Life lessons and a leaf blower to keep you on track, smiling and dreaming | Dowling
I was chatting with Kim Kelling at WFSU yesterday on their "Voices That Inspire" segment. It is a solid feature on local talent. I don’t know how inspiring I was, but we had some laughs and shared a cool moment.
As I left, I reviewed what we just discussed on air, and brainstormed about topics for a speaking engagement at Capital City Country Club with my friend Jay Revell. What should I talk about that would not bore people to tears?
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Something from the WFSU segment? Another tech-talk? Maybe Cyber-Security? Branding? Or how about Life Lessons? Survey says, Life Lessons from my humble and occasionally hilarious 48 years on the earth.
Why not and how about something like this…
Life lesson: obey the law
First up, back in the '80s (6th grade or so) my grandmother used to take me to Merritt’s fireworks outside Dothan, Alabama, (I lived in LA in those days) on Sundays. I would load up on bottle rockets, M-80s, roman candles, all the goods. After our neighborhood fireworks wars would conclude I got the bright idea to sell the leftovers at school.
Margins were solid, the cost of goods sold was low as Nana paid for everything so a 1-dollar gross of bottle rockets I would sell for 10 bucks on the Houston Academy black-market. Business was booming for about a month. Then the principal caught on (family friend Michael Bailey) and advised me to not do that, it was frowned upon, borderline illegal he said. Noted. Life lesson, obey the law.
Life lesson: be kind
Second lesson that year, a Japanese exchange student arrived at school, Sammy Ishiyama, not able to speak English. Mrs. Tanner (teacher) pulled me aside and asked if he could shadow me, every day, lunch, PE, class, everything, until he learned his way? I hemmed and hawed as it didn’t sound like a cool move, but I said yes.
That kid turned out to be a heck of a lot cooler than I ever was and he became one of my best friends. Life lesson, be kind, help someone out when given a chance.
Life lesson: smile in defeat
Fast forward to my 16th birthday at Leonardo’s on Monroe Street here in Tallahassee. Mom had invited all my friends for supper and Ashley my high school girlfriend clandestinely shuttled me there for the surprise. It was awesome.
However, there was a large gift-wrapped box on the table that I had my eyes on the whole time. Was mom playing the big box trick, with a smaller box in that one, and then a smaller box in it? Like a birthday version of the Russian Matryoshka dolls with the keys to a Mitsubishi 3000 GT in it?
I excitedly gathered around the box with all my high school friends, Charlie, Jay, Ashley, Ron, Cristina, Devon, Spencer etc and to my surprise, it was a leaf blower. Just a leaf blower, mom said I could start a yard cleaning business and there was my ticket to a car. Life lesson? Smile, even in defeat. Mom pulled the ultimate gag gift and come to think of it is probably time for payback for mom this coming birthday season.
Life lesson: try harder
Next up in life, the University of Florida. Due to various factors including a rigorous social life and exciting football season, I tallied up a rather un-incredible, 1.0 for a GPA my freshman year.
The only plus was I doubled my two best friends GPAs. We will call them Joe Smith (.5) and Ryan Edward (.8) to protect their reputations and feelings. For me, Dad said join the military, work in one of his warehouses or pull up your grades. I chose option 3. Life Lesson, try harder. I did have a learning disability to overcome I would come to find out, but degree and graduation was accomplished, eventually.
Life lesson: chase dreams
Next, I worked in the music business or as Nana called it, Ratt Poison. Meaning rock 'n' roll is the devil’s work. She never got over me going to see the bands Ratt and Poison in the peak of '80s metal at the Dothan Civic Center years earlier. She would call TV shows she did not like Ratt/Poison, it was hilarious.
I loved Nana and my time in the entertainment industry. To this day I still have a gold record on the wall to commemorate that era of managing and traveling with various bands. Life lesson, chase those dreams.
Life lesson: keep on trucking
On to present day. I started at Aegis 16 years ago as an Account Executive and was named CEO six years ago. Thank you to everyone involved in my small journey, it has been a blast. I also got to marry the gal of my dreams a little over a decade ago.
What a ride. The life lesson? I know there were some rough patches in there for me (for all of us) but bottom line, keep on trucking, insert East Bound and Down/Smokey and the Bandit lyrics here.
No matter what phase of life you are in, no matter how bad or how good, the lessons mentioned here — try harder, smile, don’t break the law, be a good person, and chase those dreams — will keep things moving in the right direction.
Thanks, Kim, as that concludes my Voices of Inspiration chatter. Thank you, Jay, for the invite to speak at your luncheon, and thanks, mom, for the leaf blower.
Blake Dowling is CEO of Aegis Business Technologies, the author of Professionally Distanced and the host of the Biz & Tech Podcast. You can reach him at dowlingb@aegisbiztech.com
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Life lessons and a leaf blower: Learn to be a good person
