Your personality and work ethic, was it learned?

If you are like me, there is or was something going on in your personal or work life that is causing you to re-evaluate your current position, company or career path. There have been times that I felt I needed to make career change for a myriad of reasons; dead end job, politics, lay-offs, relationships, acquisitions, boredom, or just the lifelong call of entrepreneurship. There were also times that I felt I couldn't make changes because of the income risk, financial commitments or a new family that would be affected by change.

As I reflect back over my life and career, I believe that what has guided me through my career to date was learned from early influences such as my father and his brothers who owned a successful gas station business for several years. Growing up outside of a small farming community in central Nebraska, I learned my work ethic early on through chores and working for my Dad's business...for pennies an hour. It was my job to pump gasoline, sweep floors and dust oil cans in my father’s stations because I wasn't tall enough to check oil or wash windshields of our customer’s cars. I'll never forget my Uncle yelling that there was a car coming even if it had their turn signal on 2 blocks away, there was no opportunity to slack off when Uncle Maynard was working. To this day I still believe we had the cleanest oils cans in North America!

On occasion my dad would take me on sales calls where he sold specialty tires to hay mills and manufacturing companies in central Nebraska. We would travel to small towns and visit companies that manufactured locally but sold their equipment globally, it was there that I learned how to speak to people ran or owed businesses, ask questions about the health of their business and industry, and what it meant to give and keep my word to clients. These were great days that afforded me an opportunity to grow as an individual, and provided a welcome break from dusting the oil cans!

Although I didn't understand it at the time, these lessons became major influences in my career path decisions over the last 25 years. Some of the important characteristics in evaluating my new opportunities are, operating in a team environment where I can learn from and teach others, teams working hard towards common goals, and an opportunity to serve people through personal commitments to quality products and services. There are other characteristics and traits that I learned about myself along way as well...have you taken the time to reflect back on your childhood? Do you understand the influences that shaped your personality and work habits? Take the time to understand what type of environment you thrive in before you make any decisions about starting or investing in a business, it will play a major role in your happiness and the success of your new business.