by Peter Remington | Jan 24, 2022 | Insights
IN THE MID-1930s, at the height of the Great Depression, there weren’t many people with the foresight and courage to start up a new company. Yet the husband-and-wife team of Leo and Lillian Goodwin were up to the challenge.
Confident that he could create a successful auto insurance business by marketing directly to carefully targeted customer groups, Leo Goodwin hammered out a business plan during his early career in Texas. In 1936, he put that plan into action.
The idea was clever. Since 25 percent of the population was unemployed and a fair amount was wondering if they would keep their jobs, Goodwin saw an opportunity to create an insurance company targeted to federal employees and certain categories of enlisted military officers — people who were guaranteed a paycheck. He established the Government Employees Insurance Company. Lillian Goodwin energetically marketed the company to this audience and within a year, their company had written 3,700 policies and hired 12 staff members.
There would be another intriguing chapter for the company. In the ’50s the company needed money from investors in order to grow. A friend helped the Goodwins find new partners. Among the new investors was a business professor at Columbia University in New York. One of the prof’s students learned of his investment and became interested himself. He took the train to Washington on a Saturday to learn more about the investment and found that the office was closed.
Fortunately, a janitor directed the business student to a manager, and the two had an impromptu meeting that would ultimately have a greater impact on the company than either man could have realized at the time. At the age of 20, the student, a young Warren Buffet, learned enough to make his first purchase in the Government Employee Insurance Company.
And that my friends is the quick story of GIECO.
Do you think that the Goodwins thought that they would be responsible for launching the 3rd largest insurance company in America? They were probably thinking about how to make some money and that was all — not becoming a Fortune 500 company.
Necessity is the mother of invention — and also of creativity, tenacity and courage — and there was so much necessity in the ’30s that more millionaires were created in that decade than in the decade before, despite the previous era’s “Roaring ’20s” distinction. Unemployment was high, credit was scarce and there didn’t seem to be an end in sight of bad news, but still ambitious entrepreneurs found their moment.
Sometimes it’s in the midst of adversity and challenge that the biggest dreams are born. In 2009, not a particularly good year economically, reportedly more than 500,000 new businesses were created each month.
Here in Houston, companies have been expanding over the last two years, despite the pandemic. Local entrepreneurs such as Matt, the owner of Federal Grill, has opened three new restaurants. Ben, owner of Berg Hospitality, continues to add new concepts. Adrian and Marcelo of BeDesign are expanding their showroom. Tasos quit his job, started making bread, opened Bread Man Baking Co. and is now available in HEB and Whole Foods and is expanding into a new 10,000-square-foot facility. HEB partnered with Brennan’s, Underbelly and Cherry Block restaurants to sell the restaurants specialty items while they were closed to the public. Robin opened Le Petite market which sells Gumbo to Geaux. Karen launched Remington Insurance Brokers (shameless plug). Beth, the CEO of KidsMeals, is building a new distribution center to help feed more hungry pre-school children, and that is just a few. Local people, building local businesses, right now.
You don’t have to wait for the sun to come out tomorrow, brighter skies or better days. If you have been given a thought, a creative idea, a better way to do something then now is just as good as any time to make it happen.
Peter Remington is an executive at Houston CityBook and also a business consultant and life coach. For more information on him and his Prepare 4 More, visit here, or email him directly at Peter@PeterRemington.com.
by Peter Remington | Jan 17, 2022 | Insights
IN 1903, BRITISH philosopher James Allen wrote As a Man Thinketh. Some of its wisdom has been meaningful for well more than a century.
“Man is made or unmade by himself; in the armory of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself,” Allen wrote. “He also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace. By the right choice and true application of thought, man ascends to the Divine Perfection; by the abuse and wrong application of thought, he descends below the level of the beast. Between these two extremes are all the grades of character, and man is their maker and master. Of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul, none is more divine than the promise and confidence that man is the master of his own thought, the molder of his own character, and the shaper of his condition, environment and destiny.”
This passage came to me after speaking with a client about their business and their physical and mental health. What really struck me here is that Allen observes first and foremost in this excerpt how “in the armory of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself.” Not a positive thought but a negative thought, which leads me to think that Allen considers that most individuals are stuck in a negative frame of mind or at least go there first.
Is it because we recall the negative moments of our past more readily that we do the positive? Is it because we forget all the accomplishments we have achieved over our lifetime, but for some reason remember our failures? Maybe we don’t celebrate our victories to the level that we should, so they can be embedded in our emotions as a constant reminder of how great we are.
