Have you ever had a moment where it seems like every thing that could break in your house starts breaking?

We’re there right now. While I’m pretty good at following Ikea instructions, I struggle with the more complex renovation jobs. HGTV and the other stations like it really make installing bathroom tile look like it’s a 3 hour project.

It’s not.

And while you can watch a zillion YouTube videos to get the basic idea about how to do stuff, actually doing those things in an older, out of plumb home is never exactly the same.

It’s not that what needs to be done is difficult, but when you have no experience doing it, you’re not sure what to look out for. You don’t know anything about using fur strips on studs before installing concrete backerboard. You don’t know how to shore up a floor board by cutting it out reinforcing the joists.

You’ve never seen it done before. It’s like walking into a room full of Japanese business people and trying to explain your quarterly reports when you’ve never spoken a lick of Japanese in your life.

At least, that’s how I am. And I needed Phil from across the street to give me guidance. He had the tools (literally). He’s done renovation work before. He could visualize what needed to be done and coach me to get there.

No podcasts or reading today (outside of a couple chapters of Dad Is Fat by Jim Gaffigan).

But I had a refresher course on an old idea.

What I learned is that it’s important to be “Phil” to the people at work or even clients who do not have one bit of experience doing certain things. How can I guide my client into understanding how my product solves problems if they’ve never seen my product before?

Were it not for Phil, I’d still be just standing in my bathroom staring at the bathtub walls scratching my head. I needed his help to give me a place to start to take action.

Perhaps you and I can do that for someone else.

Until tomorrow…