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If you’d
like to make a big change in your life but are afraid, I’ve got
quite a story for you.
It’s about an entrepreneur
who had things go terribly wrong until he took an action that made all
the difference for him and if you took a similar action, it could make
all the difference for you as well.
His email message describes what
had been his sorry state of affairs.
“Flat broke, $30,000 plus in
debt, maxed out credit cards, negotiated store credit for first laptop
and printer at Best Buy since my credit cards were full, business partner
that was addicted to cocaine (which I didn’t know when I went into
the venture), cease and desist lawsuits from former employer, etc.
etc.”
This email is from Tom Ruff and
despite that terrible start; he built a very successful recruitment firm
and he uplifted his life. Here is his story.
After graduating from college in
1989, Ruff joined a Chicago management recruitment firm and through long
hours of hard work, he became their top recruiter and remained their top
recruiter for the next three years.
In 1992, the firm sent Ruff and
another man to Los Angeles to open a satellite office but soon, the two
men quit to form their own recruitment firm. After struggling for several
months, their business jelled and they hired three recruiters and added
office space and equipment.
To pay for this expansion, Ruff
charged it to his credit cards, which seemed fine because the firm kept
adding new clients and was doing well.
Then one day with no notice, his
partner missed a client meeting. Ruff’s phone calls to him went
unreturned and after two days passed, the partner showed up and said
he’d had the flu and had been too sick to call.
For the next
month, everything got back to normal. Then again with no notice, the
partner missed another client meeting. Once again he didn’t return
Ruff’s calls and after two days, turned up and said he’d been
partying with old friends but everything would be fine.
Two weeks later,
it happened again and when Ruff confronted him, he acknowledged that he
had cocaine and alcohol problems. He assured Ruff he’d get help but
two weeks passed and he got no treatment, no help.
Ruff felt
compassion for this man but feared the business would collapse and take
his reputation and financial security with it. He wanted to end their
partnership and the partner reacted angrily, shouting at Ruff but
ultimately they hired a mediator and dissolved the partnership.
Ruff was deeply in
debt and wasn’t sure what to do next. He said, “I went to
Hermosa Beach (CA) and went for a run. At the end of my run, I sat on the
sand and decided to change every aspect of my life: spiritually,
financially, mentally and physically. When I sat out there, I broke down
in tears, I began to cry.”
He realized
he’d neglected his family and friends, had stopped working out and
had begun eating junk food. His entire life had become long hours of work
and now all he had to show for it was a dissolved partnership and a pile
of debts. He said to himself, “I’m sick and tired of being
sick and tired.
“I went back
to my home and I wrote, ‘Today is the day I turn the corner and no
longer accept mediocrity. I am the master and in complete control of my
destiny’ and signed it; Thomas Ruff, November 9th, 1994.”
Ruff then took
action. He believes in setting goals and that’s what he did.
“I don’t know how the mystery of goal setting works but I can
tell you there is a power, a force, things start happening on your behalf
when you’re that clear on what you want.”
He started what is
now Tom Ruff Company in Manhattan Beach, CA, a specialist in medical and
pharmaceutical sales recruiting. “I had no employees. I did
everything through an executive suite and I did everything myself for a
year and a half.”
Within six months,
he was out of debt and making money. He’d also regained the balance
in his life, enjoying family and friends, workouts and healthy eating.
His life became fun again.
Today, his
successful firm has two offices and places about 150 people a year in
professional positions. Ruff adds, “I feel so fortunate and
I’m blessed to have gotten this opportunity.”
Success
Tip of the Week:
Like Tom Ruff, if you want to make an important change in your life, set
a clear goal with a time frame and act on it. Even if you don’t
initially attain your goal, you’ll begin to make progress on it and
be much happier than you are today.
In the next
KazanToday, A fascinating man who had little money but if measured in the
love and respect thousands of people held for him; he was vastly wealthy.
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