Through out Junior High and High School, I worked for my father in the afternoons after school. He had been a TV repairman for years. He always need help keeping the shop open while he was out or helping with deliveries. At the time I was making a whopping 50 cents an hour. Now, it was up to me to keep up with my hours. He'd pay me when he could.
You see, Dad worked for himself in the repair business and was well respected throughout the town, but, he was not a good business man. Many people owed him money and would pay when they had to. There are many times that I have seen him collect for the last visit while repairing their TV. He simply did not like to ask for money. Almost without fail when finished a repair and someone asked "How much do I owe?", he would simply say "Awe, just let me send you a bill." He was always afraid of charging too much. Problem is, he hated doing the billing as well. It was all done by hand and he'd wait 'til the end of the month to even start.
As far as us working together, well it went ok, but we just didn't see eye to eye on things. Besides I was young and was looking forward to moving out and being on my own. Then I could get a real job!
Let's fast forward about 10 years. Dad approached me with another job offer. This time he had a partner. They owned 3 store and needed a new manager in one. Now, I had no management experience but he knew I could learn.
What I did not know was that Dad had some long range plans. He and his partner were considering dividing the business and Dan knew he needed someone else to run it. He, for whatever reason, did not want to take it on himself.
A couple of years later, with the business divided, I found myself running 3 stores from a corporate office and all of theses stores were in other towns. One was 5 hours from us which was a little scary now that I think about it.
Over a period of 9 years we grew to 5 stores and were "flying high" until the bottom fell out and we had to file for bankruptcy. In just 9 short years, we had gone from struggle to success back to struggle again.
For a short period of time, I worked for another company but had had a taste of freedom and just could not let that go. I had to become independent again. Then in 1990 I got my chance, totally against my wife's wishes. Dad was back in the repair business and needed my help. We worked out the money so he could pay me this time (I had a family now I had to get paid).
Almost immediately, he suggested that I start developing a computer business. I had learn programming skills while in the TV Rental business a few years earlier. I had to at that time as there were no programs to help control our business.
During the 18 plus years of building this, I struggled. Man I struggled! The business was good and the money was good but I struggle with concentration. If any of you have every written any programming code, you know how much concentration it takes. I would often work all day at the store (waiting on customers and answering the phone) then come back at night (so I could concentrate) and work on programming.
This went on for a number of years. As time passed, it kept getting harder to concentrate. I just assumed that I had ADD or something similar and would just have to deal with it.
Then, a little over a year ago, a friend of mine (Axel Henriksen) suggested I take an online assessment. He said it might help. I was at my “wits end” so I was willing to try most anything that might help. Honestly, I didn’t expect much from this.
Shortly after completing the online assessment and getting the report back we were reading the results when Axel said “Here’s your problem!” He explained that my lack of Analyzer personality made programming challenging at best. It was more than challenging. It was almost unbearable.
WOW! I’ve spent all the years (18 plus) working as hard as I could possibly go “against” my personality. Talk about a relief!
Today, I work with businesses and individuals throughout the
Have you found your passion in life, your ideal career? What’s holding you back?
It happened to me!
It literally changed my life after more than 18 years in the wrong business.
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