The History of the Aircraft Wash Guys, Part Two

The continuation of the history of a small service franchise business in the aviation sector; whose humble beginnings began in the middle of a recession. This proves that anything is possible and that with enough will and entrepreneurial spirit no matter what the condition of your industry sector, you can succeed in America. Now then to continue the saga; Twelve year old Lance Winslow, the founder is almost twenty years old and is making a name for himself at several local airports. It is still a long road ahead but slowly the journey progresses like it has for countless young entrepreneurs before him. We continue:

One day when Lance sold an aircraft to Dave, who Founded The LA Title Company (A Real Estate and Title Company) The gentleman had worked for California Land and Title Company for ten years prior and he took a interesting in the self motivated young man. Lance and Dave talked about franchising and a possible partnership to franchise the business. Both loved the idea, Lance because it was his dream and Dave because he loved the aircraft washing services, which he contracted through Lance after he bought the plane from him. One day after having lunch in Lance's office they started doodling on a napkin the basic idea for the franchise in aircraft washing. The Founder of LA Title company liked the synergy of aircraft sales and aircraft washing for built in clientele. They also discussed washing cars and trucks, but Lance had barely gotten a driver's license so he could finally drive off the airport onto a public street although he had picked up some juicy accounts already.

Later he changed the name of the business to Aero-Auto Wash to encompass all types of washing, from Aircraft to Cars. At that time we washed for Evergreen Airlines, Evergreen Airspur, Offshore Oil Helicopter Companies, GTE Flight Services, FBOs, Jet Charters, Fractional Jet Companies, Flight Schools, Flying Clubs, Confederate Airforce, Civil Air Patrol, FBI, Military, Air National Guard, US Air Force, FAA Certified Repair Stations, Commuter Airlines, Air Ambulance Services,Air Charter and countless general aviation private owners with everything from EAA Biplanes to Aerostar 601s.

Lance even washed for Mr. Delorean, several movie stars and many founders of large companies; one of the coolest jobs around. Lance found synergies in the different washing businesses. Someone who owned an airplane most likely owned a business, was a farmer, high-ranking executive and if not certainly knew others who were. Thus built in clientele in nearly every industry and after flying around all over California he noticed things on the ground that needed his services. Mr. Winslow still uses aerial pictures and mapping to target accounts to this day.

The business plan on a napkin franchising idea lay dormant from 1985 to until 1993 when Lance went to go re-visit the Founder of LA Title at his Burbank, CA corporate high rise office building. Lance was ready to go for his dream and needed to get some venture capital about 1-2 million. At that time the Founder of LA Title was not interested seeing the enormity of such an undertaking and instead provided Lance with his expertise and advice for free and a confidential copy of the LA Title Business Plan for Lance to review and use to help him devise a winning business plan. Lance searched around for venture capital for about a year and gave up in disgust, venture capitalists were too dumb to understand the incredible opportunity in the marketplace; he thought. To compound things they did not think a guy who left school could handle such an undertaking. Lance had quit college to run the expanding business. He felt college was superficial and that he had more experience and a better sense of reality than the textbooks of yester year being taught by Professors who had never actually run a business of any kind. By that time Lance had been operating in many other industries such as Agriculture Cleaning, Concrete Cleaning, Fleet Washing, Auto Detailing, Car Washing and of course Aviation.

www.tractorwashguys.com

www.concretewashguys.com

www.truckwashguys.com

www.carwashguys.com

www.detailguys.com

Lance was looking to take all his knowledge and bring it to the market on a big scale starting in California and then the Sun Belt States and eventually into Europe. Without any success in finding venture capital, Lance continued his business, got into politics and at nights, sometimes all night writing up plans to fulfill his mission. Spending countless sleepless nights writing over 1 million words into manuals, marketing plans, Business Plans, etc. he was convinced that he had to move forward. Lance Winslow's business plan got so big 400 plus pages that he could not even call it a business plan anymore and named it FranPlan. During this time Lance also became involved in motorcycle street racing, the speed did not bother him much, so he did quite well. Lance also got into trouble for flying under a bridge although his friend an FAA Examiner gave him a warning, "If you ever try anything like that again, I'll have you thrown in jail, now get the hell out of here!!"

End Part II

"Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs

---

Learning to Fly

Flying is fun. I learned to fly myself when I was 10-years old as my dad was an Airline Pilot and former Naval Aviator. He also owned an aircraft and I caught the... Read More

Fighter Jet Trainers Sport Planes

You want a fighter jet as your personal aircraft; do not deny it. You want to travel faster than the speed of sound and play Top Gun in the sky. Well, it may... Read More

Increasing TAS in Modern Day Fighters with Expandable Wing Tips

As fighter aircraft get faster and faster there is a diminishing return on more aerodynamic streamlining in designs. You can only build the aircraft so "Aerodynamically Correct" once you have the best optimum... Read More

American Airlines; Crash: Nov. 12, 2001

It seems there were not many comments to the AA crash of November 2001, as soon as it was ruled an accident instead of an attack the media stopped the reports and the... Read More

Private Jet Ownership Indeed

Wouldn't you like to own your own private jet? Have you ever thought about it? Many of us have and you know what it is not all that expensive as you might think... Read More

Fuel Costs and Air Fares Set To Rocket After Hurricane Katrina Punishes The US

It now looks certain that Hurricane Katrina will push fuel prices - and air fares - up through the roof.Hurricane Katrina has just killed hundreds of people, and it could well be thousands... Read More

Airport Noise Reduction

Do you live near an airport and cannot stand the noise? Many of us do. Generally the airport was there before us however. In some cases the little airplanes turned into full-blown airliners.... Read More

Do Jet Lag Diets Work?

