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One summer when I was in high school, a friend of mine and I got our hands on a steam carpet cleaner and some chemicals. We went around Colorado Springs trying to get our friends, neighbors, and acquaintances to let us make the carpets in their homes and businesses sparkle. Boy, did we learn some great business lessons!

Physical labor is hard work! We thought we were going to make some easy money. But what we’d estimate as a 4-hour job usually turned into an 8- or 9-hour job. When you start moving furniture around, you learn there’s more to logistics than meets the eye. By the end of the summer, I knew physical labor was not going to be part of my career choice! (I turned out to be a writer — mission accomplished.)

Presentation skills make the difference. At first, we naively assumed friends and neighbors would hire us because they knew us and liked us. Wrong! We had to explain why steam cleaning was superior to other methods. We had to demonstrate the product to prove our claims. And because we knew what we were doing and were incredibly enthusiastic, we were persuasive. As a matter of fact, we talked ourselves into taking jobs we soon wished we hadn’t …

Always scope out your project in advance. One business owner hired us to clean his entire very large and very elegant home. We pulled in a couple buddies to help, and in the middle of it, the client says, “Hey guys — as long as you’re here, would you mind moving that grand piano from the mezzanine to the living room?” Of course, we said, “Sure! No problem!” I don’t know if you’ve ever moved a grand piano down a spiral staircase, but it was a miracle we didn’t destroy the piano, the man’s home, and ourselves. It took about two hours, and of course, we didn’t receive any extra pay or even a tip. Sigh. Many lessons about human nature and business dealings in that little experience.

Always get a deposit. Another man hired us to clean his office. As we drove to the job we were licking our chops — offices were usually much simpler and cleaner than homes. However, when we arrived, we saw that in the middle of the off white carpet was a black oil stain about 10 feet in diameter. These people had literally spilled a barrel of oil in the middle of their office floor. We were skeptical we could clean it, but did negotiate a higher price. After spending 12-plus hours on the job, we did as much as any human being could do, but still it wasn’t perfect. The owner refused to pay us a dime. Served us right for not nailing down the specifics and getting an advance. Lesson learned.

Failure is cleansing. Most of our clients were pleasant and more than satisfied with our work. But the learning came not from our successes, but from our failures. A job that went south made us sharper on the next one. If you’re willing to try something new and stumble occasionally, you can become successful . That was probably the greatest lesson I took away from my brief foray into carpet cleaning.
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This post is part of Robert Hruzek’s latest What I Learned from … project.

This time, Robert has teamed up with Marcus from Lessons from Odd Jobs.

Between Robert and Marcus, I’m looking forward to lots of entertaining reading about strange job experiences! It’s not too late to turn in your entry!