Don't Quit Read online

  It turned out, for the first time, I wasn’t the bottom of the class on the test. Other cadets must have had gaps in their knowledge too but didn’t have the courage to ask. I didn’t consider quitting once. I knew what it was like to be bullied, and this time, I wasn’t going to let someone else’s personal problems become a problem for me.

  I didn’t say anything negative about Jim, but it was obvious that his behavior towards me was not sitting right with my fellow cadets. I later discovered that they had put in a complaint about him in support of me.

  One day I was a little late for class. He had a little snipe at me, followed by, “I’m not having a go at you.”

  I boldly chose to look him in the eye as I headed to my desk and heard “GOOD” coming out of my lips. It certainly felt good.

  As I sat down the scene was reminiscent of a Hollywood movie. The whole class came to their feet and started clapping. Their support of me as I stood up to Jim with that one word was totally unexpected and really appreciated as a different type of tears started to flow. When I think about this moment, a smile spreads across my face and goosebumps tingle on my arms. He never bothered me again.

  The mission I assigned myself was to sweep away every obstacle in my path. I pushed for my check-rides (where a cadet’s pilot skills are tested in the air before they can move forward to the next stage). I grilled other students for what to expect and fell asleep each night and woke up each morning with meteorology, aerodynamics, or a similar book open as my bed buddy. The day I qualified as a private pilot was the best day of my life to date. I had done it. I had beaten students who had arrived months before me, and three days before my brother received his qualification. Many months later, I was working as a commercial pilot out of a busy airport in Boston.

  How did that happen? Everyone, including myself initially, did not anticipate any real success for me beyond becoming a housewife. But I had changed. I decided to challenge myself, to see my own value and decide my own worth. I decided to jump and grow wings on the way down and developed a competitive spirit that drove me even further.

  It was a few years later that my parents asked me to put my career as a pilot on hold and come back home to run the family hotel business so they could retire. I was honored, of all their children, they wanted me.

  I jumped at the opportunity. I was scared. This was something new for me. I remembered advice I had been given by my beau when I was 20. Jump and make an impact.

  My efforts increased the number of weddings a year from a couple to over a hundred. We won awards for our service and reached the top of Trip Advisor and I somehow managed this whilst bringing up my four children.

  Very surprisingly (to me), I was even nominated for the Dorset Business Awards for Entrepreneur of the Year. I, understandably in my mind, didn’t make it through. It was an all-male final, however, it made me think. What is there out there that recognizes efforts more holistically for people juggling so much? That is when I started the Venus Awards focused on recognizing women in business. Ten years and 36 ceremonies later (most recently at the London Waldorf Hotel), thousands of women have received the recognition they deserve. I’ve even had many share with me that the Awards has changed their lives.

  I am a flying example that “it’s not what happens TO you that makes a difference, it’s what happens WITHIN you.” What I realized is, if a stupid little girl could become a commercial pilot, then others can achieve what they want―as long as they shed their limiting beliefs, set their intention, have the courage to take the first step, and DON’T QUIT.

  Through the Venus awards, and having worked with and coached thousands of men and women in business over the years, it has become clear that while success seems to come easy to some, others struggle with it. It doesn’t have to be that way. On my website, I share about my formula for creating an invincible sense of self and a rock-hard confidence that allows others like me to develop a genuine recognition of their own worth and value as a person, so they can achieve success on their own terms using my Self Adore Success System.

  It’s a formula that focuses on separating your assigned roles in life from your self-identity to allow you to flourish.

  One last thing―remember how I fell in love with an Australian my parents spent a fortune to get me away from? Their cunning plan failed. He happens to be the man I refer to as hubby and the father of my four beautiful children.

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  TWEETABLE

  I am a flying example of “it’s not what happens TO you that makes a difference, it’s what happens WITHIN you.” If a “stupid little girl” can become a commercial pilot, you can #AchieveYourDreams too. Shed limiting beliefs, have courage to take the first step, and #Don’tQuit #SASS

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  Tara Hamilton Howard helps women find their money- making superpower, improve their relationships and live a more fulfilling, and liberating life.

  She’s an international public speaker, #1 bestselling artist, editor, entrepreneur with a property portfolio, and founder of the Self Adore Success System (SASS) and the Venus Movement. Frustrated by lack of recognition for businesswomen, she also established the first Venus Awards in 2009 now expanding internationally, with the 37th ceremony at the London Waldorf.

  Contact: www.TaraHamiltonHoward.com or join her free FB Group: Venus Movement

  CHAPTER 34

  Capitalize on Your Challenges and Start Capital Hacking

  by Josh McCallen

  I t was December 10, 2010, and I was in bed with my wife, Melanie, after receiving the final gut punch from our failing…now failed franchise business. Melanie could no longer hold back her emotional anguish and disappointment. “How could you lose our business, and all of our savings and retirement along with it?”

