May 16th, 2012

Local brand– Local business

Everybody loves a Mr Sparkle T-Shirt. Over the last 8 years we have sold and given away thousands of them. It is always great getting back pictures from folk who wear them in interesting places. Our “contact us” page features a dynamite picture of a friend in Time Square sporting one of our shirts. Once, a staff member at Arizmendi Bakery was featured on The News Hours, full frontal shot in one of our shirts.

Lucky Mule T shirts in Oakland prints our shirts. A great local screen print shop owned by Courtney Callahan. Courtney does all size jobs, working with smaller businesses like us, to events such as the Blue Grass Festival. For us, working with local vendors is an important part of our mission. It means the money we spend stays in our community. Plus, Courtney is a treat. Once the drummer for the Demonics, he now plays with a band called Los Shimmy Shakers. A group of veteran musicians who are accompanied by Burlesque. I’ve had a chance to see them a few times and have always had a blast.

Being an Oakland native, it feels good to support Oakland based business and to be creating a strong recognizable brand in my home town. T Shirts have been a huge part of the way we have gone about doing that.

Thanks Lucky Mule!

April 18th, 2012

Criticism is a Courtesy

As with all businesses customer feedback is the primary and most significant  source of information as to how we are performing. Whether window cleaning, gutter cleaning or scratch removal  we have high standards for all of our services, and are always training to provide the best service and highest quality product possible.

No one can be one hundred percent all the time. And we are always grateful when our clients value their relationship with us enough to help us improve by letting us know when we fall short of their expectations. Negative feedback can be frustrating, but is of course normal. I once had a mentor tell me, “if you hear the same thing more than once, you need to address it in training immediately.” I try to follow that advice, and always view criticism as a courtesy.

On the other end one of the greatest feelings for us as service providers is to receive a compliment from a client. They take the form of verbal or written compliments, tips, referrals and on some occasions gifts. Yesterday we received two such gifts from separate clients. A couple jars of home made jam from one, and two bottles of Di’Aire wine from the makers themselves!

We are so grateful for our customers’ support and feedback. Good or bad it helps us to keep on track. 

March 21st, 2012

Glass Scratch Removal

Mr Sparkle now offers glass scratch removal and acid etch damage removal of any size and depth from all types of glass. Glass scratch graffiti has become popular and results in expensive replacement of glass panels to return the window to clarity. Now, we are able to repair the glass panels you previously had to replace – in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost. Read more »

February 5th, 2012

Mr Sparkle goes to New Orleans

It has been a great start to the new year. I have spent the last two weeks traveling and attending training by myself and with staff. Last week Wednesday thru Saturday, Fou and I attended the IWCA window cleaner’s convention in New Orleans; attending seminars, networking, checking out new industry product, and eating. Read more »