Farewell Frank Blau (ME)

[Deleted User]

Frank Blau has announced his retirement from P&M Magazine. I personally owe this man a great deal of thanks for making my life much more successful, as I'm sure many others can say so too.

Enjoy your retirment Franky, we'll miss your written word.

ME

http://www.pmmag.com/CDA/ArticleInformation/features/BNP__Features__Item/0,2379,91488,00.html

Bill_14

Amen !!

Frank has been a leader in our industry for many years. He has been a man on a mission to help all of his fellow contractors manage their business successfully. He has been consistent with his message and has worked very hard for so long caring for others.

He has been a pioneer, a leader, a mover and a shaker for the plumbing and heating service contractors all across the USA. He made a huge influence on the business thinking of many in Tulsa, Okahoma.

I will always remember my experiences with Frank Blau...a true winner regardless of whether or not you agree with him.
I am thankful that I chose to listen to Frank back in the mid-80's. His teachings have always been meaningful and helpful throughout the years.

Enjoy the R & R Frank...you deserve this time of your life. Thank you for everything!!

Bill Russell

Bill_14

Amen !!

Frank has been a leader in our industry for many years. He has been a man on a mission to help all of his fellow contractors manage their businesses successfully. He has been consistent with his message and has worked very hard for so long caring for others.

He has been a pioneer, a leader, a mover and a shaker for plumbing and heating service contractors all across the USA. He made a huge influence on the business thinking of many in Tulsa, Okahoma.

I will always remember my experiences with Frank Blau...a true winner regardless of whether or not you agree with him.
I am thankful that I chose to listen to Frank back in the mid-80's. His teachings have always been meaningful and helpful throughout the years.

Enjoy the R & R Frank...you deserve this time of your life. Thank you again for everything!!

Bill Russell

hot_rod

Love him or hate him

his message was spot on. You need to know your cost of doing business to survive in the contracting industry. Or any other for that matter.

Changed my business for the better

At age 73, guess he doesn't take a punch, like he did in his boxing days Nor should he have to!

Happy hunting Frank. You made a difference.

hot rod

heatboy

It help's living with.......

Ellen! I have never spoken to Frank, but Ellen helped me save my business years ago. I pretty much know my costs right down to the dime thanks to her. One of the biggest impacts on my professional career. We can all turn wrenches well enough, but how many know what we need to charge? You are one lucky fella' ;-)

hb

To Learn More About This Contractor, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Contractor"

hot_rod

Lead, follow, or get.....

the knowledge necessary to lead! Tough love messages from FB. Our industry has been the better for having had him willingly giving his knowledge to "the masses" in P&M's mag. It's been a good read Frank. Thanks.

Gone fishing(G).

To Learn More About This Contractor, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Contractor"

eddie grierson_3

A good man retireing

I will miss reading his very helpful articles. He has made a difference in many of our buisnesses. I hope he enjoys his retirement.

RICHIE AMATO

Changing this part of Brooklyn forever

Sessa plumbing found Frank about 11 years ago when my boss went to one of his seminars...Just so you know, my boss is from "the old school", and Frank made him change the way he saw his everyday doings of buisness..The reason I care so much is because it was taught to me and now it's my turn to improve on the way things are done in my small part of the world...If it were not for Frank Blau, the company I work for and soon own would not know how to make a profit...
Thank you Frank!!!!!

Mad Dog

Hey Rich how are ya????? Frank Blau is an industry Giant

...a real treasure and a pioneer....Mad Dog (Matt from Triple Crown met ya @ the co seminar)

To Learn More About This Contractor, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Contractor"

DanHolohan

I wrote this in 1994 for PM magazine. I still feel the same.

I have to begin this story be telling you that between March 5, 1978 and July 9, 1981, The Lovely Marianne and I were blessed with four beautiful daughters. Go ahead, do the math.

The last go-around was twins: Colleen and Erin. Meghan, at the time, was 13 months old. Kelly was just a few months past three. Needless to say, I slept with one eye open for about a year, wary of what The Lovely Marianne might do. Thankfully, these were the pre-Lorenna Bobbitt days.

