How to Cut Down on Headaches
My husband shut down a construction site by pretending he was with the Mob.
Let me explain. We live in a part of Queens, New York, known as Howard Beach. For those of you not in the know, this is where the mobster John Gotti and his Family lived. That’s family with a capital ‘F.’
These days most of the higher-ups in the Mob live in Long Island, but Howard Beach still has certain…connections. And a certain reputation in the rest of New York City. If you live in Howard Beach, you (generally) know who is connected to the Mob and who isn’t. If you don’t live in Howard Beach, you tend to be very polite to everyone just in case.
So when a group of construction guys started operating their jackhammer at ten o’clock at night on the main boulevard in Howard Beach, we were surprised. That isn’t the kind of thing you do in this neighborhood.
My husband went out to the construction site and told the guys there that they needed to stop. Now these guys were gorillas. But they didn’t give Eric any attitude even though it was late at night and he was all alone. They weren’t from Howard Beach, so they had to assume that there was a good reason one lone guy wasn’t afraid of half a dozen construction guys with power tools.
My husband isn’t Mob. But he was able to coast on the neighborhood’s reputation to get rid of an annoying situation.
You can do the same if you build the right kind of reputation in your business. I’m not saying you should start braking people’s legs and such, but those construction guys had certain expectations when they dealt with Eric. If you develop a reputation for good work delivered on time, you will have fewer headaches. Your clients will assume you are doing your best and leave you to do your job.