Luis Rodriguez, left, and Will Barefield, with Bellhops work to move a chair from the Legacy at Fort Clarke apartments on Thursday, July 24, 2014 in Gainesville, Fla. Bellhops uses college students to help people move. At getbellhops.com, users schedule a date and time they want movers to arrive, and Bellhops load or unload their belongings.

Apartment turn season is a massive undertaking in a major college town with thousands of students to move and thousands of apartments to clean in a short time.

Several businesses have built their models around mobilizing a small army of college students for the busy period from late July until school starts, then cutting back on staff and hours when students are looking for part-time work that fits their school schedules anyway.

When they're out of class, that's when we need them, and when we need to cut back there's no hard feelings because they're looking for a different workload, said Wade Swikle, president of the 2 College Brothers moving company.

The company, which started in 2011, has been ramping up to 18 employees for its busiest period over the next two weeks, with 75 moving jobs already scheduled this week, and probably will pare back down to 10 employees when school starts, Swikle said.

2 College Brothers has two trucks of its own and will be renting at least two more this week through an account with Penske.

Employees who want to keep working after turn season can stay on the payroll and pick their own schedule from moving jobs posted on a cloud-based calendar.

For the next month, Student Maid is hiring upward of 400 students which includes high schoolers in the summer to clean thousands of empty apartments. Owner Kristen Hadeed said the business will keep the best 100 workers for the rest of the year when they clean more homes, businesses and schools, as well as providing house sitting, pet sitting and dog walking services. Employees make $9 to $11 an hour.

Hadeed started the company five years ago while a student at the University of Florida because she had a hard time finding a job that was flexible with her school schedule.

Celena Letcher, 21, said Student Maid's flexible scheduling was most important to her when looking for a job. For the past year and a half, she has worked about 20 hours a week around her school and sorority functions.

View original post here:
Student workers integral part of several businesses

Smart locks are becoming increasingly popular, with examples currently including the Lockitron and the Schlage Camelot Touchscreen Deadbolt. Many of the devices, however, go through batteries pretty quickly. It's with this in mind that the creators of the Genie Smart Lock set out to design a device with the features of other models, but much less power drain.

Like most of the smart locks out there, Genie allows users to unlock their door with the help of a smartphone. It uses both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to accomplish this, which gives buyers the option of unlocking their door from anywhere their phone has an internet connection, or by just walking up to the door with their phone or Bluetooth fob close at hand. They can also grant temporary door-unlocking privileges to other people, such as house guests or maid services.

The main selling point of this particular lock, however, is the battery life. Most smart locks average about a month of use per charge, but the Genie promises up to 12 months of life. This is done using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). The lock itself only sends out BLE signals, and the Genie Hub, a Wi-Fi-connected device that is part of the system, receives those signals and sends them to the user's smartphone through Wi-Fi. This means the lock itself is never actually connected to and searching for a wireless internet signal, thus keeping power consumption very low.

For users who are not interested in the Wi-Fi features, the lock can be used with just the BLE connectivity without the Genie Hub. Of course, users who go this way will be missing out on all of the remote unlocking features, but having options is always a good thing.

As with all smart locks, should the battery die at some point, a traditional key is also included for emergency unlocking. Also, another important thing to note is that the lock is designed to work with standard 54-mm door holes, and can be replaced with a traditional lock without leaving a trace a feature renters will find useful.

The creators of the Genie Smart Lock are taking pre-orders right now. They are offering a few packages, but the main one is US$249 and includes the lock, the hub, two traditional keys, one Bluetooth fob, and two Bluetooth eKeys. They also have a slightly more expensive package that includes unlimited Bluetooth eKeys that can be sent to others for $329.

Source: Genie

Follow this link:
Genie is claimed to use less power than other smart locks

SECUR-A-MAID House Cleaning Maid Service Buford GA Residential and Commercial Securamaid
http://www.securamaid.com 678.541.0953 2675 Mall of Georgia Blvd. Suite 603 Buford, GA 30519 SECUR-A-MAID understands that having a clean, comfortable home is extremely important. With today #39;s...

By: Michael Cahill

Visit link:
SECUR-A-MAID House Cleaning Maid Service Buford GA Residential and Commercial Securamaid - Video

(PRWEB) July 23, 2014

Locals Charley and Mary Todd bring a new level of professional residential cleaning to Greater Cincinnati with the opening of their Maid Right business. This duo will serve the community by providing professional cleaning and franchising jobs to residents of Cincinnati and surrounding areas.

When looking for a business in which to invest, Charley and Mary were drawn to how Maid Right provides opportunities to help others. A big motivator is being able to assist others in starting and growing their own businesses, says Charley. It makes us excited to come to work every day. After learning about the benefits of Maid Right, Charley left the informational session and called Mary saying, This is it. I know we havent run all the numbers yet, but we want to be in business with these people. Theyre in it for the right reasons.

The Todds understand that life gets busy, and even more so when children are added to the mix. With todays fast-paced world, rise of dual-income families, and the myriad of activities going on in the community, Charley and Mary seek to allow people to spend their precious free time with their families instead of spending hours cleaning.

