Maybe it’s because I went to vocational school for robotics in Brazil. Automation fascinated me. So when I learned about remote-controlled shades, I was hooked.
What didn’t I expect? The painful learning curve that came with it.
The Day I Almost Quit
One of my first jobs was a house on a lake in Arlington, MA.
Six roller shades. Battery-powered. No ladders needed.
“An easy hour,” I told myself.
Five hours later, I was still standing there — pressing buttons, reprogramming, sweating, and wondering if I’d made the biggest mistake of my career.
Back then, there was no one to call. No YouTube tutorials. No manufacturer hotline.
Just me, the shades, and pure frustration.
That day, I almost quit.
But I didn’t.
Fast-Forward to This Week
I got called to fix a commercial job — five double roller shades, solar, and blackout. The client had lost their remote, but the system was tied to a Somfy URTSI interface.
The maintenance guy had already rolled out a 10-foot ladder, ready for war.
Twenty-five minutes later, I was packing up my tools.
No ladder. No panic. Just confidence.
All I had to do was copy and paste the setup from the URTSI into a new remote. Because I had already earned my scars from years of mistakes, I knew exactly what to do.
And this time? I charged enough to make it worth my while.
I solved the problem, the client looked like I had saved the day, and I drove away before the hour was up.
The Real Lesson
I’m not sharing this story to brag — I’m sharing it to remind you of what David Goggins says in You Can’t Hurt Me:
“You don’t rise to the level of your expectations. You fall to the level of your training.”
Back in 2006, I was training without realizing it.
Every wrong button, every wasted hour, every frustration was callousing my mind.
That’s why today, when something goes wrong, I don’t panic. I lean in.
Four Lessons for You:
1. Don’t skip the hard stuff. Struggle is the tuition you pay for expertise. Every time you suffer through a difficult install, you’re buying future confidence.
2. Document your pain. Keep notes, photos, and solutions. Your biggest frustrations today are your future cheat sheet — and your biggest flex down the road.
3. Charge for your experience, not your time. Clients pay for what you know, not how long it takes. The only reason you can fix something in 25 minutes is because you spent years learning how.
4. Stay in the fight. It’s okay to get frustrated — just don’t quit. The only way to truly fail is to stop trying.
That’s how a five-hour struggle in 2006 turned into a twenty-five-minute win in 2025.
The easy jobs make money. The hard ones make you unstoppable.
Roger Magalhães
Trading Up Consulting
P.S. — What’s your “five-hour struggle” story? Email me and tell me about a job that nearly broke you… but didn’t. I read every response.