Three Years After Moving South

Roger Magalhaes 0:00

This past weekend we celebrated three years since we moved to Florida. And as far as I know, there are three types of people when it comes to new challenges and possibilities. The first one analyzes it and draws a plan what to do what not to. The second type analyzes it and never do anything because it's so overwhelming. The third type acts upon quickly and figure it out as they go. I am the third one. Today I'll share with you what happened, the goods and the bads and the ugly, right after this.

Intro / Outro 0:52

Welcome to No Strings Attached, the place where we untangle honest conversations about business reinvention and the pursuit of the American dream. Hosted by Roger McGallas, Brazilian-born, Boston-bred, Florida-based. He is an entrepreneur, speaker, and storyteller with 20 years of real stories, laughs, and screw-ups. This show is for anyone still searching for their place under the sun. So pull up the chair. The show is about to start. Here's Roger with No Strings Attached.

Roger Magalhaes 1:25

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. But if you have been here before, welcome back. Today I am going to share three years of living in Florida since we left Boston. There's a lot of emotions involved in this whole three-year transition. We're going from confidence to uncertainty to anxiety, happiness, planning, improvising, and all in between.

The Three Decision Styles

Roger Magalhaes 2:05

So before we get to that, I just want to share three kinds of people when something comes in regards to making decisions. So the first kind is the type of person that face a decision or you know a challenge, and they're going to think about every possible detail. The pros, the cons, what to do, what not to do. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's just the way they function. They need to understand they need to have a plan, they need to have a B plan, they need to have a C plan. And that's fine. The only downsides to that is the possibility of missing the opportunity. Because you need to go through, you know, all the options and figure out what's gonna happen or what possibly could happen. Sometimes the opportunity won't wait for them. Again, there's nothing wrong, it's just a matter of how people function. Sometimes they need to be uh super certain, or you know, they they they don't like to live under fear or under uncertainty. They are very predictable, they like to be in control of everything. The other type is type B, and this is the type of person or people that basically are the same as the first type. They figured out everything, A, B, C, D, they know answers, they know what to do, they research. The difference between type A and type B is because it becomes so overwhelming that these people never act on the decision. They feel paralyzed, they think it's too much information to process, and they don't move forward. Sometimes there's a possibility right there, there's a life change, there's a lot of great potential ahead of them, but they feel overwhelmed and they never go forward with the possibility with the potential upside of things. The third type is the type that think about it, don't waste too much time trying to figure everything out because let's be honest, out of ten possibilities, just one is going to happen, and they move forward and they act upon the situation. How if as they change as unfold, they figure it out as things happen. I am that kind of person. I don't know if that's good or bad, but that's how I always been. For some reason, I analyze very quickly, I see the upside, I see the downside, and I act upon that. And then obviously, a lot of things happen after that that you don't control, but that's the thrill for me to figure it out as I go. And my wife and I is basically the same way. We like to explore, we like the the new, we like the things that we don't know what's what could be, and that's basically how we rode.

Landing In Tampa Without A Plan

Roger Magalhaes 6:10

So with the move to Florida, we came back from a vacation in Brazil, some life events happened, and out of the blue, we decided it was time to change. So we put our house on the market, we sold quickly, we picked Tampa without ever being to Tampa, and we said, okay, let's go, let's see what's gonna happen. The only thing was I knew I was I was going to stay in the window treatment business just because I was doing well in Boston, I could leverage my knowledge, I couldn't leverage my network, but that was about it. The main goal was moving south, move to a place warmer than Boston, and then at the end of the day, the expectation was to get home, you know, put the flip-flops on, and go for a walk, go to the beach, and live a little more life instead of just work. So obviously, it comes with pros and cons. Well, I didn't have a plan other than window treatments. So I we got to to Tampa and I'm starting looking for work. I did have a little bit of leverage because all my networks, all my you know, connections in the industry, all the connections through Facebook and social media. So that gave me something to start off on. But then the market is different down here. People are a little more frugal. They don't spend or they don't want to spend a lot of money on window treatments like people did in Boston. The other thing that I noticed here was there's a lot of semi-retired people, even people from the industry that kind of retired and moved to Florida. So, and they still want to make some sort of money, some sort of income. So, what I realized here, people don't sell a great margins down here. Some companies may do, a lot of companies don't. As a result, for someone that used to sell a full margin up in Boston, I was getting no's way more often than I ever received in Boston. So I had to adjust to the new conditions of the market out of several jobs, most of them, I didn't get the jobs because my price was too high. So that was the first culture culture shock. Second