So, what sets Maid Right apart? Mary explains that Maid Right brings the best of both worlds. Customers get the cleaning technology, processes, and services that you can only get with Maid Right, she says. Were also able to provide customers the personal touch and the same cleaning team each time since our crews are owner-operators.

Charley and Mary will host a booth at Greater Anderson Days the weekend of July 25-27. Theyre currently seeking out opportunities for business partnerships and ways to be further involved in the community.

Outside of their new business, Charley is an Eagle Scout and the Scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 281. Both Charley and Mary are actively involved with the Turpin High School marching band and the Forest Hills Instrumental Music Association. Mary loves swimming, reading, and watching movies while Charley is always ready for the next camping trip, hiking trail, or snowmobile ride. In 1988, the couple moved to the area, residing in Mount Adams. They relocated to Anderson Township in 1991 and reside there today with their sons Gunnar and Jackson.

Maid Right of East Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky can be reached at 513-233-9466, on their website, or on Facebook.

About Maid Right: Maid Right Franchising, LLC is a professional-grade home cleaning subsidiary of Premium Franchise Brands LLC. It was founded in April 2013 and has established 17 franchises, with two in Canada. Maid Rights owner-operator business model, branded processes, and advanced cleaning services are adopted from their sister company JAN-PRO, a leading international commercial cleaning company. For more information, please contact:

Pam Evans, Premium Franchise Brands Office: 678-336-1789 Mobile: 678-361-6512

More here:
Local Family Opens Their Maid Right Franchise in Anderson Township

Lets Gowex SAs founder and his wife paid their maid 300 euros ($405) to help him fake clients for the Wi-Fi hotspots provider that was exposed this month as a fraud.

Chief Financial Officer Francisco Martinez escorted Guillermina Almeida to a notary and several banks to sign papers creating at least one company that purported to buy Gowex services, Almeida told Judge Santiago Pedraz of Spains National Court today, according to a court statement.

Florencia Mate introduced Almeida to Martinez, according to the statement, which was read by an official who cant be named under court policy. Mates husband, Jenaro Garcia, founded Gowex and she served as investor relations manager and on the companys board. Mate has also been called to answer questions before Pedraz.

Gowexs market value reached as high as 1.9 billion euros three months ago. The one-time darling of the Spanish tech community -- which Garcia projected would provide free Wi-Fi to 20 percent of the world population by 2018 -- started unraveling July 1, when short-seller Gotham City Research LLC said Gowex lied about its earnings. The stock plummeted 60 percent in two days after Gothams report and trading was suspended on July 3.

Martinez told Pedraz last week that he was following Garcias orders and couldnt stop him from faking accounts. Garcia resigned as chief executive officer on July 5 and told the judge he had falsified records since at least 2005 and made up clients to attract investors to the 15-year-old company.

Two other witnesses told Pedraz today that they too signed paperwork to form make-believe Gowex clients. Javier Vaquero said Martinez, a university friend, introduced him to Garcia. Vaquero told the judge he worked for Gowex for three months making photocopies and signed ownership papers for 10 companies. He said he left Gowex because they didnt pay him, according to the statement.

Antonio Salmeron told Pedraz he created two companies with Martinez as his partner. They never developed into anything and were abandoned years ago, he said. Salmeron only found out the companies, which hadnt been legally shut down, were being used as Gowex clients, under his name, when the scandal became public, according to the statement.

Pedraz questioned Gowexs auditor, Jose Antonio Diaz Villanueva, last week and said Diaz admitted that he not only helped cover up the fictitious accounts, he also didnt report the money he made working on Gowex to the tax authorities.

Garcia was ordered to hand in his passport and report into authorities once a week after appearing before Pedraz on July 14. He was given a 600,000 euro bail and the judge put a freeze on a 3 million-euro bank account in Luxembourg that Garcia told Pedraz he held under the name of another company.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rodrigo Orihuela in Madrid at rorihuela@bloomberg.net

Go here to read the rest:
Gowex Boss Paid Maid $405 to Hide His $2.6 Billion Fraud

Earlier this year, Airbnb began testing a cleaning service for hosts that would be offered at a slight discount to traditional maid services theyd book themselves. The idea was to improve the quality of the guest experience while offering a perk to hosts who frequently make their homes available to strangers.

On the flip side, it had the potential to drive incremental volume to a couple of cleaning startups that it had partnered with for the trial. Last week, however, it notified hosts that one of the two startups it had partnered with for the trial would no longer be available for booking.

The partner being left behind is Homejoy, while Handybook will remain on as part of the trial.

The cleaning trial began in Airbnbs home market of San Francisco, and over time expanded to New York and Los Angeles. Those were three markets that both Homejoy and Handybook operated in.

Late last year it hired a new head of hospitality, Chip Conley, to improve its quality of service and has been gradually looking to standardize expectations for homes that are listed on the platform. While Airbnb has been careful to message the service as a test it could make more widely available to hosts in the future, cleaning is an obvious differentiator as the company is trying to position itself as a global hospitality brand.

