Category Archives: Business

Tilt and Turn Window Security

Break-Ins and Burglary (know as forced entry when it comes to window testing) is a real problem in some areas of the world. Windows are a natural weak point in a house because glass is a large component of a window. So, it is only logical for someone to try to come into the house through the windows by either manipulating the lock or breaking the glass. We can often see metal bars (similar to prison bars) in front of windows with the aim to keep intruders out.

Tilt and Turn Windows offer an easier way to protect yourself from forced entries. The 3 main ways that Tilt and Turn Windows accomplish this are as follows:

Double or Triple Glazing with .060 Laminated Glass

Laminated Glass is made up of 2 sheets of glass with a PVC interlayer. A glass type commonly seen in windshields of cars. The idea is that the lamination between the 2 sheets of glass will hold the glass together in case of breakage. The thicker the laminated layer (.060″ or .030″) the harder it is to force a hole into the glass.

Multiple Locking Points

The sash of the window is the movable part and houses the turning, tilting and locking mechanism. Through the 180 degree action of the handle, the window can be moved from locked, through turning to tilting position and back again. In the locked position the stainless steel mechanism has round nodes that line up and engage with the lock housing on the window frame. Instead of there being only one lock housing as seen with sliding or single (double) hung windows, there are between 2-6 lock housings depending on the level of security you need. Thus we speak of multiple locking points.

Steel re-enforced sash and frame

Both the sash and frame of Tilt & Turn Windows have steel L-Angles inserted into them. This adds tremendous strength to the window making it virtually impossible to break the sash or frame with conventional means.

The combination of the 3 points above makes Tilt & Turn Windows the strongest of the 5 common window types (sliding, hung, casement, awning, tilt & turn). A man with a sledge hammer will take a very long time to get a hole into the window that is large enough to reach in and turn the handle.

Author of: Tilt and Turn Windows Vancouver , Frameless Doors, Invisible Doors, Tilt and Turn Windows Calgary

Start your First Business the Right Way Right Away

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Start your First Business the Right Way Right Away

Many small business start-ups fail. Some succeed. What is the difference between the ones that fail and the ones that succeed? As an owner of several small businesses I want to share my insights of what I have noticed to be the critical points when starting anything with the intend to make money.

Be realistic and do not aim too high

As with all things in life it is best if you take off those pink-eyed goggles and look at things realistically. If you want to start a business that will make you, let’s say, $30,000 profit per year, go in with the assumption that it will only make you $15,000. Reality is always different from what you hope for. There are many potential problems that you have often no control over that can slow down or halt your business growth. So, be conservative in your expectations and you will protect yourself from an emotional let-down if things don’t go as well as you hoped for.

Have a Plan that Simple and Easy to put into Action

First of all you need a plan. Complicated business ideas are more likely to fail, so the plan needs to be as simple as possible. On top of being simple it also needs to be able to be realized fairly quickly. Business plans that involve months of set-up time, for example, are less than ideal.

Example of a basic 3-step Plan:

1) Research a niche product that sells well through online channels

2) Make a website to sell your product (should not take more than 2-3 weeks to set-up)

3) Buy ‘Product A’, buy ‘Product B’, put them together and sell the resulting ‘Product C’ on said website

Keep it Small

Do not hire any employees – do it all yourself. The more people you have to manage, the more problems and issues will arise. In order to keep 100% control of day-to-day activities, which is necessary for optimal efficiency, you need to be able to handle all aspects of the business yourself.

Do not Invest a large amount of Money at the Beginning

Do not, I repeat, do not invest a lot of money at the start of the business. Ideally stay under $5,000 as the initial investment. There will be less pressure which will keep you more relaxed to make good decisions.

Never borrow Money to start the Business

Yes, you heard right – do not borrow money from anyone to start the business. Do not get the start-up capital from angel investors either. The only way you will be earnestly invested in your own business is if you use your own hard-earned cash as the start-up capital. If you use money that comes easy, you will tend to be less serious about everything because it does not hurt as much if you should fail and lose everything.

Be Frugal

I cannot stress this point enough. Do not buy a lot. Do not buy expensive equipment (a simple plan would not need it). Buy used equipment and supplies if possible. Make things last by treating them gently.

In summary: Spend little – earn much. Your profit is the difference between the money that goes out and the money that comes in. Sounds simple but most first-time business owners seem to be oblivious to this truth.

Always do your own Taxes

There is a saying: “It’s not what you make, but what you keep.” This is extremely true. I have seen people waste thousands of dollars at the end of their fiscal year on accountants. Doing your taxes is easy and with a little help from the internet (and tax software) anybody can do it. This way you have the ability to play around with the numbers as long as you want until you get as close to the “ideal scenario” as possible.

