Well, the end of December 2008 finds me right back where I was at the end of last month, in the Texas Hill Country visiting with friends and relatives and spending time in the woods. I have not been here the whole time however (unfortunately), I did return to Orange for a couple of weeks. Believe it or not, I had work to do!

Since closing PNX many of you asked me how I liked retirement. I preferred to use the word transition rather than retirement. I’m not ready to retire but I was ready for a change. Perhaps more ready that I realized. Following my announcement that PNX was closing, several individuals asked me to consider talking with them about my possible employment with their company. One of those individuals was Joe Benoit with Conarc. Conarc is a design/build general contracting firm located in Vidor, TX, co-owned by Joe and Ed Allen. Conarc was a PNX customer for years. As a customer I came to know Joe and Ed. They have an excellent reputation and I always enjoyed our visits. When Joe asked me about coming to work with them it was as if I was being shown the next step in my journey. After several meetings with them and discussions with my wife Elaine, I agreed.

I was not sure exactly what I would be doing but, on faith, I knew I could do it. After all, my stress level went from about 5000 as employer down to –10 as employee. To me, whatever the job description was didn’t matter; this will be a piece of cake. The first project I inherited was in progress when I joined Conarc and the second project was already negotiated and ready to start.

The first project was a pretty extensive re-build for a national client due to damages not only from Hurricane Ike but additional damage caused by a contractor (not Conarc) who came in after Ike and did the tear out of the water damaged sheetrock. The tear out was pretty aggressive including destroying a large amount of suspended ceiling that was not damaged. It looks like the first phase of this project will wrap up the first week in January. The second phase, a remodel of the sales area and unrelated to the hurricane damage, should begin shortly.

The second project I mentioned is for the same client. It’s a simple remodel of an existing store. The project began on a Friday evening after the business closed. The plan was to be 99% complete by Sunday evening so they could open for business Monday at 9:00 AM. My specific job; supervision and coordination of the project between three different sub contractors. Friday night and all day Saturday was a breeze. I spoke several times with the owner’s representative who is located in Houston. I provided him with progress photos via email several times on Saturday.

It was not until Sunday morning about 11:00 AM that a problem was realized. I talked with the owner’s representative and he was upset. I called the sub contractor and talked with him and he’s upset and there’s some finger pointing. I call back to the owner’s representative and he’s finger pointing and everyone became defensive. That is everyone except me.

I couldn’t figure out what the big deal was. A mistake had been made. The truth is that both sides shared in the blame. It was at this point I realized the truth in what Joe had explained to me would be the essence of my job description. Joe told me I would basically become a “professional baby sitter.” So that’s what I did. I got back on the phone and started looking for solutions. After 26 years in retail I couldn’t understand what these folks were so concerned about. There was a solution to this problem, we just had to find it and adjust our work accordingly.

What this problem did for me was remind me once again that you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. I never had anyone to put the blame off on at PNX, the buck stopped with me. PNX taught me that when a problem came up, acknowledge the problem, find a solution and move forward. How many times have you heard someone say, “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem?” All that other back and forth in between identifying the problem and finding the solution was just wasted air. I refused to listen to the finger pointing and name-calling. I began to ask positive questions and pretty soon the dialogue turned to problem solving and everyone’s tone was civil once again.

Life’s too short to let these kind of problems take control and make people react like a couple of kids fighting in a sandbox. I will admit that for a short time, my –10 stress level did climb to about 75 when the problem was first discovered. After all, this is my first job to supervise from start to finish. I’m responsible. The good news is that as soon as respectable dialogue was re-established, my stress level was quickly back to –10.  I filed that experience away for future reference.  I’m positive I’ll have to draw on this experience again in the future.

I also knew from my days at PNX that the holidays are not a good time to expect to meet deadlines. Suppliers are either on short inventory due to end of year tax liability or they close for various reasons until after New Year. And that’s exactly what we’ve run into in trying to wrap up these two jobs here at year’s end. And that’s why I’m in the Texas Hill Country! I’m able to keep up with both projects via email (thank you Al Gore for inventing the Internet) and cell phone. Life is good!

Elaine teases me every time someone asks me about my new job. She says I can’t explain what I’m doing and keep a straight face. And you know what, she’s right. I love what I’m doing. And you know what one of the best benefits is? It’s the friendship that is now growing exponentially between Joe, Ed and myself. We have so many things in common not the least of which is that we all know the struggles of being a small business owner. My initial observations about how they run their business were correct. These are good Christian men and I am blessed to have this opportunity.

The New Year is a chance for a new beginning, a chance for new opportunity. It doesn’t mean easy and it doesn’t mean success. That’s up to each of us. As this 2008 holiday season, Thanksgiving and Christmas, give way to a New Year I hope each of you enter 2009 with a renewed spirit. I pray you have a healthy and blessed New Year. And I challenge each of you, when things don’t work out just right, get past all the he said, she said stuff and become part of the solution rather than part of the problem. If you can do that, it’ll make you smile, I promise!