An earlier FAQ for hosts mentions both Homejoy and Handybook as partners for the trial, but last week Airbnb emailed hosts to tell them that Handybook would be the companys partner for cleanings going forward.

For Handybook, the change could mean a small increase in volume in a few of the markets it operates in. Having Airbnb as a partner could also help drive adoption in other markets, if the company decides to make cleaning services available in other cities.

A representative from Homejoy confirmed that it was no longer working with Airbnb on the trial with the following statement:

After careful consideration we decided to end our partnership together with Airbnb. Though we enjoyed collaborating with Airbnb, our focus remains on growing our core business globally and bringing happy homes to our community and improving the lives of our home service professionals.

Heres the email sent to Airbnb hosts:

Visit link:
Airbnb Drops Homejoy From Cleaning Trial, Handybook Remains On In Three Test Markets

Commercials featuring gay families are slowly staring to multiply, but it seems not all gay people are embracing them. Do we focus on the negative instead of the positive?

JCPenney was the trendsetter. Hard to believe, yes, but it really was the first to do it, in 2012. It put gay dads in ads. Not a full-blown commercial, but the company received plenty of heat about it. Since then, a few more companies have taken that one step further.

Coca-Cola aired this blink and you miss it commercial during the Super Bowl this year:

Then Honey Maid made this absolutely beautiful, heartwarming tearjerker in March going even further and dedicating an entire long commercial to gay dads and using the tag This Is Wholesome:

And most recently (in June), Hotwire.com did a commercial showing two dads trying to get a deal on vacation and then finding out about Hotwires services. Its adorable and portrays a gay family in a very nonchalant way:

So when was the last time you went shopping at JCPenney and then stopped by the grocery store to pick up some Honey Maid graham crackers and wash them down with a Coke? Or at the very least, did you talk about this commercial with your friends? Did you share them on your Facebook page? The only thing I heard about these commercials was negative from right-wing groups like One Million Moms (I put that in quotes because, lets face it, theres like 20 of them). We need to do our part in saying thank you. Companies like this are taking major risks for being not only LGBT-inclusive but being LGBT family-inclusive, which is technically one step further.

No offense to our community, but sometimes I think we suck. We are too busy being sensitive and finger-pointing and getting caught up in semantics (see the comments on my recent article about my encounter with a transgender child here), that we dont take the time to appreciate when someone goes out of their way for us. Were like bad houseguests. We are major consumers, so get out there and consume specifically products from those companies that are doing this. And if you dont like Coca-Cola or Honey Maid or Hotwire, you can still send an email to the companies thanking them for acknowledging gay families.

Instead of bitching so much, we need to applaud more. As a matter of fact, Im going to stop my bitching now and go eat some delicious smores made of Honey Maid graham crackers and wash that down with a fresh cold Coke while browsing cheap vacations on Hotwire. Dont bother commenting on this article; use that energy to write a positive email to one or all of those companies or tweet about them or tell a friend. Do something to ensure that this will continue to happen, or it will fizzle out completely.

FRANK LOWE isThe Advocatesparenting writer. Follow Frank on Twitter@GayAtHomeDadand on Instagram atGayAtHomeDad.

Read more here:
Don't Look a Gift Unicorn In the Mouth

Sherwood takes its Robin Hood Festivalseriously. Jessica Bertalotto is no exception. She'll be one of few who preside over Friday's knighting ceremony. She also has the responsibility of shooting the first arrow during the festival's archery contest.

The 17-year-old Sherwood High senior and member of this year's Maid Marian Court the 60th in the city's history sat down for a Q&A in the midst of Old Town as volunteers and event coordinators made the area look more like Nottingham than a modern Oregon town.

What made you want to be a part of the Maid Marian court?

I just thought it'd be a good way to get involved in the community. I really liked that my mom had done it and I wanted to be a second-generation Maid Marian.

When you apply, you answer questions about how you're involved and how you want to change the community and how you want to make it better.

And how are you involved with your community in Sherwood?

I serve with my youth group at Sherwood United Methodist Church. I usually go on mission trips we have a lot of mission trips. There's usually about 35 hours of community service on each trip. I also help with the chamber of commerce a lot.

I just think it's important to give back to the community we have such a great community here and I want to do my part.

What do you like about that community?

It's been growing a lot but it's still got that hometown feel and everyone really cares about each other. One of our teachers was diagnosed with breast cancer this past year while she was pregnant, so we had the Egg Hunt for Hope for her and raised $40,000. I thought it was really awesome that the community did that for her."

Visit link:
Jessica Bertalotto talks Maid Marian Court, Robin Hood Festival and life in Sherwood

A Brief History of The Professional Maid Service Business
The history of professional maid services Portland OR can be traced back to the beginning of time when it originated as slavery. High class women (usually th...

By: Steven Duquette

Read the original here:
A Brief History of The Professional Maid Service Business - Video

Cleaning Services Professionals Norwell Ma 508 496 4032
Cleaning Services Professionals Norwell Ma spring cleaning general clean maid services janitorial services contract housekeeping services home cleaners full ...

By: Joao Varela

Read this article:
Cleaning Services Professionals Norwell Ma 508 496 4032 - Video