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This is post #4 in my blog series called “Uncovering Our Blind Spots in Life and Business.” By reflecting on my own experiences, my goal is to help you uncover aspects of your personality, behavior, emotions, and intellect that harbor unconscious biases that obstruct your perspectives or influence how you see yourself and others. You can read past articles here.
In the fall of 1979, after I graduated high school, I accepted a job through a “blind ad” in the employment section of the newspaper. It read something like this: “You can earn up to $600 per week. We will train you how to do so.” It piqued my interest, so I went for the job interview and found out the job was selling vacuum cleaners door to door or however you got your leads — family, friends, etc.
After about a month of trying to sell these $1,200 vacuum cleaners to the average person, it was not working. One of the components of the vacuum cleaner was the ability to shampoo carpets as well. So, often we were trained to lead with that aspect of an all-in-one vacuum cleaner and carpet shampooer. We would run a shampoo test on a section of the carpet and most people would be impressed, but they now wanted me to shampoo their entire carpet and not just one spot.
After a few weeks of working for the company, I recruited my older brother to join me in selling the vacuum cleaners. We would be a mighty team working together! It was nearing Thanksgiving and people were getting their houses ready for family and guests to come over. So, my brother and I came up with the bright idea of starting a carpet cleaning business with our new multifunction vacuums. With Christmas coming in December, we would give it a good try, and we were off and running with our carpet cleaning company.
We walked into the perfect market niche and were very successful for two months. Then January came and no one wanted their carpets cleaned. So, in January we thought about what was compatible with cleaning carpets and arrived at a full-service maintenance and janitorial company as our new venture. It took us a while, but we built up a good residential base of clients and eventually expanded into the commercial market. Within a few years, we had approximately 50 employees working on 2-3 commercial sites and we were bringing in an annual revenue of over $500,000/year.
Photo via Unsplash+
I was 18 years old when we started the business, and I envisioned I would be a millionaire by the time I was 30 years old. I was married in 1981 and we began our family right away, so that fueled my desire to be a millionaire by 30.
But in 1985, our dreams were crushed when we had to close the business due to a federal tax liability of over $30,000 that we owed to the IRS after it was discovered that our bookkeeper had embezzled money. We were totally unaware until it was too late.
In reality, I had a blind spot of trusting a person we did not vet before hiring. We were warned by a professional accountant that we did not need the bookkeeper’s services and we could track our own expenses at our level of business, but we chose not to listen. Because my brother and I were co-owners of the business, we were personally liable for the loss.
Another blind spot was placing all my eggs in one basket instead of pursuing multiple income streams to accomplish my goal of becoming a millionaire. When things outside of my control happened, that drowned my hope for the future, and I was lost.
My advice to you: At some point, many of us have thought about accomplishing something we consider significant or a great feat in life. We envision ourselves standing on a platform receiving an award or honor for being the best at something. Reflect on what’s fueling your passions and vision for your life. Then get wise counsel to help you understand how to achieve what’s in your head, so you don’t build your future on “shifting sand” or a “pipe dream.” We do ourselves a disservice when we try to figure things out on our own.
Please learn from my blind spot of trying to become successful with no track record of how to get it done or bac up plan if things fail.
Your thoughts and comments on this blog are Welcomed and Desired. If you feel the content of this blog is valuable, please share it with your friends and network. With Gratitude!
We don’t see what we don’t see! We don’t know what we don’t know! Therefore, we cannot change the things in our lives that could propel us to the next level!
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