Tag Archives: life lessons

January 29, 2020 · 4:47 pm

A Commotion On The Train

I used to ride the commuter train to and from work every day. I did that for 25+ years. Usually, you saw the same faces standing in the same places on the platform in the morning. Going home, it was pretty much the same thing.

One morning, there was a commotion at the other end of the car I was riding in. Someone was on the floor and there was a fair amount of yelling. He’d had a heart attack and, we found out later, passed away. The image of that morning sticks with me.

Everyone has had a bad day at work, and when those bad days begin to follow one another closely, one’s thoughts turn to quitting. I know mine sure did, or at least to make a job change. Frankly, those were hard thoughts to have. I had jobs that paid well and a family for which I had to provide.  Quitting is hard and making a big change is unnerving, almost as unnerving as seeing someone you rode that train with each day passing away.

Why do I bring this up today? I speak with a lot of people who are facing precisely this conundrum. They’re not happy and they know they need to do something but are afraid of making the leap. Maybe it dawns on them that life is too short to waste being miserable. Maybe they’re just bored and want to do something else. Having been in the same place, I sure don’t blame them. What I try to explain to them is that there is a middle ground. You can run your own business while removing a good chunk of the risk generally associated with doing that by investing in a proven business and following the path that dozens or hundreds of others have blazed for you with the brand. Those are what franchises are.

I talk to a lot of folks who have a knack for entrepreneurship but don’t have the right concept figured out. I help them identify one or two that will let them use their skills. Some folks want to invest in a franchise but they don’t want to quit their job to do so. That’s possible, but even in that least disruptive case, fear kicks in.

Quitting makes you uncomfortable. Fear prevents you from addressing your discomfort by reminding you that the status quo is safe even if it’s an unhappy place. Looking back 40+ business years down the road, I’m sorry I didn’t get off that train earlier.  You?

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January 15, 2020 · 4:25 pm

Walkin’ The Talk

I spend a lot of time on the telephone these days. I’m constantly calling people who have indicated that they have an interest in changing their lives by investing in a franchise. It’s great most of the time even if it’s frustrating at the same time. The reason for that is something from which any of us in business can learn.

I think that a number of folks are now using some sort of auto-responder on their phones. I will very often dial someone and just as their voicemail kicks in I get a text from them. “I’ll call you back” is pretty common or even the more maddening “I’ll call you back in an hour.” The reality is that I rarely get that callback.

I pride myself on walkin’ the talk. If I tell you that I’m going to do something, I do it. People are trusting me with a lot of sensitive information – their financial situation, their unhappiness with their current work situation in many cases – and I need them to know that I’m worthy of that trust. Keeping commitments is part of building trust. If I tell you that I will call you at 10, you can be quite sure that your phone will ring at 10. That’s what several decades in the TV business do to you – 10 means 10, not 9:58 or 10:02.

Trust is foundational in business. Yes, there are contracts so that everyone knows what the deal is although I probably didn’t pay enough attention to contracts because I always felt that if I could trust the person I was dealing with, contractual issues would tend to take care of themselves. Making a commitment via autoresponder isn’t walkin’ the talk. It’s just talking to get someone off your back. I’m willing to bet most of the folks don’t even know that a text was sent.

I made a resolution this year. I’m not chasing after anyone. They can generate all the texts they want but if they don’t follow through and make the call, I’m done with them. There are lot of foks who are serious about changing their lives for the better and I’m going to be spending my time with them. That’s a commitment and you can bet it’s one I’ll be keeping.

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December 30, 2019 · 2:49 pm

Posts Of The Year 2019 #2

We’re continuing to review the most-read posts of 2019 that were also written this year. Today it’s my post from September 11. It really doesn’t need much explanation other than one thing that this post taught me is that you folks respond well when I make things more personal. A thought for the screed in 2020…

I was going to write about something else this morning but then I looked at the calendar. Today is the 18th anniversary of what is arguably one of the most significant days in America’s history, one whose aftereffects permeate a lot of our daily life here in the USA. Many of them are big and obvious. Wars that have gone on for nearly two decades as a result of that day and the financial decisions we’ve made as a country to support them that affect everything. The sometimes scary and intrusive security measures we’ve taken at airports and elsewhere. The suspicious looks some folks give to others based on their clothing or appearance.

What 9-11 changed in me was something different. My strongest memory isn’t of the smell that wafted northward to where I worked in midtown Manhattan nor is it the incessant sirens as first responders charged into lower Manhattan to try and save lives. My strongest memory is of how beautiful the September morning was and how it’s hard for me 18 years later to experience a crisp, clear morning with a clear blue sky without thinking of that horrible day.

I used to commute via train to my job. That morning, I was heading to the office before catching an afternoon flight to SF with a group of my NHL peers to meet with a client the next day. We had actually switched our flight. We were going to go out that morning on what became one of the planes involved that day but that’s another discussion. I vividly remember coming up the escalator out the Grand Central and looking up at the beautiful sky as we rose. As I left the station, the cool air hit me and I might have even said out loud “what a beautiful day for flying.” No clouds, no wind, no NYC smells, just clear blue air.

Within the hour, the world had changed. A co-worker ran into my office saying a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I said it must have been a small plane and planes had hit buildings in NY before. We turned on the TV as the second plane hit and realized that this was not an accident.

The rest of the day is a blur of making phone calls to check on friends, receiving phone calls from people checking on me, wondering how I’d get home since the trains and other transport was shut down, and helping my staff deal with the day. The one thing that still won’t leave me though is the memory of leaving the station and walking to my office on one of the most beautiful NY mornings ever, a wonderful day for flying.

No business points today. Please think about those who were lost on 9-11 and those first responders who are still paying the price for their bravery.

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