36 Miles to the Client, a Clean Desk, and the Cost of Inertia 🚗☕🕶️

“It’s 36 miles to the client.
We’ve got a full tank of gas.
Half a cup of coffee.
It’s dark.
And yes… I’m wearing sunglasses.” 😎

We are not on a mission from God like Jake and Elwood in The Blues Brothers. But on a cold January morning, heading out before sunrise, it feels still like you’re on a mission of a different sort. 🌅

Today is “Stick to Your New Year’s Resolution Day.” One of my 2026 New Year’s resolutions is simple: get out of the office and into the field more. It’s important to review reports or execute our strategy. It’s more important to walk buildings, meet teams, and see our service the way our clients experience it. 🎯✅

So at 5:30am, I was on the road to a client site with coffee in hand, headed to spend the day with one of our technicians who is taking over an account. We walked the property together and talked through the details and subtleties that aren’t captured in our standard documentation: the history, the sensitive areas, key people to ask for updates, and the “watch this spot” realities that only come from being on-site. 👷‍♂️🏢🔎

It felt good. 🙌
And it reminded me why field time matters. 💡

Clean Off Your Desk Day… and More Than That 🗂️🧹

January has no shortage of holidays. Two of them are today: Stick to Your New Year’s Resolution Day (as I noted) and National Clean Off Your Desk Day. 📅✅

On the surface, one is about commitment and the other is about tidying up. But together, they’re really about something deeper: deciding what you’re going to carry forward, and what you’re finally willing to let go. 🔄➡️

In property operations and pest management, that question comes up all the time. 🏢🛠️

We Didn’t Win This Client in a Bidding War 🤝

Bell has serviced this account for two years now. Looking back, we didn’t earn it because we were the lowest bid or because we had the flashiest proposal. We earned it because the client was finally ready to confront our biggest competitor.

Not another pest control company.
Inertia. 🔄

The service they had before was, on its best days, mediocre. For a long time, management worked around it. Expectations were adjusted. Internal teams compensated. The risks and inconvenience of switching felt heavier than the frustration of staying put.

That hesitation is understandable. Transitions take time. There’s onboarding, communication, and risk involved. Change always feels like a hassle. 🧩⏳

But staying with subpar service has a cost too. It just doesn’t show up all at once. It accumulates quietly, then eventually becomes impossible to ignore, often in the form of repeat issues, operational disruptions, and employee and customer complaints that keep resurfacing. 📣📩

Raising the Level Is Ongoing Work 📈

On recent visits to this account, I’ve been grateful to hear positive feedback from several people: A senior executive mentioned that they’ve noticed the significant improvement. A kitchen manager thanked us for being proactive and responsive. EVS shared that communication and follow-through have been strong. 🙏🤝

I appreciate those comments more than I can say 🙏 – and make the early mornings and long days worth it.

But I also made a point to be clear: we’re not done. We’re trying to raise the level of service from where we are today, and that’s ongoing work. Better training. Better awareness. Better consistency. Better partnership. 🧠🛠️✅

Good service isn’t something you achieve once and move on from. It’s something we recommit to, again and again. 🔁

Not a Mission from God, but a Real Commitment ✅

So no, Bell Environmental is not on a mission from God. But we are committed.

Committed to doing the homework. 📚
Committed to learning the nuances of each building. 🏢
Committed to showing up early, asking questions, and staying curious. 🌅❓
Committed to helping clients move past inertia when something isn’t working — and then continuing to earn their trust after they make the change. 🤝🔄

What This Means for Property Managers 🏢

If you’re responsible for a building, a portfolio, or a facility, this story probably feels familiar.

Most service problems don’t start as emergencies. They start as small, tolerable issues. A missed detail here. A repeat complaint there. A workaround that becomes routine. Over time, teams adjust expectations and absorb the friction because making a change feels disruptive.

That’s inertia at work. 🔄

For property managers, the challenge isn’t recognizing when something isn’t working, it’s finding the time, energy, and confidence to act on it. Transitions take planning. They require onboarding, communication, and trust. And yes, they take effort. 🧩📋

But so does managing around poor service. ⚖️

When you step back and look at the full picture, the cost of staying put often shows up in ways that are harder to quantify but very real: frustrated tenants, staff burnout, recurring issues, and a constant sense of being reactive instead of proactive. 📣🔥

The most successful property teams I work with partner with vendors who do the homework, understand the building’s nuances, and take ownership of outcomes. 🤝✅

If one of your goals this year is fewer repeat headaches and more predictable operations, the question isn’t whether change is easy. It’s whether staying where you are is actually easier. 🔄➡️

Sometimes, the most practical decision you can make is simply being open to something better. 💡

New Year’s resolutions don’t have to be dramatic. Sometimes they’re just about doing the next right thing: getting out into the field, asking better questions, and refusing to normalize “good enough.” 🎯✅

If you’re weighing a change this year, it’s worth remembering that transitions are work, but so is staying stuck. Inertia doesn’t disappear on its own. It gets replaced by a decision, a plan, and a partner who’s willing to do the homework with you. 🧭🛠️🤝

Because today is Clean Off Your Desk Day, consider this permission to clear one more thing: the recurring issue you’ve been managing around. 🗂️🧹

Because the best time to fix a small problem is before it becomes a big one. ⏱️
And the best time to challenge inertia is before it starts writing your schedule for you. 📅✍️

(And if you do it with a full tank of gas and half a cup of coffee… even better.) ⛽☕😄