There was a time when I would lose my temper when a good employee would quit to take another job. I would get angry, hurt and bitter as I took the change personally. I am here to say that I was wrong.
Over the past year I have lost two very good employees from RentQuick. The first was Jeff Fife. Jeff had been a very successful salesperson for me. He was loved by the customers and a very capable leader. He quit to be the Executive Director of the Waynesboro YMCA, a job he had longed for all his life. Jeff felt the draw to work with young people and it made sense for him to pursue his dream.
Although losing Jeff was a blow, the pain was immediately fixed by the introduction of Rick Burns. Rick is a rare find in that he knows the technology and is very good with the customers. He is experienced, intelligent and well-read. That adds up to another great employee.
Recently, (like yesterday), Steve LeRose has told me he is going to leave. In the past, I would try to talk him out of it, but now I am happy for him. Steve wants to go out on his own and purchase a franchise. I fully understand his thought process.
I am not worried about replacing Steve. As they say, when one door closes another opens.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Thursday, August 25, 2005
The Little Road That Could
In 1999, I did my first real estate development project. The plan was simple, but different. I took 330 acres which were in a weird spot between the high density growth of Augusta County and the rural farms which cover the area. This land is rolling and steep in places.
Jamie and I had been looking for a place to build our home, but couldn't find any available land. It was either small or in a bad location or both. So we decided to buy the 330 acres and split it up into 17 lots ranging in size from 10 to 30 acres. To keep things that way, we put loads of restrictions on the property with the most important one being that no lot can be subdivided.
In order to access part of the property, I built a short road (about 3/4 mile). Of course, nothing is easy. To build the road, I needed to purchase a small right of way from the County School Board. They stuck me for $60,000 for a piece of land 50 feet by 130 feet.
The road construction went well. I had traded a lot to an engineer who's job it was to do all the engineering on the project. (Pay attention because this is where I made a mistake.) When the land was ready, I gave him his property although the road was not fully accepted into the state road system (did you see the screw-up?).
So here we are in 2005. The road has been built for some years now, but only now is it ready to be accepted into the system. Guess what happened? No, really guess! The guy who got 17 acres for his labor refuses to do his part to get the road accepted.
Needless to say, I will go ahead and cover the costs and figure out how to get him to pay it later. The problem is that I should have forseen this. (Here comes the life lesson.)
"Don't pay for things until things are done!"
Pretty simple huh? I have found that if you hold off on paying until everything is completely done, then everything seems to work out much better.
Anyway, the best part about the road is that I named it after my youngest son, Adin. He still gets a big kick out of having his name on a road.
Jamie and I had been looking for a place to build our home, but couldn't find any available land. It was either small or in a bad location or both. So we decided to buy the 330 acres and split it up into 17 lots ranging in size from 10 to 30 acres. To keep things that way, we put loads of restrictions on the property with the most important one being that no lot can be subdivided.
In order to access part of the property, I built a short road (about 3/4 mile). Of course, nothing is easy. To build the road, I needed to purchase a small right of way from the County School Board. They stuck me for $60,000 for a piece of land 50 feet by 130 feet.
The road construction went well. I had traded a lot to an engineer who's job it was to do all the engineering on the project. (Pay attention because this is where I made a mistake.) When the land was ready, I gave him his property although the road was not fully accepted into the state road system (did you see the screw-up?).
So here we are in 2005. The road has been built for some years now, but only now is it ready to be accepted into the system. Guess what happened? No, really guess! The guy who got 17 acres for his labor refuses to do his part to get the road accepted.
Needless to say, I will go ahead and cover the costs and figure out how to get him to pay it later. The problem is that I should have forseen this. (Here comes the life lesson.)
"Don't pay for things until things are done!"
Pretty simple huh? I have found that if you hold off on paying until everything is completely done, then everything seems to work out much better.
Anyway, the best part about the road is that I named it after my youngest son, Adin. He still gets a big kick out of having his name on a road.
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