Well done JAK for passing with just 2 driver faults (DFs) yesterday. That’s three passes in two weeks, all with just 2 DFs.
Talk about shooting yourself in the foot! With a machine gun!
Just saw on the local news a story about how they’re using pink fluorescent lights in subways to deter gangs of hoodies congregating. Apparently – and according to the spokesman from the local Residents’ Association – the pink light highlights acne and the colour in particular is unattractive to teenage males, so they move on.
The story also indicates that all the evidence is suggesting that the ploy works and it is causing teenagers to move on.
It’s a great idea. But what happens now that the baby chimps who this is deterring realise they’ve been had? Why not just keep your mouths shut and bask in the glory of beating the offspring of the local Neanderthals – instead of boasting and gloating over it?
Just saw this on the lunchtime news – here’s the Guardian’s take on it.
The vandalism was carried out by a group promising further action against what it calls ‘criminal bank bosses’, whom it apparently blames for the recession. They’re obviously not affiliated with MENSA in any way.
There is an urban legend that during street riots against paedophiles a few years ago, a gang of thickos attacked the residence of a paediatrician somewhere in Portsmouth. The story has been refuted, but it does illustrate a valid point – and one that is very pertinent to these morons who have vandalised Sir Fred Goodwin’s property. Namely: they haven’t got a clue!
Those responsible for this criminal act manage – yet again – to make the division between humans and apes ever greyer. The fact that it happened in Scotland is circumstantial, of course.
Incidentally, this post is getting a lot of hits. I wonder if the lunatics responsible are checking up on their handiwork?
You’re probably aware that Michael Jackson is playing 50 concerts at the O2 Arena this summer. It’ll be his first tour since 1997 – and it’s sold out already.
I really hope it works – for him and his fans.
But being honest, can you see someone who is as fragile as Michael Jackson , both emotionally and physically, actually complete these 50 gigs? It would be an enormous task even for someone young and in practice with touring. Jacko has been a virtual hermit for the last 12 years, and on his rare trips back to Planet Earth he has knocked over a few tables every time.
Like I say, I hope it works out. But…
The last week has been a bit of a pain.
To start with I’ve had nearly 50 hours of lessons, which is great. But during this time my computer started to play up (separate thread about that) and I’ve been trying to fix it using what little time I have had available.
Anyway, last Tuesday (10/03/09) I had a nice pass (well done DL) – she has just been moved to Birmingham by her employer and needed to be able to commute.
Then yesterday there was another pass (well done VKC) with just 2 driver faults. This lad is my quickest pass ever in just 23 hours (no private practice, but his dad had shown him how to drive before he came to me).
There was one slight aberration – one lad failed this week for a silly lapse in concentration and was angry with himself. In his own words:
“It was my fault, and if I’d have remembered I’d be sitting here with a pass right now”.
All of them are great drivers and fully deserve to be out there on the roads (I add that because I know there will be one or two instructors out there who, when they read this, will automatically be looking for negatives by trying to read into what I have written. The industry is full of that sort, I’m afraid).
After my irritation at having to queue in Maplin the other night, I went back today and bought that cordless soldering iron I was after.
The Iroda Solderpro 120 runs on butane gas. I’ve installed an extension cable in my car so I can run an inverter, and the terminals I used to connect it to the battery were just too bulky (a lot of metal in them) for my normal soldering irons to be able to cope with – they just couldn’t heat the metal up enough for the solder to form a pool and stick. For the record, I couldn’t even crimp the damned things properly, they’re that big.
This little tool is well up to the job. It charges up with butane very quickly and easily, and you don’t need any of those daft attachments to lose in the bottom of the tool box. It ignites immediately, and is ready to use in seconds. You can adjust the temperature with a small slider, so the tool actually rates at between 30-125W depending on the setting of this.
It is extremely well-built. It has a nice solid feel to it – reassuring when you’re effectively holding a bomb in your hand! You can also get attachments which turn it into a cutting tool for plastics, a tool for repairing jewellery, and so on. It operates as a pinpoint blow-torch if you take the tip off.