Anti jet lag diets have been around for some time now, but do they work?Perhaps the best know anti jet lag diet is the Argonne Diet, developed at the Argonne National Laboratory in... Read More

How to Save on Airfare

The Internet has provided a revolution in the way people shop for airfares. What used to be the province only of connected travel agents is now the province of every Internet connected traveler.... Read More

Sex in a Cessna, Part III

So far we have learned the safety aspect of setting the aircraft up in non-restricted airspace, with auto-pilot and away from other aircraft traffic. Now we will describe sexual positions, which will help... Read More

Point to Point VS Spoke and Hub? Air Taxi

Boeing it is said took a big gamble in predicting the future of air travel. Instead of going bigger like Airbus and building an aircraft like the A380, the biggest airliner ever built;... Read More

Starting an Aircraft Washing Business

So you love airplanes and you want to start an aircraft washing service? I cannot blame you, as I did the same thing. After cleaning Thousands of aircraft over the years, I have... Read More

Aluminum Cleaner for Aircraft Detailing by Alcoa

There are many choices for aircraft detailing when it comes to aviation uses. One product we like after tying them all out was a product by Alcoa Corporation. The product is distributed by... Read More

Common Cockpit Concepts and Convenient Configurations

One of the big pushes in aviation and military is to have common cockpit designs, which are ergonomically correct. The Common Cockpit Initiative (CCI) would mean all aircraft have basically the same cockpit;... Read More

Inflatable Slots for STOL

Short Take Off and Landing Aircraft are extremely valuable in commercial, private, government and military aviation. It is important for safety and for performance. I propose inflatable slots to increase the short take... Read More

Flying VS Driving

When fuel costs are so high, people favor flying to driving. If the distance to be traveled is over 500 miles it often makes sense to fly. If the distance is over 1000... Read More

Finding Really Cheap Airline Tickets Online

Trying to find really cheap airline tickets can become very frustrating and time consuming but if you know how and where to search you can quickly and easily find airline tickets online.The internet... Read More

Entering Business Aviation, Part IV: Crafting a Resume

Writing a r?sum? can be one of the most daunting parts of any job search. Quite frankly, it is one of the most important elements in helping you finding work. A good r?sum?... Read More

Finding the Cheapest Airfares

To find the best airfares, it takes a series of actions to be accomplished during the same period of time. Airfare rates change suddenly online, so when you see a price that you... Read More

5 Tips for Stress Free Long Haul Flights

The world is becoming smaller by the day. Flying long haul to distant locations for business or pleasure is becoming increasingly more popular. There are more aircraft, more airports to fly to and... Read More

Young Men Trying to Imitate the 9-11 Scenario, Part III

What caused a teenager to crash an aircraft into the Bank of America Building in Tampa? It makes no sense. Read more in Part III to try to understand the causes involved in... Read More

Diamond Twinstar

Probably one of the coolest experimental aircraft twin-engine aircraft is the Diamond DA 42 Twinstar. The Twinstar is propelled by twin diesel engines which burn Jet A or even conventional diesel fuel. Sounds... Read More

Overcoming Jet Lag

Jet lag can be one of the worst, and certainly one of the most frustrating, aspects of long distance travel. Also called desynchronosis (meaning "out of time"), jet lag occurs when travellers pass... Read More

Automated Satellite Following System for UAV Swarms

Much work is being done and the USAF has implemented systems to fly UAVs Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in ah hoc formations like swarms of insects or flock of birds. We cannot quite match... Read More

Tactile Strip Sensors on Leading Edge of Material Memory Airfoils

Aircraft designers have always tried to figure out the best compromise for the aircraft they build, trying to get maximum performance at both high and low airspeeds. Now with material memory components they... Read More

Travel Tips For Getting Through the Airport Easier and Quicker

Traveling is different now than it was before 9/11. Arriving at the airport even earlier than before, standing in line longer while waiting to pass through security, having luggage x-rayed, and being pulled... Read More

Sport Aviation and Jet Aircraft

Do you want a little business jet with a lot of power? Well hold on, as we are almost here. There are many new little Biz Jets about to come to the market... Read More

Concorde Crash Conspiracy - It Could Have Been Prevented

In studying the Concorde crash the investigators determined it was caused by debris on the runway, which had fallen off a Continental Airlines Aircraft, which went down the same runway prior to the... Read More

Mexico to Manufacture Aircraft

It appears Mexico with its 120 million population is considering getting into the lucrative aviation manufacturing sector. Of course this will mean that they must acquire some expertise and some trading partners to... Read More