All posts by Keith Thompson

Four Stages of Business

Career

I read a book 25 years ago written by Rich DeVos, and it made an impression on me. The title was called the “Four Stages of Business.” Stage (1) the personal contact or the face-to-face of what you do for a living (2) the management stage (3) the analytical stage (4) bankruptcy.

It’s really very, very simple and so incredibly true. Stage one for a doctor, painter, lawyer, CPA, builder, hotel broker, car salesman or pretty much any other sales profession known in the world is meeting someone and doing business with someone this week that you didn’t know last week. If you are a manager, consultant, trainer, writer, receptionist, etc., your stage one is being the best at seeing and interacting with people in your care. Simply put, whether you are meeting clients, training staff or answering phones, don’t hide behind emails. Get on the phone or face-to-face, but whatever you do, put the human element to it. Emails are great and needed, but you also need the personal contact. Everyone that has a business and has had to meet a payroll understands the value of the personal element; I have found that this is really when the relationship starts, and it is what keeps the relationship fresh. It is literally the very lifeblood of a company and of a profession.

Stage two and three are also easy to understand as well. When people get afraid and intimidated by what is required in stage one, they hide behind emails, busy work, idle chatting, and then want to analyze everything. What happens is a slow fall into stage four, which is bankruptcy. That’s right, if you are not spending a good deal of your time in stage one you are headed for stage four.

The Bible says in Proverbs “the stall that has no oxen is always clean.” Did you understand it? It means that if you don’t have any oxen, sure it’s easy to keep the barn clean. It is always easy to keep it all straight, organized, and in its proper files when you don’t have anything going on. Stage one is the raw, uncomfortable, unpredictable part of business that is also the very most important part of business and life itself.

So, regardless of your profession or your business, the place to spend 60-70% of your time is in stage one. It’s the most uncomfortable stage, but it’s also the most rewarding. KT

It’s the simple things that matter

Life

How do you get to the point when the simple things matter and are noticed? We get so wrapped up in the destination that we forget the journey. How many times have you heard things like: when I get that job I will be happy, get that house, get that promotion, when the children start school, when the children finish school, etc. What we are in essence saying to ourselves is when “that” event happens then I will be happy. You and I both know there will always be something beyond that event that you will have to have in order to be happy and at peace.

I believe the first three “fruits of the Spirit” the Bible speaks of (Love, Joy and Peace) are the key to a fulfilled life. See, they are all a choice we make, and I believe they operate in that order. I think when you choose to “Love” others, forgive often, and look for the best in people versus the worst, you experience joy in the simple things of life. I believe peace will be a result of choosing first to love.

If we listed the top 10 things we all want in life, peace and contentment would be at the top. Money is way down the list. The thing we want most is to sleep well without strife, have a great cup of Starbucks in morning, laugh with our spouse, hug and kiss our children with such passion, be respected, be loved, see grass, flowers, sky, and know all is well with our soul.

So, Love, Joy and Peace are all a choice, and it all starts with the decision to see the best in people and act in love versus strife. When you do this, you are literally choosing your life because of the health implications of being more at peace as well as the spiritual implication of that decision.

Sometimes you just have to choose and choose well. KT

Clean Out Your Closet

Career, Family, Life

I was in Albuquerque, New Mexico, back in the mid ’90s working on a hotel we were selling. I was sitting on the bed flipping channels on the TV. At the time, I was deeply in debt with the restaurants, and my financial life seemed to be in free fall. I was at the point where I could not see my way out.

So, here I was sitting in a hotel flipping channels, and you know how it is when you are trying to find something that will hold your interest. There was channel with this lawyer who was speaking at some business event; he happened to be a Christian. So, I would listen to him for a few seconds and flip the channel, etc. After I went back to the channel where he was speaking (about the fifth time), I decided to hear what he was saying. Thirty minutes later, I was crying sitting on the bed because it was exactly what I needed to hear at the time.

The attorney’s name was Bob Deal from Richmond, Virginia, and he was speaking to a large audience, telling a story that simply captivated my spirit. Bob Deal had a friend that was having financial issues, and the friend asked Bob to go have dinner with him and give him some advice on his situation. Remember that Bob Deal was Christian. Before the dinner meeting, Bob prayed that the Lord would give him the words he needed to speak into this man’s life. Here they were at dinner, and the friend was clearly in financial trouble and could not see a way out. Bob was still waiting for the Lord to give him the advice to share with his friend when the dinner was almost over. After the plates were taken away and they were having coffee, Bob looked at the man and said the weirdest thing. Bob said, “Tell me what your closet, dresser and garage look like.” The man looked at Bob like he had lost his mind. Finally, the man told Bob that his closet hadn’t been cleaned or organized in years, the top of his dresser was stacked with stuff, and his garage was so full he couldn’t get his car in it.

