About aFP – a Flooring Professional

Go ahead and click the image – you’ll get a bigger picture. That’s what I looked like on my trip to Surfaces 2007 in Las Vegas. Nice trip.

I am at the end of my flooring career. I have a lung disease and, as I write this, I have about 25% lung function left. If you see new posts by me in my blogs around this time of year in 2011, I will have lived beyond what a doctor told me some time back. You should think about quitting smoking, or start wearing a respirator when working around sawdust and chemicals – the kind of stuff some of us flooring professionals spend hours every day in.

This site is about my hope to make things better for flooring professionals and the consumers of flooring products and do-it-yourselfers. I know, it sounds altruistic, but it’s not like I am the only guy out there trying to help. My experiences on the Internet these past 16 years has enabled me to develop a lot of “virtual relationships” with other pros and consumers. There’s been quite a struggle to find a voice and to make a difference in our own and other people’s lives as relates to the flooring industry.

That ain’t to say I agree with all the voices or support every struggle. I’m opinionated as Hell and I prob’ly piss a lot of people off because I don’t think the same way they do, or share the same values. But, as I think about what the heck to write here, it has been through the influence of some of the guys I disagree with the most that I have gotten to this part of my life. I have grown very discontented with the divisions in the flooring industry, the slow and awkward pace we have had in utilizing the power of Internet communications, and the lack of quality, affordable training available to everyone. And the lackluster interest my fellow pros seem to have is appalling. With few exceptions, it seems like there’s an awfully small group of flooring professionals that populate the message boards and these people are the ones leading the way and require the least amount of help.

I’m not going let that get in my way. I figured out some time back that if you give members of this industry some choices and make it possible for them to reach more people, share more experiences and have a safe place to learn and grow their business, it becomes a real asset to the flooring community as a whole. I imagined flooring manufacturers, distributors, retailers, installers, inspectors, cleaners and every other segment of the flooring industry being able to mingle in the same space without fear of reprisal.

No more dividing walls. That is why I started The Floor Pro Community. A great forum, a business directory and a place to submit your articles and opinions – these things, I hope, will improve communications, provide a platform to speak your peace, to find a way to cooperate and to improve your businesses.

Altruistic? Maybe. Join me here, join me at The Floor Pro Community and let’s see if we can’t make a difference together. If you would like to support the effort, please contribute what you can by clicking the button below.