Our brains have an incredible feature called memory. This can be a good or a bad thing! If you have experienced something that caused stress in the past, it becomes a trauma everytime a similar situation happens. On the other hand, a positive experience brings good feelings when similar events occur. My first time installing shutters was a mixed one. Read below as I describe what happened.
The year was 2006 and I had been in business for just about three months when the first plantation shutter job came across.
I had only heard that “making a mistake with shutters could be very expensive”, therefore I was afraid of them. However, I was determined to become an expert in the field.
While talking to my shade supplier at the time, he told me that if I needed shutters, his company could supply them to me. Better yet, he would send one of his reps to assist me on the job sites. That was exactly what I needed to hear.
So when my first client called for the shutter over the kitchen sink, I was confident enough to say “yes” since I had a backup plan to bring my supplier’s rep with me to the job.
What I did not expect was to find a corner window over the sink upon my arrival. If you are not familiar with corner windows, let me bring you up to speed: it is a difficult window type to treat with shutters.
Thankfully, my backup was a seasoned installer & salesperson who was able to handle that project without any problems.
From the measurement to the installation, I was basically his shadow watching and asking details about each of his moves. That experience was priceless because I knew I was not alone.
My very next shutter job was yet another complicated challenge: a bay window. And again, Rich came to the rescue.
I even joked that if my first two jobs were that complex, I should be graduating from the school of hard knocks soon.
Since that bumpy start, I have installed hundreds of shutter projects on my own. Obviously, not every job went perfectly and things had to be re-ordered, adjusted or shaved down sometimes … but those situations shaped me to become who I am today.
Those lessons gave me confidence, experience, and humility to understand that challenges will always be present and the road to “knowing everything” will never come.
As part of my mission to spread knowledge and education in our industry, I just put together a course on shutters. This is a 3-part course that will give an opportunity to installers, sales consultants, designers, decorators, and workrooms to learn about the plantation shutter world.
Obviously, this course alone won’t make you an expert, the same way that shadowing Rick on two jobs didn’t make me an expert either.
However, learning things such as different materials, panel and frame configurations, and shutter applications among other things, will boost your confidence and shorten the distance to your road to success.
If you have ever declined a shutter job for a lack of knowledge or confidence, this Course on Shutters will give you the education and certainty necessary to discuss a project with your clients, suppliers and installers without sounding like a novice.
I have put my 17 years of experience measuring and installing shutters in this course so you don’t have to go through the same struggles as I did.
My motto holds true every day and the only way to become a Top-Notch pro in your area is to never stop learning!
Until next time!
Roger