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This is post #5 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 1985, my brother and I dissolved our company, W.E.S. Enterprises, Inc., a full-service maintenance and janitorial firm based in Washington, D.C. — my very first entrepreneurial experience. We had grown the company to a height of approximately 50+ employees and over $500,000 in annual revenue. As mentioned earlier, we dissolved the company after discovering our accountant had embezzled funds, leaving us with a $30,000 IRS tax liability. By then, it was too late to recover.
The way we closed the company sowed a seed of negativity into my life that I was unconsciously aware of until more than a decade later. A new business partner and I started Eagle Technologies, Inc. (ETI), a physical security company that primarily offered contract security services to the federal government. My business partner asked me to become part of the ownership of the company from the very beginning, but I told him “No, thank you” because deep down, I feared the possibility of repeating a business failure and being held personally liable. I told myself that I would never put my family in another position that could cause harm to them because of my mistake.
I told my partner all I wanted was to be compensated for my value to the company, and I would be fine. No other ownership privileges were necessary.
Three or four years later, the company grew to reach its first $10 million in annual revenue, and another key figure in the company, our CFO, requested to be made a part owner due to his contribution to the business’s success. The majority owner told me that I started the company on Day 1 with him, made many sacrifices to help the business achieve its level of success, and he would not feel right giving another key person part ownership if I didn’t accept it.
So, I gave it more thought and talked with my Pastor about the situation. He said my fear was holding me prisoner to a past situation and I needed to overcome it and move forward. I took his advice and became a minority stakeholder in ETI, which I do not regret to this day.
For years, I allowed my fear, a blind spot, to hold me hostage. It could have kept me from learning how to overcome past failures and achieve greater things in my future. Overcoming this fear of failure also freed me to start my current company, AVAD, in 2018.
My advice to you: Instead of feeding your fears of negativity, have key people in your life whose opinions you trust. Depending on how deep your fears go, you may want to engage a counselor or a therapist to assist you in overcoming them.
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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