  Earlier that day, our truck-based kitchen cleaning business was repossessed by the franchisor. As Melanie vented her frustration and anger, I completely understood. How could I not? I was feeling the same anger and frustration toward myself. However, something was very different this time, as we discussed the struggles. I felt like I was watching the whole scene as an observer who was living an out-of-body experience. A sense of peace came over me so real and impactful that I still remember it vividly today. After Melanie finished sharing her distress, instead of responding with my typical apology, I said something which had never crossed my mind before. “Melanie, I am convinced this is the MIDDLE of our movie. Our story is not over, it is about to get great!”

  18 months earlier in the summer of 2008, we had a very different life. I was part of a boutique real estate development business. I was leading construction projects that few in the world have on their resume. We focused on world-class luxury beachfront properties. Our team would purchase distressed properties, reimagine them, build them, and market them for sale. The typical project would sell for $5,000,000, and we had celebrity home projects that could reach $12,000,000.

  In 2008, it felt like we had found our life’s path. It had been a long uphill climb to get there. Growing up in the 80s with a handicapped single mother made me resilient and adaptable. I learned most of what I knew about being a man from TV. Melanie loves when I say, “Bruce Willis’ Die Hard made me a man and PBS' This Old House taught me how to be a handyman.” Since my mother was unable to work, we lived on government assistance, and I always joke, we were one of the first “free school lunch families.” Finding ways to make money was always part of my life since my earliest memories. And my lifelong dream was to become a real estate developer and builder. However, when the recession started, it seemed that dream was coming to an end. The ultra-luxury home flipping business was over.

  The transition to “business” builder wasn’t immediate. The great recession caused the boutique development company to “pause.” Then after three months of being “paused,” I felt compelled to resign out of respect for the owner. Melanie hated the fact that I was contemplating resigning. She challenged me: “Why are you thinking like an owner.” S
he would say: “Why don’t you think about us, our family, our six children? (now nine)” It was not easy, but after a few months, Melanie allowed me to resign and the owner eventually accepted my resignation.

  Everyone has a calling and a unique ability. My heart has been drawn to entrepreneurship from a young age. It was difficult to translate my passion for business building to Melanie. Her family was in the military, and they valued stability of income over entrepreneurship. I was always sharing the inspiring “others-focused” business lessons from Dale Carnegie’s classic: How to Win Friends & Influence People or the genius of Michael Gerber’s E-Myth and the “franchise prototype.” I became so consumed with this vision of a systematic, repeatable business, that I set out to be a builder of companies instead of buildings. I had the idea that if I could become an expert at creating franchise prototypes, then I could leverage my natural team-building skills to lead larger and larger companies. It became clear that if I wanted to be a master of franchise prototyping, the best way to learn would be to take action. I decided to purchase a franchise business and learn the process from within. With our modest savings, and our goal to purchase a recession-resistant business, I landed on a restaurant kitchen hood cleaning franchise business.

  Cleaning restaurant hoods was amazing! Yes, amazingly challenging. I was happy to purchase a business that was regulated and required for fire safety. We thought that would allow it to remain relevant during the recession. It turns out we were right about that. However, we were dead wrong when we thought owning a franchise system would mean we would automatically attract business. Our sales pitch was not working either. Our pitch went something like: “Hey, we have state of the art equipment, and we will do the work for less than your current provider. Just give us a try, and you will love our service.” We were fighting for a $400 cleaning contract and offering to do it for just $350. We were willing to earn their business at all costs, even if we weren’t able to earn a living.

  Selling was going terribly, but we did manage to eke out a few contracts. The only thing worse than our failed sales process was the actual work. It was no joke. Imagine driving a 17’ box truck full of power washing equipment up to the back of a restaurant at 11:30 p.m. to start your work shift. After you unload several hundred pounds of equipment, you get to climb on top of ovens and stoves only recently shut down. Of course, the heat under your feet isn’t nearly as daunting as the 200-degree water that blasts out of your cleaning equipment, over your head, and into the greasy hood. But even worse in comparison is the flow of boiling, hot filthy water that returns back out of the hood when you release the trigger.

  By the sixth month of owning the business, I was out of capital (aka cash), and the probability of losing the business was almost certain. The only thing I had left was my human capital: my resourcefulness, willingness to learn, fearlessness, integrity, and dogged determination. So, I went to the next sales call with a newfound resolve to achieve my definite purpose. If I was going to be a hood cleaner, then I was going to be the best damn hood cleaner around. And just as important, I was going to be compensated with a fair price. My fear of selling was gone because I had already embraced my greatest fear, that of losing the business.

  I secured a meeting with one of the best restaurant chains in our market. Their restaurants had larger than normal hoods, and their high volume meant they would need cleanings more often. So, I set the proposal for cleaning at $1,700 and sent it to the VP. An hour later, the salty old Philadelphian called me and said: “Who the hell do you think you are? I have never seen a proposal over $1,200 in my life.”

