2022_PWN_V4_No1_Web_PDF

contents 

FEATURES 

4 

Becoming a 

Bigger Fish 

Private equity firm 

Osceola Capital is 

making waves in the 

pressure wash industry 

with acquisitions aimed 

at helping operators 

grow their business 

12 

In Transition 

Navigating the 

evolutions a business 

experiences as it grows 

18 

DEPARTMENTS 

3 Editor’s Letter: 

Company Vulture 

Leaders don’t need to don a weird 

disguise and lie about their identity to get 

credible feedback from employees. 

Puddle 

12 Industry Dirt: 

A look around the exterior cleaning world 

for news and notes of interest 

Up! 

Pressure Wash News is published 4 times per year 

and is independently owned by Jackson Vahaly. 

All inquiries should be directed to: 

Pressure Wash News, 110 Childs Ln. Franklin, TN 37067 

jacksonv@pressurewashnews.com 

Vol. 4, No. 1, Winter 2022 

Publisher: Jackson Vahaly 

Editor: Drew Ruble 

Design: Katy Barrett-Alley 

Copyright © 2022 2 Dollar Media / Pressure Wash News. All Rights Reserved. 

2 | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | VOL. 4, NO. 1 | WINTER 2022

Company 

EDITOR’S 

NOTE 

Vulture 

Based on its decade-long television 

run and two Emmy awards, it’s safe 

to say a lot of people are familiar 

with the hit television reality series, 

“Undercover Boss.” 

The program chronicles the exploits 

of chief executives and business 

owners as they disguise themselves as 

rank-and-file employees in their own 

companies, then go undercover in an 

effort to find the truth about their 

dysfunctional operations. 

Participating CEOs often wax 

eloquently about their personal 

transformations as leaders after going 

through the humbling experience. 

They describe working side-byside 

in the field with their low-level 

employees as enlightening -- like scales 

falling from their eyes about what their 

businesses need to change in order to 

succeed. 

Personally, I don’t think these bosses 

deserve praise for their willingness to 

descend from their corner offices and 

to camouflage themselves to discover 

truths about their businesses. 

Call me a party pooper, but I’m left 

wondering why in the world a company 

leader needs to go undercover in order 

to find out what’s going on in their 

own operations, or to achieve a real 

relationship with an employee! 

Retired NFL quarterback Drew 

Brees once appeared on the show. Brees 

co-owns Walk-On’s with Brandon 

Landry, the founder and CEO. The 

family-friendly sports bar chain, which 

serves authentic Louisiana cuisine from 

scratch, was established by Landry in 

2003 in Baton Rouge. Brees joined the 

business in 2015. Walk-On’s currently 

operates almost three dozen locations 

across the South. 

In his episode, intent on improving 

and expanding his restaurant chain, 

Brees slips out of his Saints jersey and 

into an apron, working as a dishwasher 

at a New Orleans-based location. 

Needless to say, Brees gets an earful and 

an eyeful about the chain he’s steering 

before revealing his true identity. 

Credit goes to the TV execs that 

understand just how dysfunctional 

most businesses are. I can easily 

imagine a group of television execs 

sitting around one day and saying to 

themselves ‘hey, here’s an idea for an 

interesting show, since most people 

won't tell the truth in their business 

meetings, and won't tell the truth 

straight up to their bosses, and only tell 

their bosses what they want to hear, 

why don't we create a show about a 

boss going undercover so he can realize 

what's actually going on and uncover 

what is actually happening within his 

or her organization?’ 

It may be good television but it’s 

not good business. A leader’s job is 

not trickery. Its to develop authentic, 

vulnerable relationships with 

employees. Leaders don’t need to don 

a weird disguise and lie about their 

identity to get credible feedback from 

employees. 

Patrick Lencioni in his book called 

The Advantage promotes the belief 

that one day in the near future leaders 

and organizations will realize that the 

greatest opportunity for success -- the 

single greatest advantage they have in 

their business -- does not come from 

a business function like marketing, 

management, or sales, but rather from 

developing their culture and their 

people and communication. 

“Organizational health will one 

day surpass all other disciplines in 

business as the greatest opportunity for 

improvement and competitive advantage,” 

Lencioni wrote, describing the 

cultural shift as “the most unexploited 

opportunity in modern business.” 

Company culture evolves from 

real relationships, not fake ones. Chose 

today to intentionally enter and understand 

the lives of your employees 

through open communication and 

curiosity. 

Leave the undercover shenanigans 

to sensationalized TV. 

Drew Ruble 

drewruble@gmail.com 

Editor | PW News 

VOL. 4, NO. 1 | WINTER 2022 | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | 3

Becoming a 

Bigger Fish 

Private equity firm Osceola Capital is 

making waves in the pressure wash industry 

with acquisitions aimed at helping 

operators grow their business 

BY DREW RUBLE 

Osceola Capital Management 

is a private equity firm based in 

Tampa, Florida. In 2021, Osceola 

Capital was named one of the top 50 

private equity forms operating in the 

middle market by GCI Publishing. 

The “Top PE Firms in the Middle 

Market” list is the oldest and most 

respected program designed specifically 

to acknowledge and promote 

small and mid-sized leading private 

equity firms in the middle market. 

The recognition solidifies Osceola as 

a go-to investment partner of choice 

for entrepreneurs looking to grow 

and scale their companies. 

The principals of Osceola have 

led over 100 corporate finance transactions 

totaling one billion dollars 

in capital and have served as CEO, 

BEN MOE 

CFO, or president for more than 15 

successful organizations in numerous 

business segments. This extensive 

experience gives the team a distinct 

advantage in all facets of the transaction, 

including sourcing, executing, 

and ultimately exiting with an attractive 

return. 

As former business operators, 

Osceola’s principals understand 

the complexities and challenges of 

managing, growing and selling a small 

business. Ben Moe, Managing Partner 

at Osceola, oversees all aspects of the 

firm’s investment activities including 

origination, evaluation, and execution 

of investments. As a member of the 

Investment Committee, he serves on 

the boards of several Osceola portfolio 

companies including Avision 

Sales Group, 360 Quote, Top Gun 

Facility Services, PayrHealth, Central 

Medical Supply Group, Industry 

Services Co., and Revelation Pharma. 

Moe has completed more than 65 

M&A transactions to date across a 

wide variety of industries. 

Previously, Moe served as CEO of 

Avesta Asset Management, a private 

equity firm focused on value-add 

multifamily real estate investments. 

Before Avesta, he was CFO of 

Advantage Waypoint, an outsourced 

business services company, where 

he helped lead the acquisition of 24 

businesses before an eventual sale 

to Apax Partners. Moe also spent 

six years in the investment banking 

groups of Bear Stearns and Raymond 

James and five years as a United 

States Air Force officer and hospital 

administrator. Previously, he earned 

an MBA from Duke University and 

a BS with Distinguished Graduate 

designation from the United States 

Air Force Academy. 

We recently sat down with Moe to 

discuss the exterior cleaning industry 

and ask him some questions PW News 

readers might like to ask regarding 

potential acquisition scenarios. The 

following is a lightly edited transcript 

of that conversation. 


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Bigger 

FISH 

What is the appeal of the 

exterior cleaning/pressure 

wash industry to Osceola? 

It is highly fragmented with a 

number of acquisition opportunities. 

There are immediate/tangible results 

for customers at a low price point relative 

to overall annual budgets. It has 

a naturally recurring and diversified 

revenue base. It is well-positioned to 

expand service lines in ancillary areas 

(sweeping, striping, window cleaning, 

asphalt maintenance, etc.). And scale 

and expansion of services can provide 

distinct competitive advantages. 

Describe your perfect exterior 

cleaning/pressure wash 

investment candidate? Is it 

about how well a company 

has grown independently to 

date and its current gross 

revenues? Or is it about finding 

the right kind of manager/ 

operator you desire to partner 

with? Or both? 

Number one is a reputation of 

executing with excellence for many 

years. A reputation of quality and 

dependability translates to profitability, 

growth potential, and a strong 

culture. Next, the ability to expand 

their customer base (especially high 

profile customers that value quality) 

over time as well as grow with existing 

customers. Their ability to maintain 

margins by competing on quality vs. 

price. Size/scale (a larger base is a 

stronger base). A team that is motivated 

to continue to grow/expand 

with us. And high quality and well 

maintained equipment/vehicles. 

What can exterior cleaning/ 

pressure wash companies in 

the $1 to $5 million revenue 

range do to be an attractive 

candidate to a private equity 

firm such as Osceola. (Other 

than having moved heaven 

and earth to already be in the 

middle market revenue range!) 

I think focusing on the areas above 

in the previous question. 

Talk about the firm's micro 

private equity approach and 

how it well fits the exterior 

cleaning/pressure wash sector. 

Our expertise lies in finding strategic 

partners in highly fragmented 

services markets, where the combination 

of those pieces will unlock 

revenue growth that we can then 

reinvest back into the business (both 

organically and through continued 

acquisitions). That approach is especially 

powerful when we can also 

horizontally expand the services that 

are being provided. Exterior cleaning/ 

pressure washing is a perfect example 

of that opportunity. 

Obviously, Top Gun Facility 

Services in Colorado fit your 

specs. [Editor’s note: see 

sidebar “Guns Blazing” for 

details about this Osceola 

acquisition of a pressure wash 

company.] Talk about that 

partnership. What made them 

an attractive partner? 

They squarely fit all of the criteria 

that I outlined earlier. A reputation of 

excellence for well over 25 years in 

the fast-growing Colorado/Wyoming 

market; significant leader position, with 

size, scale, and capacity for growth. 

Talk about the add-ons that 

have already quickly been 

made to that company 

-- Emerald Isle, Bob Popp 

Building Services, Zoneez. 

What made them attractive 

add-ons? 

We believe landscaping is a very 

complementary fit with pressure 

washing, and Emerald Isle was a 

perfect fit with the culture/reputation 

of what we have been building with 

Top Gun (40+ year track record). 

The more that we can become a single 

point of contact for exterior facilities 

services for our customers, the more 

value-add we can become to them. 

