The Way I See It

by Alex Giftos, Cadillac Vacuum Sales & Service

Define -- Learn -- Do
The untaught formula of success

While mentoring with a wealthy business owner a few weeks ago, the wealthy man said, “The road block that keeps most people from achieving true success is that they don’t understand the formula of Define, Learn, Do. Therefore, most people do it backwards.” I asked him what he meant, as I’d never heard that in school. He laughed and said, “That’s precisely the problem. People can’t teach you that which they do not know. Trouble is that most professors went to college after high school and never left. They never had the opportunity to learn it themselves; therefore, they pool their own ignorance and teach it to other students.” I realized most of us are missing out on an incredible opportunity due to our own misunderstanding of the formula.

You see, for most of my life, the people I knew were also running that formula backwards. Most of the people I knew decided what they wanted to do in life, they learned how to do it (mostly at college), and their lifestyle became defined by the job they held. What this gentleman told me was, “The wealthy and wise define the lifestyle they would like to have, they find someone who has achieved that lifestyle, they learn what they did, and they do what they did to achieve it. They follow the same road map their mentor did, and by doing so, they avoid a lot of the mistakes that most people make.”

I had somewhat come to this conclusion in my final year of college. I just didn’t realize it was a formula. I was a criminal justice major with a minor in wildlife. I wanted to be a forest ranger. I had worked during the summer with a lot of the rangers, many of whom were only 10-20 years older than myself. I looked at their lifestyle, and who they had become throughout their career. It was depressing.

Here they were, 10-20 years into their career, and many of them didn’t have much more lifestyle than I did as a college student. Not only was my truck newer, but so was my mobile home. Heck, even my girlfriend was newer (I have to be careful. She’s now my wife). I asked myself a hard question. Do I want to be where they are in another 10 years? How about 20 years? The answer was, “No!”

I looked around to find out if there was anyone available who had truly succeeded at this. I looked at the people who held the top positions. What I found was they had a lot more responsibility, a lot more time requirements, and a lot more stress. They also had the pain of dealing with a very political, government job. I was stunned at their lack of money, their lack of time, their lack of lifestyle. They didn’t have the results I was looking for.

I was on the pathway which led to frustration. I realized that the harder I worked, the further away from my dreams of a big house and land I would be. I had to make a change. I left college (three credits short of my degree), and I decided to get back into the vacuum business. This was a move I have never regretted. I realized there was no turning back. I had burned the ships that brought me to the shore, and I had to find a way to make it without a degree.

So what the heck does all this have to do with the vacuum industry? It’s all about the formula! We have the advantage over the employees with whom I worked. We are business owners. We are commissioned salespeople. We have the ability to improve -- to get better at sales, to get better at store layout, to get better at building our product lines, to get better at managing our businesses, to become better presenters, and to become better people. We have a higher ceiling than regular employees do, and we’re not even really sure how high it is. It can always grow higher, and it does every year. We have all the power that we need to succeed.

What I needed was to find someone who could teach me-- someone who had the lifestyle I wanted. I needed a mentor. It was easy, or so I thought. I’d just have to take advice from my father. I’m not sure who was more scared, him or me. But the more I humbled myself, as painful as it was, the more I grew and got better.

When I reached a level where I knew I needed more insight, I stepped it up. I told my dad we were going to the Vegas Convention. (I had obviously grown in confidence, as well.) I had one purpose when I arrived. I was going mentor hunting. I had my sights set on one guy who had what I wanted, and I was bound and determined to sit down for an hour with Cliff Brady III and pick his brain. It took a lot longer than an hour. As a matter of fact, I’m still picking it. He’s got a lot of good stuff in there.

The association with Cliff led to my writing articles, which led to my teaching seminars, which led to my being able to meet more successful dealers, which led to learning more information from more sources. It’s opened up doors and opportunities I didn’t even realize existed. I realized the age old biblical teaching of, “For those who seek, find. And to those who knock, the door will be opened unto you,” was true. Most people don’t seek, therefore they have no idea where to knock. The key is to keep seeking and knocking.

What I found through my association within my industry was that there were many dealers who were far brighter than I who could help me get to the next level. And the unbelievable thing was that they were not only willing to help, they were flattered that someone would ask. Why? Because no one ever does. Everyone is too busy running the formula backwards. They are basically living with blinders on, stuck in the thought that, “this is all I will ever become.” Their lifestyle has become defined by their job.

This emotion of being stuck in a rut has taken over America. We call if apathy. Unfortunately, apathy is fueled by ignorance of the formula. It is the reason ALL the vacuum dealers aren’t at the trade shows. It’s the reason ALL the vacuum dealers aren’t members of the Vacuum Dealers Forum and the VDTA. It’s the reason ALL the dealers aren’t badgering the people in this industry who have the fruit on the tree. Not only are most people unaware of the advantages of having mentors, they don’t even realize these dealers exist. Most are so wrapped up in their own little world of business, they are blind to the fact that there are people in this industry who are making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Most don’t realize they could do it too if they knew how. They fail to realize that the only way they can learn how is to talk to the people who have done it. They don’t realize they could avoid making a lot of dumb mistakes we all make when we try to do it alone. All things being equal, I’d rather avoid making
dumb mistakes. In the world of business, that gets expensive.

A little story to illustrate the power of this, and then I’ll wrap this up. A few years back, I got an e-mail from a vacuum dealer who wrote, “Alex, I met you at the last Vegas convention, and I’d like to ask you a few questions.” One question turned into two, which turned into three, which turned into dozens. He was relentless in his pursuit of figuring out how to make the most of his vacuum business -- which he was running out of his garage.

I had never seen that much desire, that much drive, that much willingness to learn, that much persistence in my life. He picked my brain until it hurt me, and then he moved on to question other dealers who were also willing to help. He searched until he found answers, and when he found someone with the answers, he did what they advised. He realized that it’s hard, if not impossible, to call someone a mentor if you don’t follow their advice. He realized that asking a mentor a question repeatedly without following their advice, does not make you a student. It makes you a pest! He found the system, and he worked it.

Today that dealer has achieved more success and has built his business much larger than mine. He achieved that level in less than five years. Through this process, he shaved 15 years off his learning curve -- the same 15 years it took me to figure it out. Today, that dealer is mentoring me.

How did Bill Dedich do it? He leveraged the knowledge and advice of his mentors more effectively than I did. You see, Bill knows this formula, and he doesn’t even realize he knows it. He stumbled upon the same thing I did in college. If I can find someone who has the results I want, and they will teach me, I can learn how to do the things that truly work. I can also avoid making the same mistakes they did. This is the power of mentorship. This is the power of understanding the formula. This is the power of association.

Get to the conventions, tap into the power of the Vacuum Dealers Forum, read the Floor Care Professional, find yourself a mentor who truly has the results you want, and work hard at implementing their suggestions now. Never forget -- DEFINE what you want out of life, LEARN from someone who has those results, and DO what they did to achieve them. By utilizing this formula, you too can find everything in life that you desire. Just follow the untaught formula of success. v

Alex Giftos of Cadillac Vacuum Sales & Service in Cadillac, MI, appreciates comments from readers. You may write to him at Cadillac Vacuum, 1502-A, N. Mitchell, Cadillac, MI, 49601, or e-mail him at alex@vacdealersforum.com.

Reprinted from Floor Care Professional, January 2007