It goes without saying that the best and brightest of us all need help at some time. The truth is, if you are an owner or manager, you likely need help every day. That is why you have staff! But there are times when we need help and we just don’t reach out for it. What brings this top of mind for me is an all too personal incident where I was the one guilty of not reaching out for the help that was readily available. Come along for the brief ride, and see if this lesson might be useful to others too…
About 5 days ago, I started suffering from some sort of sinus ailment. Stuffy, congestion, runny nose, we’ve all been there, right? Well, yes, but maybe not quite the same as my scenario, because the mother of our son happens to be an MD. So here I am, taking my own (non-medical, treating my own symptoms) advice, rather than turning to the side and saying, ‘Honey, what is the best thing I can do with these symptoms that make me feel miserable and are slowing me down?’
The symptoms that we suffer from may not be personal, or physical. The pain may be professional. It might be our business or the Industry in general that is ailing. What do we do when we are suffering? Some people run STRAIGHT to the doctor for almost anything, for some of us – perhaps it is generational in part? – we only go to the doctor kicking and screaming. Ladies sometimes like to tell us guys that we make lousy patients. They remind us that they go through stuff routinely – for billions of women, monthly – that we men simply couldn’t handle.
To be experienced – or expert – in one area doesn’t mean that we are expert or experienced (enough) in ALL areas! You may have grown your business to a certain point for any number of reasons. That’s great, kudos! Okay, but now, if it is failing to perform in this or that area, what will you do? Will you diagnose yourself? Give yourself medicine?
I didn’t study biochemistry. I didn’t study pharmacology, or Gray’s Anatomy and a host of other subjects related to medicine either. Dr Mom did. So why would I think that I could do this congestion issue on my own? Good at some things doesn’t mean ‘good’ at EVERYTHING!
There are times that we all need a little outside help. Feeling lousy, but seeing all that needed to be done, I kept trying to keep it all going, all while my head was exploding. Having shared my dilemma in part with Tim Connor, he emailed me back to say, “Go to bed, man. And chill. The world will wait!!!” I needed to hear that; Tim is a man with a good mind and a good heart. Not just a good pro, Connor is real gent.
Turn-arounds of locations, marketing and sales management systems are what pay my bills. I love the time I invest/volunteer in the www.MHMarketingSalesManagement.com online trade journal! But it is marketing (or other services) for industry clients that keep the check book happier. In my marketing role, I deal with a variety of media. Jack Walsh, my award winning Chicago SunTimes news group media rep, knowing me to be a driven, ‘type A’ sort of guy, likes to remind me: “It is only advertising man! It isn’t brain surgery! If something gets goofed up, we can always correct it and move on! No one will die or get paralyzed if you make a little mistake.” I need to hear things like that from my buddy Jack, to keep ‘type A’ from driving someone – that day, myself – too far.
We all need a little help some time.
Where do you need help? Where does the Industry need help?
Where will people turn to for help, today? How long before you – or I – reach out to the right person with the right skills to give us the right advice that will move your cause or the industry’s cause ahead?
One key reason we established this www.MHMSM.com platform for the factory built housing industry is precisely to provide a forum where the best talent can come to the table to share their advice and perspective on timely needs and issues! We all have areas we can help others with! We all have areas that we need help from others too!
• You may be one of the best and brightest experts in some aspect of our industry.
• You may be knowledgeable about many aspects of our Industry or your business.
All those are good reasons to consider writing for the thousands who come weekly – or daily – to www.MHMSM.com for answers, news and views as swelling nubmers of industry pros are doing. Pardon the sincere invite to write, back to the topic…
However the best accountant in the world doesn’t make that accountant qualified to render advice on installations! You might be the George Porter of installations, but does that make Porter a community management whiz too? George Allen may know tons of the key people in the LLC world and he has literally written the book on LLC management, but does that mean he doesn’t need a George Porter for advice on a critical installation? They may be pros at their respective fields, but does that mean they don’t need someone to assist with marketing or sales systems that work today? Does one person’s expertise mean that they don’t have to have assistants, associates, their own experts to guide them where they need help?
Every advertisement for ‘help wanted’ is an acknowledgment that we can’t do it all alone! Every job that is filled in your company means there is a need that exists there! Because…
We all need a little help some time.
What is it that keeps us from reaching out to an expert in the first place anyway?
Sometimes help starts with an email, or a phone call. Sometimes – as noted above – it starts out by turning to our loved one and saying, “Sweet heart, I’m not doing so well. What can you suggest to help me remedy this congestion and sinus pain?” Sometimes it means turning to another professional, dropping the words ‘sweet heart’ and saying, ‘Here is my issue, can you help?’ If the other person is a REAL pro, they will ask you some pertinent questions before saying, ‘yes I can.’ If they are a true pro, they may start with the words, ‘that depends.’
• Are you willing to listen?
• Are you willing to do what it takes?
• Do you really want to grow your operation (again, or for the first time), or do you just want someone to gripe about how bad things are?
In my marketing/sales management/turn around guy role, I did an article for the now defunct Manufactured Home Merchandiser Magazine, that was later republished here. I outlined the steps of the turn around process for community owners, but the principles would be similar for any retail operation. I called it Saving the Patient, and the irony is, here I am telling you that I need to be a patient sometimes too.
Because we all need help from someone else sometimes.
With my congestion and sinus issue, I stopped taking my own advice. I set aside the machismo non-sense. I stopped doing what I wanted to do. I turned to someone else – in this case the gifted and lovely lady who said ‘yes’ – and I asked her what to do. I listened to what she had to say. I took her advice. I woke up better the next day, and better yet the day after that. In fact, the very next morning, I felt so much better I started the first draft of this blog post! Before long, I should be good as new.
Admitting we have a need is the first step.
Admitting we need someone else is the next step.
Then finding that ‘someone else’ is the following one. Then taking that someone’s advice…is next. Follow the prescription to completion, and professional or personal health is just around the corner. Because…
We all need a little help some time.##
