Being on the road has been a lot of fun this week, and at the same time I’m ready to get back.
I think I’ve said that a lot lately.
Construction on my house is progressing, but it’s pretty clear to me that I won’t be back in my house until at least December. Hoping before January 1st, honestly.
This week I was in Dallas and then Park City, and the first words I think of are fulfilling and grateful.
My time in Dallas reminded me about the incredible people that we get to work with on a regular basis. Our industry (automotive) is incredibly cutthroat, and I can’t even count the number of days I’ve felt scared and lonely over the last 15 years.
But, these are the types of people that make it all worth it.
Even more importantly, I normally do these trips with Phil. We have a lot of fun, and Phil always shows up extremely prepared. He should be very proud of his hard work and dedication to our clients.
I know I am.
We are knee deep in a battle to become a certified vendor with a manufacturer and at the same time, redlining their agreement so we don’t lose our soul.
Amidst that, they are slow-rolling us in my opinion. Their handling of this situation is a reminder to myself and our team of how we want to serve our dealers and what we want to stand for.
My eyes are wide open (due to this process), and I plan on fighting even harder, even though I may be fighting a battle I cannot win.
Luckily, I have dealers barking up their trees saying, “WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH FOUNTAIN FORWARD?” because other than that, they’ve been slow to respond.
Do I have empathy for the fact that they may be busy with a lot of players applying to become certified? Absolutely.
With that said, it’s still being handled poorly, and we’re so fortunate to have dealers fighting for us.
Let’s see what happens. The universe is perfect in its actions, so I’m at peace knowing that.
The rest of the week was my annual trip to Park City to see my friend Chris Brandenburg. We were interns together at Medinah in 2008 and reconnected five years ago.
This is our fifth straight year meeting in Park City for golf, fun, and this year a new adventure into rock climbing.
My memory I will always remember from this weekend is my first time rock climbing outside.
Long story short it was myself and Chris (who is essentially a pro at this point) who drove about 20 minutes to a spot he likes.
It’s considered to be an intermediate climb of about 40-50 feet that Chris thought I’d be able to accomplish based on my current fitness level.
What Chris didn’t know was that this was a much bigger deal to me than he imagined.
About 15 years ago, out of nowhere, I became deathly afraid of heights.
SCARED AS HELL.
I decided I was going to give this my absolute best and tell him when it was over because I didn’t want any special treatment.
I just wanted to do my absolute best and see if I could do it.
About 10 minutes later I reached the top and was belayed back down.
As I got to the ground, Chris was very excited for me and then realized I had tears in my eyes. The first thing I said to him was…
“Something I didn’t want to tell you until I was done. I am deathly afraid of heights. I really just wanted to see if I could do it.”
I was shaking and trying to control my fears, excitement, and joy all at once.
Chris was the exact guy I wanted to be with when I accomplished this goal. He is such a great guy and a wonderful teacher.
Face your fear.
The higher the degree of fear, the greater the accomplishment.
Do hard things. Do really hard things.
I’m headed back to Houston with a lot on my mind. There continue to be a lot of balls in the air, and I don’t know where they’re going to fall.
With that said, I’m going to keep doing my absolute best.
I have to clean up some of my personal behavior because I’ve not been sleeping enough and I’ve had a little too much time drinking.
I’m having a lot of fun and also stressing myself out more than I need to.
We’re 10 days away from the Fountain Forward Annual Planning meeting in Scottsdale, AZ.
What a great time to plan our next year and more.
Chin up, shoulders back. Conquering fears and great friends.
This is what it’s all about.
– SJ