Getting Back to a New Normal

The Office
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Almost 3 weeks ago my life changed a bit. Shortly after arriving home from a normal day at the office, I collapsed in front of my family and began to have a seizure. I will spare you the long story, but after not breathing, being rushed to the hospital, staying in the hospital for most of a week. I am back to work on a limited basis. Apparently the cause is attributed to a lingering cold, working crazy hours, and not really sleeping/eating right for a period of time. Hopefully it was my first and last seizure.

So the reason for me telling you this is I wanted to point out several things that I have learned early on in this ordeal.

#1. Thank God for Employees and Staff.

I dont even want to imagine the situation I would be in right now if I didnt have employees. i dont have a big business (5-8 employees) but when you have a seizure, you cant legally drive for 6 months, No ladders, No heights and it takes time to get sharp mentally again. I cant even answer a phone right now without stuttering and losing my train of thought. its coming back…but slowly.

#2. Make Time with your Family

I think a lot of us feed our competitive drives through our business. I am for sure very very very guilty of that. I sacrifice almost everything for my company. I have always said “Business is War!”…I’ve had a lot of down time lately and the obvious thing that has hit me is, “It doesnt matter how large my company is, or how much money is made through it. I cant take it with me and in the end my company is not who I am.”

I am still here and functional which I am greatly thankful for. I havnt been online too heavy cause I am still having heavy concussion symptoms and being infront of a computer screen or ipad screen messes with me still. My wife and doctor thinks the endless 70+ hour work weeks led to this… I will not admit they are right… but ya know :slightly_smiling:

I still encourage everyone to grind hard and kill it with your businesses, but be smart. Be healthy and set your priorities. I cant stress enough to set your businesses up to work for you. Not saying everyone has to have a big business, but I have no idea how my bills would be paid right now if I didnt have trained employees handling my customers. I credit the example of guys in the industry like @Chris, @Send_Jim and also many friends in the industry that pushed me to get out of the truck years ago.

I pray for another prosperous year in the industry for everyone and I want to say THANK YOU! to all of you that have sent me texts, Voxs, FB messages, and phone calls during this time. It really meant a lot to me and makes me proud to be in this industry with all of you.

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Glad to hear you are doing better and thank you for the good advice. Before I bought my cleaning business I spent way too many hours at jobs that caused me to be away from my family. Now I cherish the opportunity to be with them more.

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Glad you’re alive and thanks for sharing.

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geez kyle had no idea when we were voxing the other day. glad you’re doing ok now.
ken taylor

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yeah I havnt talked to much about it… mainly cause everyday day I get asked about it and how I am doing by everyone around me lol.
When we voxed the other day, my kids were screaming in the background cause my wife has to bus me around everywhere cause I cant drive lol. Its either I ride with her and the kids, or pay an employee to get me around…it sucks.
I’m just now starting to use my computer more cause my concussion symptoms are starting to go away and I can be infront of a screen more… I couldnt give up Voxer… thats my main communication.

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Wow that’s scary stuff. Glad to hear your going to be ok.

That’s the one thing that scares me about being an owner/operator. I do have a helper full time, but if something happens to me I would be in trouble

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I posted the other day about my dehydration story. I can see what happened to you happen to me if I’m not careful. I am on The thin side 170lbs and when I’m working I drink very little and almost never eat too. I will go up to 10+ hrs with out eating at all and drink very little water. I’m now taking it more seriously since the last time I couldnt stop shaking for 7 hours. And now hearing your story make it even more real to me. Thanks for sharing and hopefully you will be 100% soon.

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@aviloria I am the same way… now i am 250+ but I dont like to eat during the work day for several reasons… I dont want to have to stop and go to the restroom and I am normally pressed for time. The doctor told me everyone has a seizure threshold. Some of the main factors in lowering that threshold is not eating regularly, dehydration, lack of sleep, and stress. I was guilty of all of them
I had a bad cough i let go… and actually passed out from a coughing fit… I collapsed and my head hit my kitchen floor which caused my seizure. But from not taking care of myself led to where everything lined up perfect for me to have a seizure.

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Kyle buddy, Thats scary as hell man, I feel for you it just show how fragile we are.
You never know! It was almost a year before i could do any physical labor, drive ect when I had my multiple incidents.
Its time to adjust your thought pattern completely!

Voxer me if you need any advice buddy! :wink:

Happy to hear your getting better!

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Awesome that you’ve done a great job in your business and you’re able to have a great team. It’s good to know that you are coming back healthy. I have started down a similar path, by leaving family and other responsibilities on the back burner. Thank you for the reminder boss. It takes a lot of guts to say these things to some complete strangers out here.

Something I read to stay on track, hope it helps;

“What will you obey. If a turnip is planted, nature does not bring forth potatoes. The law you follow will produce exacting results.”

Donald Hadley
True Glass
706-832-4181
trueglassllc@yahoo.com
augustawindowsandgutters.com

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Most of these guys on here are not strangers anymore… some of my closest brothers are guys in this industry

Thanks for the kind words

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I’ve been on industry forums for 9+ years and you always see that post a couple times a year from an operator suffering from a fall or coming down with an unexpected illness… never imagined I would be put in a similar situation. It’s very real and humbling.

Hit me up on Voxer anytime… I got a lot of downtime now lol

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I’m brand new, but the kindness, help, and straight up good people on here makes it feel like I’ve known these guys a while.

Good luck

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Dang Kyle

Thats a crazy story. Im very glad to hear things are getting back to normal. We are here if you need anything.

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This is indeed one of every business owners worst case scenarios and shows the age old adage of Without your health you are nothing…over 20 years ive experienced melanoma-knee surgery-intestinal parasite,2 mercer infections and various flus-bronchitis and viral infections that have knocked me out of commission.This is when you will discover who your real trusted employees are when you arent able to directly supervise or perhaps even supply the work that you would in a normal situation. As you state, it shows the power of getting out of the field and creating a system that will work in your absence.This is also the one of the formulas for growth of any business. Good luck to you and i will pray for your recovery.

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My 49 year old brother had seizures last week and I immediately thought of this thread. The cause hasn’t been identified yet but he has worked an intense schedule for the last quarter century. He went back to his stage technician job yesterday but had to come home early after he tried to move a grand piano. This thread makes me think more about getting disability insurance.

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be very careful with what is actually covered. a friend of mine thought he had coverage but turned out the max was no where near his income even though the premium was based on his income

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It’s strange trying to heal from a brain injury. You think you can handle things like you did before and you seem alright. But when you are trying to complete the task or get through the work it hits you like a ton of bricks… healing from a brain injury is like when you restart your computer back in the day on windows and it goes through that annoying safe mode…you lag and you take awhile to reboot… it just takes a lot of time. I can see why professional athletes can be out months or years when they have a concussion.

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I have had a friend try to sell me disability insurance over the years… says it will cover a portion or all of my income. I have doubted that… cause I take a normal salary, but I also divide compensation up in distributions as well. I doubt the insurance would cover distribution payments.