In the past, I have had moments in my life when a past regret slips into my brain, and I start to think about it. I try to analyze it, justify it, but all I do is intensify it; it starts to negatively occupy my emotions. The next thing I realize is, I have been dwelling on it for more minutes than I care to. I then shake it off with a shiver and immediately start to fashion the positive thoughts that enhance me.
These negative thoughts still try to creep into my system, but I catch them right away and correct them. I turn them into positive thoughts. How did I accomplish this? I write down my victories for the day in my victory log.
For years I would keep an account of the victories I had for the day and how they made me feel. Even when I had a negative event, I would turn it into a victory because I would write on how I was going to correct so it wouldn’t happen again.
For more than 16 years I have held on to the last sentence of Allen’s statement. “Of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul, none is more divine than the promise and confidence that man is the master of his own thought, the molder of his own character, and the shaper of his condition, environment and destiny.”
It is our unalienable and divine right to own ourselves.
Peter Remington is an executive at Houston CityBook and also a business consultant and life coach. For more information on him and his Prepare 4 More, visit here, or email him directly at Peter@PeterRemington.com.
by Peter Remington | Jan 10, 2022 | Insights
NINE-TENTHS OF a rocket’s fuel is used to break free from the gravitational pull from the Earth.
All that energy, just to get the capsule 55 or so miles off the face of the planet. When it reaches space, all the resistance from the ground is eliminated, and the capsule circles the earth at 17,000 miles per hour without a problem. Ground control doesn’t start to celebrate until the capsule is safely away from the resistance and the other obstacles that gravitation can create. If the rocket doesn’t do its job of launching the capsule safely into space, then things start to go wrong.
But the malfunction didn’t start 55 miles above the Earth’s surface. It started on the launch pad, with the booster rocket, the trajectory — somewhere between the liftoff and the sky a problem was created.
The fact of the matter is, things don’t end up wrong, they start off wrong. Success, in any area of life, first needs to have ten units of effort for every unit of success. Eventually, your momentum will give you ten units of success, for every unit of effort.
What can you take from this in your life, business, family, relationships or other endeavors? It’s about the commitment and effort to the plan.
Whenever you start on a journey in life, do you ever investigate the effort or level of commitment that you need to make sure the journey is a success? As in opening a business?
Let me use CityBook as an example. Jeff Gremillion, editor and co-owner of the publication and website, knew that he wanted to create a magazine for Houstonians by Houstonians about Houston. He knew his competition, and that he would have to work through the clutter in the market. He also knew that it was going to take time and energy to launch his company, and he committed himself to that. After celebrating his five-year anniversary in September of 2021, he is still putting out 10 units of effort, and he is getting more and more units of success from his efforts. To be a standalone business — and to be a going concern after five years, in the wake of the adversity we all have experienced over those years — takes effort.
Another businessperson I know left his company of 20 years to launch his own company in the same field. He knew that it was going to take a lot of energy and the “back to basics” attitude to get it going, and he was committed to it. He didn’t have the resources of his old company such as a business manager, graphic designer, and assistants. He was prepared to take it on himself and organized his day accordingly. It wasn’t easy, but the more resistance he got the more effort he put into his business. He had yet to break free of the gravitational pull of a startup. Ten years later, his effort hasn’t stopped however, his units of success have increased tenfold. He has nearly tripled his revenue and enjoys life more than ever. He started his efforts at the age of 61.
I tell my clients that, the more effort I put into life, the luckier I get, and so will they.
Unfortunately, some people slow down when confronted with obstacles. The challenge may seem too difficult to overcome. They don’t have the energy, or they feel that have faced to much adversity. Their efforts have waned, and so have their units of success. What they don’t realize is, it’s an obstacle illusion, and they only need to increase their effort to the level it was when they started their business. Then, they will break through what is pulling them down, and start seeing their efforts turn into results.
Success in any area of life takes effort. You must believe that your efforts will reward you with results, and life will become easier. But, if the goal is fly high, you must anticipate the pull of gravity, and work against it.
Peter Remington is an executive at Houston CityBook and also a business consultant and life coach. For more information on him and his Prepare 4 More, visit here, or email him directly at Peter@PeterRemington.com.
by Peter Remington | Dec 31, 2021 | Insights
WHAT IS IT that you would really love to have in your life?
A relationship — or an honest, loving, communicative, unconditional, faith-based and evolving relationship? Would you like more money — or wealth, freedom from debt, cash for donating and tithing, money for your children and grandchildren, legacy planning? Would you like better health — or strength, energy, flexibility, a stronger mind, clarity and balance? Would you like a new job — or a career that engages you, lifts you up and values your work, stewardship, leadership, ethics and contributions? The answer is in the questions you ask yourself while you plan for your growth and “why” you want that in your life.
