By Fred Boyles
Columnist
Reminding men of their greatness.
A few years ago when the housing bubble burst, I lost my customer base. I am an electric sign contractor. I was ready to sell my company and retire. But that was before I was hit by the perfect storm.
As I scrambled to find new avenues of selling and stalling in my payment of $80,000 to the IRS, I would have anxiety attacks and swim in doubt about my future. I was being a victim and feeling sorry for myself.
I brought this to my men’s team, men in my division and my international MDI relationships. Most of my team could not help me. For the next three years as I struggled with the details of business, most men gave simple answers to complex problems.
1. My bookkeeper said, “The IRS will not shoot you in the parking lot. They just want payments. You will handle it.”
2. My team said, “You’re still dealing with the IRS; get over it?”
3. My MDI banker friend said, “You’ve been in business for 50 years; you will find a way!”
One other day another one of my good business plans was failing, and I called my mentor on my team. He was taking another man to the airport and he did not have the time to listen to me. Simultaneously, both men said the same thing: “You have succeeded before and you will do it again!!!”
They reminded me of my greatness when I had forgotten.
Today I called one of those men and he was feeling weak. He wanted to go to the gym, but he was busy with work and his wife was out of town. He also had his son full-time, his back was killing him and he was not getting enough sleep. He was feeling down. So I reminded him how brilliant he was by listing everything he needed to do to take care of himself.
1. Get a massage with a gift card I gave him.
2. Go to the gym and do low weights and high reps to pump himself up.
3. Play with his son.
4. Notice how in the last three years he has moved forward in all of these areas, just not as fast as he wanted. New career, big money, back surgery, having his son, making a huge difference with his men.
The bottom line was by moving forward in one area he was able to move forward in all areas. He just needed to be reminded of his greatness.
I gave back to him what he had given me.
That is the gift we can give.