Category Archives: Family

Stepping up the game

Career, Family

Business history is littered with companies that did well for a period of time but lost their edge because they didn’t know how to step up their game. There are more examples of this than I have time to write but the tech industry is maybe the best recent example. Think of companies like Motorola, Blackberry, AOL, My Space, Netscape, Google Glass, TiVo and the list could go on and on. They all had one thing in common. Their product didn’t evolve, and company leadership got stagnate with existing success and didn’t see the freight train (competition) coming straight at them.

It is terribly difficult to grow a company and a mindset. Take Apple as an example. They were just another computer company that were getting pounded by the IBM platform, laptops and desktop computers. That is until they developed the iPod in 2001. The iPod was a hand-held device that played downloaded music but enabled Apple to envision the future of the hand-held mobile market. Once they launched the iPhone in 2007 and the iPad in 2010, it was the start of a revolution that would change how people communicated. The laptop and personal desktop computer began to fade into yesterday’s technology.

No company and no person have all the advantage, momentum and ideas. Every company has areas where they are better than the competition and areas where they are worse. Many times, success comes from knowing and understanding what you are good at and learning how to tell that story. I love when I see a product that has stood the test time and is still demand. Take a yellow #2 pencil. It was invented in 1795 by Dixon Ticonderoga and that company it still today one of the world’s leading school supply companies.

Stepping up you game many times starts with a real honest inventory of what areas you are good at and expanding on those. There is always a freight train (competition) coming regardless of your line of work but if you don’t get complacent, many times you can hold the course and remain relevant. KT

Today

Family, Life

For many people, today will be their last day. They just don’t know it. In the US, 7,700 people die each day and in the world 151,000 die each day.

I was in my office today working and, on my wall, I have a picture of Payne Stewart (the professional golfer) taken at the very moment he sunk the putt to win the US Open in 1999 at Pinehurst. It was Father’s Day; June 1999 and the thrill of that win is expressed all over his body as that picture was snapped. He was at the top of life in that moment.

126 days later, he kissed his wife and baby’s goodbye one morning and boarded a flight that never got to where it was going. I am sure on the way to the airport he thought, I will do this tomorrow and that next week etc. He never had the time to do any of those things because God almighty called him home that day. He wasn’t expecting it, but it was his appointed time. His family were left with only the memories and the lessons he taught up to that point.

We all have an appointed day and time when we will be called home. It happens to every single one of us and there is no escaping it. The title of the blog is ‘Today’ because today is all we have. Actually, the moment you are reading this, is all you have. I don’t mean to be morbid but we all should enjoy each day and moment to its fullest. Forgive faster, love deeper, pay attention to those you love and choose to be that person God intended you to be. Choose today. KT

Little Bear

Family

Our little 14-year-old dog (Yorkie) passed away yesterday. His name was Bear and when he was in health he weighed 2.7 lbs. and the little fellow had the body of a squirrel and the heart of lion.

It used to make me laugh when we would let him out of the front door in the mornings and he would walk to edge of the porch and puff out his little chest and bark at the top of his lungs telling the world that he was awake and ready to face the day. Over the last few months his health went down fast and he lost most his eyesight and hearing and had lost almost 1/3 of his body weight and couldn’t hardly stand up. Yesterday he joined our other Yorkie (named Tiger) who passed away seven years ago, and they are buried side by side.

I believe God (my imagination) created all the other animals of the world and saved the dog for last, which is why the word dog, is God spelled backwards. If you have ever had a hard time understanding the unconditional love of God, just look at your dog. Their love is unconditional, and they forgive past transgressions quickly. When God created a dog (again, my imagination) he said, I want to create an animal that needs and desires the companionship with people. That is why dogs become so loved.

Funny story. I knew Bear was a keeper because when we first got him, my oldest daughter brought home a boy she was dating, and the guy picked up Bear and he peed on him. ha. Bear was protecting my daughter the only way he knew how!! That guy was Brad Sinclair who went on to marry my oldest daughter.

Yesterday was hard on my wife and I because we had this little mutt for 14 years in our family. KT

Bend in the road of life

Career, Family

Sometimes in life, the road (our future) is straight, and we can see where we are going, and life seems to be on autopilot. Then there are times when the road bends unexpectedly and we cannot see where it leads. It is in those times we must trust that we are on the right road.

Everyone I know has had to face a bend in the road of life at some time or another. A bend can come as a health issue, a financial issue, a job change, marital change, death of a loved one, a deep loss, a change in our confidence, starting over financially, strife with another, a sale that you missed, a promotion you were passed up for etc. This list could go on for pages, but you get the idea. A bend in the road is seen as something you were not expecting but nevertheless, something that has changed in your world. The good news is a bend in the road is not always a bad thing. It is just a change from where you thought you were going.

29 years ago, I thought my future was in the restaurant business until the bend in that road came along. What I found around the corner was so much better than where I thought I was heading and what I thought I wanted. The restaurant business was a disaster heading straight down hill and then around the bend, I was introduced to hotel brokerage. To say it was unexpected is a vast understatement. That change in career path was not even on my radar screen but as soon as I recognized God’s hand in it, I knew it was the right direction for my life.

When you are faced with a bend in the road that you can’t see around, it is unnerving and unsettling because we all want to oversee and be in charge of our future. We want to be in the driver’s seat in control. When a bend in the road of life happens, it is like driving through the mountains in a fog. You cannot see the road in front of you more than a short distance. In that moment you must be confident that you are on the right road and going in the right direction. The fog will eventually lift, and you will see the road before you.

Many times, when you are faced with a bend in the road of life, you need to have some place and someone to put your trust in. That place and that person for me is God. Again, the bend in the road is not always bad. Sometimes it is just God’s way of leading us on a new path for our life. KT

Déjà vu 20 years later

Family, Life

In the mid to late 90’s, on occasion I would take my daughters (one at a time) to the office with me. They would hang out, color pictures, use sticker books and help sometimes in the package room. I loved those moments because I got to ride with them to work and go out and eat lunch together and let them experience something different. I was young, and they were young, and it seems like life would always be that way.

Here is the Déjà vu part. Yesterday, my granddaughters came to the office with their daddy who also works with me as hotel broker. It was like I was stepping back 20 years ago. Like my girls then, my granddaughters colored pictures put stickers and labels on everything, made cards and spent a lot of time with our IT and package writers. They were sitting up in the front reception area where they hung a poster saying that they were the company complaint department. Ha. They also gave all the brokers an exam to see if they were a weirdo. All the brokers tested positive!

Life is precious, and moments are precious. Be there for them. KT