[SIZE=“4”]LOVE YOUR JOB![/SIZE]
I live in a small town and we have 2 delis. One is uptown and close to my house. The food is amazing at the atmosphere is pleasant. It is in the old part of town and they have nice little tables outside to sit and enjoy the Southern California weather. The only problem with it is that the girl that works behind the counter has the attitude that she would rather have an ovarian cyst removed than wait on you.
The other deli is downtown. It has great food as well but the price is a little more than the uptown deli. But when you walk in the store, Kory the owner greats you with a smile and calls you by name. She works her deli from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm. Exhausting! Yet she always greats you with a smile. She really loves running a deli and is very appreciative of your patronage.
When I first started this business, my guys and I would go out and do an amazing job on the house. Perfect workmanship in every sense of the word. Yet, I wasn’t getting any referrals from them. I thought to myself, “what the hell is wrong with these people? I think that they are all snobs and looking down on me because I clean windows”
Then, one day while sitting down at Kory’s deli and watching her interact with her customers, it hit me. It wasn’t my customers. It was me!!! It was my fault I wasn’t getting the referrals. I had a bad attitude because of my position in life at the time. I wasn’t working in my chosen profession that I had worked so hard all of my life. I wasn’t making the money I was accustomed to, yet, I was doing this because I was forced into it. I had a bad attitude and it showed! I was ****ed off that I had to go around begging for work, as opposed to my previous company where I spent more time turning down work that looking for it. My demeanor sucked and it showed.
So I sat down and looked at all of the things that I was grateful for and how window cleaning could bring me happiness. The list was surprisingly long. From that day forward I loved what I was doing. Cleaning windows is just a job, but meeting great people, seeing the smile on their face when I have completed the work, the challenge of getting more work and making myself well known in the community; all these things motivated me to be a better business person today than I was yesterday.
Suddenly, my phone was blowing up with referrals.
The best marketing tool in the world is free! Love your job and convey that to your customers. Who would you rather have in your home? Someone who is happy to be working for you, or someone who is upset that they had to wake up in the morning?
I was my own worst enemy, but not any more. I LOVE my job!
