Welcome & Show Setup

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 fed up with crooked blinds, get ready for real tips, industry know-how, and plenty of laughs. Now, let's get untangled.

Sponsor & Savings Pitch

Why Mastermind Groups Matter

Early Online Forums & Learning

Rise Of Facebook Groups

The Hunter Douglas Dust-Up

Founding A Free Speech Group

Global Community & Real-Life Meetups

The Case For Sharing Knowledge

Big Opportunities From Visibility

Final Takeaways & How To Join

Outro, Subscribe & Links

Roger Magalhaes 0:33

Hello, hello. Welcome to another show of No Strings Attached. My name is Roger McAllis, 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 talk about the benefits and advantages of belonging to a mastermind group. But before we do that, I just want to remind you that Blinds Online is our sponsor. Blinds Online offers a great selection of window coverings at very affordable prices. So if you are a decorator or a contractor, and even a homeowner, and if you're looking for a good way to save money with window coverings, and if you are good with measuring and installing, that's the place to go. Blindsonline.com. Check him out. So this week I got a reminder from Facebook that a private group I created called Free Speech Window Covering Pros is celebrating 12 years. Which it was a great remark of something very important, not just for window coverings, but in general. I was always a firmer believer that you should not learn everything on your own by trial and errors. So the more you can learn from other people's mistakes, the better. So when I first joined this industry in 2006, obviously I didn't know anything because I'm not even new this was an industry back then. And as you, you know, get your fee wet and get into the the business, you talk to people and someone mentions something and you check it out, and one thing leads to another. The first contact with online groups, let's put that way, it was an email blast called Window Pro. You join this list, and this guy, Roy McNeil, he would blast an email with a conversation, and you know, somebody asks a question, the next day you get an email with the answers and more questions, and so on and so forth. So, and from that point, you you know, someone mention a website, you go check them out, someone mentioned product, you go check him out. So that was really how I started learning from other people in this industry. From that point, I learned about another forum from the CHF Academy, which was a school for drapery installers back in the day. Unfortunately, they are no longer here, but that was another way to learn from other people. And then Facebook came on. And with Facebook, you know, everybody created a profile and he started posting publicly, and then Facebook started those private groups. So there was a guy, Steve Dale, somewhere in California. He started one for whatever reason, and it was one of the first ones, so it became super popular. So everybody joined, everybody talking about different things, and then it became even better than the email blast from the past because now you have pictures, you can associate, not just by words, by visual, how things work, how things didn't work, and you start making friends, it became something really powerful. So I was very active, and I am a very individual that uh is always asking questions, always have something going on in my mind, very inquiring mind, you may say. So because I ask too many questions, because I post a lot of things, and I like to return the favor when I can, when I learn something new, when I see something interesting, I always, you know, post and share so other people can learn as well, because I learned a lot, so I just want to pay back my share. And I became very popular, and one of the things with my name, because it's not an American name, it almost became a signature, and people start recognizing my name from the posts, and it was a good advantage, but that wasn't the main point. But the point was sharing and learning, and you know, you start talking to these people in private because you don't want to ask too many questions on the group and become annoying. So I start making really good friends. So one day I posted and I say, I have a problem with this Hunter Douglas shade, and the only intention of mentioning Hunter, it was just to be specific, so someone with a very specific knowledge about that product could help. So I post my picture, I mean, post my my question, and the next day I got a call from Hunter Douglas saying that I was not supposed to say bad things about a product, and I say, excuse me, I was very specific because is a particular question that I have, so it doesn't make sense to just say I have a problem with a honeycomb shade, it has to be specific so people understand exactly what I was talking about, and I was really aggravated by you know being tra uh being pressured or being cornered about honest question, not trying to you know trash anyone or anything like that. So I actually posted that on the group and I say, hey, by the way, my question yesterday, it was taken the wrong way, yada yada yada, and spiral downward from there to the point that this guy from the group came and messaged me and said, if you are going to mention companies again, I'm going to kick you out of the group. And I was very upset with his comment. And I said, You know what? You don't need to kick me out of the group. I'm already leaving it. So be but before I left, I posted and I say, Yeah, I was just got threatened by the administrator of the group, and I'm going to create my own group, which that's as free speech window covering pros, and hence free speech so we can talk about anything window treatment related. And I went a step further and I was very specific that I did not want big companies inside my group so people could talk freely about products, about concerns, about something that is not working well. And I left that group and I started my own. And so, long story short, to just say this week I got a notice from you know, a notification from Facebook telling me that my group is 12 years old, which is amazing. Now, the best part of this group was I got a lot of interest from a lot of people in the industry, and things grew from there, from one single guy being kicked out to having over 1200 members today. So we got people from US majority, but Canada, UK, Australia, any place that speaks English, there's someone in that group. And from these pool of knowledge from all over start becoming friendships and brotherhood and sisterhood. So I start getting jobs, I start giving jobs, we became so closed that during IWCE every year, we actually promote a free speech dinner. So whoever is going to the show, we ended up having a good time, having fun, gathering for a night, and just breaking bed, you know. So my point with this whole show today is just to not only mention the group, but telling you that life will be a lot easier if you share your knowledge, if you learn from others, instead of trying to figure out everything on your own. I have another group, totally separate, nothing related to inner treatments, on the WhatsApp. As a Brazilian group, as a Brazilian mastermind, we have about 50 people these days from people from all walks of life, all different professions. And it's fabulous because it's a trusted group, trusted board of directors, if you say, that you can discuss pretty much anything. So it's a great way to learn, to grow, to make friends, and that's what I suggest. So if you kind of keep everything you know to yourself, afraid that you're gonna lose an edge against you know your competitors, you are completely wrong. Obviously, I respect you. But you can share with people on the other side of town, on the other side of the country, they can help you, and you can help then. So instead of looking weaker, you're actually gonna look a lot stronger. And because I share and because people share, all these things developed. And I even got a very, very nice job a few years back in Turks and Caicos, probably one of the largest jobs I ever done. Just because you share, you post, people see your expertise, then they can hire, they can trust you, and life becomes a law easier, better, wealthier. So don't be afraid to share, don't be afraid to learn from others. And learning can be two things something that you want to replicate, something that you definitely don't want to do it. So, why do you need to waste your time, waste your money, waste your energy knowing that is not going to work? So, learning from other people's mistakes is a great way to you know just reduce stress, is reduce frustration and take it from there. So that was the story for today. I hope you take away something from here. If you are in the industry interested in joining our group, just send me a DM, send me an email, send me a text, I read them all, and I'll get back to you. Until then, thanks for listening, and I'll see you later. Take care.

Intro / Outro 14:28

That's a wrap for this episode of No Strings Attached, untangling conversations about shady topics. If you've 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.shadesinplace.com. Thanks for listening. And until next time, keep your shade stylish and your conversations shady.