Bob Deal looked at the man and said, go home, clean your closet, your dresser, and your garage; during the process of this mental cleansing of the clutter in your life, the Lord will give you the answer to your financial situation. At this point, I was still sitting on the bed in the hotel room, and it was a though he was speaking only to me. The friend of Bob Deal did as instructed, and he developed a new path for his financial situation that worked out for him; he was able to avoid bankruptcy. I also did what Bob Deal told his friend to do, and it was as though it was spiritual therapy for me at that crossroad in life. The cleaning out of the everyday things helped me be more organized in my thoughts and greatly helped me navigate through my own financial mess back in the mid ’90s.

So, I now clean my closet several times a year, and I have one of the most organized garages in the country. Sometimes it’s the simple things that are within our control where we need to start. The first act of faith is to simply step forward, even when you don’t know exactly where you are going. Just maybe the first step or act of faith is cleaning up where you currently live. KT

Questionnaire

Life

You have heard me speak about the value of doing a personal inventory. Sometimes we don’t realize how blessed we are until we compare it to something or someone.

If you ever need a reality check, just go a new doctor. I did it today. The person at the front desk gives you a clipboard with a health questionnaire for you to fill out. I started on this questionnaire with 66 items, and it asked me to circle any conditions that applied. The list covered aliments from heart valve replacement to cancer to bone marrow transplants. Of the 66 items, I was able to not circle a single one. Today, I took an inventory of just how really blessed I am.

There were a few times when our girls were little where we had health scares. One, I remember in particular had shaken me so badly that when the doctor came out and said she was going to be fine, I could hardly drive. I kept saying ‘thank you Jesus.” I will tell what I was NOT thinking about and that was what I had to get done at work. That thought did not enter my mind during that afternoon. When that doctor came out and said she was going to be ok, my world flooded with joy; as I wiped tears from my eyes, I said, “thank you father for taking care of this.”

What I realized today filling out that questionnaire was just how much I had to be thankful for.

Sometimes the quickest path to finding joy and peace in where you are in life is to take an inventory of what is good and right, and you will most likely find a new level of joy in your life. KT

Why do you do what you do

Career

Why do you do what you do is really a good question. Are you just going through the motions of life, or is there a purpose for what you do?

I am a salesman, and I have found that if I know in advance why I sell and know what I plan to do with the income from the sale, it makes me a better salesman. Over the years, I have been to a hotel that wasn’t sold yet that I was trying to sell, and I would verbally confess/pledge to myself the tithe on the income from the sale of that hotel. Sounds weird, right?  The Apostle Paul said to “call those things that be not as though they were.” See, I believe faith comes from hearing the word of God spoken, even if it’s hearing my own voice.

We all need a reason for what we do, and it doesn’t matter what the job or what the role because we seem to get lost in life’s meaning if we don’t have a plan. One of my plans is to tithe to my local church and to do it on a percentage basis regardless of how large or how small the income is. A tithe is a singular term and a singular act; it is supposed to be given to the body of believers you are involved with. A gift is what you give above the tithe. I find that when I do this, it enables me to look at every hotel I sell as part of God’s plan. Now, I will assure you that every deal doesn’t close and there are issues, but in the long view of life, I believe I will accomplish more because of this little decision. Elaine and I made this decision when we were a young married couple. I believe when you make this decision, you will look back on life and see God’s hand in helping you through the good times as well as the tough times.

A few years ago, one of the Wall Street investment fund managers was being interviewed and they asked him what the greatest investment was. Without a pause, he said that tithing is the best return investment there is. The news media was stunned, and you never heard about this interview because it didn’t make it to prime time news because of his answer. One of the smartest men I know told me once to always tithe 10% and save 10% as a life goal and learn to live on the balance.

As strange as it may sound, I find that if “IT” is well with my soul financially, and if I am in right standing before God in this area, it affects every area of my life from business, family, and personal. There is something about a right heart that to me seems to make life more enjoyable.  KT