For those of you that are basically a one man operation: You take the calls, do the job, ( Whatever it may be ) and do the billing

and collection, you have my utmost respect! ( And I mean this sincerely ) I have been at every facet of the operation, and I swear

one of these days I'm going to take our technicians, who are always blaming the office personnel for their problems, and put them

in the office for a day. As far as I'm concerned, that is the definition of cruel and unusual punishment! You are expected to

answer the phone, get everything absolutely perfect, set the date and time for the appointment, and then, of course, if the

customer forgets, it's the fault of the office. My hat is off to you people that keep us working!

If I had the patience my traps have I'd be good to go. I got into trapping because of the solitude it can offer, but that sure isn't the case with ADC work. I'm more of a people person than I care to admit, but sometimes people make me want to chuck it all and just fur trap. And yes I am a one man operation, except during fur season.

I am a one man show also, unless i beg my son for help once in a while.
My Wonderful wife some times steps in and straightens my tush out, screws my head back on straight and then kicks me out the door to the next one.

Today I had to leave work early for a emergency call!! It was a full grown male skunk inside a 4 bay garage sleeping on the drop cloths on the concrete floor that was under a convertible Porsche. He did not want to leave with out a fight.
All the doors open and he was not leaving!!! Had to put him in a cage and carry him out finally!! I think he liked the car as much as the owner did.
Dave

Id rather grin down a mad skunk than sit in front of a pile of paperwork or deal with a customer that thinks they know more than we do because of Google !

As someone who was in the finance world for 10 years too long I can say without a doubt there's nothing I miss. Paperwork, financial audits, collecting bad accounts.........trying to head off future bad accounts........endless phone calls to deal with on top of all the necessary follow up which usually was spawned from mountains of paperwork..........nope...... I sure don't miss any of it! But........for some twisted reason I did have a little fun collecting old/past due accounts....but I certainly don't miss it now.

I do absolutely all of the behind the scenes work for all of our business'. I do have our senior tech take and schedule the calls when I get tired of the phone ringing. Just too many interruptions at times and I lose patience and focus needed for clerical work. Other than that I am a one man office show guy. From website maintenance,billing to catalog building and printing I do it all. Then I become a formulation expert day in and out. Shipping and filling orders. I have an old friend that bottles several thousands of bottles a month for me. But other then that its me ,myself and I.

It takes a alot of time to do it and I also still do field work/service calls and all the predator and water work. When the lure and bait work gets rolling steadily I must step back from daily service calls and devote all my time to formulation product building and all the related parts of that business until I am caught up within reason.

The wifes health condition prohibits any of her interaction with the business any longer and has been that way for many years.We need a secretary for sure but I just dont want to go that route at this point. Our CPA keeps all the tax and payroll work handled nicely or I would be going nuts at times. I still write all the pay checks.

I am a loner for the most part and dont like dealing with people any more then necessary. But that is a vital part of this business on the service end.That is probably why trapping was a good fit for me. I always traveled and worked alone on the road for months at a time with very little contact with people except ranchers, farmers and hired hands. That is the way I like it for the most part.

Now those of you that have taken the time to read Mr. Jameson's post can see the not so subtle difference between him and me. While

Bob is able to have a conversation with people who actually know what's going on ( ranchers, farmers, and hired hands ) I am left

talking to ditzy blond housewives, intellectuals and cheap landlords. ( Today was Primary Election Day and I'm running for the

sympathetic vote. Can you tell? )

If you could just figure out a way to get the Bloomburg money spent on the Sherrif race Paul your wife could save her money and you could still afford to take the Wolfords to Hawaii with you!!!! Just sayin I'm not proud.

Funny you should mention the Sheriff's race, Travis. We have a fairly young black sheriff in Milwaukee county. You can't win in

Milwaukee county unless you run as a Demoncrat, so he did. He won the last election and he makes the rest of us Conservatives look

like moderates. I wish I could play some of his speeches to the people of Milwaukee. One in particular has the Liberals in Milwaukee

just seething. He said, "don't bother with 911. By the time we get there, it's to late. Get yourself a concealed carry permit and

learn how to use a gun. Fire for the center of the body. This will usually take him down and give us enough time to get there and

help." He went to the same conservative Christian college that my kids graduated from. The Liberals have poured a bunch of money

into defeating him but I would be amazed if he lost. First time I've seen the poor blacks and wealthy whites on the same side in an

election.

The Milwaukee sherrif race has been the main subject on local talk radio today, even got more air time than old Harlem Al and his trip to Mo

They say the Bloomburg bunch spent as much campaigning against him as both canidates spent total.

Hardest ADC job??? Catching something that ain't there....client claims it is there but we can't catch it....find it. At times, wandering skunks are usually my biggest hurdle