In similar fashion, we also 

acquired Bob Popp Building Services, 

which had 40+ year track record 

Not Alone 

Incline Equity Partners, 

a Pittsburgh-based private 

equity firm, recently made an 

investment in Perfect Power 

Wash, a provider of exterior 

residential cleaning services. 

Headquartered in Akron, 

PPW offers exterior house washing, concrete washing and sealing, 

roof treatments and fence & deck washing to the greater Cleveland, 

Columbus and Pittsburgh metropolitan markets. The Company 

has been serving the residential homeowner market for more than 

20 years as a recognized and trusted brand. 

“PPW has an impressive track record of long-term profitable 

growth and is a highly scalable platform,” said Evan Weinstein, 

Partner at Incline. “There is tremendous opportunity to rapidly 

grow through an aggressive greenfield strategy while also expanding 

PPW’s service offerings.” 

“Incline’s experience partnering with residential services businesses 

will help us accelerate our recent momentum by strategically 

ramping the opening of greenfield locations,” said Mike 

Palubiak, Founder of PPW. “Incline is committed to positioning us 

for future success, which makes them an ideal partner.” 

Adam Hood, President & CEO of PPW, added, “We are looking 

forward to utilizing the resources of Incline’s Technology & 

Operations group to enhance our digital marketing strategy and 

evaluate additional exterior services. We are excited to have Incline 

as a partner as we navigate our next phase of growth.” 

Incline Equity Partners, headquartered in Pittsburgh, 

Pennsylvania, is a private equity firm investing in manufacturing, 

distribution and business services companies. Incline is generally 

seeking growing companies with enterprise values of $25 – $450 

million. Incline’s typical investment types are ownership transitions 

for privately held businesses, buyouts and corporate divestitures 

within the U.S. and Canada. 


Call 800-393-7962 or visit PWNA.org 

to take your business to the next level 

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FLATWORK 

This course provides in-depth 

details about cleaning an array 

of flat surfaces. We discuss the 

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Bigger 

FISH 

of excellence in window washing, 

caulking, sweeping, and snow removal 

in the Denver market. 

The acquisition of Zoneez gave 

us a nice foothold in the Phoenix 

market in pressure washing, which is 

a high-priority growth market for us. 

Where do you see it 

going from here for Top Gun? 

Continued reinvestment into the 

business, both organic and subsequent 

acquisitions. Continued expansion 

of service lines, as well geographic 

expansion. 

Are you looking for more Top 

Guns? Or more add-ons? Or 

both? 

Absolutely -- both. Nearby areas 

of AZ, NM, UT, NV, OK, TX, etc. are 

high priorities, but we are also open to 

further expansion beyond those states. 

Readers see -private equity 

and think "losing control of 

their business." Talk about 

your partnership model and 

how you can assure owners 

they won't lose their identity 

or personal stake in the baby 

they created. 

A unique aspect of our strategy 

is that we look to assemble the platform 

or foundation of the business 

over time through a number of small 

to mid-sized acquisitions. The only 

typical alternatives for our partners 

is to sell 100% of their business as 

a smaller add-on to a much larger 

business. We invite our partners to 

become a key part of the platform, as 

well as roll ownership together with 

us into that combined platform, so 

that they can continue to participate 

in the upside of what we are building 

together. That aligns all of the partners 

involved, as well as gives the 

opportunity for them to unlock some 

liquidity today while also building 

further value towards a second (or 

Guns Blazing 

Osceola acquired Colorado based Top Gun 

Pressure Washing, Inc. in August 2019. 

Founded in 1992 and headquartered in Loveland, 

Colorado, Top Gun is a leading provider of pressure 

washing and exterior facilities services to 

commercial businesses and local governments in the 

Rocky Mountain region of the US. The Company's 

service offerings include pressure washing, industrial 

sweeping, exterior high-rise cleaning, window 

cleaning, environmental spill clean-up, sandblasting, 

graffiti removal, pavement striping and specialty 

cleaning. 

"Top Gun has been very successful over the past 

27 years in becoming the largest pressure washing 

company in Colorado," said Stephanie White, 

co-founder and President of Top Gun. "We realized 

that to take our business to the next level, we would 

need a strategic partner that shared our vision for 

growth and had the capital resources and operational 

expertise to help us execute our strategy. We look 

forward to working with the Osceola in this next 

stage of growth." 

Top Gun represents the fourth platform investment 

in Osceola Capital's current fund. Senior debt 

financing was provided by Saratoga Investment 

Corporation. DLA Piper acted as legal counsel to 

Osceola Capital. Forbes M&A and Minor & Brown 

acted as financial advisor and legal counsel to the 

sellers, respectively. 

Top Gun is actively looking for add-on opportunities. 

In May 2021, Top Gun announced that it had 

acquired Zoneez Power Washing & Window Cleaning. 

Headquartered in Phoenix, Zoneez provides pressure 

washing and window cleaning services for 

commercial assets in Arizona. The acquisition of 

Zoneez continues Top Gun’s strategy of building 

a national footprint by partnering with the best 

facilities services firms in each region of the country, 

and then providing them with capital to accelerate 

their growth. Zoneez services an impressive roster 

of commercial and multi-family customers, and Top 

Gun intends to support the Company as it expands 

across Arizona and the Southwest. 

“We are thrilled to partner with Top Gun and 

Osceola Capital as we forge our next phase of growth. 

We share a similar vision, culture and mission for 

serving our clients with the highest quality of service. 

Top Gun’s scale and reputation make it a perfect 

fit for the Zoneez team. We are excited that our 

partnership with Top Gun will provide a broader set 

of services and a larger geographic footprint, enabling 

us to better serve our clients and further accelerate 

our growth,” said Kevin Lange, Founder of Zoneez. 

In May 2021, Top Gun made yet another 

acquisition, this time of Emerald Isle Landscaping, 

expanding the company’s suite of services into the 

commercial landscape market. Emerald Isle actually 

marked the fourth acquisition within the Top Gun 

platform since its partnership with Osceola Capital. 

Founded in 1977 and headquartered in Denver, 

Emerald Isle is a leading commercial landscape 

maintenance provider to the Colorado market. 

The Company provides a range of landscape maintenance, 

enhancement, irrigation, floriculture, and 

snow removal solutions to a diverse portfolio of 

commercial and multi-family customers. 

“On behalf of Emerald Isle’s leadership team, we 

are thrilled to partner with Osceola and Top Gun 

to accelerate our growth. Their capital, experience 

and enthusiasm will help us continue our pursuit 

of excellence in commercial landscaping across the 

Rockies and Southwest, and we’re excited about the 

opportunity to expand our service offering to existing 

and new customers,” said Andrew Key, President of 

Emerald Isle Landscaping. 


Bigger 

FISH 

even third) liquidity event in the future. The partners at 

Osceola have also been business owners in the past, which 

we believe helps make us good balanced partners. We are 

constantly looking for ways to add value to our businesses, 

but also look to make sure we are getting out of the way to 

let the expert operators do what they know how to do best. 

Independent operators reading this magazine 

-- even the seven figure types -- often struggle 

to unlock more growth, orchestrate succession 

plans, transition execution of their business to 

anyone other than themselves, and eventually 

to exit the business. For those who have the 

revenues and leadership that you would be 

looking for, how does Osceola actually assist with 

these goals once they are in the partnership? 

That might be one of the most fun aspects of what we 

do. By combining our partners with additional partners, 

we create a number of new job opportunities across the 

platform. Sometimes in a small or mid-sized business, high 

potential younger talent can get stuck without many options 

to keep growing their skillsets. By adding new territories, 

new service lines, and new management roles, we can 

enhance their career path, and cultivate future leaders. We 

also enjoy investing in organic growth opportunities. We 

are exclusively focused on the long term growth of our 

partners, and that takes forward-looking investment and 

capital expenditures today. 

Nuts & Bolts 

Osceola’s targeted sectors include 

business services, healthcare services, 

tech-enabled services, and industrial 

services. A target business is profitable 

with gross margins reflecting a defensible 

position and strong value proposition 

within its industry. 

Osceola seeks companies in stable 

but fragmented industries with low 

vendor and customer concentration. It 

also seeks companies with potential for 

follow-on acquisitions. 

High-quality talent from top to bottom 

is the most critical factor in determining 

the success or failure of a lower middle 

market company, according to Osceola. As 

such, it seeks proven management teams 

with high organizational talent from top 

to bottom. 

Desirable company profiles are 

defined as follows: 

• EBITDA: $1 million – $10 million 

(demonstrated expertise in platforms 

with less than $5 million) 

• Revenue: $5 million – $50 million 

• Equity investment: up to $20 

million, with ability to invest 

additional equity via co-investment 

from limited partners 

• Controlling-interest buyouts with 

potential for add-on acquisitions 

According to the company, every 

acquisition opportunity is unique and 

dynamic. Some businesses merely require 

additional guidance to achieve their 

goals while others might require gradual 

changes over time and still others could 

need direct hands-on direction from the 

day of closing. The Osceola team has the 

capabilities and skill to create significant 

value in any of these scenarios. 

When evaluating potential investments, 

Osceola places a significant 

emphasis upon identifying business 

owners that share trust and a common 

vision. Identifying with business owners 

allows for greater understanding and 

capacity to navigate the emotions of 

arranging and negotiating deals. 

Send your news, 

press releases, and story tips to 

drewruble@gmail.com 

JOIN US 

If you would like to advertise 

in the next edition of PW News, , contact 

Jacksonv@pressurewashnews.com 


Made up of manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, and 

associates who coordinate their efforts to promote public 

awareness, professionalism, industry-wide safety standards 

and education for the advancement of the power cleaning 

equipment industry. JOIN US TODAY! 

The POWER of : 

• Increased profits and knowledge through free benchmarking for CETA Members. 

• CETA Annual Convention with Trade show to socialize, learn and stay informed. 

• Certification for Distributors, if qualified, and use of CETA Certified Distributor Logo. 

• Performance Standard - CPC-100 for Manufacturers Equipment, if qualified, and 

use of the CPC-100 Logo. 

• Use of the CETA Member Logo. 

• CETA White Paper online. 

• Access to leasing programs with discounted rates. 

• Access to discounted shipping rates. 

• Networking potential. 

• CETA newsletter - Access and ability to contribute. 

• Lost & stolen equipment alerts. 

• Scholarships available for CETA member’s family and employees. 

• Credit card processing discount program. 

• - Education for Distributors. 

Help CETA Help YOU 

by becoming a member and working 

with the TEAM that leads the way forward. 

A special thanks to everyone that worked 

so hard in getting the CARB SORE dates 

changed. We won a battle but still need 

to win the war, so join us today! 

Don’t sit idle while California leads the 

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Crowne Plaza Airport 

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Details coming soon at ceta.org/regional-meeting-2022 

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together will bring incredible opportunities for attendees. While both associations will remain independent and have events on their own, 

CETA and PWNA share one goal: 

Two Teams. One Vision. Advancing the Industry forward. 

www.ceta.org | 800-441-0111 | info@ceta.org

INDUSTRY 

DIRT 

A look around the cleaning equipment 

world for news and notes of interest 

Send your company news and press releases to drewruble@gmail.com 

Big Win for the 

Industry 

The Cleaning Equipment Trade Association 

(CETA) achieved a significant concession from the 

California Air Resources Board (CARB) relating to 

the new California law banning certain small off-road 

engines (SORE). 

The concession allows engines > 225 cc produced 

after January 1, 2024, and sold for use on pressure 

washers into California to follow the same new 

reduced emission (exhaust & evaporative) regulations 

as generators till January 1, 2028 at which time 

ZEE will be required. 

The following is a summary of the new reduced 

emission requirements: 

1. Engines will change for 2024 > 225 cc: 

Emission HC+NOx from 8 to 3.0 (Reduction of -5) 

g-kWh-1 

Evaporative diurnal, g-test-1 from 1.20 + 0.056 

x normal capacity (liters) to hot soak + diurnal, 

g-test-1 to 0.70 

2. ZEE for 2028: Set emission standards to 

zero1 for Model Year 2028 

1 

Emission standards of 0.00 g·kWh-1 (exhaust) and 

0.00 g·test-1 (hot soak + diurnal) 

CETA noted that achieving these above goals is 

no easy task and that the association’s membership 

was encouraged to continue to support engine and 

equipment manufacturers as they work towards 

these aggressive reduction requirements. 

During a Friday, December 3, 2021 meeting with 

CARB Staff, CETA, led by R.Calvin Rasmussen and 

Jimmy Welch -- CETA SORE & Technical Committee 

leaders -- was able to express concerns, comments, and 

questions with presentations from each of CETA’s 

member groups (Supplier, Manufacturer, Distributor, 

and Commercial Pressure Washer). On Wednesday, 

December 8, 2021, CARB Staff contacted CETA to 

let it know that they listened to the comments and 

decided to present to the Board for pressure washers > 

225 cc to follow the same requirement for generators. 

All CETA SORE committee members worked 

diligently throughout this process. Those who testified 

on the industry’s behalf included: Gregg Brodsky, 

Jim O'Connell, Michael Ricketts, Casey Meekler, 

Alan Bonifas, Eric Tower, Jimmy Welch and R. Calvin 

Rasmussen. Key CETA staffers Debbie Murray and 

Tracy Wagoner (as usual) went above and beyond to 

keep the association organized and on task. 

The Golden State’s ban on the sale of gas-powered, 

small, off-road engine (SORE) equipment starting in 

2024 has significant repercussions for the pressure 

wash industry there…and perhaps even nationally. 

The new law poses numerous technology feasibility, 

economic, and implementation challenges for 

industry stakeholders. Collectively these challenges 

are insurmountable and will result in significant 

hardships for manufacturers, retailers and end-users, 

culminating in an early market shortfall of products 

with high consumer need and demand. 

California defines gas-powered SORE equipment 

as many things, from gas-powered saws, to 

lawn mowers, leaf blowers, pressure washers, and 

generators. 

The law earmarked $30 million in the state 

budget to help small businesses purchase zero-emission 

replacements. 

The law does not ban the use of gas-powered 

SOREs by 2024. Instead, it bans the sale of this 

equipment in California. 

Hence, as older equipment ages, operating costs for 

businesses are set to skyrocket as zero emission equipment 

is typically more expensive than its gas-powered 

equipment. In addition, the use of batteries is a 

hindrance to operations as equipment running time 

will be limited. 

According to a recent report by the Portable 

Generator Manufacturers’ Association (PGMA), 

these ZEE units are typically five to 20 times the 

cost of gasoline-powered portable generators, yet they 

High-Pressure 

Holiday 

Media outlets across the globe wrote about 

Kiel James Patrick’s jack-o-lantern carving 

hack this past October. Patrick took to TikTok 

where he posted a video of himself using a 

pressure washer to cut a face into his gourd. 

At the end of the video, he turns the 

pumpkin around to show that the back is 

still completely intact. The video received 

more than 672,000 views and thousands of 

comments within a few days. 

only provide backup power for a short period of time 

(typically 1-2 hours) before the battery is discharged. 

Several cities across America had already banned 

certain SOREs (California represents the first state 

to ban it), and given the mantra of “copycat legislation” 

coming out of California, people in industries 

powered by gas fueled equipment have good 

grounds for worry. 

Not to be forgotten in all of this is President Joe 

Biden’s proposal to reach net-zero greenhouse-gas 

emissions across America by no later than 2050, 

as well as to reduce net greenhouse-gas pollution 

by 50-52% of the country’s 2005 levels by 2030 

through clean technologies. A federal SORE ban, 

therefore, does not seem out of the question. 

CETA, whose members supply engines to member 

manufacturers, which in turn produce engine-powered 

cleaning equipment, while its member distributors 

sell the product to end users for cleaning, has 

been especially bold in its efforts to represent the 

presser washing industry in the battle against SORE 

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INDUSTRY DIRT 

Cleaning Up 

Jacksonville, Florida-based Krystal 

Klean, a building care company - 

and a subsidiary of FLEETWASH 

- announced the finalization of two 

additional acquisitions. The company 

purchased Reflections Window & 

Pressure Washing of Jacksonville, 

Florida and Spray-Wash of Tallahassee 

Florida. These represent the 121st and 

122nd acquisitions by the group. 

The move comes after Krystal Klean 

joined forces with FLEETWASH on 

June 1, 2019. According to a press 

release, the organization leverages the 

significant reach and shared operational 

efficiencies to acquire and grow 

niche or smaller building care and 

cleaning companies throughout the 

United States. 

"Reflections is one of the most 

trusted window cleaning and pressure 

washing companies in Jacksonville - 

with more than 300 positive reviews 

and a five-star rating. Spray-Wash has 

an extensive reach in the Tallahassee 

area and with a shared vision we are 

looking forward to helping grow both 

of these organizations," said Krystal 

Klean's Jeremy Morgan. 

Something 

in the Water 

WGAL in Lancaster, 

Pennsylvania reported on a couple 

who was told by their insurance 

company to clean their roof or lose 

their insurance. 

homeowner Spenser Henry 

told the news station that he got a 

letter from his insurance company, 

a major national firm, informing 

him that his homeowners insurance 

policy was going to be canceled. The 

reason? Plant growth on the roof of 

his home, WGAL reported. 

Henry said his insurance company 

told him to get the moss removed, 

send a picture and they would reinstate 

the insurance. Henry paid to 

have his roof washed. 

There will be no change for 

existing customers to either business 

and key personnel will remain with 

each company. 

"If you have a cleaning or coating 

business with annual revenues 

between $2M and $200M we'd like to 

talk," said Mr. Morgan. "Come join the 

FLEETWASH family." 

Krystal Klean offers a full range of 

painting, pressure washing, sealing and 

coating, window cleaning, and waterproofing 

services. With more than 90 

team members and a fleet of specialized 

equipment, Krystal Klean is equipped 

to service any type of building. 

For more information visit www. 

krystalklean.com. 

Stephen Talbot of Talbot & 

Sons Power Washing was quoted 

in the report stating that “If you 

get to the point where you have 

moss growing on your roof, it has a 

filament root system and it can dig 

those roots in between the shingles” 

and that “Insurance companies have 

understood that organic growth on 

a house and on a roof can cause 

damage. And they don’t want to 

cover an asset that hasn’t been 

maintained properly.” 

WGAL concluded the report 

by stating that “if insurance carriers 

see a long-term benefit from it, 

homeowners may start seeing more 

requests to clean their roof.” 

Meet the New Boss 

The Cleaning Equipment 

Trade Association (CETA) 

installed a new president for 

2022: Al Bonifas. 

CETA, an international 

non-profit trade association, coordinates 

efforts to promote public 

awareness, professionalism, industry-wide 

safety standards, and 

education for the advancement of 

Empire State Copycat 

CNBC reported in September 

2021 that New York Governor 

Kathy Hochul signed legislation 

that effectively bans the sale of 

new internal combustion engine 

cars, off-road vehicles, light-duty 

trucks and equipment by 2035. 

The legislation also requires new 

heavy- and medium-duty trucks for sale 

in New York to be in the “zero-emissions” 

category by 2045. 

According to the website of New 

York’s Department of Environmental 

Conservation, the state defines 

zero-emission vehicles as: battery-electric 

Beyond 

Superdome 

A fire that broke out on the roof of 

the world-famous Caesar's Superdome 

in downtown New Orleans this past 

fall. 

ASM Global, the company that 

manages the venue, said the fire began 

in a gutter tub that runs along the 

base of the roof. The fire was reportedly 

caused by a pressure washer that 

caught fire and spread to the gutter. 

The Claims Journal reported that 

crews were power washing the roof to 

prepare it to be painted. 

Initial assessments, the Journal 

reported, suggested that the damage 

was superficial with no structural 

damage or impact to the integrity of 

the roof’s exterior skin. 

The NFL’s New Orleans Saints have 

regularly played home games at the 

venue. The Superdome also has been 

the powered cleaning equipment 

industry. 