Pricing Shock And New Product Demands

Roger Magalhaes 9:03

thing that I didn't analyze as much before moving here, the exterior product market is huge. It's basically almost 50%. So in Boston, I was primarily an interior window treatment guy. Roller shades, straight shutters, you know, the whole nine. Once I moved to Florida, I realized there were uh there was a lot more work on the exterior of the house. Roller shades for Lanice, for garage doors, hurricane shutters, retractable awnings, the possibilities were doubled up. So I had to develop new vendors down here, I have to go to trainings. Those products are heavy, so you it requires assistant. You cannot do all of these by yourself. I need to develop a team down here. So all of those things I didn't play for took me a while to figure those out. Plus, to do hurricane products down in Florida, you need to get a license, you need to be a contractor's license to do that. So that was another step that I need to go through, take training, taking classes to be able to offer those kind of products. Another thing that I didn't plan on it, and I had to figure it out once I moved here. As I started getting work, people complimented what I did. Roger, your job is great. I like what you did here. Do you know a painter? Do you know an electrician? Do you know a landscaper? And I actually didn't have one to refer to. So I went back in my mind to how I built my business in Boston, which was networking. So

Networking For Referrals And The Bigger Lesson

Roger Magalhaes 11:16

I joined this group called BNI. I became a member of a local chapter, and what happened is you develop your relationships with professionals. And that was pretty much it. I became a member, you start making connections, you refer people, people in return, which is a human nature, they try to pay you back whatever you make them feel, they try to, you know, reciprocate. So and that expended how I approach business, how I get business, it was a great thing. So again, there are three types of people, the planners that need to plan every single detail, but perhaps because they took their time to do everything, to know every possibility, to know every single outcome, they might miss the opportunity. The second type is the ones that go in, understand every possibility, draw up a map, know exactly what to do if A, B, C, D, and E happen, but then they feel overwhelmed and they never do anything about it, they never move. The third type is the doers like myself. Think about it quick, act on it, and move forward. Do I get things right all the time? Absolutely not. A lot of times we pull the trigger too quick, we need to figure it out, we lose money. Sometimes things don't work out, but that's the way I am, that's the way my wife is. We we just like it. We like uncertainty, we like things unexpected, and a lot of times we just don't waste energy on potential outcomes that will never materialize. So, in my mind, why do I waste my energy thinking of things that may not ever happen? So I rather spend my time figuring out things if they do happen. Again, there's not a right or wrong. You just need to be honest with yourself. Not because someone did it and worked for them, it's going to work for you. I know of people that potentially did a similar move because they saw me moving, but they don't have the same profile, they don't fit the same persona that I am, and they eventually went back to their roots because this was not for them like it was for me. I know a lot of people that went into business because the partner did, the partner seceded, these person didn't because he didn't have uh the profile or the personality to own a business. So this mindset works for business, works for life, could be a relationship that you stuck with someone that don't match, but you start to analyze should I stay, should I go? And some people never move. You see, we have friends, we all have friends, they are stuck on a bad relationship, but we see everything, all the possibilities, but they don't. It could be work, it could be a place that you always wanted to move to, but somehow you think too much, you never act on it. You need to find out your way if you feel comfortable with that, if you don't, and then take your next step.

Closing And How To Reach Me

Roger Magalhaes 15:44

That's what we have for today. Appreciate your time here. Send me your comments, send me your personal stories. I read everything, and I'll see you next time. Take care.

Intro / Outro 15:56

And that's a wrap for today. Hope you're leaving with something that sticks. If this episode resonated, please share it with someone who needs to hear it. For more information, follow Roger at RogerMegallus.com and find the link in the show notes for a free chapter of his book, Nobody Told Me That. We'll see you next Sunday with no strings attached.