When I was a kid, if you didn’t do it right, my dad would say, “Tear it down and do it again.” Dad was a hard working, no nonsense bricklayer and an entrepreneur. At a super young age, I was on jobs with him building a lot of houses. We’d build chimneys and walls. We’d roll up to the job, and have to figure out how to tackle the project. There was something really fulfilling about the hard work. I could point to the wall and say, “I built that.” And there was the very real possibility it would be there for a long, long time so you had to take pride in your work.
I also had two Grandpa’s, both WWII guys. Those guys can make anything work with duct tape! So between my Dad and my Grandpas, I emerged from my childhood with the mentality, “You do what has to be done, you do it right, and you live or die by your decisions” - It’s a rugged individualism. By the time I was 15, I was making money as a bricklayer myself; it’s how I put myself through college.
After college, I’m working in construction, doing project management, and I’m getting really frustrated hearing “You’re not being paid to think. Just do it.” And then in 2001, I’m trying to find a caregiver for my wife’s grandmother, and I stumble across an ad for a franchise that helps homebound seniors. It looks like a great opportunity for me to own my own business, like my father did, where I am paid to think, and where I do live or die by my own decisions, so I go for it and I love it. I was able to build a million dollar senior care business in 3 years and later sell it. Next I discovered that I enjoy supporting others in achieving their own dreams through franchises.
