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Right in the middle of the hardest emotional week of my life, I took my oldest son Kenny on day trip to Jack Frost & Big Boulder Ski Resort in the Pocono Mountains. There are two monster lessons I learned this day and wanted to share them both.
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This episode is for my US-based solo cleaners only. President Trump signed the CARES Act into law on Friday, March 27th. In this 900 page, $2 trillion bill, congress has earmarked $350 billion in personal stimulus to American families and $350 billion to the Small Business Administration (SBA) to disperse to small businesses across the fruited plain. The personal stimulus is automatic and requires no action. If the Treasury already has your bank's direct deposit on file, you'll receive your money in April 2020. Otherwise, it may take a few months. If you're like me, you just assumed you didn't qualify for any of the other $350 billion. Well, you're wrong. This episode covers the 4 main portions of the CARES Act that the self-employed can take advantage of. Some of the money is first-come, first-serve, so get applying!
We are in a challenging time as we navigate the devastating effects of the Coronavirus. We need to be wise, use caution, and protect ourselves and families. But we also need to control our emotions and try to view things optimistically. A great example emerged a few weeks before the corona outbreak with my daughter. She was struggling as a pre-teen and allowing a small irritant to throw off her whole day. I told her the beautiful story of the oyster and the pearl. First, an irritant enters the oyster. It usually opens it's shell to eat and stays closed to not be eaten. Sometimes sand or small organisms enter. The oyster feels threatened and secretes a substance called Meka (or mother of pearl) to fight the intruder. This is the same substance that the mantle or inside of the shell is made of. The oyster also secretes a protein to act as glue to continue covering this intruder layer after layer. In the end is a pearl. To the oyster, it just transformed something irritating into something that is safe. To mankind, the pearl is of significant value. One such pearl from the Australian South Seas was recently sold for $1.5M. I shifted gears with my daughter and told her to be like the oyster. Turn your irritants into something beautiful. I now say the same to everyone reading this or listening to my podcast.
This week started amazing. Lead #2 Kim (from Erika's recommendation) hired me for cleaning. The story of the hire is worth sharing. They were weary of keeping their old cleaner as they were uninsured and minor property damage occurred. I educated Kim on the risk of hiring uninsured cleaners. This lead to a great in-person discussion and estimate. I sent the proposal directly after and they hesitantly agreed. The hesitancy came from her husband that I didn't speak to. He was strictly comparing prices and said I was higher. I pushed back and recommended that they don't allow the current cleaner to come back into their house without proof of insurance. Kim took the advice and her cleaner gave an excuse. They hired me right away.
My Pop-Pop has been the man I've wanted to perform for my whole life. My father and I are both named after him. My son is named after him. For most of my life, Pop-Pop has been an encourager... except for this one time!
When I was 12-years-old, I was competing in a Saturday morning bowling league where I was one of the best in my league for my age. I carried an average around 135. But on one occasion, I defied all sense and threw a low-game of 12. There are only 10 frames in a game of bowling and if you don't mark in the 10th, you only get 20 throws of the ball down the lane. In this game, I threw 18 / 20 gutter balls. My score was embarrassment enough. But not on this day, nor the 30 years since. My Pop-Pop watched every throw. He could see what I was doing wrong and had the answer. He was in the right perspective to help me make the adjustments, but I was too dang stubborn to accept his help. So what did he do? He heckled me like the Volkswagon guy in Happy Gilmore. I'll let you listen to the episode to get the gist of it My Pop-Pop reminds me over and over again about this epic failure of a bowling game. I reply. "Pop, that was 30 years ago!" His response is powerful. "Have you learned yet?" What about you? Are you throwing gutter balls over and over again? Do you have a mentor or coach that sees a broader perspective of your game, but you are too stubborn? Get over yourself and adjust! Change your approach and increase your score. |
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