"Are you gonna try for a boy?" people would ask.

"He already has," The Lovely Marianne would answer with a sneer.

Around the time the diaper stage was ending, a realization began to sink into my thick skull: There would be a number of years when all of these now-little people would be in college. Many of those collegiate terms would run concurrently. And then there were the weddings.

"How are you gonna pay for all these weddings?" matronly strangers at the mall would ask.

"Maybe I'll die by then!" I'd smile sweetly and say.

I couldn't for the life of me see how we were going to afford food, let alone college and weddings, so I did the only thing I could do: I quit my job.

Oh, I had a plan, alright. I was going to be a successful businessman, just like my former boss. He made it look so easy! But then again, he'd been at it for years and was a lot smarter than I was.

But, hey, I wasn't about to let a lack of experience or intelligence stand in my way.

The first thing I did was write a business plan because that's what you're supposed to do when you go into business, you see. I looked at that plan frequently as the weeks rolled into months. A year to the day after we'd started the business, I looked at the plan for the last time. Nothing I'd planned had happened.

And yet, we were getting by okay. Sure, I was running around like a madman, looking at problem jobs for a fee during the day, writing books at night and on the weekends, driving all over the country teaching seminars. I'd quit my job and in the process had somehow managed to triple my work week while making just a bit more money. I didn't have much time to think about this, though. I was too busy working.

By the second year, it dawned on me that I didn't even know what business I was in anymore. I hadn't taken the time to think about this rather significant point because I was so busy making a living. In this respect, I had a lot in common with my heating contractor friends. Most of those guys were up to their ears in the recession. They were cutting their prices and their advertising, laying off their help, doing anything for a buck while trying to fight The Home Depot, the HUMONGOUS UTILITY and their fellow PHCC members. They were working seven days a week, and yet, most of them were just making ends meet.

For me, the turning point came when I stopped to listen to two very special men during this time: Frank Blau and Jim Olsztynski. Each taught me a very valuable business lesson, which I'd now like to share with you.

Frank Blau sat me down in a Milwaukee steak house one snowy night and explained that just because I was good at my chosen trade, I wasn't necessarily going to do well at business. "You've created a job for yourself, Dan," he said. "But you're spending more time working in your business than you are working on your business."

At first, I took Frank's advice as most people do. "Oh, yeah!" I said, and then I thought, This guy doesn't understand my business.

Frank wouldn't leave me alone, though.

"Would your business continue if you walked away from it for a year?" he asked.

I gave him a hard look. "No," I said, and then added, "But you don't understand my business. My business is different from all other businesses in the world."

He just smiled at me. "You think so?" he asked. Before I could answer, the waitress arrived with our meals and Frank chatted with her for awhile. I sat there stewing, annoyed with him because I knew in my heart that he was right. That was the tough part. Admitting he was right meant I had to also admit I was wrong. That's never an easy thing to do, especially when you've worked so hard to become wrong.

When the check arrived, he grabbed it.

"Here, let me get that, Frank," I said, reaching for it.

"No, I'll get it," he said, smiling again. "I have more money than you do."

Now if I was younger, I probably would have gotten mad and told him to shove it, but the fact was, he did have more money me, and my four daughters were making me painfully aware of that as moved closer and closer toward college. This is the reason why people either love Frank Blau or hate him: He's right.

You know why Frank has more money than most of us? It's because he's more than a tradesman. He's a businessman. He works on his business, not in his business.

Anyway, he gave me a reading list, which I'm proud to say I had the good sense to follow-up on. The books he had me read opened my eyes to what I was doing wrong. It was like getting hit with a bucket of ice water. I changed my ways over the course of a weekend.

The advice he's offered me since, through his columns and his phone calls, has given my business direction and eased my concerns about my financial future.

