Many years ago, a young man growing up in northern Michigan was knocking on doors and drumming up business for his newly formed lawn mowing business. At 11 years of age, there were some minor geographic limitations, as he had to pull his dad’s push mower behind his bike, carrying the gas can to his customer locations. This young entrepreneur pedaled and walked his way into a solid lawn mowing business, encouraged (ok, forced) by his parents, who felt it was critically important to teach the young man work ethic. Obviously, the young man is me. But I was the true recipient of the gift of this scenario, because of the lesson and value of work ethic instilled in me by my parents. That gift built my entrepreneurial spirit, and while there were some poor decisions made in earlier years, it carried me through, and drove me to overcome, the incredibly challenging time in my life. If I reflect on my entire life, this was the most important lesson taught to me
All this came rushing back to me last week when there was a flyer posted in our neighborhood for a newly launched “mobile” car washing business, in the comfort of your own driveway. As it turns out, this young entrepreneur lived in our sub, and I reached out to his mother to have this young, budding business owner come see me, that Jennifer and I “are in” as customers. There is nothing I enjoy supporting more than a young person working hard to earn their own money. When he showed up at our front door, he was well prepared for the presentation. Great eye contact, strong handshake (one of the best things we can teach young people), politeness, and a solid business strategy. After Jennifer and I engaged in a verbal commitment with this new business owner, he shared that he was starting his business to buy a new football helmet. He doesn’t realize this gift he has been given yet, but I also have full confidence that he will one day, and I hope to be on this earth long enough to reminisce about it with him, because I have a strong hunch, he will have a great story to tell.
Having moved here 19 years ago, knowing only my wife (and she only knew a few people), not having a highly successful career in another field or a legacy business, the one thing I possessed was a drive to succeed and a hyper driven work ethic. Work ethics, truly caring about people, and relationships, are what this writer believes are three huge keys to success in business, and life. I was reminded of it on my front porch by a young man just starting his journey. What an incredible gift.
The real estate market continues to be very strong this summer, and as of this date, our team is 37% of last year as of the day at time of writing. Homes that are “show ready”, well maintained, updated, and most importantly appropriately priced, are selling fast and for top dollar. Make it a great rest of summer and support young entrepreneurs!
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