Hi, it’s Brilliant.
My friend Steevun Lemon once did something generous for one of his employees, but it didn’t turn out the way he’d hoped.
Steevun runs a company that ships its products all over the world. One of his best employees worked in shipping. I’ll call her Jane. She was raising two kids, and she was fantastic at her job.
One day Steevun looked up from his desk and saw a tow truck in the parking lot, hooking up Jane’s car.
He went out to see what was going on. The car was being repossessed. He asked the driver if there might be some mistake, and whether he could just make a payment and settle it right there. No luck. The driver had his orders, and the car was already hooked up.
So Steevun asked if Jane could at least get her things out.
The driver said, “She’s got twenty minutes.”
Jane hurried out and started gathering what she could. One of the things she pulled out was an empty car seat, stuffed full of her belongings. Her coworkers watched her carry it back inside.
Then the truck pulled away with Jane’s car.
Steevun waited about an hour. Then he called Jane into his office and told her he’d like to help, if she’d let him. She agreed.
Her car payment was $450 a month. That was a lot of money back then, and it wasn’t much of a car. She didn’t know what interest rate she was paying. She only knew the payment. She owed about $18,000 on a car with a book value of around $12,000. Underwater, as they say in the car business. I imagine it felt that way to her, too.
With her permission, Steevun called the lender, negotiated a payoff, and paid it himself. Then they sold the car for what he’d paid. At least her credit wouldn’t get any worse from this, and she could start rebuilding.
Jane lived within walking distance of work, and her boyfriend had a car. She agreed they’d get by with his until she’d saved enough to buy a junker outright.
Less than two weeks later, Jane drove into the parking lot in a new car.
Twenty-one percent interest.
Steevun couldn’t believe it. He took his frustration to his landlord, who was also a friend. His friend told him, “You can’t solve money problems with money. Only knowledge can do that.”
I have my own versions of Jane’s new car, and I suspect you do too. They’re just a lot easier to spot in other people.
The car was never the problem. It was just where the problem showed up.
A certain kind of thinking signed that first loan, then fell behind on the payments. Within two weeks of a fresh start, the same thinking signed a new loan at 21 percent interest.
Steevun paid off a car. But paying off the loan couldn’t change the thinking underneath it.
Steevun tells this story, and many more, in his book, Owner Trauma, about the hidden toll of running a business. Learn more at ownertrauma.com.
From the Commonplace Book
Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.
— James Baldwin
Further Down the Rabbit Hole
I face my problems better when I’m rested. A tired mind reaches for the same old answers.
My favorite tool for rest is the Manta sleep mask. It’s pricey for an eye mask, and worth it to me. It’s one of my travel essentials. Some afternoons I put it on for a seven- or ten-minute nap and come back sharper than caffeine ever gets me.
Not sponsored. I just love it.