Mike Clough's Japanese Knotweed blog

Business Not as Usual?

May 19th, 2010 by Mike Clough

This was the headline that grabbed my attention on a recent newsletter from Barclays Bank. I don’t normally read these types of flyers but this was one which caught my eye and was actually quite good.

The premise of the piece was that as Britain emerges from a period of unprecedented recession – the ambitious firms are dusting down their research and development plans.

Courageous companies have cut headcounts, reduced dividends and delivered long term improvements in financial management.

Japanese Knotweed Solutions have returned a set of figures in 2009 which show a 0.017% growth in sales… but with a significantly better margin. This has been achieved by looking closely at every part of the company and tightening our belts as necessary.

That will do me – when others are chasing massive turnover for little if any profit I’m happy to keep profitable, not overstretch and look at the bigger picture.

The more agile companies are poised to move ahead by pursuing new products and seeking fresh markets in a bid to kick start sales.

I believe that this will be the way forward for Japanese Knotweed Solutions in 2010. We had a new Sales Development Manager who started in April who’s primary function is be to push the company into new markets to sell our new systems – innovation being our most important strategy.

The advantage of a smaller business is that we can be nimble and take a pragmatic approach to innovation, jumping quickly onto the movement towards ‘greener’ answers with our Meshtech system and the Composting strategies that we propose for 2011.

We aim to be unique, special and different.

Our approach is to tempt customers with service that our rivals cannot match…

Mike C

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137,500 tons of crap…

May 12th, 2010 by Mike Clough

I was having my mid week trawl through the various websites offering Japanese Knotweed removal picking up on the various claims about what they can and can’t do…

My favorites at the moment include claims by one company to have moved 137,500 tons of contaminated material off one site and 400,000 tons from other sites.

Other companies are still claiming single season eradication ‘guaranteed’  and we have companies offering 20 year warranties and 5 million pound bonds…

One company claims to have offices in Leeds, Bury St Edmunds, Manchester, London, Birmingham, Nottingham, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Northern Ireland – WOW – they must be a massive organisation?.. Or is it just Auntie Irene happens to have a house in Bury St Edmunds, cousin Ron lives in Cardiff and Eddie the spray guy has a holiday cottage in Ireland.

If you look on You Tube you will also see some interesting claims from companies that claim to have saved clients millions and millions of pounds. There are sifting operators that suggest that they can 100% remove knotweed from soil and that no return visits will be required …

All of which lead me to the conclusion that maybe someone has produced 137,500 tons of contaminated rubbish – but most of it is on the world wide web.

Mike C

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How long can we all hold our breath….

May 4th, 2010 by Mike Clough

It would appear that we are all waiting for something to happen, waiting for someone to make a bold leap of faith, someone to break the deadlock.

But until it happens we are all stuck in limbo. …when really we all want to be stuck in a Lambo…rghini

Nobodies making decisions.

Nobodies saying ‘yes’ lets go for it.

Im not sure if it’s the looming election, or the continuing economic doom and gloom merchants. …but nobody appears willing to make a move. We have over £1.5 million pounds worth of work on our books, all with big question marks over whether they will ever actually happen.

SO… Im not buying the car I want, I’m not buying the house I want, I’m not booking the holiday I want – all because I don’t have any confidence in anything. Which for the first time in several years is making me stressed….which is bad.

It’s a big circle in which we are all stuck – someone recently described it as a hamster wheel – until somebody makes some positive steps we are all going nowhere.

Having said all that…. we are still busy and we are still ‘hiring’ not ‘firing’ so maybe I should shut up and think myself lucky..

….and maybe… after all the election nonsense people will decide to make a decision and get things moving??

Fingers crossed.

Mike C

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New Season New Team…

April 28th, 2010 by Mike Clough

We are not a huge company here at Japanese Knotweed Solutions but we do our bit for local employment.

Current staffing levels have increased over the last month with six new starters. We have a new surveyor (Hannah Rayne - see team section)) a new Sales Manager (Nathan Follows – see team section) a new apprentice (Ryan)  2 new site lads and a new receptionist (Jade)..

So… we are sticking our heads above the parapet and saying come on in 2010 – let’s get some work done!

It’s difficult in this current uncertain climate to be confident in your decisions… but I’ve had enough of sitting around waiting for ‘things’ to improve

…so we are starting a trend of companies that are going out of their way to buck the doom and gloom!

Ask us for prices and see if we can make a difference.

.

Mike C

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Round Table Event…

April 21st, 2010 by Mike Clough

Watching the Political debate on live television the other night inspired me to think why don’t the various Japanese Knotweed eradication companies do something similar?

Let’s have a ‘round table’ event and invite all the main contractors working with Non Native Species to come along and talk about how they tackle the problems inherent with Japanese Knotweed and the other problem weeds.

It could be something done annually to pick up on changes in legislation and monitoring the impact of the Psyllid aphid. We can open it to the public and invite DEFRA and the Environment Agency and CABI and have an open forum for debate.

In the first instance I suggest holding it in Manchester at the Lowry Hotel –  funded by Japanese Knotweed Solutions.

