I was asked by a guy friend recently to help him figure out the path forward with a financial problem he was having. He wanted me to loan him the money and I said, no.

It has been my experience that when you have an issue and ask God what to do, he always answers. He may not tell you every step to take but will tell you the first step to take. It is also my experience that if you don’t take the first step, he won’t tell you any more steps until you do the first one.

Within two minutes I knew what the problem was with my friend. I also knew that he knew, what God had already told him to do and that he wasn’t doing it. I won’t get into what that thing was in case he reads this blog. Ha. His issue was much larger than the current financial issue. It involved his ego and personal image that he has been portraying all his adult life. His image problem caused him to make some wrong financial moves to further tell the world, “Look at me, this is who I am.”

I told him he wasn’t that person anymore and until he corrected this image problem, he will continue to be held hostage by it. “In fact,” I said, “unless you resolve this image issue, you will be in the same place financially five years from now.”

I don’t think I got through to him, because he still hasn’t made the changes we talked about. When God speaks, it is a soft, quiet voice in your spirit, but make no mistake, you know it is from God. Therefore, if God has already told you something to do, and you haven’t done it yet, you may need to get started. If you don’t, you might find yourself in the same place, singing the same song, second verse five years from now. KT  

I have been in the hotel business for 32 years and trust me when I say, I have seen it all. Good decisions, bad decisions, and everything in between.

Jack Ward was my mentor in the business, and he said something years ago that has always stuck with me. “Sometimes,” Jack said, “the best time to sell is when you don’t want to.”  I could tell you story after story about hotel owners that had an opportunity to sell and thought, “if it is worth that much now, just think what it will be worth in the future.”

When a hotel owner is building a new hotel, they always have lofty expectations of how great the hotel is going to perform. Sometimes they are right but most times they miss the mark big. I am dealing with an owner now that bought a closed hotel and spent millions renovating it and he called me to discuss values about 90 days before it was going to open. I told him that the most perfect transaction is the one you don’t have to prove value.” Meaning, if you could sell it before it opens, you don’t have to show occupancy and daily rates. I went on to tell him that what you want to see is the buyer using his own proforma for value but once the hotel is opened for business, it becomes about the actual performance.

I gave him my best and most honest assessment and he said the words that are almost always wrong. He said, “Keith, just think what it will be worth after I have a full year of operations.” In the back of my mind I heard, ding, ding, ding, mistake, mistake, mistake. I told him ok and to call me when he is ready.

He called six months after he opened and said, “I should have listened to you.” I responded, “well we can’t undo the past so let’s see what we can do now.” The value had dropped considerably because the hotel just wasn’t performing well.

My point is, not every time, but sometimes, we need to look at the deal that we have in front us now and in Jack’s words, “sometimes, the best time to sell is when you don’t want to.” KT

We all have many things we want to do, accomplish, or change about our lives. The real question is, if you could only choose one thing, what would it be? We all have that one thing we want to do and more times than not, we may have never voiced it out loud.

I don’t need to list the possibilities because the list is endless, but it is my guess that it is something you think about every single day. The difference between a fleeting desire and the one that persist, is that the one that is persistent is the real one and it is usually achievable. Let me say that again, the one thing that you think about the most, is usually achievable. Another thing that is common, many times it is not about houses, cars, and bank accounts. It is usually more personal and physical in nature.

We are at the time of the year when most new years resolutions have already fallen by the wayside. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that the most important aspect is to simply start the process toward that one thing you most want. Many times, it will be a long process but the act of starting, makes us feel that it is achievable and will probably make you more encouraged. KT

We have a fat little Sheltie and a five-pound Yorkie. I would not recommend this combination, ha, but we love them. The Sheltie eats this dry food that is in pellets about half the size of a nickel. The Yorkie who is a lot younger still need the puppy food that is about half the size of the Sheltie’s food.

I don’t know what it is about dogs that makes them want to eat the other dog’s food, but it is a fact of life. This morning I had both dogs in the same room with one food bowl so I decided I would add both dog foods to the same bowl. I came back a little later and saw that the Sheltie had sniffed out every piece of the Yorkie’s food and left his food in the bowl.

The Sheltie’s snoot works like a vacuum hose. He just rakes it across and the food is gone. That said, make no mistake, the little Yorkie is the boss. At night I will put them food out in separate areas and it never fails, the Yorkie will go over and root the Sheltie out of the way and eat his food. The little fat Sheltie will just lumber away dejected. If he could talk, I would imagine he would mumble, “dadgummit, I waited too long.” KT

I just received a congratulations/ anniversary email from American Express for having the same card for 35 years. Ha

When you get in your mid 60’s it all starts coming at you pretty fast. Life insurance, Medicare, medical insurance, Social Security, school tax deduction on your property tax, and even American Express.  When I got the email today from American Express, I could remember the day I got the card in the mail. It was 1987 and I was working with some investors to convert Mrs. Winner’s Chicken restaurants to Wendy’s restaurants.

It was the day before I was going to the annual Wendy’s convention to meet with the equipment and design folks to nail down the conversion plans and to get trained on operations and get certified as an approved operator.

The restaurant guys I was working for at the time were the same guys that sold hotels which is probably the only reason they agreed a couple years later to let me sell hotels. In life we often look around and don’t like where we are and have no idea how to get to a better place. Had I not done my time with the Mrs. Winner’s and Wendy’s, I have no doubt I would have never been able to change courses in life. I just had to believe I was in the place at that moment that God wanted me to be in. I had to trust that he had a long-term plan for me.  It seemed at the time that I was destined to be in the restaurant business for my whole career.

In life, it is often like we are in a car going around the mountain and you can only see just the curve in front of you. It may happen for some folks, but I was never able to see the whole road out in front of me. I could only see a short distance. I wished I could tell you that I was confident and calm and always trusting, but that would not be true. I just had to believe that I was in the right car and on the right road at the right time and believe that God was guiding me. It is hard to do especially when you so want to get on a different road.

I believe the prayer would be, “Lord, show me the way and make it plain so I can understand. Put your hand on my every move and guild me to the place you want me to be, and I will be satisfied wherever that is.” Psalm 37:4 says, “take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” KT