Bonifas and his wife 

Janet own Swanton, Ohiobased 

All Spray, a full-service 

pressure wash company 

specializing in industrial pressure 

washer sales and service. They 

started All Spray in 1984. 

vehicles, plug-in hybrid-electric 

vehicles, or hydrogen fuel-cellelectric 

vehicles. 

The governor’s office said 

the moves support New York’s 

goal of reducing greenhouse gas 

emissions by 85% by 2050. 

New York is following California’s 

earlier efforts to shift drivers into 

zero-emission vehicles. Governor Gavin 

Newsom famously signed an executive 

order last year that would phase out all 

sales of new internal combustion engine 

vehicles in the state by 2035. 

the site of seven Super Bowls in recent 

decades, and is also used for concerts, 

college football and other events. 

In 2005, the Superdome was used as 

a shelter of last resort for those unable 

to evacuate the city before Hurricane 

Katrina struck. The building housed up 

to 30,000 people seeking shelter. 


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INDUSTRY DIRT 

Head of the 

Class 

The Cleaning Equipment Trade 

Association (CETA) established the 

Lifetime Achievement Award and 

Distinguished Service Award to annually 

recognize those who have achieved excellence 

in the Pressure Cleaning Industry. 

CETA recently announced its 

2021 award winners. 

2021 CETA Lifetime 

Achievement Award 

Recipient – Sam 

Humphrey 

Humphrey has served as 

President of the Mi-T-M Corporation 

since 1998. Graduating from Eastern 

Illinois University, he worked in both 

education and retail management where 

he developed a deep understanding of 

team building. Humphrey relies on his 

team building experiences today to lead 

the Mi-T-M management team in their 

continuous effort to improve business 

practices, manufacturing efficiencies, 

and enhance customer relations. The 

scope of his leadership has spanned to 

virtually all aspects of Mi-T-M. 

Humphrey has been instrumental in 

the growth of Mi-T-M since he joined the 

company in 1991 as marketing manager. 

AJ Spiegel, CEO and owner of Mi-T-M, 

came to rely on him for his strategic 

approach and sound decision making. 

Mi-T-M had become well known 

for cold water pressure washers since 

the company was founded in 1971. In 

1983, Mi-T-M decided it was time 

to make the leap to building hot 

water machines. Eventually, 

Humphrey earned a promotion 

to President of Mi-T-M 

and was a major force to 

drive the efforts of Mi-T-M to 

become a leader in this advanced 

segment of the cleaning equipment 

industry as well. Under his direction, the 

Mi-T-M company now manufacturers 

more than 45 industrial models of pressure 

washers. 

Always looking for solid growth 

opportunities Humphrey’s team realized 

the coming importance of water 

conservation. Seeing the need to meet 

the federal, state, and local clean water 

requirements, Humphrey led his team 

to develop a water reclamation division 

as a compliment to the industrial 

pressure washer product 

line. In 1998, the first Mi-T-M 

Biological Water Treatment 

System was installed at the 

Bay Hill Country Club in 

Orlando, Florida. In 2007, The 

Kiplinger Letter recognized the Mi-T-M 

Corporation as a leading manufacturer 

of water recycling technology. 

Mi-T-M’s vision of growth through 

diversification was accomplished under 

the leadership of Humphrey and his 

management team. Under his guidance, 

the Mi-T-M Corporation has progressed 

from a respectable cold water pressure 

washer manufacturer to currently manufacturing 

hot and cold pressure washers, 

air compressors, portable generators, 

wash water reclaim systems, industrial 

wet/dry vacuums, jobsite boxes, portable 

heaters, water transfer pumps, and a very 

sophisticated metal fabrication division, 

as well as a world-class industrial parts 

painting facility in a one million square 

foot facility in Peosta, Iowa. 

Humphrey lends his knowledge and 

offers his support on many industry 

boards. He thrives on interacting with 

the customers and, over the years, 

cultivated lifelong friendships 

with many. 

2021 Distinguished 

Service Award Recipient 

– Jack Hill 

Hill has been in the pressure 

wash business for 37 years. He worked 

side by side with Mike Christopherson 

building General Pump into the great 

company it is today. Hill has spent his 

career developing and improving products 

for the cleaning equipment manufacturers 

and distributors in the industry. 

If you visit with Jack about a new 

product or about improving a current 

product, you never hear the word “no”. 

He will always go to work to solve the 

problem, or he will go to work having a 

product developed to help you. 

Hill and General Pump have 

supported CETA since the beginning 

of the organization. You will always 

see General Pump on the trade show 

floor with Hill himself to greet you. For 

many years, Hill and General Pump 

have helped to sponsor the CETA 

Convention Opening Reception. Hill 

is truly the voice of General Pump and 

is well known throughout the industry. 

Taking it to the 

Streets 

KUSI TV News in San Diego, California reported 

on the city of San Diego beginning a pilot program in 

November 2021 for sanitizing sidewalks intended to 

help keep the city’s sidewalks cleaner for longer. 

“Through evaluating the effectiveness of current 

efforts and creative thinking by our city and Clean 

Harbor crews, we’re taking cleanliness to the next level,” 

Mayor Todd Gloria said in the KUSI story. “These sidewalk 

resets will prevent the spread of bacteria, beautify 

our neighborhoods and improve the quality of life for 

our residents and visitors.” 

Since a hepatitis A outbreak resulted in 592 cases and 

20 deaths in 2017, San Diego has sanitized sidewalks 

across the city on a regular basis to prevent the spread 

of infectious diseases, according to the news station. 

Recently, the city increased those efforts to seven days a 

week due to an outbreak of shigellosis among the city’s 

homeless, it reported. 

According to KUSI, the city’s new “Sidewalk Reset” 

approach is a deep-cleaning method intended to remove 

grime and build-up from sidewalks downtown, in 

beach areas and the South Bay, with other areas being 

16 | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | VOL. 4, NO. 1 | WINTER 2022 

evaluated. Crews developed the new approach after 

noticing the regular sanitizing solution beading off the 

sidewalks due to build-up of grease and dirt. 

The station reported that regular sidewalk sanitization 

efforts consist of a quick spray application of a mist 

containing a mixture of water and bleach to kill bacteria 

and that the Sidewalk Reset involves a deep power 

washing of the sidewalk and gutter, street sweeping and 

removal of the water — a process that can take up to two 

hours per block. 

According to the report, San Diego’s environmental 

services department contracts with a company called 

Clean Harbors to provide sidewalk sanitization services, 

as well as remove incidental hazardous waste, primarily 

consisting of human waste and hypodermic needles. KUSI 

added that the city’s stormwater department assists with 

the street sweeping and removal of water runoff. 

Come 

Together 

Power Washers of North America 

(PWNA) will host certification 

classes at the International Window 

Cleaning Association (IWCA) Annual 

Convention at the Rosen Centre Hotel 

in Orlando, Florida Feb. 7-11, 2022. 

The PWNA Certification Class 

Schedule is as follows: 

• Roof Certification – 

Tuesday, Feb. 8 - 

AC Lockyear - 12-6 p.m. 

• Flatwork Certification – 

Wednesday, Feb. 9 - 

Andy Reinsel - 8-12 p.m. 

• House Washing Cert – 

Thursday, Feb. 10 - 

Bo Josetti - 8-11:30 a.m. 

• Wood Restoration 

Certification – Friday, Feb. 

11- Everett Abrams - 8-5 p.m. 

You must be a PWNA member to 

attend Certification Classes.

The International Window 

Cleaning Association and 

Power Washers of North 

America invite you to the 

2022 IWCA ANNUAL 

TRADE SHOW & 

CONFERENCE 

February 7th - 11th, 2022 at the 

Rosen Centre Hotel, Orlando, FL 

Over 60 Trade Show 

vendors, PWNA Tracks, 30 

plus educational sessions 

and Certification Courses, 

Brandon Vaughn Keynote 

and deep dive on all things 

recruiting, Carl Pedersen 

Lifetime Achievement 

Award Winner, First Timers 

Reception, Vendor 

Reception after the Trade 

Show, Outdoor Demos, and 

much much more!! You 

don’t want to miss it! 

Register today at www.iwca.org 

and click Annual Convention near 

the top of the page for only $249 

for Members!!

INDUSTRY DIRT 

All Aboard 

Sarasota, Florida-based 

PressureMate announced last fall its 

creation of the world’s first on-board 

12-volt pressure washer designed 

specifically for cleaning boats. 

Designed to provide powerful 

600 psi water pressure with efficient 

coverage and maximum durability, 

PressureMate is quiet and reliable and 

able to blast through blood, guts and 

grime, without damaging gel coat or 

upholstery, the company stated. 

PressureMate uses a boat’s freshwater 

tank and is driven by a newly-designed, 

compact 12-volt pump. Its 

pumps use a patent pending plunger 

design that is the most efficient way 

possible to pressurize water. The spray 

gun hose quickly connects through 

a stainless steel fitting either directly 

into the pump or can be upgraded 

to connect into a supplied bulkhead 

fitting in a remote location. 

“Whether you’re an angler, racer 

or long-distance cruiser, a successful 

day on the water typically ends with 

hours of clean up at the dock,” said 

Mark Maus, principal, PressureMate. 

“With PressureMate you can save 

time by cleaning underway. It is easy 

to use and install and is a worthwhile 

investment that will keep your boat 

sparkling clean and ship shape.” 

PressureMate installation is possible 

with either floor or wall-mount 

options and the only tool required for 

complete disassembly of the unit for 

easy maintenance and cleaning is a 

3/16-inch hex wrench. PressureMate 

is built with premium materials and 

all metallic wetted parts are stainless 

steel for maximum durability and 

performance, the company stated. 

An aircraft-grade anodized aluminum 

pump with Teflon hard-coat body is 

“nearly indestructible compared to 

pumps made of castings” according 

to the company. The pump measures 

11-inches by 11-inches by 5-inches 

and weighs only 24 pounds. 

For more information, visit www. 

thepressuremate.com. 

The Future’s So Bright… 

European Cleaning Journal, the 

Pan-European magazine for the 

exterior cleaning sector, published an 

article in 2021 looking at a few of the 

latest innovations in the high-pressure 

cleaning market and asking manufacturers 

how the industry is evolving. 

