Saturday, March 1, 2014

Unpossible

I am not the type of person who gives up easily. I set "unattainable" goals and then attain them. While someone is busy saying something is impossible, I'm busy finding a way to do it.


I know a lot of people who are naysayers. They have their role in society. We need people to vet ideas and give them a "sober second thought". However when someone says something can't be done, and then stops right there, they prove them self right. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. I don't don't achieve everything I set out to accomplish. But if I had no goals I would not accomplish anything. An 80% failure rate is better than 0% effort.

Several years ago I wanted to buy another rental property. I went to five banks. The first four told me why it couldn't be done. The fifth told me what I had to do to make it happen. Guess what? It happened. So who was the winner in all this? The banks that said it was impossible or the bank who told me what I had to do to overcome the odds the others thought were insurmountable? Well, I'm on track to pay back the bank that took a chance on me in under 12 years. That bank will have made about $70 000 from me in that time. I think that qualifies as a win for them. And I win too. My cash flow is up. My earnings are up. My retirement plans are ahead of schedule. The thing about those who do, verses those who don't, is that that those who do improve the lives of those around them. Those who don't aren't worth the time and effort.

I like my job. I like my position (mostly). In addition to being a pilot (which I thought was impossible but took a shot at it anyway) I manage a regional airline. My company took a chance on me and put me in a position that could have been given to many other qualified people. (On paper I may not have even been qualified.) The big difference between myself and those other qualified people is that I am a person who believes I can achieve what most feel is impossible. In 2 months I had our office back on budget. It was the first time in over a year. I was given more responsibility. Over the 9 months I have been doing my job we have added 2 aircraft to our scheduled flight division, which I oversee, increased ridership by 15% and revenues by 10%. Our on time performance as measured by the airline standard is hovering around 99%, and our customer satisfaction is through the roof. With everything going my way I looked at other areas that needed help.

I began an initiative to improve the only area our customer's had complaints. The taxi service. Granted, we have nothing to do with taxis but the service the taxis provided harmed the passengers' image of who we are, so I took that challenge on. The drivers were rude. The taxis were late, dirty, unreliable, smelled, etc... (In all fairness, there are very good taxis in the city but they seem to be outnumbered by the bad.) Those in charge told me that the taxi service would never change. That's the way it's always been and that's the way it will always be. I instituted a private car service, much like a limousine service, that has reduced our need for taxis by 90%. Our passengers now travel from the airport in a fleet of Mercedes, with all leather interior and a private driver in uniform. With some clever deal making on my part, we don't pay a single cent for the service, and actually manage to make a small profit from every passenger that uses this service. Keep in mind, those in power told me it could never be done. Not only have I proved them wrong on every level, customer service, quality of transportation, reliability, I managed to make a profit while doing it.

Now I am on the cusp of something monumental, not only for my division, but the company as a whole. And I did it despite a long line of VPs who have been saying it couldn't be done for years now. This Summer I will have pulled off the impossible. I wish I could say more but I can't. I'll just say that I'm about to completely change the market, our market share, the level of customer service and do it all by bringing my division the most profitable year since its inception, with minimal start up costs.

I am curious to see what's next.

No comments: