My old boss told me to never turn down a job just because it felt small

I was working at a tree service in Austin about 10 years ago and my boss Frank said this to me after I complained about trimming a single dead branch for an old lady. He said "every job is a reference for the next one, even the tiny ones." At the time I rolled my eyes, but that little job led to her son calling me a year later to manage a whole commercial property contract worth $12,000. Has anyone else had a piece of advice that seemed stupid at first but ended up being totally right?

2 comments

2 Comments

noahpark22h agoOG Member

Started telling my younger cousin the same thing when he got his first roofing gig. Small jobs turn into big ones when you show up and do good work.

miawalker16h ago

I used to be one of those people who thought "it's just a small job, what's the big deal?" but your post really made me rethink that. I had this attitude for years honestly, where I'd kinda half-ass the little stuff thinking nobody would notice or care. But you're right about that "small jobs turn into big ones" thing because I've seen it happen with my own eyes now. A buddy of mine does landscaping and he told me once that his whole business started from one tiny backyard cleanup he did for an old lady who then told her whole neighborhood about him. Now I make sure I put the same effort into a quick repair as I would a whole new install because you never know who's watching or who that customer will talk to next. It's wild how a little thing can snowball into something way bigger than you expected.