Stacy’s mom (who’s got it goin’ on) ordered a system for her daughter who was planning to open a kiosk in the mall. Stacy was a college student who needed a summer job and her mom thought this would be a good learning experience for her daughter as well as a money maker.

Stacy got her system and went to work. She hired some helpers and set up her kiosk. We got a few calls from Stacy and answered her questions. Then we started to get orders for replacement pieces of equipment i.e. airbrush needles, cones, needle caps, small items at first, and then orders came for complete airbrush guns. Every week there was at least one order for something from Stacy. One day I needed to talk to Nate about something. As I walked back into the shop I heard him say to Stacy who was on the phone.

“I just don’t understand it. It is an expensive piece of equipment, why wouldn’t you take care of it. It cost $700 I have bought cars for that price. Your equipment is under warranty but the warranty does not cover misuse of equipment.”

Stacy had sent one of her Power Palettes in for service. A weekend employee of hers had accidentally tipped the Power Palette over as he was leaving his shift the weekend before. When the employee had returned the following weekend, the Power Palette was still on its side and no longer worked. Wow! This was going to be a major unnecessary expense for Stacy. Luckily for her sake she had an Entrepreneur System and had an extra Power Palette.

It was time to have a little heart to heart with Stacy, so we had Andria call her. Andria had set up a kiosk at the mall here in Grand Rapids and ran it successfully. Her location was in a B grade mall, despite the location, Andria’s operation was always one of the top money makers for TAT International.

Andria’s first bit of advice for Stacy was that Stacy needed to properly train her employees. But before she could train her employees, she needed to educate herself on the care and use of the equipment.

“Have you watched the training video?” Andria asked.

“Well no. My boyfriend helps me and I just call you guys when I need help.” Stacy meekly replied.

“Your first assignment is to watch the training video tonight Stacy, then call me in the morning if you have any questions.

You will then need to train your staff on the proper care and use of equipment.

The next thing you need to do is tell your employees the dollar value of the equipment they are using and tell them they will be held accountable for the cost of damaged or misused equipment. Sometimes just the threat of having to pay for broken or misused equipment is enough for an employee to make the effort to take better care of it.”

This remedy seemed to work for Stacy. She was no longer placing weekly orders with us or sending equipment in to be repaired. Stacy was happier and felt more confident in her management abilities. Best of all, she was no longer having to throw her money away on needless repairs. This made Stacy’s mom happy too.