Clueless

I had no idea of the anguish to come. In a moment of change, we had our title, and we had our goal, and we knew it was as right and true as a fair maiden’s heart. We just knew that those two words were the secret, the real secret to our success, that they embodied what we did differently from what we had done all those years before when we searched in vain for success and financial security. We knew, but we still we had no idea how to explain Clients First.

This would become our greatest challenge. Although we knew in our bones that this was a monumental game changer, we would come to find ourselves mired in the quest to unlock this secret to succeeding in any business. Later, as the months rolled by, we found ourselves just as clueless as all those people who had asked us over the years, “How do you put Clients First?”

But at that jubilant moment in Harper’s Restaurant in Charlotte, North Carolina, we had no idea of the struggles to come. We were elated. We spoke of little else all the way home. It was all so obvious. This would be easy.

The next morning, we found the Charlotte airport, returned our rental car, and boarded our flight for Phoenix. We weren’t even asked for identification. JoAnn was right. The South was too genteel.

On the flight home, we returned to when Clients First began. We knew when it happened. We knew the moment we changed for the first time. The challenge would be to explain it. I couldn’t explain why I stopped smoking, any more than Keith could ...

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