In the email from a few days ago in the email on vision I had a picture of my 2 boys Coleston and Harrison and my daughter Emmalyn.  But I wasn’t able to bring this little one Grayson with me to Monster Jam.  He is the last of the bunch and I’m trying to soak up all the funny and cute things he says because kids grow so fast the time just passes you by.

I was in my living room the other day watching TV with a room full of family when I smelt a funky smell.  I said “who let one go”?.

That’s when my little doodlebug walked up to me and said “I farted”

These are the times that are priceless in life and I laughed my ass off.  You can’t buy comedy this good.

I have learned quickly with my kids that my role is not only to teach them things but to also learn from them.  The little man knew that he had just farted and that he should own up to it and that’s exactly what he did.

As a father you couldn’t ask for anything more.  Taking responsibility for something even when it’s not the funnest thing to do.

Which couldn’t be said for a lot of people or companies these days.  I recently have been watching a series on Netflix called “Dirty Money”.  On one of the episodes they uncover the Volkswagen scandal.

In this episode they take you on the journey of how Volkswagen wanted to be seen as the big dog of the world.  How they promised a clean burning diesel car for the world and how they said they had delivered on that promise.

But had they really done that?

Everyone thought so until someone came across something that didn’t match up.  You might of seen those smog readers on the side of the highways that read your emissions as you drive by?

Well when the cars went by those they were reading up to 50 times over the levels that were legal.  But when owners brought them into the emissions testing places they passed with flying colors?  This raised a red flag and further investigations.

Years went by with Volkswagen dodging bullets and stringing the EPA out on what might be wrong.  In the end it was found out that Volkswagen had programed 11 million of their cars to run differently while on the emissions dyno to pass.

It’s AMAZING to me that a iconic figure like Volkswagen thought they could get away with scamming people without ever taking responsibility for the truth.

Even when they knew that they were caught red handed.

If they had taken responsibility and pulled the plug when they first were caught they would of saved millions and possibly kept some face.

When you make mistakes you only get one shot at showing the true colors of who you are.  Volkswagen definitely did that.

Not to long ago I found myself in a situation with some clients that presented itself with a decision similar to these.  I had a home listing that had a offer of the buyer asking for a percentage of closing costs to help purchase the home.  But on a counter offer the agent put a specific amount of closing costs rather than the percentage.

When we went to close the title company did a net sheet for my client and informed them that they would net $150 less than what they had expected and they weren’t happy.  I didn’t know why so I looked into things and realized it was because of the specified amount of closing cost that we agreed on was a little more than the initial percentage of costs on the first offer.

This was my mistake…

I should of noticed that they had switched things and let me client know.  It could of been easy to just let the title company take the blame and let numbers get shuffled around.

But that’s not how I do things.  I teach my son’s to take responsibility for their actions and I wasn’t about to be one that goes back on my words.

So I set up a time for my client and I showed them what happened and told them it was my mistake and I had my commission adjusted to compensate for it.

They were honored that I would do something like that and said it was ok.   In the end the title company actually made a mistake and nobody lost any money and things worked out ok.

But you know life will test your character.  It will try to trip you up (especially when it comes to money).  Like my son you only have 1 chance to make it right.

Sometimes you just have unshackle the chains that try to hold you back and just say “I farted”.

Chad

 

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