Digital displays, remote monitoring, 

an increased use of battery-powered 

machines, engines powered by 

compressed natural gas were just a few 

of the innovations mentioned. 

Kärcher product manager 

Benjamin Weiss stated in the article 

that “High-pressure cleaning is a 

highly versatile solution that can 

swiftly adapt to social trends…For 

example, the sustainability agenda has 

led to this cleaning method becoming 

increasingly popular because it can be 

used for cleaning solar and photovoltaic 

panels and for removing weeds 

from outside areas without the use of 

chemicals.” 

Weiss said some client groups are 

“demanding more sophisticated products 

that incorporate elements such as 

automatic hose reels and electronics 

that offer machine protection. And 

they are placing a greater focus on 

ergonomics and comfort.” 

Kärcher’s EASY!Force trigger gun 

is an ergonomic solution designed to 

make high-pressure cleaning easier for 

the operator, according to Weiss. 

Weiss said the trend towards 

daytime cleaning along with the 

current demand for higher standards 

of hygiene due to Covid-19 are both 

factors impacting on the high-pressure 

cleaning sector. 

“The increase in daytime cleaning 

has led to an increased sensitivity 

to noise and a requirement to make 

machines that perform as quietly as 

possible,” he told the Journal. “As a 

result, the use of combustion motors 

is becoming more difficult and there is 

a growing potential for replacing them 

with battery-powered machines.” 

Demand for higher standards 

of hygiene was becoming evident 

in several countries even before the 

Covid-19 pandemic, according to 

Weiss in the article. 

“This is now more important worldwide 

and we predict that the ability to 

disinfect surfaces will become a future 

requirement in certain target groups.” 

Weiss claimed in the article that 

Kärcher’s HD 4/11 C Bp model is 

the first professional battery-driven 

high-pressure cleaner on the market. 

According to the Journal, the 

company also offers the HD-MXA 

which now has an integrated automatic 

hose reel for cold water use. 

Dibo’s communications manager 

Kat Coppieters was also interviewed 

by the Journal. 

Two new high-pressure trailers 

recently launched by Dibo will help to 

meet demand for sustainable cleaning 

solutions, she claimed in the article. 

The first is fitted with an electric motor 

and the second runs on compressed 

natural gas. 

“Electric cleaning is the challenge 

for the future and we are working with 

a state-of-the-art battery management 

system for efficient charging, 

discharging and recharging for a longer 

battery life,” said Coppieters in the 

article. “And a high-pressure trailer 

running on CNG is the most environmentally-friendly 

and lowest-cost 

trailer there is compared with other 

fuel engines.” 

According to Coppieters, CNG 

engines emit considerably less 

particulate matter and nitrogen oxides 

than diesel engines while also reducing 

CO2 emissions and producing 50 per 

cent less noise. 

“And because of the cleaner 

combustion of CNG there is also less 

maintenance involved,” she added. 

Other Dibo innovations include 

a track and trace system that enables 

the operator to monitor the machine’s 

status via a computer or smartphone, 

and a digital display that provides 

ongoing information on parameters 

such as pressure, temperature, fuel 

level and water level. 

Covid-19 has dominated the news 

for much of the year and has dramatically 

raised the profile of cleaning. But 

how has it impacted on the high-pressure 

cleaning sector? 

The market has been performing 

well during the crisis, according to 

Kärcher’s Benjamin Weiss. 

“There is an increased awareness 

of cleaning around the world and we 

think the pandemic will speed up 

this process,” he said. “Demand for 

high-pressure cleaning equipment 

remains high compared with other 

sectors due to its versatility.” 


In 

Transition 

Navigating the evolutions 

a business experiences as 

it grows 

BY CHUCK VIOLAND 

[Editor’s Note: Chuck Violand 

founded Violand Management 

Associates in 1987. VMA is a 

leader in executive development, 

management training, and business 

performance maximization for 

entrepreneurial restoration and 

cleaning companies. As an author 

and popular speaker (including at 

past PWNA/CETA conventions), 

Violand is a respected authority on 

entrepreneurial small businesses, 

having spent more than 30 years 

as both a business consultant and 

an executive coach. He is a regular 

contributor to trade journals and 

newsletters and is the author of 

the popular weekly leadership 

series Monday Morning Notes. See 

violand.com for details or contact 

them at 1-800-360-3513.] 

A while back, I wrote an article entitled 

“Sailboats, Yachts, and Tall-Masted 

Ships.” In it, I used various sizes of 

sailing vessels as a metaphor to explain 

the transitions a business experiences 

as it grows. 

It starts out small, similar to a recreational 

sailboat cruising around a 

lake on a Saturday afternoon, and ends 

up as a mighty, tall-masted ship sailing 

the oceans. 

I explored some of the challenges a 

business owner and their team experience 

as their company grows, much 

like the captain and crew of the vessels 

experience as the boats they sail increase 

in size. 

I explained how cash and the wind 

play similar roles as motive forces for 

moving a business or a sailboat forward, 

and how important it is to attract 

and keep the right people, depending 

on the size business or boat. 

While I explored these changes 

from the physical aspects of transitioning 

from one boat to another—the 

money, people, and competitors for 

example—I didn’t delve into the psychological 

or emotional aspects experienced 

by the captain and crew. 

As business owners we often think 

of transitioning as something that happens 

toward the end of our career or at 

a time when we’re leaving the business. 

If we talk about it at all, we mention it 

like it’s an event rather than a process. 

It usually involves dreams of endless 

rounds of golf, sitting on a beach, or doing 

the traveling we’ve put off until we 

had more time or money. 

But transitions don’t just take place 

when we’re preparing to exit our company. 

They take place throughout our 

life, our career, and the lifecycle of our 

business. And each transition is a process, 

not an event. 

Some examples of the transitions 

we experience in our personal life are 

when we leave the safety of our home 

to attend our first day of school, when 

we move out on our own to embark on 

our career, when we marry, or when we 

have children. 

In business, we can experience 

transitions even more frequently as 

our company grows. They might start 

the day we launch the company (or 

the day we join one), or when we 

“get off the truck,” or hire our first 

employee or manager. But transitions 

can also involve losing a key worker 

or customer, or adding service lines, 

territories, or store locations. Using 

the metaphor of sailboats, this means 

we’re moving to increasingly larger, 

more-complex boats. 

According to many experts, any 

transition involves three distinct components: 

an ending, a time of upheaval 

or chaos, and a new beginning. There 

is no irony in the fact that the ending 

always comes before the beginning. 

In other words, to fully grasp a new 

beginning, we must let go of an ending. 

We should also not be caught off 

guard by the middle component—the 

upheaval and chaos that almost always 

accompany a transition. They can 

cause uncertainty, anxiety, and resistance 

to making a change. 

According to author William 

Bridges, PhD, “Change is situational. 

Transition, on the other hand, is psychological.” 


In Transition 

Bridges also writes, “…one of the 

most important transitions that is likely 

to take place in a person’s work life 

sometime after the age of forty: the 

transition from being motivated by the 

chance to demonstrate competence to 

being motivated by the chance to find 

personal meaning in the work and its results. 

It is the shift from the question of 

how to the question of why.” 

The idea of demonstrating competence 

goes much deeper than just exhibiting 

the ability to perform a task 

well. It also includes the emotional 

rewards we receive when demonstrating 

our competence to competitors, 

colleagues, or social networks. These 

emotional rewards help satisfy our 

need to find personal meaning, however 

we define it. 

The role of an effective business 

founder is in a constant state of transition 

from the day we start our company. 

Some of the transitions are minor, like 

hiring our first worker, remodeling our 

store or plant, or assimilating our largest 

new customer. Others can be major 

transitions that accompany things like 

changing careers, taking on or losing a 

partner, or attempting to fully embrace 

the role of “manager” rather than “doer.” 

(In my opinion, it is failure to successfully 

make this last transition that underlies 

the statistic that over 70% of all 

businesses have no employees.) 

Transitioning is what happens when 

our business grows, moving us from 

one size boat to a larger one. And it’s 

not unusual for several transitions to 

take place at the same time. We might 

be hiring more employees and, depending 

on the change our business is 

experiencing, that could include hiring 

managers who give directions as well 

as receive them. In this case, the change 

that’s taking place is in the number of 

workers we’re hiring or in their business 

acumen. The transition that’s taking 

place is within us as the owner. It 

involves the evolution that must take 

place as we make a mental shift and relinquish 

(delegate) old responsibilities 

to embrace new ones. This is frequently 

an uncomfortable and chaotic time, especially 

for people with a high need to 

be in control. 

Another example is when our 

company experiences a sudden and 

significant increase in revenue or profits. 

While this is a change most business 

owners dream about and work 

years to achieve, the transition can also 

take us by surprise. It requires a shift 

on our part regarding our deep-seated 

beliefs about money and our readiness 

to manage larger amounts of it. When 

this transition isn’t handled well, it often 

results in undisciplined purchases 

and poor financial decisions on the 

owner’s part. 

The examples are endless, and their 

impact is compounded when several 

transitions are taking place at the 

same time. These transitions frequently 

include a temporary drop in the company’s 

profitability and can cause even 

the strongest business leader to want to 

cling to the old way of doing things … 

and the old way of thinking. 

When business owners don’t successfully 

make these transitions—navigating 

the chaos experienced in letting 

go of the past and embracing an unfamiliar 

future—they find themselves 

trying to sail a larger vessel while using 

the same skills and understanding they 

had when they were sailing a much 

smaller boat. Unfortunately, this rarely 

ends well for the captain or crew. 

For years, my counsel to clients 

who were undertaking a significant 

initiative in their business—increasing 

sales, hiring or discharging a key worker, 

adding a new service, or making the 

heart-stopping leap from a smaller boat 

to a larger one—was to expect some 

things to fall apart. While I didn’t fully 

understand the underlying reasons for 

this at the time, I knew it almost always 

happened. I now realize this is what 

William Bridges calls a period of confusion 

and distress and what spiritual 

leader Richard Rohr writes about in his 

book Falling Upward. 

