Category Archives: Career

When you’re not where you thought you would be

Career, Life

All ages, young and old, have experienced periods in life when you look up and realize you may not be where you thought you would be. Additionally, you see others around your same age that seem to be moving at a faster pace than you are. Take a deep breath and relax because that doesn’t mean the game is over.

First, it is always easy to compare yourself to others. Secondly, it’s not helpful to do so. You are who you are and not someone else. No two people have the same life path. There is a bible story about the parable pf the talents you may want to look up. Basically, the opportunities for the people in the bible story was based largely on one very important factor. What they did with what they had.

I have found that the people who take the small tasks serious and do the very best they can with what they have, are often rewarded with greater tasks and opportunities. In the spiritual sense, if you received a revelation in some area of your life that you ignored, it is likely you will not receive another one until, you complete the first one.

I find it is much that same way in business. If I give someone a lead that they just blow off, I am less likely to give them another one. It is simple human nature to want to give more to the ones who act like they want more. That was the case in the bible parable of the talents.

I have shared the story of the hound dog many times, but it is so very true with the theme of this blog post. When the hound dog is just laying on the porch, he is focused on scratching his fleas (his troubles.) He will whine, howl and bark because he is focused on laying around on the porch. When a dog is in the field hunting, he is completely focused on his job. In life you have two kinds of people. Ones that just lay on the porch and whine about everything and then ones that actually go out in the field and get after it.

Many successful people find their path early in life and then others find their path much later in life. I call them late bloomers. I believe one of the questions St. Peter will ask us all at the pearly gates is “what did you do with what you had?”

If Truett Cathy or Colonel Sanders quit trying because they were old, we wouldn’t have Chick-fil-A or KFC today. Truett was 46 years old when he opened his first Chick-fil-A in a mall and was 65 when he decided to open the first free-standing Chick-fil-A store. Colonel Sanders opened his first Kentucky Fried Chicken at age 62. Ray Kroc first met the McDonald brothers at age 52, Ramen Noodles was invented by a guy 48 years old, Sam Walton opened his first Walmart at age 44 and Leo Goodwin founded GEICO when he was 50.

The point is, everyone has a different life path and age at which they find their calling or the right job. Be patient and pray about it and be careful to not rush at the first thing that comes your way. When you do find your right path, it will resonate in your heart and you will just know. KT

When it starts complicated

Career

When things start complicated, it is usually a precursor to how it will be all the way through.

I cannot tell you the number of business engagements over the years I have resigned from for this very reason. In our line of work, it starts with the engagement agreement where the client hires us. It then moves on to the creation of the materials, websites, marketing process, contract period, due diligence and finally the closing. If I have a client that wants to micromanage and wordsmith our engagement agreement it tells me right up front that this is how the client will be all the way through the process. I have on many occasions just backed away so I don’t have to put up with what I know will surely follow.

In our business the one thing you must have is a ready, willing and able seller. Not buyer, but seller. We can always go get another buyer but if you don’t have a seller that is fully engaged and committed to the sales process, you are just wasting your time. Yes, you may get through it but more times than not, a bad seller will kill the deal and you look up six months later and all you have is wasted time and effort.

Case in point. This week I had a situation just like this. It was a coveted engagement that I would have loved to work on. The client executed our engagement agreement without much issue, and I thought, this is going well. The same client called me three days later and asked if we would reduce our fee. I’m like, “come again?” We got that resolved and executed a revised fee agreement and then the same thing happened a week later. I told him I loved him, but I wasn’t any longer going to work for him. I knew if he did that two times in the first week and a half, that’s how it was going to be all the way through the process. I backed away because I choose to work with people that respect me personally and our company and are committed to the sales process.

Many times, life is too short to work with boneheads and I find it is much more enjoyable to spend time with people you trust. KT

What you think you want

Career, Family, Life

What you think you want can many times not turn out like you thought it would. Think about how many marriages, families, homes, investments, churches, friends etc. have been destroyed because one person thought they wanted something new or different and when they got it, it didn’t turn out like they imagined it would.

We all know what the serious issues are (drugs, alcohol, over-eating, over-spending, lies, deception, fraud, clothes, cars, houses etc. etc.) but I will use a very benign example to get the point across.  I love cars and if I had the money in the bank today for all the bad car decisions I have made, I could afford to send all of you to Paris for vacation. Ha. See, I bought those cars because I wanted them. There were of course reasons why (I told myself) but the real deal was I just wanted them. As a point of record, a few years ago I sat down and listed all the cars, SUVs and trucks I have owned and at last count, it was 82. See what I mean?

