#23 - How A Ten-Day Window Screen Install Built Real Confidence

What starts as a “quick” window treatment install can easily turn into a ten-day grind—and that’s where real growth happens.

In this episode of No Strings Attached, I break down a real-world job that tested everything: exterior shades, multiple sliding door screens, and complex triangular window screens. The kind of project that exposes gaps in planning, materials, measuring, and labor—fast.

If you’re a window treatment installer, blinds and shades professional, or interior designer, you’ll recognize the challenges immediately:

•  Miscalculations and reorders 
•  Leveling issues and tricky window shapes 
•  Underestimated labor and install time 
•  The pressure to still deliver a clean, professional result 

We also talk about what doesn’t get said enough in the window covering industry—the hidden cost of saying “yes” before you feel ready. From my early days installing plantation shutters on corner windows, tackling bay windows, learning drapery installs, to selling motorized shades when automation was still new, this episode is about learning in motion.

Because the truth is: you don’t grow when you feel ready—you grow when you step into jobs that stretch you.

I also connect the dots between job-site decisions and investing, sharing lessons from real estate experiences in Brazil and how overthinking can slow progress. Playing it safe might keep you busy, but it can quietly cap your potential.

This episode is about calculated risk, craftsmanship, and building confidence through experience—without compromising your standards.

🔑 Key Topics Covered

•  Window treatment installation challenges 
•  Exterior shades and screen installations 
•  Measuring mistakes and how to avoid them 
•  Plantation shutters, motorized shades, and custom installs 
•  Growth mindset for installers and small business owners 
•  Risk-taking in business and trade work
  
  #WindowTreatments #BlindsAndShades #WindowCoverings #WindowTreatmentInstaller #ShadeInstallation #BlindInstallation
  #CustomWindowTreatments #ExteriorShades #MotorizedShades
  #PlantationShutters #ScreenInstallation #SlidingDoorShades
  #CustomInstalls #MeasureTwiceCutOnce #InstallerLife #TradeLife

🎙️ No Strings Attached — with Roger Magalhães

🎧 This Episode Is Brought to You By BlindsOnline.com

With 60+ years of combined industry expertise, BlindsOnline.com makes window shopping simple with curated products, honest advice, and straightforward pricing.

👉 Visit BlindsOnline.com

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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 the crooked lines, get ready for real tips, industry know-how, and plenty of laughs. Now, let's get untangled.