It made short work of fixing those badly crimped cables. They’re now well and truly soldered to the terminal rings.
Maplin also stock lower power versions – the Solderpro 50 and Solderpro 70. I’m seriously thinking of getting one of each of these as the convenience of not having a cable trailing and being able to solder in more comfortable situations is very appealing. I do quite a bit of soldering on computers and other electronic/electrical equipment and having to be close to a power outlet has always been a bit of a nuisance.
If you’re looking for a soldering iron and always thought – as I did – that cordless ones were pretty pathetic (some of them are), then this is really worth looking into.
Just watching Breakfast News on the BBC and I was taken aback to see ” Grow Your Own Drugs ” on the rear-screen displays behind the presenters and some guy they’re interviewing (big grin, looks like a Blue Peter presenter).
It’s a very unfortunate tagline for a new BBC programme about plants you can grow at home which have medicinal properties.
Listening to the last part of it, the show is likely to be a thinly disguised ‘alternative medicine’ love-in, because he’s going on about aromatherapy ingredients at the moment. And I can’t see the Beeb showing people how to make Aspirin from Willow Tree bark.
The BBC site confirms it will be extremely lightweight, and witters on about making ‘some pampering beauty treatments ‘. But from the dumbing-down specialists, what would you expect?
EDIT 3/3/2009 – And so it was lightweight. Facepacks, the astounding news that Figs and Senna ‘make you regular’, the repeated comment that this berry or than root ‘is thought to be good for’ something or other, and so on.
This is a very old article. Maplin is no more.
I detest queuing or being messed around…
Start here -> Irritation Level: 0
Yesterday, I nipped into a huge Wyevale Garden Centre down in Hampshire. I grabbed a trolley and piled on to it four sacks of compost from the pallets lined up outside. I saw a large sign which said ‘Entrance’ and made my way towards it. When I got there I saw a smaller sign which said ‘No Entry’ and realised the the ‘Entrance’ sign had an arrow on it pointing to the opposite end of the building (the arrow was hidden until you got there due to the door being recessed into the building). Irritation Level -> 3 .
I turned round and walked down to the other door. The path had a slight sideways slope and the trolley was a little wayward. Irritation Level -> 3½ .
I walked into the entrance and looked for a checkout. Nothing – it just looked like a greenhouse. Oh, wait! There’s a sign which says ‘Sales’. I look through and it is as empty as this area except for sheds and other garden stuff. Irritation Level -> 4 . I am standing in the middle of a triangle of three members of staff who are talking to each other:
Excuse me, but where do I pay?
Oh! You have to go all around [points around the back of the building]. People normally pay first and then pick up what they want outside. Irritation Factor: 6 .
It doesn’t matter. I’ll walk round. It’s this way?
No. It’s all the way around. People normally pay first [points out the front near the pallets] . Irritation factor -> 8 .
So I walk out the ‘entrance’ and back towards the ‘non-entrance’. I stubbed my toe on the wayward trolley’s wheel and I could see absolutely no way of being able to pay for this stuff out here. Irritation Factor -> 10 .
I dumped the trolley and drove off. Won’t be going back there – or to any Wyevale Garden Centre – ever again on a point of principle. I know damned well this is some moron’s idea to get people to walk through the entire garden centre to entice them to pick up things they don’t want before they get to the checkout. All I wanted to do was hand over my £20-30, get my change, and go. Quickly.
Then I got home. I was intending to go straight to Maplin to buy a cordless soldering iron (need to do some soldering under the bonnet of the car and my electric soldering irons are for fine electronic work, not melting huge globs of solder). I got home during rush hour and thought better of it, so I waited until after 7pm and then drove the 5 miles or so to the store. Irritation Factor -> 1 .
