Find Happiness in the Chaos Guest Editorial
GREG KOZERA | Shale Crescent USA Because of COVID-19, I gave a lot of thought to coaching high school soccer again. There are potential risks and exposure to the virus. Every day is full of risks. Just getting out of bed and going downstairs is a risk. Driving a car is a risk. We always need to take precautions like wearing a seat belt or a mask. The alternative is to stay in bed. I’m coaching! This will be a challenging season because of the uncertainties with COVID-19 and related rules. We can’t even guarantee we will play a game until it starts. This season will require mental toughness as well as the usual hard work, skills and teamwork. As a coach, hopefully I can help the boys to develop mental toughness. One of the reasons I coach is the joy of helping boys grow into young men and learn to achieve their dreams. I remember the joy of watching the boys hoist our first state championship trophy. Tanner, was our goalkeeper. He was so short he had to a hard time touching the crossbar even when he jumped. Tanner’s heart, hard work and attitude made up for his lack of size. He won the starting goalkeepers job just before the playoffs started. When the championship game ended the paper took a picture of Tanner with both feet off the ground. We met on the field with tears of joy in our eyes. I told him, “You are a State Champion Keeper.” He went on to be a successful Army officer and attorney. A few years ago, Lynnda and I were at the National Speakers Association (NSA) Convention in Phoenix, Arizona. We were at the airport rental car facility. I gave my paperwork to the young man who would bring our rental car to us. He asked why we were in Phoenix. I told him we were there for a professional speakers’ conference. He excitedly responded, “I have always wanted to do that. Can you tell me one thing that will help me?” Then he dashed off to get our car. No one had ever asked me that question. I had to think about it. By the time he returned with the car I told him, “Remember this, It’s not about you or your message, it’s all about the audience.” In my career when I took the focus off me or my organization’s needs and focused on the audience’s needs and concerns everything changed in a very positive way. Success in business and sales, as a manager or
owner happens when we put our customers’ needs ahead of ours. If we give our customers what they need and want first, we have a chance to get what we need. The late sales expert Zig Ziegler said, “You can have anything you want if you first help enough other people get what they want.” At Shale Crescent USA, our prospects have access to our hard data so a decision to come to our Region is easier. Local companies can use it to expand creating jobs our Region needs.
“Hell is having and doing everything we want and realizing it doesn’t make us happy.” We have a large network we can access, three studies we can give away for free and years of experience to help companies expand in our Region. Everyone is searching for happiness. As a child, I learned happiness isn’t about having stuff. Growing up I had 5 brothers. Our Dad worked for the government. We didn’t have a lot of “things” but we had our family and friends. We were happy. I believe it was because my parents kept us focused on what we had instead of what we didn’t. We complained because we only got one gift for Christmas. The only child down the street got more presents than all of us. My mother said, “There are six of you. You can play with Happiness continued on page 7
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OhioGas&Oil
OCTOBER 2020