Transitioning is a process. It is 

growth on the part of a CEO as they 

become more aware of the impermanence 

of everything around them. It’s 

part of the natural order of things in 

business and in life. But it’s a part that 

many people struggle with. Transitioning 

is not an event that only happens at 

the end of a career. While a successful 

transition of business leadership may be 

a CEO’s final act of greatness, it certainly 

isn’t the only one. 

Perhaps the biggest transition experienced 

by many leaders of a growing 

business is one that takes place under 

the radar of most other people. It’s the 

leader’s very own growth and maturing 

as a business leader, where they develop 

the skills and business acumen to sail a 

bigger boat. 

In his book Good to Great, author 

Jim Collins refers to this as Level 5 

leadership, writing, “Level 5 leaders are 

a study in duality: modest and willful, 

humble and fearless.” 

The growth that got leaders to this 

level never takes place by accident, and 

it’s almost always accompanied by that 

pesky in-between period of chaos and 

uncertainty. It’s this ongoing transition 

that equips leaders with the skills to 

lead larger companies and sail bigger 

boats. But it doesn’t stop there. 

Peter Senge, senior lecturer at the 

MIT Sloan School of Management and 

author of The Fifth Discipline, writes, 

“We forget that, in its essence, leadership 

is about learning how to shape the 

future… Leadership is about creating 

new realities.” This applies to our business 

as well as to ourselves. 

Does a leader grow because of the 

business’s growth or does the business 

grow because of the leader’s? I will argue 

it’s a leader’s growth that spurs the 

company’s. 

We’ve all witnessed examples of a 

company experiencing rapid growth 

for a short period of time only to retreat 

to its previous size. This is the equivalent 

of jumping from one size boat to 

a larger one, and then back again. The 

owner and team didn’t have the skills, 

drive, or business acumen to sail the 

larger vessel. This is not a judgment, 

it’s simply an observation. Regardless, 

this is always a risky endeavor as the 

chance to fall short of either boat and 

end up splashing in the water is huge. 

These splashes are usually painful and 

expensive but rarely fatal. This is the 

chaos and uncertainty, that in-between 

space between an ending and a beginning, 

that accompanies every transition. 

I also suspect this is one of the underlying 

reasons so many business owners 

resist making that leap at the end of 


In Transition 

their career. The splash in the water of 

uncertainty can be terrifying to them, 

especially if they don’t have that next, 

safe place to land. 

There is no more frightening time 

for a CEO than when it’s time to transition 

out of the business they’ve spent 

so much of their life building. It’s more 

frightening than the launch phase 

where changes can happen quickly, every 

decision seems like a life-or-death 

choice for the company, and where 

cash is always in short supply. It’s greater 

than during the growth years where 

the company’s and its leader’s growth 

move in lockstep and the focus shifts to 

attracting, keeping, and trusting competent 

people to help grow the business, 

essentially moving from one size 

boat to another. 

Most business owners understand 

the physical aspects of selling their 

business. Somebody writes a check, 

and somebody receives one. One day 

they’re shouldering the responsibilities 

of their company and the next day 

they’re not. But too often former owners 

overlook the emotional elements of 

selling their company and the transition 

they’ll experience as they leave one 

phase of their career and settle into a 

new one. 

If the intent is to set up the company 

for an outright sale, then ensuring its 

health and navigating the changes and 

transitions that are necessary to do so 

go a long way in securing an attractive 

price. That’s the simple choice, but not 

always the desired one. 

We’re witnessing firsthand the contributions 

and value people continue to 

bring to organizations as they mature. 

The last two presidents of the United 

States were sworn into office after they 

had turned seventy. The chairman and 

CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren 

Buffett, continues to lead the company 

and affect global financial markets 

with his insights at age 90 (his business 

partner, Charlie Munger, is 97!). Management 

guru Peter Drucker authored 

10 books after his 85th birthday. Nationally, 

nearly 15% of people over the 

age of 70 continue to work. Not just 

because they need the income, but because 

they want to continue to grow 

and to give back. So, while many owners 

have moved out of their previous 

roles, they’re transitioning into positions 

where they can continue to bring 

value to their previous company or to 

the larger business community. 

The outdated notion that people 

should stop working when they turn 65 

and retire to a quiet beach somewhere 

is just that—outdated. It’s based on an 

archaic, industrial-age model of physical 

labor jobs with little mental stimulation 

and even fewer emotional rewards. 

So, the next transition for many 

is into a role where they can leverage 

their experiences and the lessons they 

learned over their career and use that 

knowledge to mentor and guide younger 

generations of workers. 

Regardless of the changes we experience 

in our company, or the size boat 

we are sailing, it’s how successfully we 

manage the emotional transition that 

accompanies these changes that will 

largely determine the joy and fulfillment 

we’ll derive from our work. 

In the introduction to the book Synchronicity: 

The Inner Path of Leadership 

by Joseph Jaworski, Peter Senge writes, 

“One of the great mysteries of our current 

state of consciousness is how we 

can live in a world where absolutely 

nothing is fixed, and yet perceive a 

world of ‘fixedness.’” “Because of how 

we think,” he continues, “we’re strangling 

the life out of ourselves.” 

Embracing the transitions that accompany 

change will help us avoid that. 

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Puddle 

Up! 

Freedom Pressure Washing in Marion, 

North Carolina helps justice-involved 

individuals get a fresh, clean start 

BY DREW RUBLE 

Danny Hampton serves as a chaplain 

in the prison system in McDowell 

County, North Carolina outside of 

Asheville. A big part of Hampton’s 

job is helping incarcerated men and 

women prepare to reintegrate back in 

to society upon their release. 

It’s easier said than done. For starters, 

formerly incarcerated individuals, 

also referred to as “justice involved” 

individuals, need structure, they need 

support, they need a place to live, and 

they need a job. More broadly speaking, 

they need to take their lives in new, sustainable, 

and successful directions, and 

it’s not always obvious how to do that. 

Added to all that, Hampton said 

people would be amazed how anxious 

justice involved individuals can 

get when they are preparing to leave 

prison, especially if they’ve been incarcerated 

for many years. For some, 

Hampton explains, life in prison is the 

only life they’ve ever known, or that 

they remember. To leave that structure, 

that routine, is scary for them, 

Hampton said, and they legitimately 

question if they are going to be able 

to “make it” on the outside. 

How is our American society as a 

DANNY HAMPTON 

whole doing in meeting these needs 

and addressing these fears? Hampton 

quips that overall society hasn’t done 

much of either. “Here's a set of white 

clothes and 40 bucks,” Hampton answers 

when asked to paint a picture 

of what has been the standard prison 

dismissal protocol. “See you later.” 

In fairness, though, Hampton said 

that his home state of North Carolina, 

as well as the federal government, 

are actually doing quite a lot these 

days. According to Hampton, at least 

20 counties in North Carolina – including 

his home county of McDowell 

- have “re-entry councils” aimed at 

helping justice involved individuals 

reestablish themselves in society. In 

addition, Hampton points to Department 

of Justice grants focused on reentry, 

including helping “the worst of 

the worst individuals who have violent 

records” after they get out. 

“So, there are grants, and there is 

a lot of movement right now - more 

than ever,” Hampton said. “There's a 

lot going on that states and governments 

are trying to do…But it is still 

an arduous task.” 

■ FIRST 

ROW SEAT 

No one knows that fact better 

than Hampton. After working as a 

prison chaplain, and witnessing firsthand 

how unprepared incarcerated 

individuals were as they were released 

back into the community, Hampton 

got to thinking about what he could 

do personally to improve after-prison 

care – especially since he personally 

would receive phone calls from former 

inmates he worked with – who 

were now free men – but who were 

spinning out of control. 

“They would say ‘How will we 

make it if we can't get a job,’ or, ‘we 

try to go to church but we make people 

uncomfortable because we’ve got 

tattoos and a record…what are we 

supposed to do, how are we supposed 

to make it?’” 

Out of his desire to help such individuals, 

Hampton launched his nonprofit, 

Freedom Life. 

“[Freedom Life] helps them comprehensively 

with every need they 

have,” Hampton explains. “[We] meet 

them on the other side of the fence 

and…provide holistic comprehensive 

need-based services…intensive sup- 


PUDDLE 

UP 

port once they get out.” 

According to Hampton, many 

justice-involved individuals have nowhere 

to go once they leave prison 

– that is, if they indeed wish to steer 

clear of the past life that led them to 

prison in the first place. 

“Most people come out with very 

shattered relational history and they 

don't have healthy relationships to 

go to,” Hampton said. “Sometimes we 

have to counsel people not to go home 

because the home is where they started 

their addiction…or where their family 

continues to operate in addiction. 

“So, it's not an easy thing and it 

takes a tremendous amount of community 

effort and organization to provide 

a foundation that I think can offer 

people successful opportunities.” 

Some of Hampton’s clients may 

only need a little help to get started on 

the right path. Others may need years 

of intensive support. Freedom Life provides 

whatever each individual needs. 

“Like, for example, somebody may 

feel like they need to get a job, but 

they don't even have a social security 

card,” Hampton said. “Whatever 

it is, big or little, we walk individuals 

through the process to really assess to 

the deepest level of what the needs 

are, then we come back and help 

them prioritize the needs, and then 

we begin to help them put a plan together 

to go about addressing those 

needs and fulfilling them.” 

The goal is of course to gradually 

lessen what Freedom Life provides as 

clients gradually do more on their own. 

“One of the things we do not want 

to do is create any kind of codependency 

or any kind of systemic dependency, 

but rather we're trying to help 

people gain capacity individually for 

their ability to sustain within themselves, 

their lives in new capacities, 

and in new dimensions and not returning 

back to criminogenic behavior,” 

Hampton said. 

■ MEN OF 

ALL STRIPES 

Freedom Life serves four different 

levels of clients. The clients determine 

for themselves which level of help 

they need. Level one, “Single service” 

clients, Hampton said, are individuals 

that turn to Freedom Life, need food, 

or need clothes, or maybe even a gas 

card for the car; but that's all they 

want, they don't want any other help, 

their life is fine (at least according to 

them), and they don't want anybody 

meddling with their life or telling 

them what they need to do. 

