Dave and Bill  

Pure and steamy, sounds like the beginning of a good romance novel. Moreover, at 300 degrees, this little red box on wheels is a killer.

The CyberHood Watch partners typically are not tracking down hot steamy stories unrelated to Internet safety for children and their families, but too many coincidences kept presenting themselves.

I have friends who say there are no such events as coincidental; they occur for a reason. No matter what your belief, sometimes events occur at random but strangely enough all the pieces mesh seamlessly. For example, Christi and I planned a week earlier to meet with Joyce and discuss her Internet marketing ideas for Sargent Steam.

I was back home in my office when Bill, (unaware we had just visited with Joyce) sends me an instant message (IM) suggesting the idea of contacting “the steam lady” to be on the show. Coincidence?  Maybe, maybe not. Initially, my thoughts were Internet safety – steam cleaning, hmmm. We resolved the issue in our minds by tying it to keeping families safe and healthy.

Therefore, I called Joyce and invited her to be a guest on CHWradio show. Normally, our publicist, Anissa, handles that for Bill and I, what a blessing she is, but that would not be necessary in this case. Long story short, Joyce agreed, but before Joyce hung up, she made an interesting comment. Joyce had recently received an article from the Department of Labor talking about the current concerns of Swine flu; she suggested swine flu as a public service announcement.  

Doing the amount of research Bill and I do regarding child Internet safety, we use certain tools to help with the research. One of the tools we use, offered by Google, which searches and pulls in information based on specific keywords, had sent me an email. One of those keywords I have searched, by Google, is “Responsible CyberCitizen”. 

I am telling you this, because no sooner did I finish my conversation with Joyce, I opened my email to find an interview, based on that keyword search, with the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Center for Disease Control (CDC). It was an interview talking about how swine flu and internet safety had more in common than anyone might imagine.

Well, Dave & Bill were all steamed up (shameless attempt) as Joyce shared her wisdom with our listeners.

It is just business…Cigarettes - it’s just business…Engineered and modified foods – it’s just business…Chemical cleaners – it’s just a casualty of doing business. When Joyce made the analogy we live in a chemical soup, she is not far off. Most of the chemicals we use in our homes are byproducts of chemical warfare used to kill or maim. In addition, the combination of many different chemical cleaners reacting with one another could potentially be more harmful than the germs we attempt to kill.

Joyce shared an excerpt from the Department of Labor’s article regarding how air freshener products make our homes smell like spring. Did you know the chemicals released from those air fresheners coat the inside nerves of your nose – you are better off plugging your nose, than coating them with chemicals.

Don’t you think it makes more sense, since odors are due to bacteria and germs, to remove the cause rather than coat the nose with chemicals? 

Steam is the purest sanitizer, and according to a study performed by Brigham Young University, direct steam, minimum of 150 degrees, kills germs in two seconds. The benefits of cleaning with steam have such a wide reaching positive effect on the environment and the health of families it makes you scratch your head and wonder why it is not the norm.

We asked Joyce why she thought more families were not using Sargent Steam. Her response was open and honest – she did not know how to market to the masses. I felt that having 12,000 customers was not something to sneeze at (germ free sneeze followed up with a triangular brush and Sargent Steam), another shameless attempt. Where
was I? Oh yeah…

Joyce made reference to the reversed engineered and manufactured units built in China and then sold on TV, which she in jest, said, may have sold 12,000 in a week. More than not, you will also find out, you get what you pay for. It occurred to me, with such poor quality knock-offs that you negatively influence the market. Those who bought the inefficient models, who believed in the concept and advantages of steam are now dissatisfied, and
convinced that using steam is messy, inconvenient, and inefficient.

Sargent Steam, is as close to industrial for the home as you will get. You get what you pay for…Sixteen years later and Joyce’s earliest customers are still using their original Sargent Steam and getting what they paid for.

Like most quality, you pay more. However, most individuals fail to recognize the true costs savings in quality. I can assure you Joyce’s earlier customers whether they are aware of it or not have benefited financially because of their decision to go steam.

Joyce shared another statistic from the Department of Labor that the average
household in 2005 spent approximately $611.00 a year on cleaning products, which could very well be costing you more in terms of your health. If you are suffering from allergies, (caused by mite feces living in your bed, pillows, and/or carpet) you are probably buying medications – more costs, not to mention the health risks. Eliminate your cleaning product costs, and apply those costs towards your Sargent Steam cleaner, and in a couple of years you have paid for your steamer, which means Joyce’s earlier customers have saved thousands of dollars.

There are more germs in your kitchen sink than in your toilet. This also holds true for the bottom of your purses ladies. That should make a point.

As always, hand washing, not just during flu season, is paramount in the prevention of curbing the spread of disease. Teach children to sneeze into the bend of their elbow.

I know this post addresses cleaning the home and every surface in it, but do not overlook the versatility of this machine. Joyce mentioned its uses from restoring the tack on your golf club handles, to Harleys, to automobiles (rims), to boats, to tile grout, to blanching tomatoes and peaches.

Like most Sargent Steam customers you just don’t know, what you don’t know, until you have one.

As always, be safe…

david c ballard

PS: We have prepared a Swine Flu report available at Online Security Authority