In Part One of this three-part New Year’s series, it was mentioned that a resolution is a firm commitment to do something. However, without knowing or understanding in full detail what you’re firmly committing to, the commitment will wane.
Making a New Year’s resolution is not something that you just talk about; it is something that you think about, plan about and execute. Here are some high-level, wisdom-based questions that might help you formulate your New Year’s plan for yourself.
What do I want? Why do I want it? What would it feel like to obtain it?
What’s stopping me? Why is it stopping me? How do I stop it from stopping me?
What’s my first step? What does it look like? When does it happen?
How will my first step feel to me? My second and third? How does accomplishment feel to me?
What is the one thing I am currently not doing, that if I start doing, it would set me on the path to what I want? What does success look like to me?
These are just a few questions to ask yourself when planning your life. The caveat is that these are not one-word-answer questions. You will want to write one, two or three sentences on each. You will know which ones require more detail in your answers. In answering these questions in detail, in writing, you will embed in yourself a stronger belief system about your wants.
You will see yourself in your dream. You will see yourself achieving your dream.
Success in any area of life first requires 10 units of effort for one unit of success. Eventually your momentum will carry you to a new place, where you will receive 10 units of success for each unit of effort. When you do the effort, you will find yourself evolving to a higher level of awareness in your abilities to accomplish your wants. Old habits will fade away and be replaced with new higher standards of understanding and achieving.
Creating a resolution that is approached in an evolutionary way, gives you a sustainable path for the rest of your life. You will realize the true potential that lies within you and can be transferred to all other resolutions you make.
Peter Remington is an executive at Houston CityBook and also a business consultant and life coach. For more information on him and his Prepare 4 More, visit here, or email him directly at Peter@PeterRemington.com. This is the third of his three-part New Year’s series; Part One and Part Two are also available.
by Peter Remington | Dec 30, 2021 | Insights
YESTERDAY, IN PART One of this essay series, I wrote about how choosing your New Year’s resolutions wisely and thoughtfully is so important. Once that’s done, the next step in your resolution is revolution.
In many cases a revolution is not planned in full detail but is a reaction to a need, want or desire. The phrase “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore” comes to mind when I think of a revolution.
It’s like stepping on a scale and realizing that you’ve gained eight pounds and you want it off tomorrow. Your EQ (emotional quotient) talks to your IQ(intelligence quotient) and tells it that the IQ knows what to do to get the weight off. Your IQ plans on going to the gym and doing two-a-days for the first week just to jumpstart the program.
You get up the next morning, find your way back to the gym and start working out. Day One is great. It’s like you never left the gym, and that afternoon you plan for tomorrow. Tomorrow comes, and it’s another great workout so you plan for Day Three.
You wake up on Day Three, and there is a slight problem: Day One’s workout is causing sore muscles. It’s a little more difficult to get out of bed. But your EQ tells you to get up and make it happen, so you do. Day Three’s workout is not as strong as One or Two, and your PQ (physical quotient) kicks in. Your PQ is telling you that it wants to get back in shape, but it can’t be done in one week, so let’s take tomorrow off and we can figure out what to do on the next day.
This is when you discover your SQ — your spiritual quotient, or your will — might not be getting with the program. This is the key to your success or failure. Your EQ, or ego, had a revolutionary temper tantrum and ran everything amuck. Think of your “Q’s” as a set of chakras. If they aren’t in alignment, then you will be out of balance and are setting yourself up for failure. However, you haven’t failed yet.
You have planted your revolutionary flag in the ground. You know what you want to do: lose weight. Now, you need to have a plan. You need to have your spiritual quotient believe in the plan so that it’s sustainable. You want your physical quotient to know that time will be allotted to build up to the level performance that is being demanded of it. Your emotional quotient needs to be in balance to maintain the resolve it will take to get you to your desired result. And finally your intelligence quotient knows that there are setbacks and bumps in the journey, but they are temporary and manageable.
Our country was formed by a revolution, and it took eight years to get the job done. We had loyalist, traitors, setbacks and obstacles. Not everyone was in alignment. However, the SQ of the country was stronger than all the loyalist, traitors, setbacks and obstacles combined, and we gained our independence. You too can gain your independence from what is holding you back in life. Believe in what you want and nurture yourself along the process.
Peter Remington is an executive at Houston CityBook and also a business consultant and life coach. For more information on him and his Prepare 4 More, visit here, or email him directly at Peter@PeterRemington.com. Part One and Part Three of his New Year’s series are also available.
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