New 2022 Package Delivers Gift Certificates from Popular Vendors Worth $470+
Drycleaning & Laundry Institute membership saves members money. Not intangible money but actual savings in the form of gift certificates from popular industry companies. Members of DLI’s Board of Directors invited Allied Trades Members, industry service providers, suppliers, and manufacturers who support the industry and Institute, to provide direct discounts on products members buy and use regularly.
CONGRATULATIONS! You survived the challenges of 2020 and most of 2021. Given the recent turmoil, many of us are wondering what 2022 might hold. We asked a group of DLI leaders and staff members to share their thoughts about the year ahead. These sources have their ears to the ground closer than most in the industry by regularly hosting DLI’s weekly Peer-to-Peer Zoom sessions and participating in DLI’s weekly virtual training sessions. Their positions also put them in direct contact with many members daily. Few people share this perspective.
DLI’s Board of Directors recognizes valued contributions and inducts new volunteer leadership each year. New Directors are sworn in as their predecessors move to an executive position or become DLI Senators, an exclusive title for previous members of the Board. This year DLI welcomes a host of new faces to its governing body.
We asked this year’s group of DLI Directors a few questions to help members get a better sense of who they are and what they are striving to achieve.
My name is Bobby Patel, I introduce myself humbly before you as the new President of DLI. I sincerely thank my peers was putting me in this position.
About myself, I have a loving wife, Kamini and three terrific daughters, Shiya, Krisha and Riya.
I was born in a tiny village called Ode in Gujarat, India. I grew up in Zambia, Africa, where my dad practiced law. I immigrated to USA in 1986 with my parents, studied to be a Civil Engineer, and graduated from California State University, Long Beach. Being an entrepreneur at heart, while in college I dabbled in various businesses. I bought and sold used cars and sold the world-famous Ginsu Knives door to door. I also helped out at a family business, Alta Dena Drive-In Dairy, while working at a travel agency.
Grateful. We are hearing this sentiment a lot these days, even with what we have all endured and, unfortunately, continue to endure. I want to add my voice to this chorus. I am grateful for so much not only on a personal level but a professional level as well. This may seem strange with all the industry has suffered and all the unseen challenges still out there but I am overwhelmed by the resilience, fortitude, and just damn determination of DLI’s membership. Members came together, shared with one another, adapted to the current business climate, and as we are slowly pulling away from the pandemic, have found themselves in a better position to meet future business opportunities.
This past year will be remembered as one for the annals of agony and anguish, but the storm clouds are parting and brighter days lie ahead. According to gathered data and numerous firsthand accounts many in the dryleaning industry are seeing sales continue to climb and close in on pre-pandemic numbers.
Continue reading “Open for Business with Jess Culpepper, DLI President”
That is the question everyone is looking to answer as we move into life after the pandemic. Now, my crystal ball is not crystal clear and as more states ease restrictions the picture will become clearer.
There are two schools of thought — one says business will be like the Roaring Twenties after prohibition and the other says the general public will still be wary after the restrictions are lifted. I choose to believe in the first scenario and there is something to be said for “If you believe it, it is more likely to happen.”
Now I’m not saying just because we wish everything will return to normal or prepandemic it will — but you can prepare and position your company in that regard. Yes, things will be different but one thing I learned this past year is how resilient and kind DLI members are.
Members have taken the opportunity to work on their businesses over the past year; I’m not talking about production, I’m talking about the business. Looking at their marketing, looking at their financials, and looking to where they want to be when the economy fully reopens.
Albert Einstein said: “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
The ultimate realization of this outlook is in our attitude. Having a positive attitude is more than coercing yourself to smile through what you perceive to be a bad day. It takes practice and training to acquire the attribute of a positive outlook and attitude. It is not a trait that is passed on through genetics; you have to want to learn the skill. This skill is more difficult for some than it is for others; therefore I work at it daily and I will stick with it even though I will likely never achieve mastery of this ability.
My name is Jess Culpepper and I am a drycleaner. There I said it. It sometimes feels as if we are addicted to our work and in need of intervention. In my case it is more of an allegiance and appreciation for this industry that has provided four generations of my family with an opportunity to live the American dream. For this next year it will be my privilege and honor to serve as DLI President. Culpepper Cleaners was started by my grandfather, Henry Allan Culpepper, in 1911. My dad, Richard Culpepper followed in 1949, I in 1978 and my son Ethan in 2011, representing our fourth generation.
By Mary Scalco, DLI CEO
I’m sure like me you are a wishing someone would pinch you and you would wake up a find that the past few months were a nightmare. If someone would have told us in December that we’d be living through a pandemic and that the global economy would nosedive off a steep cliff, we would have laughed.
Continue reading “Moment with Mary: Your Support Means Everything”
