Lessons Learned from a Bicycle
January 3, 2012 by Ben Harrison
Many years ago I wanted to get a new bicycle. My father told me, ”When you get your money together, we’ll go to Lowes and I’ll help you pick out a new bicycle.” (Yes, Lowes used to sell bicycles 40+ years ago.) I was seven years old then and the lesson has stuck with me forever; if you want something you can get it if you have enough money. Fast forward to January 2012 and I am introducing you to a person who is a workaholic. I must really want a lot. Really…I do want many things and then again I confess that I really like working. I have cut grass, painted houses, cleaned construction sites, sold a shark for meat, cleaned swimming pools, collected pine cones from the tops of large pine trees in northwest Florida and sold them to the state of Florida to replenish the pine forests; cut firewood, washed dishes at Sandestin Beach Resort, worked at a hardware store delivering building materials, worked as a deck hand on commercial fishing trips out of Panama City, FL, rented paddle boats at Panama City Beach, FL, worked in a one hour photo lab, paid for college while renting chairs and sailboats at Panama City Beach, FL during 5 summers as a beach lifeguard, worked as a courier during college winters for Bay Bank in Panama City, and taught myself to edit videos while working for a production company my last year at Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL. I tell you about these many different jobs because of the following lessons:
If you want something you have an opportunity to go out and get it. If you work hard owners and managers will want you to work for them. If you can sell something, you can make lots of money and you will rarely go hungry.
In the coming weeks, I want to begin sharing stories like these with you as a means to help you learn from the lessons I’ve already learned. At PR Companies, we’re here to help people like you succeed in the best ways possible. As the President of the PR Companies, I hope to instill our values, insights, and thoughts into the fabric of your life and the life of your company through this blog. I hope you’ll join me on this journey (and tell your friends about it too.)
To be continued…