For the last 12 years of my life I have been working in construction, building RV's and then moving on to decks and fences. Right after I got married to Jenny in 2001 I was in the middle of an internship that ended suddenly and I needed a job. I took the first opportunity I could find as a non ambulatory on call, taxi driver until I realize this was not the direction I wanted to go in life. After talking with some friends I got a job in McMinnville, OR which was a short commute, and I finally got a taste of the real world. Even then I was not ready to face the challenge working in a factory, but after failing to keep up the pace in the trimming department, I was moved to something even more risky, framing the walls of the RV's. For the first time in my life I needed a plan, because my plan had always been failure.
"Failing to plan is certainly a plan for failure."
For the next three years I went from miss-cutting little pieces of trim to learning how to frame from floor to ceiling because I had a plan. This would be my career and I would no longer fail with a plan to succeed in everything I touched. With this new vision for my life, my capacity for knowledge increase so much that I was instruction other departments on how to make all of our lives easier. I even bet my supervisor one day that I could cut every piece of wood and frame our largest wall in 3 hours, which was typically a 4 hour job, and I did it in 2 1/2 because I had a plan. Things were going well, but something started to frustrate me when our department's lead man would not make a decision to become the next supervisor. It became so unbearable that someone who had the vision to be a lead man would not move up and give me the opportunity to follow so I resigned and left McMinnville to go work 2 blocks away from my apartment in Dallas at another RV factory.
One day about 7 months later our compressor went out and we were sent home and with nothing to do I went back to Mac to visit my old friends. When I showed up they told me the lead man in my department just quit and offered me the job. I showed up the next day and returned to my original plan for success. It wasn't two months later and a supervisor position opened up and I put in my request to turn my working hands into a vision for my company.
I only spent 11 months as a supervisor overseeing 2 departments at a time and learning 2 additional departments as well. When I moved to Salem, the drive was even farther, but my wife noticed a help wanted sign just half a mile down the road from our new house. I applied and interviewed and was hired shortly after I jumped ship from the factory that ended up closing its doors only 7 months later.
My plans had changed but my vision for my career had not. I was going to have to start over, but I went from helper to leader in 6 weeks, and from leader to manager in 2 1/2 years, and now 6 years later I will be moving to sales on Monday.
Early this year, after 1 1/2 years of my son's cancer diagnosis, I needed to make a new plan for raising awareness. I tried a few things that worked out alright, but this time I needed a vision just like I had for my career. I didn't really know how this vision would expand into what it is today, and now I am doing all I can to keep up with it and keep it going. At first the idea of running to the White House was more of a daydream that kept me from become overwhelmed with my work in the field, but when I started to participate, it lead the way for over 3000 people to run nearly 200,000 miles for our kids fighting cancer. Now I am at a point where something is in my way and I need to push it as hard and as far as I can. I have run "virtually" in over half of the states in the US, but now I have a vision to take it to level 2. This time I'm not just wishful thinking because the pressure is on to make it through every state and have every state participate for the thousands of kids that will be diagnosed in the next 12 months. Now with only 20 days until I reach the White House I will start my daily doubles and run twice a day for 2 states in the next 10 days, and 3 times a day for 3 states in the final 10 days. I hope every state will join the #FollowMein2013 movement and cross the finish line in the finale for #EpicAwarenss on September 1st. I will need all of my friends to help me in a virtual way to make sure you are "Going" to the event instead of wishing you had done something sooner for some of the greatest kids on earth.
Remember...
Click here to get "Going" even if it only means witnessing this years event in the grand finale on September 1st. https://www.facebook.com/events/129786293855902/
"Failing to plan is certainly a plan for failure."
For the next three years I went from miss-cutting little pieces of trim to learning how to frame from floor to ceiling because I had a plan. This would be my career and I would no longer fail with a plan to succeed in everything I touched. With this new vision for my life, my capacity for knowledge increase so much that I was instruction other departments on how to make all of our lives easier. I even bet my supervisor one day that I could cut every piece of wood and frame our largest wall in 3 hours, which was typically a 4 hour job, and I did it in 2 1/2 because I had a plan. Things were going well, but something started to frustrate me when our department's lead man would not make a decision to become the next supervisor. It became so unbearable that someone who had the vision to be a lead man would not move up and give me the opportunity to follow so I resigned and left McMinnville to go work 2 blocks away from my apartment in Dallas at another RV factory.
One day about 7 months later our compressor went out and we were sent home and with nothing to do I went back to Mac to visit my old friends. When I showed up they told me the lead man in my department just quit and offered me the job. I showed up the next day and returned to my original plan for success. It wasn't two months later and a supervisor position opened up and I put in my request to turn my working hands into a vision for my company.
I only spent 11 months as a supervisor overseeing 2 departments at a time and learning 2 additional departments as well. When I moved to Salem, the drive was even farther, but my wife noticed a help wanted sign just half a mile down the road from our new house. I applied and interviewed and was hired shortly after I jumped ship from the factory that ended up closing its doors only 7 months later.
My plans had changed but my vision for my career had not. I was going to have to start over, but I went from helper to leader in 6 weeks, and from leader to manager in 2 1/2 years, and now 6 years later I will be moving to sales on Monday.
Early this year, after 1 1/2 years of my son's cancer diagnosis, I needed to make a new plan for raising awareness. I tried a few things that worked out alright, but this time I needed a vision just like I had for my career. I didn't really know how this vision would expand into what it is today, and now I am doing all I can to keep up with it and keep it going. At first the idea of running to the White House was more of a daydream that kept me from become overwhelmed with my work in the field, but when I started to participate, it lead the way for over 3000 people to run nearly 200,000 miles for our kids fighting cancer. Now I am at a point where something is in my way and I need to push it as hard and as far as I can. I have run "virtually" in over half of the states in the US, but now I have a vision to take it to level 2. This time I'm not just wishful thinking because the pressure is on to make it through every state and have every state participate for the thousands of kids that will be diagnosed in the next 12 months. Now with only 20 days until I reach the White House I will start my daily doubles and run twice a day for 2 states in the next 10 days, and 3 times a day for 3 states in the final 10 days. I hope every state will join the #FollowMein2013 movement and cross the finish line in the finale for #EpicAwarenss on September 1st. I will need all of my friends to help me in a virtual way to make sure you are "Going" to the event instead of wishing you had done something sooner for some of the greatest kids on earth.
Remember...
Click here to get "Going" even if it only means witnessing this years event in the grand finale on September 1st. https://www.facebook.com/events/129786293855902/
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