“You can never get around what you gotta go through.” — Griffin House
I like this little lyric from a song I heard a few weeks ago. It reminded me of the ah-ha moment I had ten years ago at a retreat where my friend, Alan Fadling, said, “In order to get to the other side of the challenge, we must step into and through the fear.”
We gotta go through it.
There is still much to go through. Every person—and company—will experience the seasons of abundance, plateau, and unplanned stopovers in Crazy Town. (I believe I pulled these from the Harvard Business Review.)
One of my moments going through Crazy Town, USA: Red Mallard and I got sued back in June 2016.
Short and sweet: The parent company of a customer was not happy about the portfolio page featuring our customer and a video of him extolling our virtues because he was “wearing a branded polo shirt” featuring their trademark.
Was the lawsuit justifiable? I guess.
Was their process honorable? In my humble, biased opinion, no. (In the words of one of the attorneys I consulted, he said, “Even the Mouse sends a cease and desist.”)
We ended up settling for a “small” sum—which was still 20% of my bank account at the time. That stung, bad. Sleepless nights. Stress. But, like all things, I got through it and learned a great deal about myself, God, and the goodness of loyal people.
During that six-week season, the best advice I received came from two unique sources:
- My son, three at the time, said, “It’s gonna be okay, dad.” (Before you jump to conclusions, I wasn’t waking my son up at night telling him all about the lawsuit drama. It was a Sunday afternoon and, in a fit of stress, I was going out for a bike ride and he asked if he could go. I said, “No,” which was not like me and that’s when he said what he said. To this day, I still believe it was God speaking through him.)
- My mentor from EO, Greg Keyes: “Get back to work. It’ll probably happen again.” I kept working and improved our contracts. Thanks, Greg!
So, keep your eyes focused on the road ahead and don’t let the Crazy Town stopovers pull you down. Look for the signposts and keep moving. You’ll get through it.
Which season do you find yourself in?
***Oh, and by the way, the law firm that represented Red Mallard a few months after the dust settled hired us and remains a client.