If you are interested in being involved e mail mike.clough@sltd.co.uk and let’s get it arranged.

Mike C

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We shall fight them on the beaches….

April 21st, 2010 by Mike Clough

The new JKSL advertisement is about to hit the press.

Using the famous Winston Churchill quote we re-visit the ‘hand’ concept which has proved such a talking point amongst our clients.

I feel that the words very much define our approach to non native species –

… ‘we shall fight them on the beaches, we shall fight in the fields, and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we will never surrender…’.

For several years now I have been trying to rouse the public into a sort of Dunkirk spirit – to fight back against the invading hordes (of invasive weeds)…

Maybe this advert will appeal to that British’ness that we all seem to have forgotten. Instead of the English arguing with the Scots, or the Welsh or the Irish lets get a united front against plants that are taking over our British Countryside.

Lets fight back …

Lets protect our shores…

Lets dig for Britain – but be very careful where you put the contaminated waste.

Mike C

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All money to charity….

April 14th, 2010 by Mike Clough

Be warned all you would be copyright thieves…!

Japanese Knotweed Solutions take our marketing and branding seriously.

As a business owner you expect the odd member of your team to leave, move on, set up on their own etc. There isn’t much you can do about it so you don’t bother getting stressed.

What does however annoy more than anything is when they leave then try and copy everything that you do!

They copy your website, they copy your photographs and have even been known to use testimonials from projects that they haven’t even worked on!

So…enough is enough.

I set Christine Oxenburgh from Garvins onto a couple of them just to see what satisfaction could be gained. And lo and behold not only has she made them take the pictures off their websites, not only has she had the copied text removed – she has had her expenses paid and a donation made to charity!!

So let this be a warning to those that can’t be bothered doing their own web site or their own photographs.

When you copy our stuff – YOU DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK - we will do something about it!

Mike C

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What is it with British people and wishing people bad luck?

April 7th, 2010 by Mike Clough

I have been a lucky man. I don’t deny the fact and often repeat the phrase to people who listen.

My life has had its ups and downs and it hasn’t been easy – but overall if you were to draw a line and say… bad points go below the line, good points go above – then most of my life would be in the above line section.

I don’t take myself too seriously and hope that I don’t come over as a prat – yes I like nice cars…but what the hell… I do a lot of driving and Ive worked hard to get to a point where I can have these things.

I employ 24 people and treat each and every one of them with respect and as an individual. I employ just as many men as women and run a totally equal company paying people and treating people exactly the same whatever their sex. I don’t consider myself above brewing up, or picking litter up from the yard, or getting the lunch in – I even have been known to actually enjoy spending time with the team at JKSL.

OK I’m a bit opinionated and I have an arrogant streak – but how the hell can you run a business without being arrogant. If you constantly listen and take everyone’s advice you end up with decisions by committee which just results in bland design and mediocre service…which just isn’t me.

What I’m getting at here is that I have my faults - but basically I’m a nice bloke running a small business to the best of his abilities.

So why is it that so many people have been happy to tell me that they think I will be put out of business by the Governments bio –control programme?

And why is it they all ask with the same stupid smirk on their faces??

Why is it that British people want you to fail??

It’s always the small minded, corporate employed, dark suited – nobodies, or teachers (bizarrely) that seem to want you to fall flat on your face.

Well here’s a message to all of those people wishing me ill … even if I do fail – at least I’ve lived…. at least I’ve tried…and more much more than this…

I’ve done it my way.

Mike C

…and so…the end is near…as I approach …the final curtain

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So what is the best way to get rid of Japanese Knotweed…?

March 31st, 2010 by Mike Clough

It’s the blog you’ve all been waiting for…Mike Clough finally gives the game away, finally tells the big secret.

Probably the biggest factor to be aware of is the ***** beneath the **** structure.

Whilst the main ***** of the parent plant are ********* to attack by ***** the result would be catastrophic to the plant should the ***** seam beneath the ***** leaf up from the basal **** be broken. Application of ******** herbicide at the ********concentration, applied to the **** will cause immediate death of the plant.

So that’s it then.

No more Knotweed problems….just computer problems. The ****ing *** button seems to be jammed…?

Odd.

Mike C

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Flexible Warranties? – you got it…

March 24th, 2010 by Mike Clough

Here at Japanese Knotweed Solutions we are always trying to put the customer first.

One of the questions that we keep being asked is ‘can you offer flexible term warranties?’ – well – now we can.

You want a six month warranty – no problem.

You want a 20 year warranty – no problem

You want a warranty until the property has been sold – you got it!

For the most flexible terms including a payment plan to suit your needs - just ask Japanese Knotweed Solutions.

From March 1^st our surveyors have been briefed to tailor our product to exactly what the customer requires. We still offer ten year insurance backed warranties (still unique to the market despite what ‘other’ companies are saying on their websites) and we still offer the best value on a ‘like for like’ basis when comparing us with other service providers.

So try us out – ask us for something unique – ask us for exactly what you want!

Mike C

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