Did I Ever Think Of Giving Up?

A contractor recently called me for advice. He had suffered a major financial setback caused by some illegal actions of his former chief financial officer. He had lost lots of money and was so desperate that he was thinking of giving up on his dream of building a successful construction business.

He was looking for some hope and help. So, he asked me if I had ever experienced hard times and thought about giving up on my dreams.

I think he was surprised by my answer. I replied, “Did I ever think about giving up? Hell yes, and more than once.”  Then, as I always do, I shared some experiences where I had to respond to incredibly challenging conditions.

First, I described the challenges we overcame to bring Grout Hog to the masonry industry. I came up with the idea in the late 1980s when I was part of a mason contractor roundtable. The group discussed how installing grout (slurry concrete) in block walls was an industry productivity problem.