Category Archives: Career

God’s long-term view vs. our short-term view

Career, Life

There have been times in my life where I made a decision and chose a path that seemed, in the short-term view, like a mistake. Probably the three biggest decisions that seemed like the wrong decisions at the time all involved my work.

In 2000, two of my friends and I left a great company to start our own brokerage firm.  At the company we left, we had a good income, no risk, no liability and great working environment. I remember the day we left to start a new firm, and I came home and sat on the fireplace hearth and said to myself, what the hell (excuse me) did I just do? Here I was leaving a great company to strike out on my own with two friends; we hoped it would work out. The morning after the three of us left the company, we met at a pancake house for breakfast. All three of us looked like a frog in a hailstorm with big, scared eyes. Ha. Well, that company was ThompsonCalhounFair, and it did really very well and proved over time to be a good decision.

The next big one was when we sold ThompsonCalhounFair to a public company in June of 2005. The third big one was when I left the public company in May of 2007 to start over again. When I left the public company in 2007, it was because I literally knew I was going to die a premature death if I didn’t get away from the stress of that environment. See I thought I was ready for that type of environment, but I clearly was not. I wasn’t smart enough, had no formal education, and I stuttered…those things did not go over well in a public company environment. Plus, I had my own ideas on how to run a brokerage firm and my focus was clearly on sales and profit and their focus was sales at the expense of profit. It was a pressure cooker from about the 3rd week after we sold our company.

When I left the public company in May 2007, I was going to go home, semi retire, and sell a few hotels a year for friends and that was it. One thing led to another, we started Hotel AG, and today here I am.

Why am I telling you all of this? One of the greatest revelations I ever received from God was in May 2007 when I left the public company to start over. It may sound silly to you, but to me it was a precious peace I received from that revelation. I had this image of me in a car on a road going around a mountain curve, and I couldn’t see but a short distance in front. God told me that day that this image was of him and me. As long as I was on the right road, it simply didn’t matter that I couldn’t see all the turns and what was up ahead. That day, I fell to my knees and found peace in knowing that all I had to do was be sure I was on the right road and leave what was around the curve to God.

As men, want to see a 10 year layout of the road in front of us so we see all the turns, all the uphills and all the downhills. Thank goodness God doesn’t let us see what’s ahead.

It’s the difference in being at rest and peace with your present location in the journey, rather trying to figure out all the turns to the destination. All you have to know is that God knows. Let me say that again. All you have to know is that God knows.

I have two of the most beautiful daughters any man has ever been blessed with and make no mistake, when they come to me and ask for my help, wisdom or guidance, you better believe I will give the very, very best I have. Listen to me here, that is exactly the way God looks at us as his children when we go to him for wisdom, help or guidance. He will give us his best.

The Bible says that we should make our paths straight and work to make the decisions we make the correct ones.

See, there were many times I felt like the decision I made was the wrong one, but God knew 14 years ago where I would be today. I could only see the present, but he could see around the mountain. KT

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

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

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

The one thing

Career, Life

We all have one primary thing that we know in our hearts that we are supposed to do. In fact,  that we have to do.

The theme, “One Thing,” is common throughout the Bible. In the Garden of Eden, you will remember there were two trees: the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Good and Evil. God told Adam and Eve to eat of everything in the garden except from the Tree of Good and Evil. All they had to do was this one thing. It’s important to note that God placed the tree in the “midst” (in the middle) of the Garden. You ask why didn’t he place it hidden in the corner? Well, it was supposed to be a daily choice for them and one that they had to face every day. It’s that way for us also; we all know there is one part of our life that we need to be careful of and stay away from, and it is a daily choice we must make.

The Apostle Paul in the New Testament spoke of “This One Thing I do” setting aside the weight that holds me back and striving toward the mark, of the calling of the high God.  Isn’t that a great example of what God wants for our lives?

We all know there is one primary thing that we are supposed to do and if we don’t do it, we will miss God’s best for our life. Probably no one will even know if you did or did not do it because we hide behind all types of issues and things in our life so no one will ever really know. I know what my one thing is, and you know what your one thing is. I also know that if I don’t do it, I will forever know that I missed God’s best and perfect plan for my life.

You ask what my one thing is…Well, you’re not supposed to ask. Ha.

See, I stutter and my One Thing is the temptation to have the fear of speaking. That’s right, it’s the temptation to have fear. See, I don’t have the fear, but I know it is a temptation away; once I let it begin, I will never be able to stop it. The temptation is to “pull back” and hide behind emails, conference call, but not really go right at the issue. It’s always easier to “hand off” things to other people, be reserved, and not wade out into the uncomfortable area. God has a sense of humor, I am convinced, because he made a man who stutters a salesman. How funny is that? Couldn’t he have found someone better for the job? Well, he could have, but God put me in that job and said I will be with you.

What’s holding you back from being all you were meant to be? Do the One Thing you need to do. I heard a guy say one time “do something every day that scares you and makes you uncomfortable.” KT