First and foremost, USA! USA! USA!
I love my country and I love winning. What a special Gold Medal game by the boys of Team USA Hockey. I’ll never forget being able to watch this game live.
As I mentioned, last week there were a lot of things moving and the week revolved around pulling the trigger on some longer term projects for Fountain Forward.
Setting sail on a journey, if you will.
There’s been a lot of time and effort put in by the leadership team (along with their teams) and this past week we lined up a few software systems/projects that would set the tone for us to double our size in two years and do it efficiently.
This is definitely the point where we bear the burden of risk to be able to become much bigger than many of us would have imagined.
The alternative is to stay exactly how we are or maybe improve incrementally when we could become a GREAT company. I believe we have most of the right people already and this software will allow us to make sure we have the right people in the right spots and if we need others we will have enough gravitational pull to attract them.
Amidst this we have individuals on our team at Fountain Forward purely working on efficiency. The best part about this project is I have little understanding of how it’s going to be presented but I have a solid vision of what I want our company to look like.
I definitely feel uneasy at times but the vast majority of my feelings revolve around my desire to understand where and why we are inefficient and then that feeling is overwhelmed by genuine confidence that we are really good at what we do and we will be even better soon.
I feel like that was a few run-on sentences in a row, but I never passed an English class anyways so what the fuck do I know.
On the business development side, at the time this is posted, we’ll be presenting to our first “20-group” in San Antonio. This is a great opportunity for us to get in front of a group of dealers and provide them value.
I told the boys, our strategy is simple. Give them everything for free and leave them feeling like they have actionable insights to take back to their store(s).
If the problems still exist once they leave our presentation, we’ll have plenty of opportunity. Normally, that is the case. Execution is really hard.
After last week, I had a little fun this weekend and I’m feeling it a bit. I’m decent overall, but just in general, I need some more sleep and clean eating.
Once the presentations are over, I’ll be back to Houston for a day, then the final trip to my childhood home in Wisconsin. By this time next week, I’ll be with my father and sister, closing the door on our home for the last time.
I can tell this is starting to really weigh on my father, but I also see him putting in the work to get ready. Every day he is making another step to get the house ready. I know this process is incredibly painful.
He’s leaving the town where he was born 77 years ago. He’s leaving the home he built 45 years ago. I’m saying goodbye to my childhood home, as is my sister.
It’s the right time, though. All good things come to an end.
A new beginning is waiting for him in the beautiful Florida sun.
I’m excited for next week’s writing. It will be chock full of memories, I’m certain, along with a few new ones stemming from our little going-away party on Saturday.
Let’s have a great week. Let’s push necessary projects forward.
But first, we’re locked into our presentation today.
Forward!
– SJ