Decorative concrete is a good replacement for carpet on a concrete floor. Low maintenance, green from the get-go and much prettier after clean-up of icky messes. When a customer decides to change from carpet to decorative concrete, the carpet comes up to reveal the ‘dastardly doggone tack strip’.

Getting rid of the strips is probably going to bite both the concrete and the hand. Tetanus shots, antiseptic and a band-aide will comfort the hand, but what about those darned little divots that pop out of the concrete, clinging to the darned little tacks?

Chris Mirabal, tech adviser for Engrave-A-Crete has a dandy fix for the pop-outs, described in the Groov-E-News  blog post entitled Tack Strip Pop-Outs – Watch Them Disappear.

Head on over to this article about fixing tack strip pop-outs so you are ready when that problem sets in. Your customers will love you and their new floor.

It seems that a few hundred decorative concrete contractors have gotten the message about social media, especially LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is much more than a fancy, electronic business card/resume that works for you 24/7. There are services such as the Ask-and-Answer area and the groups that provide connection and give meaning to the term ‘networking.

You can pick and choose what works best for you — I belong to a Women in Concrete group, although it isn’t exactly what I had expected. The membership is much more in management and administrative mode as opposed to being out there working in the concrete. Because of my connection to Engrave-A-Crete, I know there are women out there working in the concrete. In fact, Engrave-A-Crete encourages women to attend their training and become engravers.

Because of the way decorative concrete can reclaim old concrete to deliver a useful and attractive surface, I thought there would be more to interest me in the Concrete Reclaiming group. I was so pleased when I was invited to join. The discussion is more aimed at what to do with concrete that couldn’t be poured and ended up left in the truck or in little plops at the site.

I think some groups are started impulsively without researching to see if there are others covering the same material. So what can several little groups such as “I Love Decorative Concrete.” or “Decorative Concrete Forum” uniquely provide?

• Being heard in a super large, one-size-fits-all group can be difficult.
• Some topics are going to be more interesting regionally.
• Some of us are loyal engravers or stampers or polishers with our own set of acronyms, buzz words and small lingo that makes us feel superior.

Those three and other reasons support smaller groups. My advice to you is “Check them out and find all that you are interested in. Lurk and read some; post and help some.”

It is important to remember that the concept works. And that it works on more than paper.

It is important to remember that not all projects are going to be 1,000 sq. ft. and pay for the Mongoose in one fell swoop. Just as important to remember that there will be larger projects and in the beautiful art of math, the smaller projects do add up.

It is important to remember that this probably didn’t ‘just happen’ to Joe. He did some marketing. Maybe he networked in person to offer his services. Maybe he’s been working for quite awhile building a circle of influence where he is trusted. So that when Joe stands up and says he’s going to provide decorative concrete, his reputation has proceeded him and the best jobs are his. That reputation is a stellar marketing tool because when people have good things they can say about you, others want you to work for them.

Joe’s El Dorado of decorative concrete is there for him to mine over and over, because he got himself set up with excellent equipment, training and marketing.

You could be Joe. But, you gotta get off the couch and make the decision. Engrave-A-Crete offers a 3 day seminar with hands-on for the tools, stains and sealers. Not a “butt going numb in the chair” lecture training, but a “get in there and try it all” training. It is a good investment for business (or successful DIY.)

I heard on the grapevine that a comprehensive equipment rental program is about to be launched. Don’t have details, but you can call Engrave-A-Crete at 800-884-2114 and find out more. When I get the whole story, I will share it. Meanwhile, don’t wait for me…get off the couch and find out for yourself.

According to a post over at Groov-E-News, official blog for Engrave-A-Crete, the stunning photos you have of your work could surely have application on someone’s For the Home board or on an Art board or Yard board. Your customers who pin photos and video of the projects you have done for them are giving you an additional boost.

The other day, someone pinned the page with the new Idea Book that Engrave-A-Crete put together. (It just came out in Print format in November, 2011). Within minutes someone else non-connected had seen the information and re-pinned it on her “Dream Basement” board.