When we want something, our brains have a built in “reasoning maker” that if you are not careful will arm you with all kinds of reasons for the change you want. When we rip the Formica back and look at the real reason, many times we find it is just what we want. When we see something we want, our brains play out a video with us in it, of how we will feel when we get it.

There is not really a cure for this behavior other than life experience. Simply put, the older you get the more videos you have in storage. When faced today with a similar “want” you can go back and play the old videos of what happened last time. Ha. KT

 

Great inventions that started as something else

Career

When you have an idea you want to pursue, just know that the finish product might differ greatly from the original idea. That is ok as demonstrated below.

We have all read stories about how products like Play-Doh, Post-it notes, Kleenex, Bubble Wrap, Slinky all started out as something else before becoming what we know them to be today.

Take these three different companies, Heinz, Kellogg’s and Coca-Cola as examples in this business thesis. They all started out as something else that went on to become household names.

Henry Heinz went bankrupt making Horseradish before inventing ketchup. In those days there were no refrigerators, freezers, controlled processing of food. It was all sold fresh and would go bad very quickly. Many times, people ate meat that was spoiled that had been washed with bleach, dye etc. so the vendor could still sell it as “fresh.” Ketchup was invented as a cover-up sauce for bad meat to mask the spoiled taste. The idea that it would turn into a wealthy company (40 billion,) never occurred to Henry Heinz. He just wanted to be able have something sweet to cover the bad taste of food

Will Kellogg’s middle name was Keith (great name!) and helped his brother run a sanitarium that created all kinds of therapy to help the people suffering from various medical issues.  They needed to have a quick way to serve something to eat for breakfast, so they started grinding up these big granola cakes and served it in a bowl to the patients. Once day Will Kellogg saw one of the patients ask for some milk and watched him pour it over the granola. That is where the idea of Kellogg cereal came from. Later, they had mistakenly left a container of granola out on the counter overnight. In an attempt to dry it out using a roller, they discovered it turned into a flake like substance. That is where the idea for Corn Flakes started. No one had any idea it would create a company worth 22 billion

Coca Cola was invented by John Pemberton as a medicine to treat his illness. He sold the prescription to pharmacies for pain management and noticed people ordering the cola because they enjoyed drinking it cold. Pemberton was dying of stomach cancer and sold the rights to Coca Cola to Asa Candler before his death. The rest is a long story but today Coke is worth 224 billion and one of the most recognized brands in the world.

As with many things in life, what you originally planned for can on occasion turn into something you never expected and never even knew to hope for. KT

Slight temptation to quit

Career, Life

Yesterday, for the first time in nine months the thought crossed my mind to hang up my cleats and go home. Ha

I didn’t seriously consider it and would never do so, but it was the fact that the thought crossed my mind that gave me some pause. I have certainly failed before (restaurants, land development etc.) but I have never just outright quit and took my ball and went home.

The thing about quitting is the first time it is tough, the second time not as bad, the third time is easier and before you know it, you have developed a habit that could change the course of your life. For the past nine months, I have gone to work every day and have kept trying as best I know how. Why? Its simple. All my staff are watching me to see what I do. If the leader becomes discouraged, well, it’s easier for others to do the same thing. When we quit something it also teaches and shows our children something they don’t need to see.

Yesterday we lost a couple of deals that I thought were solid and it turned out to not be the case. Like many decisions, it was a choice I had to make. Do I get upset or do I push through it? As I was thinking about these options yesterday, I took a step back and did a quick inventory and realized that all my family is healthy and well and safe, and yesterday’s disappointment was just about money. Money shouldn’t drive the big decisions in our life, but it sometimes gets in the way.

I turned on some Christmas music let some Nat King Cole wash over me and after a few minutes I was ok. When I went home there was a magazine that had a picture of the Macy’s store at Christmas time in 1942. It was at the height of WWII, yet somehow those people in the picture still found some joy even though many of them probably had family members in harms way. Additionally, I looked closely and seeing no children in the picture, I realized that everyone in that picture has now passed away. When you see something like that, it is humbling.

Also, on Fox news yesterday there was an article about the Christmas wreaths that were laid at all the graves at Arlington National Cemetery that has thousands of service men and service women who gave their life for America.  I brushed off the disappointment of yesterday and chose joy over anxiety, peace over unrest, hope over dismay and the future over the past.

Maybe someone reading this blog has had some disappointments this year but take heart because if you are alive and reading this, there is hope, joy, peace and a future to look forward to. KT