Weatherization Contractor Blues

As a BPI trainer I hear many stories about the ups and downs of being a weatherization contractor. Most of them, if not all of these contractors are involved with utility driven WAP programs. They have been telling me the budgets are getting smaller each year and they are worried, and rightly so!
My first question is why on earth would you put all your eggs in that one basket? To survive in the residential energy world you must be diverse and offer several services to various markets. If anyone thinks your going to come into this business and get rich selling just energy audits or just doing weatherization or WAP programs or just selling one energy saving product that is suicide in the long run.
Balance!, the Yin & Yang is where you will find peace and stability for your business. So many companies I consult for are an absolute disarray, a train wreck! but, there is hope, the ones that follow my recommendations from inside to out have become very profitable and efficient organization.
I tell my students this; "If your company has and office, trucks, ton of equipment, half certified and half non-certified staff, no internal QA, no safety policies and the appearance of organized chaos then you might be a red neck!...LOL just kidding! You might be in need of someone from out side to come in and look around; you know what I mean, give a different perspective.
That is how I learned over the years to build my businesses and career. That's how I got this cool job. Kirstin, our CEO had a vision ans love for our environment and some really great ideas. She contracted with me to come and work within her organization and make it function efficiently. She knew I came from starting a development business from nothing to 15 years later having a $200+ million a year operation, until the banks collapsed in 2008. Guess what? all my eggs where in one basket and I got my clock cleaned as Nevada & California the two states I was leveraged to the tilt in collapsed with the housing and bank bust. I used my experience form that and the 15 years previous to help Kirstin build her 411 dream. Now 2 years later she is a very successful woman and I have a job! win/win. If you would like a different perspective on your business contact me alan@411energyexperts.com