Business is a Dirty Job – Just ask Mike Rowe

Click to find out how Mike gets new ideas from his customers!

“Oh, it’s a dirty job but someone’s gotta do it!” from “We Care a Lot” by Faith No More.

Have you seen the Discovery Channel show called Dirty Jobs, a show that celebrates the messiest, strangest, and grossest jobs in America? The show is hosted by Mike Rowe – a Guy’s guy with a square-jaw, a baritone voice and a knack for staring you right through the camera while relentlessly poking fun at his dirty job du jour.

Personally, it’s hard not to marvel at how a guy “like Mike” can make an hour-long episode of filth, stink and scum into an entertaining product that people will actually record to watch!

Mike’s show wouldn’t be successful were it not for the many dirty jobs out there worthy of his lacerating wit and incredible tolerance for trash. To me, the really amazing thing is that the best ideas for his shows don’t even come from him or his producers. They come from all of us – his audience of viewers, fans and fellow freelancers in filth.

When he’s up to his hip-waders in swamp mud or shoveling animal excrement out of cages, it’s hard to see Mike for what he really is: one smart businessman. After all, he gets his best ideas for new shows from his customers, and they love him for it! Yes he gets paid by advertisers, but what actually drives those ad dollars are viewers like us.

Basically, Mike’s making Gold out of Grime in part by tapping his customers for new ideas. Mike even ends every show by admitting he wouldn’t be on air were it not for our suggestions. He asks us to keep the ideas coming and tells us how to send them. If you watched Mike in the 1 minute 22 second video clip linked to the photo of him above, then you probably started thinking of a dirty job suggestion to send to him right then. I know I did!

Give the Deacon of Dirt props for his gesture. By asking us to help him, we actually feel more connected to him and the show. We feel invested in the outcome of the entertainment product he “sells” us each week.

I don’t see his weekly request as a sign of weakness or creative impotence. Instead, he creates a dialog – his plea, our response – that results in an even richer experience for all involved. Talk about customer service and new product development! 

So I ask you this: As business owners and managers, what is it that you do to be more “like Mike?” What have you learned to help you serve your customers better? How do you encourage them to tell you how you can both get more out of the relationship? Do you send out surveys, use Facebook fan pages, hold conferences? What works for you, or is it still a work in progress?

On behalf of Mike Rowe and Dirty Jobs, please let us all know what you do to get ideas from your customers, and how you’ve used that information, and with what results. Share your ideas with me and other readers and maybe we’ll all be the better off for it.

So what do you say? Let’s all get a little dirty!

[P.S., In case you’re wondering if dirty jobs do pay well, I’ve included a link to an article on the 10 best-paying dirty jobs I found on the Dirty Job’s website.]