DOING THE RIGHT THING
I remember when I first started working with my dad right after college. I was trying to pursue my dream of working in the music business (was interning at Studio One in Doraville) when my dad took ill and asked me to help him in his metal roofing business. This was 1985, I was 23 and the last thing I wanted to do was work in the metal roofing business.
While my dad was in the hospital, my job was to go to the various jobs he had going on around Atlanta and make sure that the crews were getting their supplies, that the job was moving forward, and that the General Contractor was informed of our progress. I learned on the job..really quickly...I mean really quickly. I had to learn how to read blueprints. I had to learn who the suppliers were. I had to learn how to make sure the right materials got to the right job...THE FIRST TIME!
After my dad got out of the hospital, I had grown the business to the point where we had to move the business from our garage to an office warehouse. I had actually learned how to bid on jobs and actually, I landed a few jobs, so business actually grew. And so there I was...this 23 year old kid in the metal roofing business with my dad.
And now that I am 56, I look back at that time and reflect all the lessons my dad taught me while I learned about business. He used to have all these wacky sayings that at the time made little sense to me then, but now they are a part of me! One of his sayings was... "in business, you have two choices...do what you want to do or do what you should do...and sometimes they are on opposite ends of each other...so, ask yourself, is this the right thing to do.
After my time in my dad's business, I started a video production company. I was often faced with ethical business situations...and I thought back to those days with my dad. And when I was faced with a business decision, I simply asked myself, "what is the right thing to do?" This simple question forced me to take my emotions out of the situation and get right to the heart of the matter. I can honestly say that when I asked myself that question it was almost always the opposite of what I WANTED to do.
And then after doing this for several years an interesting thing happened...the decision to always do the right thing just made good business sense to me. Because when I did the right thing, my client was happy...my client referred me to others...I actually increased my business...sooo, doing the right thing..yeh, it's a cool thing to do!