If my life depended on it could I find a solution? Problem-solving comes in all shapes, especially when you’re a house cleaner.
“If my life depended on it” forces us to get creative in our troubleshooting with client problems. Angela Brown, The House Cleaning Guru teaches that better questions = better answers.
Today on Ask a House Cleaner we learn to ask “If my life depended on it…” and then expect an answer. House cleaning and maid service tips to help you grow your cleaning business.
Listen: If My Life Depended On It – Problem Solving Cure
Watch: If My Life Depended On It – Problem Solving Cure
Hey there, I’m Angela Brown, and this is Ask a House Cleaner. This is a show where you get to ask a house cleaning question, and I get to help you find an answer.
Question: If My Life Depended On It – Troubleshooting Client Problems
If my life depended on it, could I do it? The answer is yes. We’re going to talk about that today.
Today’s question comes from a house cleaner who’s at a customer’s house. The customer wants her to use a particular spray for her hardwood floor. But the handle on the spray is broke, so she just can’t use it. She asks, “What am I supposed to do?”
Answer: If My Life Depended On It – Better Questions = Better Answers
Um, okay. There are a lot of solutions to that problem. But here is your answer, ask yourself, if my life depended on it, could I find a solution for this broken spray jar? The answer is, yes you could.
You can actually take the screw lid off of one of your own containers and put it into the customer’s container. Then you could go ahead and use the spray. What an easy fix. But, the answer is, if my life depended on it, could I find a solution?
There’s Always a Fix
Let’s say that you’re going to transfer whatever’s in the broken bottle into another bottle. Okay, so how do you transfer? Since you don’t have a plastic funnel that will fit inside the spray bottle you think, I can’t-do the job.
Wait! If your life depended on it, could you come up with a solution? Yes, you’re at the customer’s house, and they have some junk mail right there. You can use the junk mail, roll it into a cone shape and use that as a funnel to transfer the cleaning chemicals. There’s always a way.
I ask myself this on a day to day basis. If my life depended on it, is there a way for me to find the answer? Sometimes we expect the customer to have the answer or sometimes we just expect things to be perfect. Nothing is ever perfect.
The Customer Will Not Always be There to Answer
If a customer has requested something specific and I don’t have the answer if my life depended on it could I find it? Yes.
Okay, so how do I do that? Well, I may have to contact the customer. I may have to call them and just say, “Hey, how do you want me to resolve this?” If the customer doesn’t answer their phone if my life depended on it, how else would I get that information?
I may have to call the customers husband. If the customer’s husband isn’t available or I can’t contact him, how else am I going to get this information?
Could I Search the Web For Answers If My Life Depended On It?
If my life depended on it, I would Google the question. Maybe there’s an article on Google that has an answer. So, you could Google it with your smartphone.
Let’s say you found yourself in a scenario needing details that you did not have. You could either pass it off and just say, “Wow, I don’t know how to do that.” Or you could say “If my life depended on it, how would I do that?”
I do this all the time and it has turned me into quite the handyman. I’m good with power tools and all kinds of things because I always ask this of myself. Something just broke, but if my life depended on it, can I find a fix? Could I find a cure? Is there a solution?
My searching sends me to YouTube and Google. But, I’m always looking for the solutions because I believe, if my life depended on it, I can find an answer.
Yes, I Can!
Not giving yourself an out changes you from giving up. You are capable and are an “I can do person.” Change your thinking to “yes, it is possible. if I look a little further, I can find the answer.”
If you’re stuck and don’t know how to fix the problem, ask yourself if my life depended on it, could I come up with a solution? The answer is always yes. Your life doesn’t depend on it, but if it did, you would be forced to find a resolution.
Don’t Let the Unknown Stop You
So, don’t get tripped up by things that you don’t know or by things that you don’t know how to fix. The reality is, as we are at customers houses, there will always be things that we get stumped on. It’s just the nature of the variety of houses, the living spaces, and the different ways people live.
There will always be questionable things that happen. But, if my life depended on it, could I figure out a way to resolve it? You’ll amaze yourself when the answer is always yes.
Alright, that’s my two cents for today. Until we meet again, leave the world a cleaner place than when you found it.
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Resources For This Episode
Smile for No Good Reason: Simple Things You Can Do to Get Happy NOW – http://amzn.to/2xZvazZ
Positive Attitude: Learn How to Be Positive and Discover What the Power of Positivity Can Really Do for You ~ Includes Positive Thinking Exercises and Techniques – http://amzn.to/2xYXnqk
Completely Confident Subliminal Messages Bundle: Get the Can-Do Attitude with Subliminal Messages – http://amzn.to/2fRHjRj
Mental Toughness: Create Mental Fortitude (Overcome Life’s Challenges, Face Setbacks, Harness the Can-Do Attitude) – http://amzn.to/2xZ4lM9
Problem Solving 101: A Simple Book for Smart People – http://amzn.to/2xhhcuc
The Art of Problem Solving 101: Improve Your Critical Thinking and Decision-Making Skills and Learn How to Solve Problems Creatively – http://amzn.to/2gchisT
The Thinker’s Toolkit: 14 Powerful Techniques for Problem Solving – http://amzn.to/2gdgjIN
Think Smarter: Critical Thinking to Improve Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Skills – http://amzn.to/2yYCqdR
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