Frank has a lot to teach hard-working people about business. You just have to be humble enough to shut up for a while and listen. For instance, he's just published a collection of his PM articles along with a series of eye-opening letters. The book is called The Business of Contracting (How To Make Money In The Contracting Business). I think that if you don't read this book, you're cheating your future. I really do.

Jim Olsztynski, PM's Senior Editor and the editor of the PHC Profit Report, taught me my other most-valuable business lesson. Jim taught me that you should never stop learning, you should always be curious about things, you should listen more than you talk, and you should constantly seek knowledge beyond your chosen field.

Jim researches better than anyone I've ever known. He reads endlessly and widely, and throws nothing away. He reaches out into the world of business with the enthusiasm of a kid on summer vacation. He sees key things, and then he connects them together.

Not being involved in any trade other than wordsmithing, Jim has a great advantage. He sees trends and potential problems and opportunities in our business with a very clear eye. He uses his newsletter, PHC Profit Report, to share his business observations with a select group of people. You see, PHC Profit Report is totally supported by subscribers. It's a newsletter for tradesmen who have decided to become businessmen. It is, in my mind, a recipe for financial success.

As personalities, Frank and Jim are near-total opposites. Frank is flamboyant and a fine talker; Jim is more bookish, and a superb listener. They compliment each other in the world of business. Both have a great deal to teach, and both are willing to share what they know with anyone who has the good sense to seek them out.

I think you should read Frank's book. I also think you should subscribe to the PHC Profit Report as I do. In fact, when it arrives in the mail, I stop what I'm doing and read it immediately. I get at least two useful things out of each by-weekly issue, and I'm not even a contractor. But you see that doesn't matter because PHC Profit Report is filled with what most people in business need: advice on how to run a business from very successful businessmen, tips on good writing (and nobody writes better than Olsztynski), low-cost ways to build your image in your customers' eyes, and ideas on marketing and advertising that you can put to work immediately.

Please stop working so hard for a minute and think about this: Just because you're a good tradesman, doesn't mean you're a natural at business. You may have just created a job for yourself. You have to free up the time to start working on your business instead of in your business if you're want to be financially successful.

Through their writings, Frank Blau and Jim Olsztynski can help you become better at the business of contracting. They can change the direction of your business and make you successful beyond your wildest dreams.

They've made an enormous difference in my business. I owe them a great deal, and that's why I'm writing to you now. I'm not being paid for this. This letter is my way of publicly thanking them, and hopefully, helping you put a little girl or boy through college.

Take care.

DanHolohan

I wrote this in 1994 for PM magazine. I still feel the same.

I have to begin this story be telling you that between March 5, 1978 and July 9, 1981, The Lovely Marianne and I were blessed with four beautiful daughters. Go ahead, do the math.

The last go-around was twins: Colleen and Erin. Meghan, at the time, was 13 months old. Kelly was just a few months past three. Needless to say, I slept with one eye open for about a year, wary of what The Lovely Marianne might do. Thankfully, these were the pre-Lorenna Bobbitt days.

"Are you gonna try for a boy?" people would ask.

"He already has," The Lovely Marianne would answer with a sneer.

Around the time the diaper stage was ending, a realization began to sink into my thick skull: There would be a number of years when all of these now-little people would be in college. Many of those collegiate terms would run concurrently. And then there were the weddings.

"How are you gonna pay for all these weddings?" matronly strangers at the mall would ask.

"Maybe I'll die by then!" I'd smile sweetly and say.

I couldn't for the life of me see how we were going to afford food, let alone college and weddings, so I did the only thing I could do: I quit my job.

Oh, I had a plan, alright. I was going to be a successful businessman, just like my former boss. He made it look so easy! But then again, he'd been at it for years and was a lot smarter than I was.

But, hey, I wasn't about to let a lack of experience or intelligence stand in my way.

The first thing I did was write a business plan because that's what you're supposed to do when you go into business, you see. I looked at that plan frequently as the weeks rolled into months. A year to the day after we'd started the business, I looked at the plan for the last time. Nothing I'd planned had happened.