“They just say ‘give me this and I'm 

on my way,” Hampton said. “And if they 

need anything else, we're here. They 

can come back…we don't say ‘we're 

only going to help you with this.’” 

Level two, Transition clients, by 

comparison, may need help getting a 

job, or help finding housing, or other 

transitional help in addition to some 

immediate needs as well. 

“Transition clients might even 

want to try to change their lives a little 

bit,” Hampton said. “But perhaps 

they're not quite ready to give up 

their addictive friends, or if they struggle 

with addiction they're not quite 

ready to make some difficult choices 

to steer their life in a new direction 

that they're not as familiar with, and 

they tend to want to go back to old 

patterns; but they still need help. 

“We're not going to help them 

destroy themselves; but we are going 

to help them as much as we can and 

encourage them to continue to seek a 

path that will help them not return to 

criminal behavior.” 

Transition clients like these, according 

to Hampton, generally come in and out 

of Freedom Life over a period of months, 

and Freedom Life will try to give them 

tasks to work on within their personal 

lives to improve their situations. 

“And as long as they keep working 

for themselves, we will keep working 

with them,” Hampton sums up. 

Level three, Transformational clients, 

are people who come out of jail 

or prison and admit openly that they 

can't go back to the same destructive 

life they were previously living that 

led them to prison. They want intensive 

help from Freedom to start and 

sustain an entirely new capacity of life. 

“They don't care what it takes,” 

Hampton said, “They know they need 

help, not just to eat but to change 

their life. They say ‘I do not want to 

go back to what I've been ever again - 

can you help me?’” 

“For these clients,” Hampton said, 

“We make every possible resource 

available to help, including assigning a 

case manager and developing new life 

capacity building plan.” 

“We assign a mentor, we do deeper 

level assessments with them, and then 

we do our best over the long haul,” he 

TIM NEALLEY 

said. “They're the ones that we walk 

with through an intensive, life transformational 

process of engagement, planning 

and development, and this can 

involve spiritual as well as other things. 

“This is where the cognitive behavioral 

intervention classes that we 

offer come in, this is where support 

groups come in, this is where individual 

counseling comes in, and this is 

where community connection comes 

in. We just literally surround these 

clients with everything they need at 

every level of their life to be able to 

have the opportunity to change.” 

Many are sent to rehab because 

some of them have never had a sober 

day or sober week outside of prison. Intensive 

rehab therapy helps them gain 

some sobriety outside of prison walls. 

“And then, from there, we'll start 

plugging in and working with them 

and continuing to help them grow 

in their capacity to address the mental 

the emotional, the psychological, 

the addictive -- whatever the inner 

conditions are that are holding them 

back from being able to change their 

lives….Our goal is the help level three 

clients become level four clients. Level 

four clients are clients in leadership 

training,” Hampton said. 

■ CASE IN 

POINT 

Arguably the most sterling example 

of Freedom Life’s process of change 

can be found in the story of Tim Nealley, 

who now actually works for the 

nonprofit as an operations manager. 

“I can speak directly into how hard 

it is to reintegrate once you've been 

released from jail or prison,” Nealley 

starts out by saying. “Myself, I've been 

to prison twice, once in Florida once 

in North Carolina.” 

According to Nealley, the results 

of his efforts to successfully re-integrate 

back in to society after each of 

his releases from prison were predictably 

negative. 

“I had the same results each time 

when I got out,” he said. “You’ve got 

a gigantic stamp on your head that 


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PUDDLE 

UP 

said ‘convict.’ With the Internet today 

there's no way of avoiding it. In years 

past, you could just check ‘no’ on that 

job application saying that you've 

never been in prison… now you can't 

hide from it. And, in most cases, it is 

an instant disqualification.” 

According to Nealley, given those 

realities, it’s no wonder most convicted 

felons end up back in the same 

crowd they need to avoid in order to 

make a new start. 

“It takes a very strong desire for 

change,” Nealley said. “Honestly, I had 

that; but I didn't know what to do 

with it.” 

Luckily for Nealley, it was at that 

very point that he met Hampton. At 

the time, Nealley was living in a men's 

mission separated from his wife and 

kids and addicted to pain pills. He 

said he was quickly on the fast track 

to going back to prison again. 

“Like I said, I had the desire to 

change, I just didn't know how, and 

I kept running into walls,” Nealley 

explained. “Application after application, 

interview after interview -- as 

soon as the background check was 

run, that was it, it was over.” 

But after a lot of counseling and a 

lot of intensive work, Nealley got his 

life together through Freedom Life. So 

much so, in fact, that Hampton helped 

Nealley go from client to volunteer. 

He began helping other men coming 

to Freedom Life by sharing his own 

story and giving them encouragement. 

“It gives me a unique perspective, 

and working with the guys, I can relate 

to them, and they can relate to me,” 

said Nealley. “I’m not shy at all about 

my story and I tell them, ‘if I can do it, 

you can.’ It just takes a desire and hard 

work and a willingness to change.” 

■ ENTER: 

PRESSURE 

WASHING 

Soon, Nealley was on the payroll. 

Hampton idealized creating a 

side business that Nealley - a former 

plumber and natural-born leader - 

could use to mentor their most difficult 

clients. 

“We had been wanting to join with 

some kind of company that would 

give our clients a chance,” Nealley said. 

“Initially, we kept hitting roadblocks 

with that. We're a small town. So, that 

added a little extra challenge to it.” 

A pancake breakfast fundraiser 

that Freedom Life hosted one 

day changed all that. At the event, a 

longtime supporter of the nonprofit 

asked Nealley if he knew anybody 

that was looking for work. Nealley, of 

course, excitedly said ‘yes.’ The supporter 

then said he knew a guy who 

owned a pressure washing business 

who was looking for some help. Nealley 

soon called the owner, who mentioned 

that a more ideal situation for 

him would be to have Freedom Life 

serve as a subcontractor for his business. 

Nealley and Hampton talked 

about it and eventually went to their 

Board of Directors with the proposal. 

It was just the kind of in-house employment 

opportunity they had been 

looking for to supplement the work 

they were doing trying to find outside 

jobs for their justice involved clients. 

And since the pressure washing business 

they yearned to partner with 

was willing to donate the equipment 

(eliminating start-up costs), as well as 

supply clients (his overflow work) it 

seemed, well, heaven-sent. 

“It just seemed like a great opportunity,” 

Nealley said. “And from there, 

it just snowballed. It's been great.” 

According to The McDowell News, 

Freedom Pressure Washing soon 

gained contracts with a large grocery 

chain. As the number of store contacts 

grew, and thanks to a People in 

Need grant through the Community 

Foundation of Western North Carolina, 

a second pressure washing team 

was started in January of 2019. In addition 

to the supermarket contracts, 

Freedom Pressure Washing now also 

works with fast food restaurants, regional 

businesses, Home Owners Associations, 

and private home owners 

to provide pressure washing and surface 

cleaning. 

Nealley’s blue collar background 

and determination to learn and succeed 

were crucial elements in getting 

the start-up pressure washing business 

off the ground. 

“I started training, learning everything 

I could about it,” Nealley said, 

“and I'm kind of an ‘all or nothing’ 

guy. So, if I’m in, I'm all in.” 

Freedom Pressure Washing officially 

launched in 2018, and began 

taking transitional and transformational 

clients to job sites, starting with 

grocery stores they were subcontracted 

to clean. 

“So, to this day, I take them out 

daily on the job sites,” Nealley said. 

“We have some jobs that are local and 

some that are far away. And it is kind 

Freedom 

is seeing 

a 95% 

success 

rate with 

the men who 

participate 

on the 

Freedom 

Pressure 

Washing 

crew. 

of the faraway trips where I get them 

in the truck with me and I have kind 

of a captive audience – they have no 

choice but to listen. 

“And we are able to speak into 

their lives, you know, and we've seen 

some amazing changes, not just in 

them, but you know, this is a generational 

thing. Usually, if you can start 

with the dad, then the family will fall 

in to place. 

“We've certainly seen some extremely 

positive changes -- men 

that were hopeless but who now are 

working their own full-time jobs after 

working with me, working with us, 

for several months… and have their 

families back together. It's been an 

amazing journey.” 

Through the years, many justice-involved 

individuals have rolled 

on and then off the Freedom Pressure 

Wash crew – but only after they learn 

and instill the key work attributes 

Nealley requires: show up every day, 

show up on time, cultivate a strong 


Call 800-393-7962 or visit PWNA.org 

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PUDDLE 

UP 

work ethic, work hard, look the part, 

and be polite. 

“Each person's learning curve is a 

little different and it depends on what 

kind of history they come from,” Nealley 

said. “Some clients have needed 

to work only just a few weeks, others 

have stayed you know, several months. 

“Seeing them move on and be successful, 

though – well, it’s wonderful,” 

Nealley said, adding that Freedom is 

seeing a 95% success rate with the 

men who participate on the Freedom 

Pressure Washing crew. 

And when they move on, they 

have something very valuable that 

they didn’t have before – namely, Nealley’s 

good word. 

“If they earn it, I give them a great 

reference,” he said. 

■ FINDING 

A NICHE 

Not all justice-involved individuals 

who turn to Freedom Life for help 

need Freedom Pressure Washing to 

set them on a path back towards the 

workforce. 

Freedom Life partners with state 

organizations for more traditional 

pathways to job training and job 

preparation. 

Freedom Life also has direct relationships 

with most of the major employers 

in the area and works through 

human resources entities on getting 

their clients hired. 

But not all individuals who have 

faced incarceration are ready to take 

immediate advantage of these more 

traditional approaches to workforce 

re-entry. For some, a more robust mentorship 

is required. That’s where Freedom 

Pressure Washing comes in to play. 

Hampton said Freedom Pressure 

Washing is the safety net for the most 

difficult of cases they encounter. 

“Freedom Pressure Washing is 

for those clients who have worked 

through the other process and 

couldn't get a job or if they did get a 

“America is still a great country, and 

there are a lot of wonderful people 

in this country, caring people, who 

do believe in second chances.” 

job they didn't have the job skills life 

skills capacity to maintain it,” Hampton 

said. “And so we literally formed 

Freedom Pressure Washing to mentor 

in some ways the most difficult people 

so that they could learn to sustain 

employment in their lives.” 

