When Stephanie Stremler of Creative Stoneworks in Bellingham, WA, returned from our JobTracker Training event, she quickly had the realization that she hadn’t built enough time into her schedule to take full advantage of the opportunity. “I arranged to get to Houston on time and leave right after the session,” she explains. “Having little kids at home and other responsibilities, I felt like I needed to get back as soon as possible. I wish now that I had taken more dedicated time to apply what I had learned to my business while still in the moment.”
Not that anyone could blame her. Stremler had been to inaugural sessions of other professional trainings before and come away disappointed. “I was thinking, well this is their first time, I’m not really expecting to get a lot out of it. But, I was blown away by how well done it was,” she says.
Going Digital
Creative Stoneworks integrated CounterGo estimating software into its business roughly four years ago, right after they made the decision to go fully digital. Last year, the company added JobTracker to replace “our antiquated way of scheduling with a paper calendar and white board.” When Stremler learned of Moraware Advanced Training she viewed it as a great opportunity to take the business to another level. “I could tell JobTracker had a lot of potential and that we were just scratching the surface of what it could do for us,” Stremler says. “I was excited at the prospect of having some dedicated time to learn just what the software could do to save us more time and money.”
Stremler says the training was structured so that she could attend sessions on top-of-the-mind subjects first and still catch up on other topics later when those classes were repeated. “Reporting was huge for me,” she explains. “It was really great to learn how to analyze what type of stone we are using, where it is coming from and the dollar amount. And the forms. We had some activities in our business that were still being tracked by hand on paper. Having the time and the help to get those things put into JobTracker so that everything is in one place was a big priority.”
Bonus Time
One might say the Moraware Advanced Training was less of a seminar and more of an experience. That is because the activities didn’t stop just because class was over for the day. Students and staff enjoyed an evening of competitive bowling (complete with customized bowling shirts) one night after class, and a few hours of informal time with the Moraware staff and/or third-party vendors the next.
“I talked to Data Bridge about bridging areas we have been struggling with,” explains Stremler. “As a result, we have added the inventory module and are using Data Bridge to get to our SlabSmith. It was super beneficial to have all the vendors together in one place.”
And, of course, there was the chance to network. “I knew that one of the biggest benefits of going to the class would be having the chance to talk to other people and see what their shops were doing. It is fascinating to see how different everyone’s business is, but there are the little things that make us similar and successful.
“Building a relationship with all the people who work with Moraware was very important, too. Now I know who is the guru for this and who is the guru for that. I genuinely feel that if I ever need any help I could just call them and they would be more than willing to sit down with me. I really appreciate that.”