And yet, we were getting by okay. Sure, I was running around like a madman, looking at problem jobs for a fee during the day, writing books at night and on the weekends, driving all over the country teaching seminars. I'd quit my job and in the process had somehow managed to triple my work week while making just a bit more money. I didn't have much time to think about this, though. I was too busy working.

By the second year, it dawned on me that I didn't even know what business I was in anymore. I hadn't taken the time to think about this rather significant point because I was so busy making a living. In this respect, I had a lot in common with my heating contractor friends. Most of those guys were up to their ears in the recession. They were cutting their prices and their advertising, laying off their help, doing anything for a buck while trying to fight The Home Depot, the HUMONGOUS UTILITY and their fellow PHCC members. They were working seven days a week, and yet, most of them were just making ends meet.

For me, the turning point came when I stopped to listen to two very special men during this time: Frank Blau and Jim Olsztynski. Each taught me a very valuable business lesson, which I'd now like to share with you.

Frank Blau sat me down in a Milwaukee steak house one snowy night and explained that just because I was good at my chosen trade, I wasn't necessarily going to do well at business. "You've created a job for yourself, Dan," he said. "But you're spending more time working in your business than you are working on your business."

At first, I took Frank's advice as most people do. "Oh, yeah!" I said, and then I thought, This guy doesn't understand my business.

Frank wouldn't leave me alone, though.

"Would your business continue if you walked away from it for a year?" he asked.

I gave him a hard look. "No," I said, and then added, "But you don't understand my business. My business is different from all other businesses in the world."

He just smiled at me. "You think so?" he asked. Before I could answer, the waitress arrived with our meals and Frank chatted with her for awhile. I sat there stewing, annoyed with him because I knew in my heart that he was right. That was the tough part. Admitting he was right meant I had to also admit I was wrong. That's never an easy thing to do, especially when you've worked so hard to become wrong.

When the check arrived, he grabbed it.

"Here, let me get that, Frank," I said, reaching for it.

"No, I'll get it," he said, smiling again. "I have more money than you do."

Now if I was younger, I probably would have gotten mad and told him to shove it, but the fact was, he did have more money me, and my four daughters were making me painfully aware of that as moved closer and closer toward college. This is the reason why people either love Frank Blau or hate him: He's right.

You know why Frank has more money than most of us? It's because he's more than a tradesman. He's a businessman. He works on his business, not in his business.

Anyway, he gave me a reading list, which I'm proud to say I had the good sense to follow-up on. The books he had me read opened my eyes to what I was doing wrong. It was like getting hit with a bucket of ice water. I changed my ways over the course of a weekend.

The advice he's offered me since, through his columns and his phone calls, has given my business direction and eased my concerns about my financial future.

Frank has a lot to teach hard-working people about business. You just have to be humble enough to shut up for a while and listen. For instance, he's just published a collection of his PM articles along with a series of eye-opening letters. The book is called The Business of Contracting (How To Make Money In The Contracting Business). I think that if you don't read this book, you're cheating your future. I really do.

Jim Olsztynski, PM's Senior Editor and the editor of the PHC Profit Report, taught me my other most-valuable business lesson. Jim taught me that you should never stop learning, you should always be curious about things, you should listen more than you talk, and you should constantly seek knowledge beyond your chosen field.

Jim researches better than anyone I've ever known. He reads endlessly and widely, and throws nothing away. He reaches out into the world of business with the enthusiasm of a kid on summer vacation. He sees key things, and then he connects them together.

Not being involved in any trade other than wordsmithing, Jim has a great advantage. He sees trends and potential problems and opportunities in our business with a very clear eye. He uses his newsletter, PHC Profit Report, to share his business observations with a select group of people. You see, PHC Profit Report is totally supported by subscribers. It's a newsletter for tradesmen who have decided to become businessmen. It is, in my mind, a recipe for financial success.

As personalities, Frank and Jim are near-total opposites. Frank is flamboyant and a fine talker; Jim is more bookish, and a superb listener. They compliment each other in the world of business. Both have a great deal to teach, and both are willing to share what they know with anyone who has the good sense to seek them out.

