#26 - Would You Run Off With $1,500?

A client looked Roger dead in the eyes, check in hand, and asked — "What if I give you this and you just disappear?"

His answer says everything about how he built his business.

This episode is about trust — what it actually means in the window treatment trade, how long it takes to build, and how fast one bad decision can burn it down. Roger shares what it was like going from installer to dealer overnight, suddenly becoming "competition" to the very people who hired him — and why he never once crossed that line.

We talk about the temptation installers face when a homeowner tries to cut out the dealer. The short-term money looks good. But what kind of client are you really getting? One who doesn't value relationships, doesn't respect the process, and will do the same thing to you the moment it's convenient.

There's also a hard-earned story from Roger's early days — a house under construction, trim work that wasn't finished, shades that came back wrong. He ate the cost. Every penny. Because his name was on it.

Twenty years later, that reputation is still paying off.

Trust isn't something you can order on Amazon. It's built job by job, decision by decision — especially the ones nobody's watching.

#WindowTreatments #TrustInBusiness #InstallerLife #WindowCoverings #SmallBusinessOwner #Reputation #TradeLife #BusinessIntegrity #NoStringsAttached #Podcast #WindowShades #BlindsAndShades #DoTheRightThing #BuildYourName

🎙️ No Strings Attached — with Roger Magalhães 

🎧 Show Sponsor BlindsOnline.com
 
📚 FREE Download - How To Say Yes Before You're Ready

Blogs:

📩 Keep It Simple - E-commerce
📩 We Dress Naked Windows - Window Coverings
📩 Trading Secrets - Trade
📩 Stories in Motion - Business & Life

📚 Book Nobody Told Me That

Social Media:

IG * FB * LI * YT * WEB * Email

Transcript

Intro / Outro 0:06

Welcome to No Strings Attached, untangling conversations about shady topics. Hosted by Roger McGillis, this podcast pulls back the curtain on the window covering industry with expert insights and a splash of Brazilian flair. Whether you're an installer, designer, dealer, or just set up with crooked blinds, get ready for real tips, industry know-how, and plenty of laughs. Now, let's get untangled.

