A Priceless Introduction

I wrapped up Leading With A Clear Purpose by sharing how having our own extremely clear purpose helped us push through the Covid mandates that prevented us from capitalizing on the momentum we had built in our business going into 2020 and doing much billable work for anyone in the second half of that year. As some of the mandates were relaxed in early 2021, I was doing just about anything I could do to create revenue and get some of that momentum back. While I wasn’t all that excited about it, I did quite a bit of safety and human resource consulting work for small businesses at that point.

Even while Cindy and I were still in our full-time roles, we had a few client interactions that were less than desirable. We actually stepped away from one, which was our largest to-date at the time, due to an ever changing scope of work - after we had nearly half the time we had allocated for the entire project but still hadn’t finalized the actual deliverable. Interestingly, some of the time I had in that, which was never billed to that client, became part of our Emerging Leader Development course - but not until a few years later. The interaction with that client, as well as some with a few smaller ones, gave us some perspective for recognizing some juice just ain’t worth the squeeze. But after limping through 2020, I felt like I could only be so choosy… 

In mid-2021, one of those small business clients I had some recruiting for made an email introduction between me and a couple who were acquiring a business my client had been working with for years. The couple was in the process of moving from the Gulf Coast of Florida to central Virginia. The business they were buying had been in operation for around 75 years and was about an hour away from me. Between wondering if that couple had completely lost their mind to intentionally move from Florida’s Gulf Coast, a place that Cindy and I have fallen in love with, to central Virginia and the support they needed from me being very focused on regulations and compliance, I was very reluctant to move forward. But I did, mainly because I enjoy food and sleeping inside.

My initial conversations with them were mixed between phone calls and Zoom sessions since they hadn’t completely moved to Virginia. Each of those went fine but I still wasn’t all that excited about what they needed me to help with: all the regulatory mumbo-jumbo necessary to comply with employment law when purchasing a business… After a month or so and at least a half dozen phone conversations, we finally had the opportunity to meet in person over dinner. Since they weren’t familiar with the area, and insisted on coming to us rather than having me and Cindy drive an hour to meet them, we got to choose the location. If you know us very well at all, and you’re even remotely familiar with Harrisonburg, you’ll understand why we opted for The Sub Station Mexican Grill!

Just in case you’re not, this place has become one of our very favorites! The food is excellent and the owners are even better. From the outside, though, especially back then, it was very easy to mistake the building for a Waffle House - because that’s what it used to be. Once inside, there was little to remind you that it had previously been a hot spot for the after-the-bar-closed crowd - other than the wooden benches in each booth, which have since been replaced.

The guy who connected us asked where we were meeting them for dinner and was nothing short of appalled. He thought I was nuts for taking a couple of their stature to what he viewed as a hole-in-the-wall. I blew him off, saying “if they don’t like me because of where we’re going to eat, we probably won’t get along too well on much else either!”

As it turned out, they weren’t the type to turn up their noses at a place just because the waiter doesn’t show up at your table with a towel over his arm. We all enjoyed the interaction, and the food! And we were able to develop a plan for all that would need to be done as they took ownership of the business. I had quite a bit of homework to do coming out of that conversation, but I still didn’t realize how much that interaction would help me connect the dots on just how important values are in serving as the right foundation for any business - so we’ll pick up there next time.