Concluding Thoughts

If you want to go big right away, you will most likely fail or be much less efficient than starting small and simple. Doing everything yourself (marketing, accounting, manufacturing, sales, deliveries, service, repairs, etc.) teaches you a lot of new things and makes you stronger and tougher in the business world. Be afraid – yes, be very afraid to lose money. The result will be that you will keep a closer look on your profits and efficiently increase them over time. There is nothing worse than” spend-happy”, fearless, first-time entrepreneurs that squander their capital with, at best, a vague idea of what they are actually doing.

Author: Owner of Tilt and Turn Windows Edmonton , Frameless Doors, Invisible Doors, Tilt and Turn Windows Calgary

Tilt and Turn Window Technology in Canada

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Tilt and Turn Windows at the Lowest Prices in the US and Canada

We decided to focus all our attention on Tilt & Turn windows and Lift and Slide Doors for American and Canadian home owners and builders. What would you say if you can buy the overall best performing window type at an affordable price? We aim to do just that.

We offer Tilt & Turn Windows in Vancouver and Patio Doors by DAKO. Rapidly expanding, they are one of Europe’s best selling window companies that has vast experience supplying the International Market. Window profiles come from Rehau and the hardware is supplied by Winkhaus. Both are well-know German companies with a long history and strong track record.

Price Matters

We are firm believers that prices matter. The best products in the world are useless to the average person if their price is out-of-reach. So, we aim to offer the best prices in North America. Feel free to email or call us and get a quote on the windows you need. There is no minimum order quantity. We can ship anywhere in the US or Canada.

Performance

Thermal and Acoustic Performance of all our windows is far better than virtually any regular sliding or casement window of the same size. That might sound like an arrogant statement but we know it is true. All of our employees, without exception, have our windows installed their homes and can speak from experience. Imagine sleeping better because your bedroom is now virtually soundproof to the outside. Your kitchen window might be facing a noisy neighbor – well, no worries, we have the window that will solve your problem.

Testing

Any window that gets installed in the US or Canada needs to be tested and conform to NAFS and CSA. DAKO meets all of North America’s testing requirements and every window has its required label. Peace-of-mind for the home owner is important to us.

Work Less and Make More Money

Succeed in Business – Work Less and Make More Money

How to work less and earn more money is a topic that many, many people have written about. But I still feel it is worth for me to throw in what I have learned by being self-employed in Canada for the last 6 years. It is a good thing for younger people to hear what others have experienced when they started their own business and became self-employed. The things that have worked for me can then be copied by others and the things that have been disastrous for me can be avoided.

The Goal of Working Less

The goal is to work less hours per day, week, month, while at the same time to keep earning enough money to sustain you. Ideally you want to make as much money per month with the least amount of effort and time input. Some people (myself being one of them) want to work less and have just enough money to sustain a very basic life style. Others, and this is probably the majority, wants to work less but still maintain a higher standard of living with nice cars and all the other creature comforts that so many people crave. In either case, the goal remains the same and everyone will need to find their own comfort zone. Some can realize their humble money earning goals by only working 2 hours per day, others might need to work 4-5 hours per day to bring their income to the desired level.

How I started my self-employed career

When I was 33 years old I realized that I could no longer sustain a 40 hour work week as an employee due to the mental and physical strain it imposes on you. Especially when that 40 hours becomes 55 hours so easily with driving to and from work. But since North America is not a place where good paying part-time jobs are a realistic option, the only choice I had was to start something on my own that would allow me to cut down the time worked drastically. I assume that most people with a “soft” constitution will know what I mean by not being able to happily and healthily maintain a full-time job and the stress it puts on you. “Tougher” people will not feel the burden and that is also why most people that start their own business early in life belong to the “not-so-tough” crowd.

My first 11 years as a full-time employee had put me in the construction supply field. Things such as windows, doors, glass, flooring, and other construction related hardware. I used that knowledge and experience to come up with an idea of what I could be selling as my own boss. The first thing that came to me was to start a art glass company – supplying Stained Glass and Sandblasted Glass to the public. That lasted 4 months and I realized that the demand for artistic glass was definitely not at an all-time high in 2013 – in fact it is diminishing even now. Then I stumbled across European Interior Doors that were made in Germany and Italy to be exact. I thought I should try selling those. And so I started and have been doing that ever-since. In the last 5 years, I ended up working on average about 2-3 hours per day with a net (take-home) pay of about $2,500 per month.

