A man recalls selling candy as a kid while his father worked, then losing him in a 1970 car accident. He argues business ownership is the only way to control your time and money enough to be present for your family, unlike a regular job.
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When I first thought of this video and decided to do it, I wanted to share with you and help you see my perspective on why I think it's important to be able to have the resources of time and money to have the impact with your children and your spouse and your loved ones that you want to have. And the only way to do that is to, is to be able to to have what you can only give them, and that is time. And in this world, you gotta have money too, but I thought I would do that by sharing a little bit about my life and about my dad and how, through circumstance more than anything, he had an impact on my life. My dad used to stand here. I'm sure of it, you know, because he used to manage a store in this building. The whole building was Gibson's Department Store, and he used to stand right here. I'm sure of it. I'm sure at some point he stood right here. I don't even know why he left. I know that this was the last job he had before he took the sales rep job. That, um, They have pet grooming over there. It was a Johnny Rebs is what it was called. One of the first convenience stores that I ever remember seeing. I'd buy candy and then I'd go back and I'd buy it in bulk and sell it to the kids in the neighborhood who weren't allowed to cross the street. So that was my advantage. I was able to get candy that they weren't able to get and they wanted it. So I made a little bit of profit on it. Grew up in those apartments over there and I'll walk over there in a little bit. Over here, there used to be a sofa, and I guess my mother would move it around. I kind of remember it being against this wall, and then there were two chairs over here, and I want to say there was a sofa over there or something. Maybe the two chairs were over here and there was nothing here and the sofa was over there. But on July 21st, 1970, My grandfather and my uncle came over in the middle of the night to tell us that Dad had died in an automobile accident. And I seem to remember Scott and Stan being over there, me sitting kind of on my mother's lap or with her. I was 9 at the time. And I remember distinctly, you know, the thought that we were just wiped off the map. Mother didn't work. And it was tough. I mean, can you imagine though? I mean, think about the walk up those stairs from my grandfather and my uncle to come share that news with us. That couldn't have been easy. Couldn't have been easy. I was right there. That's where I learned my dad died. I had no idea this would be this emotional. It was 46 years ago. It's a long time ago. I mean, he was only 44 at the time. I remember the kitchen's right through there, and, um, occasionally Dad would make chili. I don't know if it was any good or not, but I remember he made chili. Such a small place to live. Down here, now we'll go down and look at it, but underneath the stairs there is where I used to, I'd set up my candy store and sell candy to the neighborhood kids. These bushes weren't here at the time. There was nothing here. And I would take cardboard that I would find in the dumpster and I would put a wall here here, and I would cut a hole in it, and I'd put a sign. I don't even know what I called it, but I would climb under there, and I would sell candy through the wall, a lot like what you used to do with the movie tickets. This was our bus stop, and you can see it was pretty close to the store my dad used to work at. And even though he didn't work there there when he died. Shortly after he passed, I quit riding the bus because I didn't— I didn't like sitting there looking at that. This place was a lot bigger when I was younger. This was our whole life right here. We doing everything here? I don't know if I actually saw him do it or not, but my dad, our first Christmas here, we didn't have a Christmas tree, and he carried home from the store an artificial Christmas tree, fully decorated, and walked down this hill with it. I don't know if I actually saw him or if I've just always envisioned him walking down the hill with the fully decorated tree, but I I know he did it, or at least I believe I know he did it. Kind of imagine the man in the suit walking down the hill with a fully decorated Christmas tree. Makes me smile. This picture right here is a— just kind of says everything about my dad. He was a well-put-together man who was pretty confident in himself and pretty sure that that he was the breadwinner and he'd always be here. And that my mother shouldn't work. And he was probably wrong on all three accounts there. This is where, or pretty close to right here, is where my dad was standing in the picture that I just showed of him. I think that's the last picture of him. I think that's why we've kind of held on to it. It's kind of a classic picture of him. My dad died and our income died. And not only that, but once my dad died, my time with my mother died. Because she left back. Because she had to go back to work. I had promised myself that I wouldn't let my kids live that way, and I wouldn't let my wife live that way. And I knew that I wasn't leaving any kind of legacy for my kids, for my wife, if I were to die, they were kind of stuck. And I didn't want them to live the life that I had lived with my mother and my brothers and the fact that Dad died and we all had to adjust to it. I knew that if Dad had owned the business instead of worked for somebody, that maybe that would have endured and we would have had something more. I haven't found a way that gives people freedom and gives them time with their family and the opportunity to insulate themselves from the problems of employment, the problems of things that are beyond your control, than through owning your own business and being good at it. Having seen what it did for us and having seen the— I mean, like, you had your own business when you were 5. Yeah. It's always been in the back of my mind that I want to be sure I'm present for my kids and my wife and the people I care about. And, you know, a job takes you away, and of course death takes you away. I wanted to try to avoid both of those, and every time I took a job, you know, it worked for a while, and then the surprise came one day. Either I didn't like it anymore, or they didn't like me. I want people to experience experience freedom. I want people to have true freedom, the ability to, to do what they want to do on their terms and to still have the, the resources of time and money to impact the lives of their kids and their, and their loved ones and their friends. That's the only way we're going to turn things around, is because right now every single day adults go somewhere else away from their kids for the most part, and they're impacted by their environment, and the kids go somewhere else and they're impacted by their environment, and then those two people come back together and they don't even know each other. That's the whole thing that I want to avoid for people, is I want them to have the experience we have with our children. I want them to have the experience we have. I mean, was it easy? No. I mean, was everything roses? No. But You know, still today we are an integral part of each other's lives, and for the most part, you know, I've had the impact on your life that I wanted to. So I want other people to do that. The only way you're going to have the access to resources of time and money in abundance is to control the source of income that you have. That's the only way. And the only way to do that is own your own business. And so I just, I really believe wholeheartedly that everybody ought to own their own business. I think that it gives you the best opportunity to win. What I hope this video will do is inspire you to think differently. Give yourself that opportunity to have that impact with your children, have that impact with your spouse, with your loved ones, with your family, so that you can live more and, and do more and be more and experience more. That's what I think a business should do for you. I hope you'll think about how you impact your children, how you impact your loved ones, and the amount of time you're able to spend with them. And the only way that you're gonna have more time is to control the way that you get by in this life. If you think this video could impact somebody that you know or love, Sure would appreciate if you shared it with somebody. And if you like what I've said here so far and want further content, love for you to subscribe. I, I really have great vision for what I'm gonna try to do here with my family on this channel and what we're going to do together. And I'd love to have an impact on you and that you would share your ideas and comments below. If you've got a a story to tell, I'd love to hear it down in the comments section. Share it with everybody else and share the impact your father's had with you.
