All I Ever Needed to Know About Anything I Learned by Washing Cars

Many, many years ago a friend of mine had a brilliant idea to make some extra money. He suggested we go door to door selling car washes in the neighborhood. We were 10 years old.

I was far out of my comfort zone.

You encounter some very interesting people going door to door selling a car wash. Believe me. Humanity at both its finest and at its worst. But it seems that just about everyone we met taught me lessons that I still use today.

I meet folks like the "deal maker". Even though we charged $5 dollars per wash, you got the "deal maker" who asked for you to to it for $2. 

We got the "scope creep guy" who asked us to wash his car and mow the lawn for $5.00. We got "inspection guy" who spent 20 long minutes looking over details of the car wash before paying us. 

And unfortunately we also got "the stiffer" -- the person who refused to pay at the end of the wash. But for every stiffer we got we also encountered "the appreciator" who gave us $10 dollars for a job well done.

It seems like all personalities across the spectrum that we encounter in business today I met when I was 10 years old.

And all this experience came from stepping out of my comfort zone. Had I not done that, I would have missed out on valuable life lessons that come from putting yourself out there. 

Sometimes we all could use a little venture outside of our comfort zone to learn something new.

Nir Bashan is an executive creative director/managing director with over 18 years of advertising, entertainment and business development experience. He writes on topics covering advertising, media, creative solutions and workforce management. http://www.nirbashan.com/blog | nir.bashan1@gmail.com