Originality and Ethics are lacking in this Industry

First let me start of by saying that competition is good. Its good for business and good for the economy. It regulates prices and I thought kept people honest. Competition has made me a lot of money because of the lack of ethics and integrity in this industry. I don't know if any other industry has such a lack of ethics as the bio recovery/meth lab cleanup industry. Just when I think I have seen it all, something else happens and I am once again amazed. What am I talking about you may ask.... Let me elaborate.

Sometime back in 2005 I was contacted by a bio recovery company from California. This individual smelled like a duck, walked like a duck, and talked like a duck. Being new to the industry I was vulnerable like many others when they first start out. This individual preyed on newbies and sold them "listings" on a his directory. Now I know his directory wasn't worth the domain that he paid for it, but then, we all are hungry for some business and willingly paid the $250 or whatever it was to be listed. After one year you quickly realized it was a complete waste of money and a scam by this guy.

That same person tried to start various alliances to compete against ABRA, or give an alternative as he claimed. Nevertheless they were squashed before they got off the ground. Now he poses on his Myspace page for what appears to be a playgirl photo shoot. Only in the bio industry!!

Then a meth training company came into the picture. They had their stuff together and put on a well informed class. Their business plan was good. Train everyone in the country, and sub out all the work making 40-60% profit from behind their desks. Well a lot of bridges were burned along the way, and a lot of shady stuff started to happen. For example, they would request bids for properties that were already done and completed just to get pricing information from other companies. This genius business plan will be short lived because his integrity is transparent. His ability to piss off the masses is plausible.

Then there are new companies that are coming into the mix on a daily basis. Some of these companies lack originality, and depth. Instead of making a name for themselves, they will go ahead and steal your name, or a couple of names and put them together. Better yet, they will cut and paste part of your website and apply it to theirs. One company right here in the Tampa area stole two companies names, put them together and made it one name. Then bought a toll free number that is identical to mine, off only by one number. Other companies will attend mutual trade shows, take marketing material and copy the entire thing changing only the company name to theirs. While this is extremely pathetic and annoying I have left it alone these past few years. Now I will make a point and an example out of trademark violations, and stealing material. You may be thinking, its expensive to challenge or enforce a trademark.... NOT ON A CONTINGENCY IT ISN'T.

Then there's other individuals who think if they buy 400 domain names they will monopolize the entire industry. That appears to be short lived because the websites are spam. Spamming is not tolerated by google or yahoo to my knowledge.

For those not in the industry you must be wondering exactly how bad is this industry. To put it in perspective bio recovery companies are approximately 1% of the amount of plumbers in a large city. That's not very many. One of us for every 100 plumbers. You would think that business is business and everyone would have a symbiotic relationship. Alas, plumbers are regulated, bio recovery in most states is not. So cowboys and Indians are running the show.

As I get certified in more industries (mold, water, carpet) I am starting to see the drastic differences among the industries. There is plenty of work for everyone, yet this industry appears more like vultures on a fresh kill.

My two cents: make a name for yourself, tell the truth, treat people like you would want to be treated, and stop copying, stealing, and lying to everyone. It will come back to you. Who am I to make these statements? I'm glad you asked.

I have been sitting idle watching this shit go on for 3 years. I happen to be highly educated with a bachelors degree in CJ, and a Masters degree in business. I think I know one or two things about business. Nothing against all the G.E.D./high schoolers out there trying to run a business. Email comments are always welcome, but don't call me b/c I probably will not care what you have to say.