Who Are You Thankful For?
I passed by one of the phone booths at the ATDC, and there was Tim Sheehan, founder of Greenlight, gesturing away and talking a mile a minute on his cell phone.A few minutes later, I was standing at the reception desk as he rushed by me. I said, “Did you get the job?”
Remembering Good Times
“What are you talking about?” he asked.“Most people with an office who use those phone booths are looking for privacy so they can interview,” I said as I faked seriousness.“Do they do that?” he asked.“They do,” I said with a smile.“Not me. Things are going great at Greenlight. We are adding a thousand families a week to our credit card product,” he said excitedly.“Hitting a market at just the right time with just the right product is an amazing experience. You need to be thanking God for that every day,” I said.He agreed and replied, “The last time I was in this kind of business environment, I was working for Yahoo. Those times were crazy. We were growing so rapidly. It was so much fun.”
Hardly Selling, Just Shipping
“I experienced it only one time,” I told him. “It was way back in the early eighties. The IBM PC was introduced. We were selling, but it fell more like we were just shipping. It was incredible. We all felt so successful.”“That’s exactly where we are. We are working really, really hard, but the market is buying. What a feeling it is for all of us,” he exclaimed.“I have friends I worked with back then who spent their entire careers trying to recapture those heady days. The feeling of it all going right is something we want to relive everywhere we work.“Sadly, most people never experience a time like that in their entire business career. We really are fortunate. And you especially, you’re now doing it a second time in your career. That’s super rare!” I said.
Remember the Roses
“I’m glad we are talking about this. My grandmother would always say to me, ‘Smell the roses.’ I am really working hard to do that this time. At Yahoo, we were blowing and going, and at one point it was over. This time I am paying attention.“I’m taking pictures of us at different points in our business development. I have photos when there were five of us sitting in the same room at the same table. Now we’ve grown, and I’m still taking photos so we never forget where we came from. I want to remember every day,” he said.“You are a blessed man. Not only do you have a great market which is buying, you have a great co-founder in Johnson Cook,” I said.
God’s Gifts Abound
“You are so right. He is the perfect partner for me, and I am so grateful. He has a way of calming me down when I’m worried about all that might go wrong. It amazes me how we came together so well,” he said with an air of amazement.“I like Johnson. He is always so positive and enthusiastic. You and I need a business partner like that to keep us right side up,” I said.Then he said, “You know, you are so right. I am blessed. Johnson is special to me and to everyone at Greenlight. In fact, I love him. That’s how much I appreciate him.”God’s gifts abound in all our lives.Happy Thanksgiving!