by Dominick Giambona
11/6/12
You don’t need me to remind you, “These are tough economic times!” It is easy to get caught up in all the rhetoric, the economy this or Obama that, problems with Banks on Main Street and greed on Wall Street.
Everywhere you see finger pointing, what you don’t see is solutions. Most people are conditioned to feel helpless and insignificant. “What can I do? I am just one person.” “You can’t fight city hall.”
I am here to tell you there are solutions, and it starts with you. It starts with your mindset, when you realize that you are not insignificant, that you do matter.
It is realizing that, not only you can fight city hall, but you should fight city hall.
There is a saying and it is so true, “Misery loves company.” Next time you feel like whining about how bad everything is, check yourself. Because if you don’t, be prepared to hear more of the same. It will just depress you and those around you.
Next, draw on those values that we have been taught ever since we were little kids. You have heard them a thousand times, “At least you have your health, or no matter how bad it is, it can always be worse and eat your food, because there are kids starving in other countries, and count your blessings because there is someone out there who has it worse that you.”
We were told these sayings for a reason, so what happened. Well, for starters, when you’re young, you’re bullet proof. So, you probably never listened to begin with. The only thing worse than staring at a soggy bowl of cereal, is trying to figure out how am I going to ship it to some kid in China so I can leave the table and go out to play.
More likely, “life happens”, we grow-up, and along the way we lose sight of those values, when we should be living them every day.
I have had people ask me, “How I can you be so calm with all the turmoil around you?”
Living those values everyday is what keeps my sanity. It pains me, to see that others don’t. Getting upset, whining, crying, stomping around like a madman does not solve anything, and I get that! If it did, I would be the loudest guy in the room.
I have also asked the man upstairs, that he does not have to prove it to me either, as I said, I get it! But do I, really? Then he sends Hurricane Sandy and it starts all over again.
We can all empathize with families whose lives are torn apart, the daunting task of even the most basic of needs food, water, diapers and clothes. It is a struggle even for the responders. Military and medical personnel who have to work with limited power and resources.
We are builders in this room. We look at the shear enormity of the devastation, and looking at it from a construction standpoint; we say there is just no way this thing will ever get back to normal.
But, what I really learn is the resiliency of the human spirit. Amidst a backdrop of devastation, when panic, confusion and despair are running rampant, it is the tales of the Human spirit that amaze me.
History has been shaped by average people placed in extraordinary circumstances. Like the officer that saved 7 people only to die looking for the 8th.. A person leaving the safety of his home to help a cab driver trapped in rising waters and howling wind.
When they canceled the New York Marathon, 1,300 people decided to run anyway, carrying water , blankets and supplies to people in need.
So what does all of this have to do with BTN? We are weathering our own storm. We are friends, neighbors, businessmen, whose metal is being tested.
I think we know that we are not insignificant. I think we have those core values. I think we are average people doing what does matter.
We can build our business one referral at a time or one coffee break at a time. Being there when it is needed most, being the one that says “yes I can!” when everyone says “No, I can’t”
Creating one happy customer at a time is the way to build each other’s business.
I will still ask God to not bring on the disasters. But I am thankful to BTN as compass for its resiliency and resolve to hold a course through this economic storm. I thank each and every one of you for being simply extraordinary and that is why I am proud to say I am a BTN member.
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