Found my way...again

It is easy to get distracted. I know, I just went through it.

It began with the excitement surrounding the MACLEANS article in March. (Yes, the article still exists on-line, I may never live it down: http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/03/31/retiring-into-the-unknown/). At the time, I was flitting madly in a number of directions: public speaking, sales consultant, blogger, advertising. If the phone rang (and it didn't ring often) I jumped at any and every opportunity. "New" was good...or so it seemed.

The result was that I found myself being very active but not very productive. And growing anxious with each passing day. It was very frustrating to Sally and I give her much credit for sticking with me through this frenzy.

Of course it had to end. As predicted by Andy Warhol our 15 minutes of fame ended. Mind you, I managed to stretch it out to 23 minutes with the radio interviews that I gave. I was pleased to hear that the interview on 570 CHYM in Kitchener gave them a solid hour of radio http://www.570news.com/shows/gary-doyle-show/.

The end came most unexpectedly. I was having lunch in Kitchener with the owner of a another small advertising agency. We were discussing how I would help him grow his business.

I stopped chewing for a moment when I realized that I had lost my focus on growing my business.

Eureka moment. The rest of the conversation faded into white noise after that.

On the long drive back home to the Beach on the back roads north-east of Kitchener with the sunroof open and Dave Matthews cranked up loud on the stereo, I came back down to earth. And not with a thud.

I got home that night, played with Tia, spoke at length with Sally and made the not-so-painful decision to re-focus on the key thing: working with her to build our home-based marketing business in Collingwood and Wasaga Beach.

I got on the phone the next morning to extricate myself from the distractions. Yes, I told some people 'No'.

Whew, what a relief.

Some thanks: to Lauren Pibworth who helped me to realize that I like performing in front of a crowd after all...just a more specific one; to Tia for reminding me to play more often; but most importantly to Sally for not giving up.

You can check us out here:

• Wasaga Beach Road Runners. Running with a group is the coolest thing I have done in years. "Reggae Marathon here I come" http://sites.google.com/site/wasagabeachroadrunners/
• Pre Paid Legal. We specialize in curing your scotoma about Identity Theft. "Don't leave home without our 'Black Card'". www.prepaidlegal.com/hub/spennock
• Altered Perception Inc. "We take your business communication from perception to reality". http://alteredperceptioninc.com/

Watch for us throughout Georgian Bay this summer! And I mean that literally since I will be training for the Reggae Marathon with lots of road work along the roads around Collingwood and Wasaga Beach.