I think you should read Frank's book. I also think you should subscribe to the PHC Profit Report as I do. In fact, when it arrives in the mail, I stop what I'm doing and read it immediately. I get at least two useful things out of each by-weekly issue, and I'm not even a contractor. But you see that doesn't matter because PHC Profit Report is filled with what most people in business need: advice on how to run a business from very successful businessmen, tips on good writing (and nobody writes better than Olsztynski), low-cost ways to build your image in your customers' eyes, and ideas on marketing and advertising that you can put to work immediately.

Please stop working so hard for a minute and think about this: Just because you're a good tradesman, doesn't mean you're a natural at business. You may have just created a job for yourself. You have to free up the time to start working on your business instead of in your business if you're want to be financially successful.

Through their writings, Frank Blau and Jim Olsztynski can help you become better at the business of contracting. They can change the direction of your business and make you successful beyond your wildest dreams.

They've made an enormous difference in my business. I owe them a great deal, and that's why I'm writing to you now. I'm not being paid for this. This letter is my way of publicly thanking them, and hopefully, helping you put a little girl or boy through college.

Take care.

DanHolohan

I wrote this in 1994 for PM magazine. I still feel the same.

I have to begin this story be telling you that between March 5, 1978 and July 9, 1981, The Lovely Marianne and I were blessed with four beautiful daughters. Go ahead, do the math.

The last go-around was twins: Colleen and Erin. Meghan, at the time, was 13 months old. Kelly was just a few months past three. Needless to say, I slept with one eye open for about a year, wary of what The Lovely Marianne might do. Thankfully, these were the pre-Lorenna Bobbitt days.

"Are you gonna try for a boy?" people would ask.

"He already has," The Lovely Marianne would answer with a sneer.

Around the time the diaper stage was ending, a realization began to sink into my thick skull: There would be a number of years when all of these now-little people would be in college. Many of those collegiate terms would run concurrently. And then there were the weddings.

"How are you gonna pay for all these weddings?" matronly strangers at the mall would ask.

"Maybe I'll die by then!" I'd smile sweetly and say.

I couldn't for the life of me see how we were going to afford food, let alone college and weddings, so I did the only thing I could do: I quit my job.

Oh, I had a plan, alright. I was going to be a successful businessman, just like my former boss. He made it look so easy! But then again, he'd been at it for years and was a lot smarter than I was.

But, hey, I wasn't about to let a lack of experience or intelligence stand in my way.

The first thing I did was write a business plan because that's what you're supposed to do when you go into business, you see. I looked at that plan frequently as the weeks rolled into months. A year to the day after we'd started the business, I looked at the plan for the last time. Nothing I'd planned had happened.

And yet, we were getting by okay. Sure, I was running around like a madman, looking at problem jobs for a fee during the day, writing books at night and on the weekends, driving all over the country teaching seminars. I'd quit my job and in the process had somehow managed to triple my work week while making just a bit more money. I didn't have much time to think about this, though. I was too busy working.

By the second year, it dawned on me that I didn't even know what business I was in anymore. I hadn't taken the time to think about this rather significant point because I was so busy making a living. In this respect, I had a lot in common with my heating contractor friends. Most of those guys were up to their ears in the recession. They were cutting their prices and their advertising, laying off their help, doing anything for a buck while trying to fight The Home Depot, the HUMONGOUS UTILITY and their fellow PHCC members. They were working seven days a week, and yet, most of them were just making ends meet.

For me, the turning point came when I stopped to listen to two very special men during this time: Frank Blau and Jim Olsztynski. Each taught me a very valuable business lesson, which I'd now like to share with you.

Frank Blau sat me down in a Milwaukee steak house one snowy night and explained that just because I was good at my chosen trade, I wasn't necessarily going to do well at business. "You've created a job for yourself, Dan," he said. "But you're spending more time working in your business than you are working on your business."

