We’ve had our share of success at Total Life Changes, but things weren’t always as smooth as they are now. The early years were a challenge, and plenty of roadblocks stood in our way. I learned the key, especially in tough times, is to believe in your hard work and courageous decisions, and when that fails and you start to doubt yourself, look to the other people who believe in you for strength.
I left a secure position at Ford Motor Company to start TLC. It’s a story I’ve told a lot: I was disillusioned with the assembly line and hungry for something more. While still at Ford, I began working part-time selling long-distance phone plans and started learning about the sort of business TLC would grow to become. As I mention in Believe In More, about this time is when Mike and Tony Cupisz took me under their wings. They are business geniuses, and they saw something in me that led them to feed my hunger for learning and entrepreneurship.
With their guidance, and the support of my incredible wife Jenny, I had the courage to leave my job at Ford. TLC started in my basement, sharing a space with Jenny’s hairdressing business. It was exciting, but there were never any guarantees. We scrambled for every customer and fought to make each product the best it could be.
Even with all that effort, there were times that failure was just around the corner. At one point, our incoming cash from customers’ orders was put on hold; we couldn’t pay our people. It could have been a disaster. Just when I was at my lowest, though, and starting to doubt my plans, my mother-in-law lent us the money to bridge the gap. More importantly, she lent me her courage. She believed in me, and TLC, when it was easiest to abandon everything. Her faith ensured the future of our company. (And, of course, I paid her back.)
Not everyone is lucky enough to have a financial angel waiting in the wings, but everyone who builds a business—or builds anything, really—from the ground up like that must have someone there to lean on. It’s a key rule of business: surround yourself with good people. One of the smartest things I did with my company was to solicit the help of some of my closest friends. I knew their hearts, and I knew I could count on them to make mindful decisions and help me do the same. To this day, the TLC Executive Team is stocked with some of the best people I’ve ever known.
We know to keep each other honest, and to give each other a break, sometimes. That’s important in a fast-paced work environment. Most importantly, they remind me to have the courage of my convictions, that if I’m sticking to our TLC Core Values, things will work out.
What an honor it is to have people who believe in me, and I work every day to earn that trust. Co-workers, partners, customers: they are the heart of every successful business, and good things happen when you follow your heart.
Jack Fallon
