bite may be similar to the pain you experience when you eat hot food? Then there's the super strong nano-structures that exist in their fangs. If these things were the size of tanks they would rule the world. Luckily, it doesn't seem like those super structured claws or the super strong spider silk can transition to the macroscopic world very easily.

Scientists have even taken spiders to space. When building a web, spiders can sense their own weight, which provides a guideline for how thick the silk should be. NASA scientists immediately challenged the spiders by chanting, "Oh yeah? Betcha can't do that in zero gravity!" Living up to their end of the challenge, NASA scientists took common garden spiders (Araneus diadematus) spiders into space, where they were still able to build webs, and over time got better at building them in zero gravity. Their results showed that the web threads were finer in space than on the ground. So the weight sensing mechanism works pretty well.

As for manufactured reproductions of spider silk, there seem to be few if no updates on work that was done five or six years ago. Well, at least not breaking news stories about it. The subject of spiders and there silk, however, remains heavily researched by groups like the Oxford Silk Group, who were featured on some British TV shows to talk about this stuff.

All this spidey awesomeness - is this why people still have Spider-Man fever, years after the third and terrible movie came out? I enjoy a good comic book, but these real life spiders are the ones who have me tangled up in their web.

Monster wife is violent boozer: My marriage is in total meltdown. My wife is the main breadwinner. She has a good job and earns lots of money but she’s drinking more than ever. And when she drinks she takes all of her frustrations out on me. I get called every name under the sun. I’m told that I’m useless, lazy and a drag on her purse. She throws things at me, punches and kicks me. When I complain she spits that I’m nothing. She screams that she should never have married me. She accuses me of bleeding her dry and being half a man. But this arrangement was her idea.

She was the one who told me to give up my profitable window cleaning round to look after the house and support her. She made it all sound so sensible and plausible. She’d earn the serious cash and I’d provide the back-up, the meals, the maintenance and the homemaking. But now it’s all gone belly-up. To the outside world our life is perfect. We live in a beautiful house with all mod cons. Friends come round, admire our stuff and tell us that we’re lucky. But no-one really knows what goes on behind closed doors, do they? If I’m honest, then I’m probably what you might call a beaten husband. When we have sex it’s like I’m being punished for a crime I haven’t committed. I’m physically and verbally abused. And if I fail to perform, Heaven help me.

I’m literally kicked out of bed and into the loft room. I understand that she’s currently under a lot of pressure at work. Yes, she does earn a bomb – plus bonuses. She does travel, enjoy swish lunches and mix with the great and the good. But it’s all at a price. Her boss thinks nothing of ringing her at midnight and bawling her out down the phone. Her clients expect total dedication, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. She copes with the stress – or rather, doesn’t – by drinking huge amounts of vodka and wine. Then she kicks me around like a dog. I have tried speaking to her when she’s sober but then she simply brushes everything aside and says that I don’t understand. But I do. Only too well.

JANE SAYS: My advice is for you to get out of that hellhole right now. Take your stuff and go to a safe place where you can sleep easier, breathe and think. At the moment you’re like a caged animal. You can’t move and you can’t reason because your wife has you trapped. She’s kicking you around and abusing you with no thought for your feelings, your safety or your happiness. This isn’t a marriage, this is a life sentence.

If she has problems with her boss, her clients and her drinking, then she needs to be encouraged to deal with each one in turn. But you cannot continue to take the brunt of her frustrations. This isn’t right and it isn’t fair. Find out which of your friends or relatives can help you in moving out and moving on.