Hampton said the lessons to be 

learned are far more consequential 

than simple skill development. He 

said the work of Freedom Pressure 

Washing is to tackle a complex array 

of issues hindering a client’s personal 

development – from mindset 

conditioning to life programming to 

forming new habits -- all of which 

has to be approached at one time. 

With their most difficult cases, it’s 

not usually any one single thing you 

can put your finger on as to why they 

can't maintain a job, Hampton said, 

so what Freedom Pressure Washing 

seeks to do is effectively mentor until 

the change is permanent. 

Freedom Pressure Washing currently 

operates two fully equipped 

teams of pressure washing teams – 

and, interestingly, is getting ready to 

add on a pressure washing boat. 

“We live in a resort area around a 

lake and a lot of the docks are remote,” 

Hampton explains. “We partnered 

with Lake James Outdoors, which is a 

maintenance repair and construction 

company, and we will come along and 

clean their docks and help them.” 

“A lot of the docks and even 

homes that we clean can't be reached 

from the land, because they're so far 

out, so now we're going to be able to 

through the boat.” 

Nealley’s past experience as a 

plumber has served this new venture 

well. He devised a filtration system 

enabling his crew to draw water right 

out of the lake. They are able to literally 

pull up to docks that are remote 

from the lake and to clean them, as 

well as marine vessels, off shore. 

“This is a whole new level of both 

pressure washing capacity, but also 

pressure washing opportunity for 

the clients that we're working with,” 

Hampton said. 

Nealley describes the marine 

cleaning operation as “an amazing opportunity.” 

“It's going to provide a whole new 

level of training as well, and grow us 

to three active teams working every 

day,” he said. “We've got a lot of houses 

around the lake that we can get to a 

little easier from the lake. We also don't 

have to worry about transporting water, 

because as Danny said, you can draw it 

from the lake and filter it and use what 

we need, and still stay chemical free.” 

Neither Hampton or Nealley is 

aware of another such operation anywhere 

locally. 

“There's about four major lakes in 

a roughly 50-mile radius and from the 

research I've done nobody's doing it,” 

Nealley said. “This is a niche that nobody's 

covering.” 

■ SETTING AN 

EXAMPLE 

So-called “graduates” of the Freedom 

Life program, whether it be 

through traditional job seeking avenues 

Freedom Life offers or the Freedom 

Pressure Washing venture, can have a 

major impact if they become successfully 

employed by a local company. 

Those references to employers 

that are provided by Nealley and 

Hampton go a long way to opening 

employment doors for their clients; 

and once a Freedom Life graduate or 

two has earned their way in to a job at 

a local plant or corporation, a domino 

effect tends to occur. 

“This shows the human resources 

team that ‘hey, maybe we can give other 

people a chance to,’” Hampton said. 

“So, it’s spreading the word and it's really 

covering a lot of ground in this area.” 

Nealley said ex-convicts – when 

given a chance – are intrinsically highly 

motivated to do good work and 

prove the naysayers wrong. 

“Guys like me that have a history -- 

that can also make you so much more 

vote motivated to do a good job,” he 

said. “I think we have more motivation 

to get and keep a good job.” 

Hampton said as each Freedom Life 

“graduate” who gets a chance in the local 

workforce has success and proves 

their worth, his phone starts ringing. 

“We have HR people coming to us 

and they want to hire our clients, because 

of the level of intensive training 

that we are putting these clients,” he 

said. “America is still a great country, 

and there are a lot of wonderful people 

in this country, caring people, who 


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UP 

do believe in second chances.” 

The current state of the American 

workforce, plagued by massive labor 

shortages, is also driving interest in 

Freedom Life’s program. 

“The workforce is going through a 

very strange metamorphosis,” Hampton 

said. “The workforce has been 

depleted. With the younger generation 

coming up, there's not enough 

of them to replace the level that's retired; 

so, now you've got this very uneven 

dynamic taking place. And it is 

forcing companies to have to re-evaluate 

their stance.” 

One large McDowell County employer, 

for instance, previously would 

not hire Freedom Life clients, Hampton 

said. 

“No matter how much job training, 

if they had a record, they were not getting 

hired,” Hampton said. “Got a felony 

on your record -- don't come here. 

We tried for years to get them to hire 

clients…now we can't send enough of 

our clients to that company…because 

they were short 200 jobs…So, it's creating 

a unique opportunity.” 

Hampton believes that labor shortage 

or not, businesses everywhere 

need to give justice involved individuals 

a greater shot at landing a job and 

piecing their lives back together. 

“I think one of the best kept secrets 

of our community and of our society 

is just how extremely bright, gifted, 

and intelligent people who have faced 

incarceration are,” Hampton said. 

“There are a lot of gifted individuals 

that have made very bad mistakes in 

their lives that have cost him dearly.” 

Nealley, a model of what a reformed 

convict can accomplish, agrees. 

“Justice Involved individuals are 

an untapped resource,” he said. “What 

I would advise is in other communities 

look for some kind of a re-entry 

council that they could partner with… 

Reach out to local law enforcement to 

find out what is going on in their community, 

find organizations that are designed 

to help, because they are there.” 

■ SUPPORTING 

A GOOD CAUSE 

Using ministries like Freedom Life 

to find good workers is a noble act. Supporting 

ministries like Freedom Life regardless 

of personal gain is another. 

There are a lot of re-entry programs 

across the U.S. Some of them 

have moving companies or cleaning 

companies, even restaurants. They try 

to train people in jobs. 

Hampton said Freedom Life has 

diverse funding streams that keep it 

operating. They have grants, including 

federal grants, individual donations, 

business and corporate donations, 

faith-based donations, and church 

support, among them. Of course, 

there is also Freedom Pressure Washing, 

which earns a profit. Another 

business venture partners with social 

security to do payment management. 

Freedom Life also does a lot of 

fundraising events. For instance, last 

spring, the nonprofit brought former 

New York Yankee and Met Darryl 

Strawberry, a former offender himself, 

in for a fundraiser. 

Freedom Life is currently in the 

process of joint venturing on a $3 

million housing project to bring more 

housing into McDowell County for 

people who are reintegrating. It is 

also planning to expand into another 

county and open an office there. Mc- 

Dowell County does not have a robust 

public transportation system, so 

Freedom provides more than 25,000 

miles a year in transportation assistance 

for clients. Help with unsettled 

legal issues is another important part 

of Freedom Life’s work, as is mental 

health and substance abuse addiction 

treatment. Freedom Life has long 

partnered with a local community 

college where eligible clients receive 

job training. Now, in addition to that 

workforce development job training, 

Freedom Life has engineered new 

options that include classroom instruction, 

OSHA training, and even 

college credit. 

Freedom Life clearly works tirelessly 

to address not just job placement 

needs but to overcome other community 

barriers and community needs for 

the for individuals they are integrating 

from incarceration. Individuals who 

are serious about wanting to get their 

life going in the right direction have 

every opportunity to do so through 

Freedom Life’s many programs. 

■ THE 

STRAIGHT 

PATH 

Hampton said Freedom Life is “seeing 

incredible results.” Many of those 

results are coming to fruition not just 

through need-based programming efforts, 

but also through religious conversions. 

But interestingly, Hampton, 

though clearly a religious man, chooses 

not to overtly brand Freedom Life as a 

place where spiritual conversations is a 

requirement for help. 

“I am a chaplain in the prison system, 

and before I became a chaplain 

in the prison system, I was in pastoral 

ministry for 25 years,” Hampton said. 

“And one of the burdens I always had 

on my heart as a pastor was certainly 

ministering to the people that were 

coming to church, but also reaching 

the people that weren't. And I'm not 

just talking about getting them to 

come to church, I'm talking about 

touching them with the same love 

God has touched me with. 

“And whether they came to my 

church or not I just I just felt like that's 

what Jesus did…We literally founded 

the organization on what we call the 

leper principle. This principle is based 

upon the story in scripture where Jesus 

healed 10 lepers. He knew only 

one leper would follow him but he 

still helped the others. He didn't say 

‘well, we're not going to help you unless 

you agree to come follow me.’ 

“And that's what made Jesus' 

ministry so profound. It was not a 

self-serving ministry. It was a people-loving 

ministry where whether 

you follow me or whether you come 

along with me or whether you don’t, 

I am going to minister to you, I am 

going to reach out to you, I'm going 

to care for you, I'm going to love you, 

I'm going to provide opportunity for 

you – and what you do with that opportunity 

is up to you. 

“Romans 5:8 said that God has 

shown his love towards us in a while 

we were yet sinners. Where we were 

broken, he died for us. So, that's the 

heart of what beats through this ministry 

and that's why we're going to 

help everybody. 

“We certainly offer a tremendous 

amount of spiritual support counseling 

and help…and I will tell you the 

majority of our clients want that. But 

we also have some that don't and 

that's okay, because we're going to 

help everybody, and we want people 

to know in this community that that 

we're here for them, that God loves 

them, whether they believe in God 

or not, whether they agree with us 

concerning God or not, we just feel 

that God so loved the world, not just 

those that would love him back. 

Nealley testifies that things didn't 

change in his own life until he got serious 

about a relationship with his Lord. 

“And I believe that he put Danny 

in my path,” Nealley said. “And now, 

Freedom Pressure Washing.” 

“We are blessed beyond belief to 

even be a part of it,” Nealley concluded. 

“It's hard work, yes, and you know 

I’m in constant training mode; but it's 

a blessing and it's an honor to do, because…we're 

seeing not just lives but 

generations change. 

“Because we're not just trying to 

reach the people who are currently 

facing incarceration; we're trying to 

save their children. Because a high 

percentage of people who are in prison, 

they had a family member in prison 

before them. And so we're trying 

to cut this off. When we help change 

the life of a father or a mother that 

has been incarcerated, we are now 

changing the trajectory of the children. 

We're affecting generations to come.” 

“We are using pressure washing as 

an instrument to change the life of individuals, 

families, and our community.” 


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