Steps to succeed

Here are the steps needed to succeed in your own business. I wish I would have known all of them beforehand but I only realized some of them later on. The list of steps is below and I hope that you will be able to take what you need for yourself and make it work.

1. Have some money saved-up

You need to have some of money saved-up for the start-up phase which I believe to be the first year of business. If you keep on working as an employee during the first year, you might not need any or very little capital. If you want to stop working right away, I suggest to have enough money to sustain your living expenses (rent, food, phone, etc.) for one year. If you keep on working in the first year, I suggest to have $5,000 in your savings account. I believe the $5,000 will be enough to give you access to a fairly broad range of business types.

2. Pick something to sell that does not require high-volume sales

Then you need to pick the type of business that you like and you think will earn you a living by the end of the first year. You can sell either a tangible product (i.e doors in my case) or a service (i.e. SEO-services, design-services, translation-services, etc), it does not matter. But whatever you pick, it does need to be high-priced enough to avoid needing to sell at a high-volume. The key to working less time in a business is to avoid a large amount of orders/contracts. Ideally you want to pick something where you can earn your monthly goal (let;s call it $2,000) with just one order. That might not always be possible with any type of commodity or service but aim for it at least.

3. Pick something that can be outsourced

Make sure that whatever you pick to sell in your business, can be outsourced (either service or commodity). You do not want to be caught laboring hours and hours to fulfill an order. That would definitely defeat the purpose of wanting to work less. So, in my case, I do not make the actual doors myself – I order them from a supplier.

4. Pick something that can be sold Continent or even World Wide

Whatever you selling item is, make sure you can supply it over a wide area and not just locally. You will limit yourself if you think local only. So, if you are based in Canada, for example, make sure that you can at least supply to all of North America. For service oriented businesses that is much easier than for physical goods which need to be shipped.

5. Start a Website for your business

You will need to start a business website for yourself right away. Pick a website design software like wordpress or weebly, for example, that is easily learned. Pick a hosting company like bluehost or hostgator that is relatively cheap. The goal is to pay less than $200 for the entire first year. Your website does not need to be grand at first (like amazon or the like) but have at least 4 pages with the landing page / home page being the biggest and most informative (I suggest 2,000 words on the home page).

6. Get going with SEO for your Website immediately

The faster people find you service or commodity online the better. I suggest you learn how to do SEO (Search Engine Optimization) right away to be completely independent. Hiring a professional SEO company or person can be costly. I have had success with doing some SEO work myself and having the rest done by a low priced professional company. I think having to spend $1,000 on SEO in the first year is realistic and necessary. Most other people think you should spend a lot more on marketing but I think you can succeed even on a $1,000 budget. Keep in mind that spending a lot of money on SEO and having extremely good google search rankings means more people see your website. In some cases this is a bad thing (you think I am crazy right now, I know) because more people emailing and calling you means more work for you. Since you are aiming to make your money with the least amount of orders, you do not need to be dealing with hundreds of potential customers per month.

7. Sell to your best ability

The last step is the actual work required to sell the items or service which is where all the working hours are spend. You want to make the most of every customer when you engage them via phone or email. Do you best to sell your product. Once you have an order, you need to fulfill it. You will need to order the product or service from your supplier and deliver it to your customer as fast as possible. Efficiency is the key to succeed in this vital last step. You can do everything right in the setting-up part (steps 1-6) of the business and fail in this last part (step 7).

Tips and Tricks on being self employed

learn from your mistakes and make changes immediately
learn to spot slow, inefficient suppliers
learn how to spot difficult customers and time wasters
focus on the good customers only
charge a little extra to have money left over to solve your good customers’ issues easily
don’t let your suppliers “wine and dine” you – it’s usually not worth your time
website traffic must supply enough customers – otherwise increase your marketing
Do your own taxes – it will save you a lot of money
Do not hire employees – only hire outside help on a contractual basis
Do not invest money in expensive transportation or machinery – rent it when necessary

Final Thoughts

I know that can be possible for many of the currently full-time employed men and women to quit their job and start working for themselves. I know that it might be hard at times and you need to be frugal enough to get by sometimes (especially in the beginning). But in the end you will have a job that you can to some extend control and where you can take that 1 month vacation – maybe twice or three times a year. So, if you are a conscientious human being that suffers at your current tedious and inefficient full-time job, consider going solo and see what happens. And if you are afraid, don’t be, full-time jobs will always be there in case you fail.

Author: Jony Hubert (a flush door and frameless door and invisible door lover)