Pops Howard reminded me it was time for an update!

A lot is going on at the Chism’s house. We are currently in deep sadness knowing that two of Joli’s beloved sisters have left our presence after being with us for quite some time. Kirstie was visiting for 1 month and Heidi for two weeks. I also had to leave the last week they were here for a 5 day trip to Chicago.

My Chicago trip went VERY well. I enjoyed every minute of the time (except for being separated from my little family). I had two painting conferences to attend. I love these conferences, because it always encourages me that a painting business is not so bad after all. There are a lot of quality people in the paint industry.  I’ll write more about my Chicago experience soon.

When I returned home, I spent the few remaining days with Joli’s sisters and continued with work and school. No, I’m not a full time student. I’m just taking an accounting course from the local jr. college online. It is hard, but I am plowing through it. I’m now more than half way done! I can’t wait til it is over, because it sure does take time.

Sales was slow the first 4 days back in town. I did not sell anything until the end of the 4th day: two BIG jobs back to back, which caused me to be within my weekly sales goals! That was rewarding and exciting.

I have been working hard on developing a new estimating system with a friend of mine, Jon Durham. We have been working on it off and on for the past year: trying to make it Perfect! We are not quite there but very close. My hope  is to have it working bug free by November 1st. The first of November I hope to have our new estimator, James Becker, join me in selling. This will be a major step for Chism Brothers. It has been almost three years since we had our last estimator (besides me). It did not go very well, so we are hoping James will be a better fit. He is one of our top foreman in the field but has a lot of sales skills, so we thought we would utilize his sales gifts. I’ll be training him with my new system, a general sales process and get him up to speed so he can be on his own very soon.

So, that is a quick update from the Chism Family. We have more good news coming in site to brag about. One of several is the fact that we have planned our Christmas vacation for Maryland again this year. We leave on the 19th of December. Can’t wait!