We all start out planning the life we want to have, but circumstances get in the way and many times causes us to veer to a different course than what we expected. What I am talking about is the vast majority of things we have no control over. Health, life expectancy, job changes, finances, relationship changes, children and just the very essence of life itself.

Sure, we can say when we are young, “I want to be an attorney or a doctor or a pastor, etc. “but many times life gets in the way of our plans. In my case, I never imagined I would be a hotel broker. I just knew my future was in the restaurant business or working for the airline. Sometimes the course you are given is not at all the course you planned.

What do you do in these situations? You can lay on couch and cry, or you can get up and run the course before you. Courses can change in a moment.  A Couple examples would be an early death of a spouse, a sick child, a business deal gone bad, an injury or any number of other possibilities. Things we have no control over. The point is we like to lay the grandest plans for our life but more times than not, that is not the plan God has for you.  One of the finest men I ever knew was Jack Ward. He was pastor and felt completely called to the job but in his late 40’s he ended up running a hotel brokerage firm where I met him. The guy who founded Holiday Inns was home builder and just decided one day on a lark to build a hotel. Henry Ford had four other jobs (careers) before he started building cars. Most of the largest companies in the world today were not planned, they just evolved from a course change.

Sometimes the new plan feels like it will literally drain the life out of you. Sometimes it is better than our plan but regardless, it is the course set before you that the only choice we have is to run that course. I saw a husband and wife the other day that were my age and they had a down syndrome daughter in her 40’s. I had to wipe a tear away. I am speculating, but when they were a young married couple, they probably had no idea that was going to be their life course.

We like to think we can choose our course, but we can’t. All we can do is determine in our hearts how we will respond to the new course. KT

I came from a mother and stepfather that loved me very much. When I was in the ninth grade, I wanted a pair of Converse Tennis shoes like the cool kids, and they cost $16, and my mom said no way am I paying $16 for a pair of tennis shoes. The K-Mart brand cost about $5 at the time.

Here I was 14 years old in the 9^th grade and I wanted those shoes. There was an Aunt Sarah’s House of Pancakes about a half mile from where we lived in Fredericksburg VA. I went over there and applied for a dish-washing job. They hired me to work on the weekends. After two weeks I got my first check, and it was $19 and guess where I ask mom to take me. That’s right, to the only store in town that sold Converse tennis shoes.

At the time I wore like a size 8.5 and I wanted black or white Converse. When we got to the store, the only pair that was close to my size was a red pair of 11’s. Guess what? That’s right, I bought the red 11’s and thought I would put them through a hot wash cycle, and they would shrink up a little. What I got was a red pair of 11’s that curled up at the toes because they were so big on me. I put those puppies on for school the next day and proudly walked into class and thought I had finally arrived. I wore those size 11 Converse for two years (they finally fit) and completely wore them out.

I have often said, if you wait and buy what you really want instead of what you can get by with now, you will get so much more enjoyment out of your purchase. Isn’t it that way in most areas of our life? Set your goal, execute your plan to achieve it and then go buy the new pair of Converse (metaphor) you always wanted. KT

PS – Fun fact. Converse sells 270,000 pairs of Chuck Taylors (the old fashion kind like I bought,) wait for it – every day! That’s what you call a marker maker.

Over the years I have sold some real dogs (bad hotels) in my career. The biggest barker I ever sold was a hotel in Mendon Vermont. It was closed because the previous owner had let a water leak go untreated and it had Legionnaires, Black Mold, and friable asbestos. Bottom line, you could die in there. I had to go see it for the bank and the little security guard started putting on a mask and handed me one. He said, “you want to go in, right?” I said, “absolutely not.”  I took my pictures of the outside and skedaddled. Ha

One time we sold a hotel for a bank in New Orleans. The title of the hotel included “French Quarter.” The truth it was about two block west of the French Quarter in an area where the police were outgunned. Once again, I told the bank. I will be happy to sell your hotel, but I will not be doing showings. The bank said, okee-dokee. We sold both dogs and oddly enough, both buyers were happy with their purchase.  

In my business there are other brokers who will only work on the pretty deals. To me, the hotel we are selling is very secondary to who the client is. I want the client, not the hotel. Between the two examples above, we have sold 100+ hotels for those two lenders and it was probably because we were willing to help them get rid of the ugly deals. That earned their business. I have told new clients many times, “give me the broken deals no one else wants and let me prove myself to you.”

This same philosophy works in many areas of life. If you can handle the bad, you will see good more often. KT

I want to talk a little gospel here. For those reading this blog and are uninterested (that’s ok) in this subject, the next blog should be out soon.

Regarding the subject, “forgetting who we are,” I am the chief offender among us. We are children of the almighty and the almighty lives within us. He is right there inside you.

We often get enamored with families that are wealthy and leave a huge inheritance of money, influence, and opportunity to their children. I have several such clients now that are young and stepped into the family business. Financially, they will never lack for anything, and it almost seems unfair.

In my business there are the people who are so well known and carry such an influence in our industry that at conferences they are the people everyone wants to speak with. Clearly that is not me as I am just a little unimportant hotel broker from Georgia.

The subject of this blog post came about this morning as I was thinking about our business and how great it would be to be everything all the clients needed. To be that person. When that thought rolled through my mind, I felt a ping in my spirit. That ping said quietly, I am everything you need to be. I am the one who can turn the hearts and minds of the person you are speaking to. I can take the small and make it large. I can take the lack of confidence and turn it into pure confidence. I can turn the average into someone special. I can open the ears and hearts of anyone you meet. I am everything you will ever need.

After these thoughts, I had to bow my head and say, “forgive me lord for forgetting who I am.”

If you are reading this blog, that is who you are too. You have it all already. Everything you need to be the person God intended for you to be. Think of the kind of man or woman you want to be and today going forward, start to be that person. Believing in your heart that the favor of God goes before you wherever you go and whoever you meet. He gives his very best to his children and wants the very best for his children. You already have it all. KT

Animals are very instinctive in their nature. We have two dogs, and I can tell you that food, is the number one incentive in a dog’s life.

Even though this blog title talks about dogs, the blog is not about dogs. A hungry dog is a metaphor for the human drive to be your best.

In business, you got to want it. You got to be hungry (not literally) to succeed. I am sure there may be some businesses that you don’t need to work hard or try hard (like the Kardashians) and still succeed, but in the real world, you need to want it more than your competition. I sell hotels and I can tell you; you have to get after it hard to succeed in my line pf work.

It is probably that same way with your business or where you work. We don’t think in these terms but regardless of your role, title, business, or job, we are all salesmen. Every call you make, every meeting you attend, every time you interact with other people, you are selling yourself.

I have been Quail hunting several times and those hunting dogs have always amazed me. The well fed and lazy dog acts like he is doing you a favor to chase a bird down. The hungry dog is always on point and working hard. He is hungry for success. He wants it, bad. That is the way we should look at life. Hungry to be the best version of ourselves we can be.