Never be "Too Proud"

One of the things that I've had to do in my life is "a lot of things." I've never been too proud to get dirty. In fact, I just retold a story last night showing this. At one time, my father owned Western Plaza Bowling Lanes. Probably 30 years ago, we had a major snow storm in Knoxville with intense cold. A pipe burst at Western Plaza and was leaking into the bowling alley. The bowling lanes had a lot of wood, and wood with water means a disaster. My father and I went up there as quickly as we could and got the water cut off. I had to get the water out. I took a shopvac, which sucked up the water, and poured it out of the side door. While I was doing that, people walked in and asked if we were open. My father ran the front and the grill while I worked on getting rid of the water. And we did all of this in the frozen cold.

I share the above to show that I'm not too proud to work. I've also been at a startup until 3 am on a New Years Eve, getting home at 3:45 am. So, while you crazy people were out partying, I was working, and I have done this more than once. I've worked Friday nights, Saturday nights, and all weekends. Writing books and magazine articles on software is another thing. You don't get paid much for it, but it is a good excuse to learn new things, get paid, crete marketing material, and move forward. I've dealt with people that are "too proud" to do work, and they are not good to work with. You want to work with people that say "yes." not "no."

I've also been involved with real estate. I've had to take over the family's real estate business, and I have my broker's license. I write plenty of software today and help startups. I also know and do real estate. As I often say, "work is just part of the gig of life." I write code, I handle real estate, I handle land development, and I do a bunch of startup stuff.

McClure Realty

PS. Not many people know that my family owned Western Plaza Shopping Center at one time.