A STOP Sign is Not a STAY sign!

by Rick White, President 180BIZ                                                            (Estimated Read Time 4 minutes)

Today is stop signs. We see stop signs all the time. We hear the word stop all the time, and that's okay. I think there are too many stop signs in your life. Do you know what the problem is? You are the one that's creating most of them. You're allowing past experiences or pains to dictate what your current actions are supposed to be like. Some of those experiences are valid, but not all of them. I mean, think about a cat on a hot stove. The first time a cat jumps up on a hot stove, they will never, ever, ever jump on a stove again. But you and I are intelligent enough to understand that there are times when it's not safe to touch that stove, and there are times when it is safe. That's what we need to learn with our stop signs.

Stop Signs are Learning Opportunities.

Stop signs can create what I call global thinking. What does that mean? It means when you say, it's always going to be this way or I'll never be able to do this or institutions, marriages like this or businesses like this or men do this or women do that is global thinking. It's when you think in black and white, all or nothing, and it's not true. Stop signs are learning opportunities. They're an elegant way to grow from the experience instead of shutting yourself out from any future opportunities.

Past experiences create growth and awareness.

I once heard a shop owner say he had a former tech apply for a job. I asked how long ago did that tech work for him.  He explained it was 15 years ago and would never talk with him. He was a train wreck 15 years ago. I asked the shop owner if he would want to be judged based on where he was 15 years ago. And he was quiet for a minute and he said, “No, I don't want that.” I made my point. That tech is probably not the same as he was 15 years ago. He could be better, or he could be worse. But he is not the same. When you are going through something that caused you pain, going through that pain created growth in you, it created awareness in you. It is not possible unless you didn't grow and be aware to repeat the same issue.

Red Flags are warning signs.

I spoke to another shop owner who had a real nightmare of a service advisor and he was afraid to hire another advisor for fear that the next Advisor would be the same as the last one. I told him that he’ll never end up with another one like that because he’ll be able to see the warning signs. The problem is that we see red flags. Red flags are warning signs and it’s up to us to interpret those warnings. Maybe you're looking at just one example. For example, you may be looking at a tech who has had 10 jobs in the last eight years and you're thinking red flag. Nope, I'm not doing this. He's a train wreck. But you don’t really know. It's a red flag.

Red Flags are discussion points.

Red flags are merely discussion points. They are things to better understand what's going on from the other person's perspective. That's a red flag. It means having a conversation. A tech has a comeback. It's a red flag. I want you to think about this too. When you're driving and you see a stop sign. But it doesn't mean stay or get stuck. It means making sure the environment is good to go and then proceeding. Stop signs are not stay signs. Stop signs are not stuck signs.

I want you to stop putting so many stop signs in your life, in your business. A guy who gets divorced says, “I'm never getting married again. Marriage is terrible. Marriage is bad. Marriage doesn't work.” But that's not true. They were two people, while good people, did not work well together. And that's okay. They are not stop signs.

Where do you have stop signs in your life or business?

This is what's important. I want you to step back and see where you have a stop sign in your business, in your life. To give you another example. I was talking to a client recently that used a Find Service. It wasn't really a recruiter, but a find service. They would run ads for you to get help. They had a guarantee and it didn't work. It was kind of a train wreck. Based on that one experience, this person decided that all recruiters are the devil and that they will never use a recruiter again. That's not true. It’s a stop sign. The reality today is you need help getting help and your time is worth more than what some of these recruiters are charging. Some of them are very fair.

One bad apple shouldn't taint the whole bunch!

So what I'm saying is just because you had one bad apple, don't let it taint your view of the whole bunch. We deal with this all the time. We have someone come in from another shop that was a real nightmare and what do they do? They expect the same from you. We must break down our stop signs. We must recognize that they're red flags and get smarter. Learn from them. Ask questions, grow, and be more aware. Don't let a stop sign turn into a stay sign or a stuck sign for you.

Please share this video.  We have our Shop Owner’s Round Table, on the second Thursday of every month, 7 p.m. Eastern, and we would love you and your friends to drop by. Shop owners only. And then we have our upcoming Pocket Business Genius webinar on the second Thursday at 1 p.m. Eastern time. 

God bless. stay safe, have some fun, and go make some money.  Take care.

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