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Today I'm sharing another interview from my book, 21 Questions for 21 Millionaires. Today's post is from one of my favorite people as I share with you the millionaire success story of Heidi Ganahl.
Tell me about you.
I grew up in southern California until I was about 13, then our family moved from Irvine to Monument, Colorado, a small town just north of the Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs.
Today I'm sharing the interview with one of my favorite entrepreneurs, Lane Nemeth. Her story is so rich and full of amazing events, I hope you enjoy it almost half as much as I do.
You wanted to buy some great educational products for your daughter Tara and you couldn’t find them anywhere?
They were only available if you were a teacher and could go through a teacher supply house with a purchase order. I couldn’t do that so it became very complicated.
In the coming weeks I'll be posting interviews with the successful entrepreneurial millionaires featured in my book, 21 Questions for 21 Millionaires. Enjoy.
First, I’d love to get to know you and your background.
I was born and raised in Queens New York. I went to school in upstate New York and then got a job on Wall Street, but the market back then was awful. There was no volume, it was a different market; there was no money to be made.
Was it your dream to work on Wall Street?
This week I sampled what is likely the best frozen custard the City of Houston has to offer. Maybe it was that the weather was nice and I enjoyed the cold refreshment. Maybe it was that I haven't had good custard in a fairly long time. Maybe it was just good.
Connie's Frozen Custard (12545 Jones Rd., Houston, TX 77070) get's a solid B in my book. With the bananas, it was a B+. The custard was thick and creamy and the taste was everything good vanilla custard should be. The cookie dough mix in was standard. Well done, Connie's.
This week I also sampled what is, sorry to say, likely the worst frozen custard I have had in a long time. The custard was not creamy, the taste was extraordinarily bland, and the brownie mix in lacked both flavor and desirable texture. In the end, it gets a C-. But don't be fooled, though; it was still frozen custard so none of it went to waste.
Unfortunately, my tummy didn't feel right for the rest of the day, which can sometimes happen when a dairy delight doesn't delight. The grade was decided well before that point, so the lingering effects didn't hurt the grade. It did, however, certainly affect how I feel about that establishment.
Even worse, the 35-minute detour to find Louisiana custard, which was originally supposed to be 20 minutes, caused me to almost miss my flight. Oh what I'll sometimes do to find the world's best custard only to be disappointed.
Luckily for me, I had grits, cat fish, and a twice baked potato earlier in the day, sampling what Louisiana does best. I also enjoyed the beautiful landscape of water ways, trees, and sun Louisiana offers. Excited to go back.
On the plane this week I watched an NFL Network special on Kurt Warner, former Arizona Cardinals quarterback.
I didn’t see the whole thing, but what I did see was very impressive. I knew he had a son with special needs and was active in causes involving his son’s needs. What I didn’t know was just what a humble, genuine, solid guy he is.
When I started watching, they were talking about how he signed with the Green Bay Packers as his first NFL team and immediately bought a green JMC Jimmy with his $5,000 signing bonus, since he thought he was going to be a Packer for life.
Turns out that wasn’t going to be the case.
At training camp the coach told him to go in. He responded, “I’m not ready.” He wasn’t ready and he got cut.
He moved in with Brenda, his girlfriend, who had two children, taking care of the kids during the day and working at a grocery store at night. One night his car ran out of gas on the highway with the kids in the car. He started contemplating his situation and how disheartening it was to have been an NFL prospect and was now sitting on the side of the highway out of gas.
The idea flashed in his mind to check out the arena football league, which was growing in popularity. He thought, “I’m better than that.” Then he looked at his situation. “Oh yeah, you’re better than that,” he thought to himself. “You’re stocking shelves at night.” So he tried out.
He did well in the league, which got him noticed and that led him back into the NFL. He did well enough to become a starting quarterback. Then he did really well, leading the St. Louis Rams to a SuperBowl® victory after the 1999 season and winning a pair of MVP awards.
In subsequent years, however, he lost his rhythm and was replaced by Mark Bulger. