[larrys]

"please don't overlook all that you can learn from people that may not seem so smart."

I love that you said this. One of the things that smart people do is learn something from anyone they can about anything they can.

I met a bellhop once in Florida. He had moved his entire family to Orlando. I think he came from some less desirable place up north. But he had enough smarts to realize that if he was going to cart bags for a living it might as well be in a nice warm place instead of a cold city area.

I learned a few valuable theories that I've used for years of giving estimates from an electrician as a child. (I'm not suggesting that an electrician isn't smart only that they don't usually get picked as "pre-eminent scholars" that the OP is writing about.)

[huherto]

Glad you mention this, it reminded me a time I went to the movie theater with a friend. I was in college around 22 and he was about 32 and was one of the smartest people I had known. He talked to the lady selling the tickets, I don't remember the subject. When we left, he said, "I always like to talk with people in these type of jobs, they have a lot of time to think".

[rokhayakebe]

I met a bellhop once in Florida. He had moved his entire family to Orlando. I think he came from some less desirable place up north. But he had enough smarts to realize that if he was going to cart bags for a living it might as well be in a nice warm place instead of a cold city area.

Awesome.

[JamesNelson]

Could I ask what those valuable theories you learnt are?

[larrys]

When someone asks you a price for a repair, quote that single repair only. Resist the temptation to quote other jobs that they ask of shiny ball fashion.

The reason for this he explained (and what I later found to be true) was that if the cost of everything asked for was to high many times the customer ended up doing nothing.

So you get the first job locked up. Once you have that work started or the price agreed to only then do you quote additional work.

[gridspy]

Apologies. I downvoted you when I was attempting to upvote. I wish I could reverse this.

[larrys]

I've made the same mistake as well!