Read more about the possibilities for Pinterest and ways to use it at Using Pinterest as a Market Place for Decorative Concrete.  Don’t stop reading till you’ve finished the Pinetiquette paragraph. There are tips about pinning manners and how to label your files so that you are mentioned in all the right places.

Interesting how people using Esty.com  to sell their handmade items have seen some pretty impressive activity through Pinterest.com.

In a challenge to disprove that idea, Mike set up a demonstration for vendors, concrete polishers, architects and guests attending a seminar for the Concrete Promotional Group of Greater Kansas City.

Coincidentally, the date for the demonstration collided with a time when Mike had to be out of town. His daughter, who had worked with acid stain, but no engraving tools, stepped in, gave a successful demonstration that left everyone impressed with decorative concrete staining and engraving.

The point of the post about this true story that contractors should take away is that there are markets out there for you. But you will have to be listening and be ready to show your stuff!

This particular event included architects. They need specs to be able to write your services into plans. The architectural specs for staining and engraving are available at the Engrave-A-Crete website. Click HERE to get to that page.

The post entitled, “Using LinkedIn for Decorative Concrete Marketing“, reports that LinkedIn claims over 116 millions members and a rank of 11th most visited website in the US. The members can choose between a free account or a paid pro-membership with more tools, bandwidth and other whistles.

The search engines love a website with this kind of klout and decorative concrete is in a good spot to make the strength of LinkedIn work. If you’re thinking, “Oh no, not another form to fill out.”, don’t worry. The people at LinkedIn want you to win, so the profile set up is not long or difficult.  Make that profile complete — avoid the stealth idea.

The Groov-E post offers a list of tasks that will get you a successful profile up and running so that the rest of the cyber world will have a better chance to connect with you.

One point that I would expand upon is the website links. LinkedIn default reads “Company Website”. These aren’t likely to be influential keywords for your business. However, that can be changed to read the name of your business or title of your website.

Other ways you can make use of LinkedIn is the networking the site was built to do. Join and participate in pertinent groups, commenting on discussions or offering proposals. LinkedIn will suggest people for you to add to your network, but you can be watching as well. When you are active, even in a small way, others will be asking to connect with you.

If you have a membership at LinkedIn, but didn’t see it working for you, please give it another chance. If you haven’t, this is the perfect time to change that.

At Groov-E-News, a couple recent blog posts talk about the ongoing clearance page at the Engrave-A-Crete website for decorative concrete tools and supplies. The page is updated perpetually to add more items and remove items that are sold out.

There are  new items that are overstock. Plus some great deals on lightly used tools that were part of a recent training seminar.

You folks who’ve been to the seminars know that the hands on training puts gentle use on the tools. However, they are ‘tested’ and now are priced at a great deal to users.

The most recent post, Engrave-A-Crete 2011 Clearance  goes into detail about how all new equipment is Section 179 2011 Tax Reduction Qualified, meaning you get a 100% tax write-off if the equipment is up and running by the end of 2011. That enhances the appeal of the clearance prices on new equipment a lot!

The clearance deals include some supplies and marketing materials too. Case lots of stain and overstock on some other supplies looks like some decent pricing. Check this out and see if there is something there you can’t miss.

Flooring Consultants, Inc, owned by Bob Nesbitt has been engraving beautiful flooring designs along with mascots, logos and other patterns.  The work discussed in “Flooring Consultants of Sherwood, AR  Prove that Floors Sell” is for new construction.  At one point in the design, the colors permitted some strips of natural colored concrete to be highlighted.   Nesbitt says that his flooring business has kept a steady level throughout difficult economic times for almost everyone else.

Decorative concrete as flooring is low maintenance, allergy free (or close), long lasting and beautiful.  Each floor will be unique through some situation with walls, windows and doors, along with the different molecular structures of each slab.

The interior work of flooring is something that engravers should be looking at seriously as the weather moves into winter.

With the new Paver Package, landscapers and other installers can enhance the appearance of pavers with a unique design right at the work-site or in their shop.  No longer will pavers have to be lifted or put on delayed install plans while being sent off to an outside source.

The tools needed and a wide selection of templates are in the package so that it is truly ready to run.

Learn more at

Pavers Package Revealed at Hardscape North America 2011