After selecting the device I wanted I went to the checkout – the store has three checkouts, but it is rare to have more than one manned at the same time, especially this time of the day. There was one customer at the checkout paying for something. Irritation Factor -> still 1 (I’m not that bad).
As I got there another staff member came up with a mobile. He starts frantically dialling numbers and not getting answers. Irritation Factor -> 4 .
It becomes clear the customer is there with his wife and three kids. The kids are playing with things in a way guaranteed to damage them, and the mother is doing nothing to stop them. Irritation Factor -> 5 .
I notice the member of staff is holding a credit card whilst dialling out. Irritation Factor -> 8 .
I wait. And wait. And wait. It is obvious the credit card transaction is going to fail or not go ahead for some reason – even to me, and I can’t hear anything that is being said. Irritation Factor -> 8½ -> 9 -> 9½ -> 10 .
I dumped the items I’d picked up and walked out the store. I will be going back again – Maplin is too important to boycott. If there’s a problem with the merchant banking system it’s probably not their fault, but they could do something about only ever having one till manned, though. Having said that, something I ordered by mail from them arrived within two days last week, and people who go into stores to buy a loaf of bread and then use a bloody debit card are pond life anyway, so I may be going back to mail order instead of visiting their store quite as much.
Or maybe not. It’s like Aladdin’s Cave in that place!
Alfa Romeo MiTo.
I don’t have to say anything – just listen to the bit where it keeps saying ‘technologic’ in a squeaky voice (sounds like ‘technology’ with an idiot saying it). It drives me nuts and on Sky they show it at the start, end, and in the middle (I think) of every ad break.
I’m getting a lot of hits on the search term ‘franchise free adi ‘ or similar. I’m not completely certain what people have in mind, but I suspect they’re after information on becoming an independent ADI.
- First of all, 99% of ADIs are self-employed, whether they work with a franchise or not. It is important to bear this in mind, as it means that an instructor driving around in a BSM car isn’t ‘working for’ or ’employed by’ BSM. The same goes for The AA and many other schools.
- Working with a franchise doesn’t automatically mean you cannot advertise using your own business name. I know that The AA, for example, expects its franchisees to freely advertise and build up their business themselves. The only thing a franchisee cannot do is use The AA’s logo or livery in that advertising (it can mention it by name, though). Many people use this to build up a business, then leave and become independent.
- Some smaller franchises expressly forbid you to advertise in your own name. For all practical purposes you’ll be working for someone else (i.e. trying to expand their new driving school enterprise), even though you’re self-employed and have none of the associated security that comes with working for someone.
- Being with a franchise means they do the advertising and you get the pupils. How many pupils you get depends heavily on how many ADIs are competing for the available ones in your area and how good/big the franchise is.
- If a big franchise can’t supply many pupils – especially in this present economy – don’t automatically assume that you could do any better. Don’t even assume that you could do better than a small franchise in this respect. You almost certainly couldn’t.
- In essence, if you choose the correct one all a franchise does is provide you with a car, some pupils, and certain security if you have problems. That security isn’t available to you without extra cost if you are independent.
- If you are independent (or on a very cheap franchise) you still need to get hold of a car. Assuming you’re not going to drive an old banger which you own outright, you’ll either buy one or lease one. It’ll typically cost you about £100 a week to keep a car which is less than 3 years old on the road (sometimes more, sometimes less – but not much less). Insurance is likely to be another £10-20 a week. Note that large franchises typically replace cars automatically every 6, 12, or 18 months, whereas if you buy one outright you’ll probably be keeping it for several years.
- The older a car is, the more can go wrong with it – and a learner car gets a lot asked of it! At the very least it’ll do more miles than average, but the tyres and clutch (and other parts) will get more wear and tear than average! Larger franchises get preferential booking when the car needs servicing or repairing (otherwise it is replaced for you). If you own it or it is leased, chances are you’ll have to fight for a place in the queue at the garage…
- The less you pay for a car, the more money you’re likely to end up paying to keep it running. If it breaks down you may find yourself without one to teach in whilst the garage tries to sort it out. Large franchises usually just replace it – typically within 24 hours – if it is unusable.