The Ten-Day Installation Reality

First-Time Jobs Build Skill Fast

Risk Taking Versus Overthinking

Calling Suppliers For A Lifeline

Learning Screens The Hard Way

Honesty Wins With Homeowners

Questions And Final Takeaways

Roger Magalhaes 0:33

Hello, hello. Welcome to another show of No Strings Attached. My name is Roger McGallis, 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 I am going to share a few first timers during my career. But before that, I wanted to remind you that blindsonlines.com is our sponsor. If you are looking for a curated, simple, and affordable way to cover your windows, blindsonlines.com is a great place to go. Affordable, easy to navigate, and great prices. BlindsOnlines.com are sponsor. Check them out. So I just completed a installation yesterday that took me ten days instead of three days as I originally thought. Not an easy job. A lot of first timers doing this job. For instance, I had a regular up and down exterior shade, which I have done a few, so wasn't nothing new to me. But then I had some sliding door screens that I never done it before, and not just one or two, I had seven units. On top of that, I had to cover four triangle windows with screens, stationary screens, but nonetheless, something that I never done it either. So my point was if I knew how hard it was going to be, I could walk away from that job and avoid all the frustration, all the extra money that I had to spend fixing things, correcting things that I didn't do right, and save all the aggravation. Or I could do what I did, which was face you know all the challenges head on, figure it out, call your friends, your colleagues, your suppliers to understand, trying to find ways to solve the problems and move on. And obviously, I don't give up very easily, is either my Brazilian stubbornness or just lack of better judgment. But every time that I do something for the first time is never easy. And I mean it. The first time I did plantation shutter wasn't just a simple regular bathroom window. It had to be a corner 90 degree window in the kit over a kitchen sink. Obviously, I said yes because I didn't know any better. But guess what? That entire process, that entire a struggle, the entire situation brought me three steps forward. It's like you're going for an MBA before you even complete your high school classes. So it's not easy, it's not something that everyone can take on. I have a lot of colleagues in the industry that they try to think about every single possible scenario, but that creates something that kind of prevents you to move forward as well, because all these possible scenarios that could develop based on future uncertainty could paralyze you. I'll give you a personal example. I invest in Brazil, right? I I like real estate. So this guy came to me, developer, and proposed some studios that he was building and he was looking for investors. So I said, Well, I like the idea, I'm interested. So I call a couple friends and I presented the same proposal to my friends. And I say, man, I'm gonna get into this. I think is a good opportunity here. Do you wanna come with me and kind of, you know, we go together, or you buy yours, I'll buy mine. Well, definitely, I think this is a good opportunity. I'm gonna jump in. If you wanna come along, I'll introduce you. We'll take it from there. That was several years ago. I jump in, I bought it. Obviously, you know, you gotta have courage, courage. You need to be willing to lose some. You need to be willing to walk away if things don't work. But on the upside, if it does work, it puts you ahead of the game. And for one reason or the other, that's how I am. Always open to try things, and if they don't work out, I just walk away, I keep the lesson, and I move forward. So I jump in, I bought a unit, my friend, oh, I need to think about it. I'm not so sure what happened if it doesn't work, and I said, Well, if it doesn't work, you just lose your money, but you learn something in the process, and you know, make it right the next time. So after that, I probably got into at least a six, a half a dozen other deals with this guy. My friend, he is still thinking of the very first opportunity. So the point is you might need to be a little nuts to you know go forward when you don't have all the information and kind of go blindly and be willing to lose if things don't work out. The downside is you can lose some money, you may not be fully prepared. On the other hand, if you try to figure everything else first, it may paralyze you, it may hold you back, and it's probably not gonna put you ahead of the game as fast as it could, if you were just willing to you know push the envelope a little bit. Going back to my business, my first job was the corner window in a kitchen with a shutter. My second job was a bay window. And did I know all the answers? Of course I did not, but I knew people that could help me out, and I called my supplier, and he came to the rescue, so that gave me enough confidence to take on the project, even though I didn't make much money because all my profit, I gave it to the guy who came and basically installed it, but it was a private class that I was taking, if you know what I mean. With motorization, it was the same thing. I said yes before I really understood what I was doing. But guess what? I called Sonfi and I say, Hey, I just sold a job. And this goes back to 2006 when nobody ever even knew what shade uh remote shade was. So I said, I just sold a job, I need some help. Can you help me out? So I connect with a guy from Sonfi, he came to the rescue, I pay him, you know, a cup of coffee, I brought him to lunch and worked out. And those little nuts ideas, or you know, not even know how how to say, but those moments of braveness give you confidence down the road. You might not know that right away, but put you ahead of the game. So, same thing happened with draperies, same thing happened with this job that I just completed yesterday. I took the training, I saw the product, I knew it could be done, so my first opportunity was this gazebo or Lanay or whatever you want to call it over here in South Tampa, and I said, Yeah, we can do that. So I ordered, I called the manufacturer, I actually didn't have anyone to come and help me out, but at this point, 20 years in the industry, at least I have the technical background to help me figure things out, you know, figure out how to do it. There's a lot of videos these days, so I called a manufacturer, they assist me as best as they could. Obviously, I still made one mistake, had to reorder one of the shades, but I made it work. Obviously, I miscalculated the amount of extra work was involved in putting those tracks together, making sure everything was leveled. Then when it came to the triangles that I need to just make stationary to complete all the screens around this whole room, I was planning to do just cut a piece of fabric, he stapled it, but I I try one, it looks terrible. I didn't want to put my name on it, so I call another friend of mine, a colleague with a lot more experience in this kind of work, and I say, Dude, what do I do here? I FaceTime him, he he saw the pictures, he saw he saw the the site, he said, You want to work with this company, and he provided the website, provide the the materials, everything. I did went to the site, bought it, watched the videos, and I said, Man, this is gonna be a lot more work. All the materials that I had bought originally went to waste because it was something that I was not going to use, had to buy it again from the second manufacturer. Try error, you know, a lot of frustration. But at the end, it came out fantastic. So every time the homeowner came out, I was apologizing. Say, hey, this took a lot longer. I apologize. My first time doing this. Don't pretend, just be honest and say, Man, this is the first time I'm doing it. I'm just, you know, trying my best. I make sure this is gonna come out the way it's supposed to come out. And the homeowner was just super, super happy that he, you know, he he he noticed, he realized how much work was involved, and he was very glad that I was there, not letting things go, just doing what's supposed to do to make sure everything went the way, you know, the best way possible. So here's my point for the show. You can play safe, there's no problem doing that, but it may hold you back because you may not have as many opportunities because you're just trying to be very, very safe. I'll give you another example with my mom. My mom would never invest in the stock market because of the uncertainties. And I said, Mom, just put a money there, forget it. It's not something that you need to watch every day. Yes or no? I cannot live with uncertainty. I need to know for sure what I'm gonna get, how things are gonna be, you know, in the future. So, in that case, she's very safe with CDs in something very predictable. But obviously, she's never gonna be able to accumulate a lot of wealth because of the way she prefers to be, which is super safe. Same thing with our industry or whatever industry for that matter. If you're too safe, you're gonna be super uh comfortable doing your job. You're gonna be probably the best in town doing what you're doing, but they're never gonna try you with something newer because they know you're safe. Never gonna be out of food, never gonna be out of work, but maybe you're not going to advance as fast. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just different personalities, different ways to do things, different ways to run businesses. I am on the other hand, my wife, same thing. We like to try things. We we we make a plan. Yeah, I think we can do that. If it works, works. If it doesn't work, the lesson stays, and we move forward to the next chapter. So moving to Florida was the same thing, we never really planned. We should move, we should have this, we should have that. It was pretty much let's move, we're gonna do this, gonna do that. If it doesn't work, we just move to the next phase and do something else. And for the most part, we don't regret anything we do. We kind of regret at the time that's damn it, a lot more work than we thought it was what's gonna be. But hey, guess what? That's what it is, and we're very happy the way we we run our lives. So the message is you can be safe, you can be edgy, whatever works for you, as long as you're happy, just keep your word one way or the other. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions, as always, I listen, I lit, I read every single comment, please let me know. We'll take it from there. Thanks so much. Talk to you soon.

Intro / Outro 16:34

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.shadesandplace.com. Thanks for listening. And until next time, keep your shade stylish and your conversations shady.