My Dad always said I should live my life as an open book. I took that to heart as a kid and never seemed to unlearn it as some adults do. I’m not trying to say I’m a more valuable person in any way than those who learn to “cover themselves up” as they get older. In fact, sometimes being transparent leads to great heartache. Sometimes people see me as delicate and childlike, and they don’t take me seriously, which gives me no end of grief and ironically has made me tougher.
On the other hand, being able to show my true self (or what I believe at this stage in the game is my true self) has led to miracles, some of which you can read about in these pages. I just finished reading The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber, and I believe a greater part of his message is that our businesses will be truly successful only when we are true to ourselves.
The other part of his message is that we have to learn how to communicate transparently to others what is so meaningful in the work we do and what we have to offer them. Our authenticity and dedication to the Franchise Prototype of our businesses, along with a genuine dedication to the needs of customers as THEY percieve them, will win the day. This is not about products and services. It is about ways we can live our own lives and connect with others authentically. We can’t be successful until we figure out what makes us happy and fulfilled today, and then express it in a way that creates more of it.
When I left my hometown last December with money from the sale of my house underneath me in the form of a supercool red Jeep Commander, I had a vague sense of running away from some of that heartache I mentioned above. However, it wasn’t long before I found myself running headlong and hungrily toward adventure. I couldn’t consume enough new scenery, hear enough new voices, or wonder about enough new mysteries of the worlds I was discovering to satiate my ravenous curiosity.
Finally, I became comfortable with the hunger and saw it as an end in itself. Eventually, my appetite for adventure and new places became a primary building block for my business. I’ve done some of my best work from the road in the past few months. I rarely feel unsettled or lonesome. I haven’t even felt homesick, unless you count a growing itch to get back on the road after I’ve been parked in one place for more than a week or so.
I have to admit I miss family, friends and clients at home, especially my adult children and friends Eddie and Maggie, but somehow, thanks to modern modes of communication, I almost feel closer to them now than I did at home, because I am so happy. I am so myself, and these blogs have given me such a joyful way to share what I am discovering about our country: It’s a beautiful place, full of proud, capable, spirit-full people, glorious traditions and freedom in the form of hundreds of thousands of viable, passion fueled businesses.
I know for a fact my dad (and my mom) are proud of the way I am living my life as an open book, with pages I am writing myself from the road. I also know my clients and colleagues are benefitting from this new me who is truer to me than I’ve ever been, as well as infinitely more committed to them.