- If you don’t have a franchise behind you then every single pupil is going to have to come from your own efforts. That means advertising .
- Advertising is a continuous operation. Todays full diary is tomorrow’s empty one, so you have to keep the ball rolling.
- Advertising is not cheap. If you think it is, or that a few postcards in shop windows will keep you in full employment until you retire, you’re not going to get very far.
- A small ad in Yellow Pages will cost about £800 for the year. There is every likelihood that it will generate ZERO enquiries.
- An small ad in a local free pamphlet is likely to cost around £150 for three entries over a quarter. There is every likelihood that it will generate ZERO enquiries.
- A larger ad in a newspaper or glossy magazine is likely to costs many hundreds or even thousands of pounds for each entry.
- You need a website. But don’t think that doing it yourself is automatically enough – if it looks like it was scraped off a boot after a walk through a field full of cows, it’ll attract little interest. Admit your own limitations – you’re a driving instructor, not a web or graphic designer (probably: some might be), so most will have to pay for someone to build a site for them if they want a decent one – another £200 or so. And still there are no guarantees.
- To get sufficient work most people will be spending at least £1,500-2,000 a year on advertising, and it will take at least 1-2 years for most people to get enough work from that source alone. That’s assuming it gets you any work at all – I stress again: there are absolutely no guarantees.
- Even if your ad is successful, you’ll have to pull it to prevent having to turn people away, but put it back in again when the diary starts emptying in a few months. A continuous battle, like I said.
- People get too greedy! They imagine that they’ll be charging £25 an hour and tot this up for a 40 hour week over 50 weeks a year (£50,000 turnover). All that money will be in their pockets if they can avoid that pesky franchise…
- Reality strikes home! As independents with no reputation or established pupil base they can only charge £19-20 an hour (maximum £40,000 turnover). They may be forced to charge even less if undercutting is rife in the area. And work is harder to get than they thought, so the average week is only 30 hours (£30,000 turnover). Or possibly less than 20 hours (absolute maximum £20,000 turnover). Or even less! And still they haven’t accounted for their car, fuel, and other essential business spending (total around £10,000 for car and fuel, plus that £2,000 from advertising). Before you know it, all the household bills have got to be paid with £10,000 or less!!!
- There are independent instructors out there who have literally no work at all, even thought they are trying hard to fill their diaries. Don’t assume that you’ll be the one who discovers the Holy Grail: that hitherto untapped source of guaranteed work. Every ADI who ever existed has looked for it. Many foolish new ADIs have insisted they have found it. Most probably aren’t ADIs anymore – but this doesn’t stop other newcomers from jumping off the same high cliff!
- Ignore claims from those who say they have discovered that magical source of pupils. They may well be in an area where there is a lot of work and they’ve manipulated their business well enough to exploit it, and I’ve mentioned elsewhere that instructors aren’t the sharpest knives in the drawer (they nearly always think that what they do or experience should be done or experienced by everyone else). What matters is whether or not you have the same scope in your area and good enough marketing skills to achieve a similar result. It won’t happen in places saturated with instructors, no matter how much you think it will.
This job is very simple from a business perspective…
Balance Sheet For ADIs
…you add up how much money you take in from your pupils (your turnover), and you subtract from it anything which is absolutely essential for keeping the business running (e.g. the car, fuel, insurance, advertising, etc.). What’s left is your gross profit – on which you are taxed.
So the main things anyone thinking of going independent needs to consider is how they are going to maximise and maintain ‘money in’, and how much they are going to spend under ‘money out’ in order to achieve it. Oh, and there is the unknown ‘risk factor’: will my advertising work?
If you have pupil enquiries coming out of your ears then being independent is undoubtedly the best way to go. Otherwise, be very careful… and don’t listen to idiots who think that because they have a full diary in London then you will too up in The Orkneys. It isn’t that simple.