Installer Trust And Crossing Lines

The $1,500 Check Trust Test

Owning Mistakes And Protecting Reputation

Questions And Closing Message

Roger Magalhaes 0:32

Hello, hello. Welcome to another show of No Strings Attached. My name is Roger McGallas, and I am your host. If this is your first time here, welcome to the show. And if you have been here before, welcome back. Today we are going to talk about trust. But before we do that, I just want to remind you that Blinds Online is a place that you can trust to buy blind shade shutters at a very affordable price. Blinds Online is our sponsor, and I suggest you go there and check them out for great savings. BlindsOnlines.com, I sponsor. So today's show is all about trust. And I'm going to use the installer's point of view to start off. So I started in this business installing for other people. And I get to a job site and do all my work, and people trusted me, right? Because I didn't sell blinds. If the homeowner wanted to buy more, he would automatically go back to the dealer or to the designer to get more blinds. But after a few years into the business, I decided to sell window coverings myself. And then overnight I became a competition to the dealers and the designers that used to work with me. But it didn't change how I do business. If they hired me as an installer, I would go to those job sites as an installer. If the homeowner wanted to buy blind from me, they would not get the blinds because I never crossed the line. I was there as an installer and I performed my work as an installer. Does this happen in the industry? Yes, they do, unfortunately. A lot of people, especially if they are just doing shades installing as a side gig. If they are looking for quick money and someone offers that, they'll go for it. Is that healthy? Absolutely. People talk. We have a lot of Facebook groups out there. Things gonna be, you know, hidden for a little while, but sooner or later we find out about those things. So what happened is the people that I start those relationships, they still trust me. They know Roger. Roger, not gonna mess that up. And they hire me as an installer before, they know I'm a dealer, but they still do hire me now. No problem. The problem is a new designer that comes across my name by a referral or through the website, and they don't have any history, and they come to me and I tell them and say, hey, listen, you hire me as an installer, I will go and I do whatever I need to do to represent your company. But my VINs have my logo on it. Someone sees it and does a little research. They know that I can sell window coverings. Am I going to sell to them? No, I am not, because we have your client's information in our system, and if that ever happened, it's gonna red flag, and I'm going to call you and tell you that your client called me and I don't want to do business with them. But sometimes people are reluctant, and I ended up losing the business because the designer decided to go someplace else. It's totally fine, it's totally understandable because it gotta have trust built in. So what happened if the the the installer decide to take that job? Now the homeowner deals directly with the installer. The installer makes a little bit of more money, they cut the dealer, they cut the designer off, but is this really well worth it? You're risking your reputation. What kind of client is that that you just acquired being the installer? That client is someone you cannot trust either because he was looking for an easy way to make money. So you did something wrong, the installer did something wrong, the client did something wrong. So if you were a dealer and if you were a decorator, ask yourself do you really want to work with a client like that that doesn't take ownership, doesn't appreciate what you do, doesn't value you as a professional. So sometimes it might be a blessing in these guys not having such a client. So to me, it's not worth it because it takes a lot of years to build a reputation, and over a little bit of money, it doesn't pay for a name that took a long time to build. Right, my van sparked on her driveway, and then came the neighbor, same complex, who walk, knock on the door, say, Oh, your client, your you have shades done at your house, so can you come over and measure my porch once you're done here? I say, Yeah, sure, absolutely. So I went over and I took some measurements and I gave her a price, and she said, Okay, let's go for it. And then as she was writing the check, she stopped midway, looked at me, and said, Roger, what if I give you this check and you disappear? I step back, I look at her in her eyes, and I said, Mrs. Jones, if you're writing me a check for five million dollars, I will be tempted to take the money and run away. But you're writing me a check for$1,500. It took a lot more than that to build my name, to build my reputation. So$1,500 is not going to cut. So my point is this is trust. You cannot go online, order some trust from Amazon. Trust can only be built, it cannot be bought. So keep your word, keep your integrity is a lot more important than a quick buck that you can make. No matter how hard your situation might be, it's still not worth it. So that's how you build a name. Even if there is no one in the house, do the right thing because people will notice your name, your trust, your reputation is built over time. Don't let a quick buck get into your head and decide they're gonna fix your problems because it's not. If you go to a job site, you mess it up, and you wrong, you measure the wrong thing, you provide the wrong measurements, you provide the wrong information for the dealer to place an order, you need to honor that because the dealer relied on you to do you know the order, and now because you didn't provide the right measurements, he messed that up. You need to come up and make sure you replace the product because it's your word, is the trust, is your reputation that takes what you do right to get where you are to where you want to be. One of my first jobs in this business, it was a measurement for this designer. I went and I measured the entire house. The house was under construction, I was new, I didn't pay attention. That three windows didn't have the trim work yet installed. So when it came to install the product, I realized the shades were shorter, they were narrower because we did not add the width of the trim work. Guess what? It cost me a ton of money at that time, but I honor it. I replaced the shades at my own cost. I pretty much worked for free, and then some because my installation chart wasn't even enough to cover for those products, but I did the right thing. So, fast forward 20 years, trust is there because I built it from day one. I hope you learned something from this, and I hope I swing you from doing the wrong thing and stick with the right thing because doing the right thing always pays off. This is what I have for you today. If you have any questions, please let me know. I always listen and hear and read every single comment. Thanks for sticking with me, and I'll see you next time. Take care.

Intro / Outro 12:55

That's a wrap for this episode of No Strings Attached, untangling conversations about shady topics. If you enjoyed today's discussion, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this podcast with fellow industry pros and window treatment enthusiasts. For more expert insights, follow Roger on social media and visit Shades in Place at www.shadesinplace.com. Thanks for listening. And until next time, keep your shade stylish and your conversations shady.