Somewhere around 2009, a woman in Wrentham, Massachusetts, watched a stranger stop at her mother’s front door.

He was a subcontractor sent by Lowe’s to install shades in a unit at Pond Meadow. Nothing special about the job. A few windows. A few brackets. In and out.

Then he bent down and pulled a pair of booties over his shoes before stepping inside.

She didn’t catch his name. She didn’t need to. She remembered the booties.

The 17-Year Callback

A few years later, she walked into my store. We talked about products and set up an appointment.

When I arrived at her home, I did what I had done hundreds of times before: I slipped on a pair of shoe covers before walking in.

That’s what triggered her memory. Only then did she realize I was the same guy from years before.

I got the job. Then I got the whole house. She never shopped around again.

This week, she wrote to me. She had just read my book and wanted to share her thoughts.

Spotting Risk vs. Earning Trust

She’s retired now, but she spent 35+ years as a manager at an industrial property insurance company. Her whole career was about spotting risk before it turned into a disaster. This is not a woman who gets impressed easily.

Yet a pair of disposable booties got past her radar. Seventeen years later, she’s still talking about them.

That’s the thing nobody tells you about reputation:

• It doesn’t get built in the sales pitch.

• It gets built at the front door, on a regular Tuesday, at someone’s mother’s home.

• It’s built by a guy who has no idea anyone’s watching.

And it pays you back on a schedule you don’t control, sometimes the following week, sometimes almost two decades later.

The Plumber Story: The High Price of Sloppy Work

She also mentioned the plumber story from my book, same coin, other side. The booties got me a whole house, while sloppy work cost that plumber jobs he’ll never even know he lost.

Nobody calls you to say, “Hey, I almost hired you, but I remembered the mess.” They simply call the competition instead.

“I Have Read Every One of Them”

There was one more line in her email that stopped me:

“Though I don’t respond to your various newsletters, I have read every one of them.”

Every one of them! And I never knew.

When you write a newsletter, give advice, or post on social media, you’re mostly doing it into silence. You hit send. A few people reply. You wonder if anyone is out there or if you’re just talking to your own echo.

Turns out my client was out there the whole time. Reading. Laughing with her husband. Passing the book to her sister. Telling “so many people” about the shade guy because, as she put it, what vendor does this?

Doing It with Intention

Same lesson, different room. The booties and the newsletter are the exact same thing. Both are small, quiet, consistent acts that most people will never comment on.

You do them anyway. Not because someone is watching, but because one day you find out someone was.

If you’re reading this from a tough corner right now, don’t give up. Keep doing what you’re doing, the best way you can. Studying, working, prospecting, parenting…

The easy, effortless way is, simply put, easier. But doing it with intention, with love, with care? That’s what gets you remembered seventeen years later by someone who barely knew you.

With shoe covers on, see you next week!

Warmly,

P.S. —  The booties story and the plumber who taught me the opposite lesson are both in Nobody Told Me That. If you’ve ever wondered whether the small stuff matters, it’s a good place to start

About Roger Magalhães

Entrepreneur | Speaker | Storyteller | Author
Different brands. Same high standard.

Connect & Explore:

Official Website: RogerMagalhaes.com
Businesses: Shades In Place | Trading Up Consulting | Blinds Online
Book: Nobody Told Me That
Podcasts: No Strings Attached (US) | Garra Brazuca (BR)
Blog: Explore Previous Articles & Insights