At first, I took Frank's advice as most people do. "Oh, yeah!" I said, and then I thought, This guy doesn't understand my business.

Frank wouldn't leave me alone, though.

"Would your business continue if you walked away from it for a year?" he asked.

I gave him a hard look. "No," I said, and then added, "But you don't understand my business. My business is different from all other businesses in the world."

He just smiled at me. "You think so?" he asked. Before I could answer, the waitress arrived with our meals and Frank chatted with her for awhile. I sat there stewing, annoyed with him because I knew in my heart that he was right. That was the tough part. Admitting he was right meant I had to also admit I was wrong. That's never an easy thing to do, especially when you've worked so hard to become wrong.

When the check arrived, he grabbed it.

"Here, let me get that, Frank," I said, reaching for it.

"No, I'll get it," he said, smiling again. "I have more money than you do."

Now if I was younger, I probably would have gotten mad and told him to shove it, but the fact was, he did have more money me, and my four daughters were making me painfully aware of that as moved closer and closer toward college. This is the reason why people either love Frank Blau or hate him: He's right.

You know why Frank has more money than most of us? It's because he's more than a tradesman. He's a businessman. He works on his business, not in his business.

Anyway, he gave me a reading list, which I'm proud to say I had the good sense to follow-up on. The books he had me read opened my eyes to what I was doing wrong. It was like getting hit with a bucket of ice water. I changed my ways over the course of a weekend.

The advice he's offered me since, through his columns and his phone calls, has given my business direction and eased my concerns about my financial future.

Frank has a lot to teach hard-working people about business. You just have to be humble enough to shut up for a while and listen. For instance, he's just published a collection of his PM articles along with a series of eye-opening letters. The book is called The Business of Contracting (How To Make Money In The Contracting Business). I think that if you don't read this book, you're cheating your future. I really do.

Jim Olsztynski, PM's Senior Editor and the editor of the PHC Profit Report, taught me my other most-valuable business lesson. Jim taught me that you should never stop learning, you should always be curious about things, you should listen more than you talk, and you should constantly seek knowledge beyond your chosen field.

Jim researches better than anyone I've ever known. He reads endlessly and widely, and throws nothing away. He reaches out into the world of business with the enthusiasm of a kid on summer vacation. He sees key things, and then he connects them together.

Not being involved in any trade other than wordsmithing, Jim has a great advantage. He sees trends and potential problems and opportunities in our business with a very clear eye. He uses his newsletter, PHC Profit Report, to share his business observations with a select group of people. You see, PHC Profit Report is totally supported by subscribers. It's a newsletter for tradesmen who have decided to become businessmen. It is, in my mind, a recipe for financial success.

As personalities, Frank and Jim are near-total opposites. Frank is flamboyant and a fine talker; Jim is more bookish, and a superb listener. They compliment each other in the world of business. Both have a great deal to teach, and both are willing to share what they know with anyone who has the good sense to seek them out.

I think you should read Frank's book. I also think you should subscribe to the PHC Profit Report as I do. In fact, when it arrives in the mail, I stop what I'm doing and read it immediately. I get at least two useful things out of each by-weekly issue, and I'm not even a contractor. But you see that doesn't matter because PHC Profit Report is filled with what most people in business need: advice on how to run a business from very successful businessmen, tips on good writing (and nobody writes better than Olsztynski), low-cost ways to build your image in your customers' eyes, and ideas on marketing and advertising that you can put to work immediately.

Please stop working so hard for a minute and think about this: Just because you're a good tradesman, doesn't mean you're a natural at business. You may have just created a job for yourself. You have to free up the time to start working on your business instead of in your business if you're want to be financially successful.

Through their writings, Frank Blau and Jim Olsztynski can help you become better at the business of contracting. They can change the direction of your business and make you successful beyond your wildest dreams.

They've made an enormous difference in my business. I owe them a great deal, and that's why I'm writing to you now. I'm not being paid for this. This letter is my way of publicly thanking them, and hopefully, helping you put a little girl or boy through college.

Take care.