  My answer: “Well, you have never had the peace of mind and quality work you will receive when you have our team cleaning for you.” After holding the price (minus some barter), I got the contract. Within weeks, we earned the contracts for their other locations. Then we earned the contracts for the best restaurants, the best hotels, and even some institutional clients. We became one of the fastest-growing business units in the franchise system.

  We learned to sell. We validated our higher prices, and we leveraged the great recommendations we were now earning. We were now on a first-name basis with the best restaurateurs in Philadelphia, and they loved referring us to each other. The residual business from our recurring contracts made the forecasts for the next 12 months look great. I felt fully alive and mentally tougher than ever before. I was still managing the nightly cleaning work several days a week while selling during the day, and I loved it. However, by December, we had still not recovered from five months of hemorrhaging money or caught up on the past due franchise fees, so when the franchisor decided to repossess the truck, we had no way to stop them. It definitely looked like we failed, and the story appeared to be over.

  Following the loss of the franchise business, I made ends meet by serving as a marketing consultant for several companies. By 2012, the economy was becoming more stable, and my former land development employer encouraged me to return. However, this time, I returned with a different set of skills. I had an “owner’s mindset” (as Melanie says). I was a business owner who had lost it all and found something more valuable, now I was ready to capitalize on that experience. After some temporary projects and brainstorming, we ultimately decided on a partnership (sweat equity) in a dilapidated beachfront resort which was originally slated for demolition. We developed a plan to restore the property and deliver a new level of service to this seasonal resort market.

  From 2012 to 2018, our resort went from being ranked one of the worst properties in our local market to the staggering national ranking of #7 out of 55,000 hotels on TripAdvisor for the entire USA. This property and the service culture allowed our team to earn national press numerous times in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today , Inc 5000, and CNN. The property experienced staggering NOI growth year over year, and the valuation grew exponentially. The success of our first resort provided the leverage to purchase two additional properties. And even though today Melanie and I have moved on to form our own hospitality management company (VIVMEE), I am still extremely proud of the past teams I helped build and their continued success.

  Later, after the storm of difficulties had passed, Melanie recounted how, in spite of all her emotional distress, she had learned so much from this struggle. She took note of how powerful it was to approach life with a gratitude mindset even when everything seemed to be falling apart around us. In fact, she said it in a truly compelling way, “What I realized during that time, Josh, was that your positive “get-it-done” attitude was all I had to hold on to.” Today, Melanie and I have founded Accountable Equity and become resort real estate syndicators. She has transitioned into a professional role and is leading our team of designers as well as managing our investor education program: Accountable Equity Learn & Grow. At our Learn & Grow events, we invite current investors and prospective investors to visit our projects and share a meal with our team as we improve our collective financial education with talks by respected partners and hear about the investment’s performance and growth. Together, we are actively pursuing new value-add resort development projects as well as growing and investing in our current assets.

  Who could disagree with the anger Melanie was feeling in the middle of losing our business and all of the capital in our bank accounts? We now realize it was a different type of capital we were earning during those struggles. It was a rich development of our human capital. It was our ability to stay focused on our definite purpose no matter what adversity we encounter and to stay grateful for everything. This lesson has become the bedrock of our new way of life. The greatest gift these struggles have offered us is the humility to know the precious value of every investor dollar, every potential sale, and every opportunity. We feel blessed to be serving so many wonderful investors today through our syndication company, Accountable Equity. Something we share all the time on my weekly podcast, Capital Hacking , is that we believe the more we invest in our human capital to increase our skill and fortify our resolve, the greate
r will be the results and the greater our investors’ capital will yield.

  We are still in the MIDDLE of our story, and we plan to keep capitalizing on the capital (human and cash) for the good of all. We believe the ability to capitalize without capital is the truest indicator of future success. The ROI on struggle is human capital appreciation―don’t quit.

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  TWEETABLE

  The ROI on struggle is human capital appreciation―don’t quit!

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  Josh McCallen is a professional capital syndicator with extensive experience in resort redevelopment. Together with his wife Melanie, they lead Accountable Equity, which allows investors access to the lucrative world of resort real estate ownership. As a recognized thought leader in hospitality management, he believes authentic hospitality is the ultimate strategic advantage. Josh’s teams have achieved the pinnacle of hospitality recognition, earning the TripAdvisor #7 ranking out of 55,000 hotels in the USA (2015 & 2016). Josh has led construction projects totaling over $100,000,000. He is host of the extremely popular podcast, Capital Hacking, where he and Erik Cabral clear the path for listeners to become syndicators and co-syndicators by developing their human capital and cash capital.

  To learn more about resort real estate opportunities, visit: www.AccountableEquity.com

  Discover the power of Capital Hacking™ visit: www.CapitalHacking.com

  CHAPTER 35

  Work Harder Not Smarter

  by Nunzio D. Fontana

  “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed

  in overalls and looks like work.”

  – Thomas Edison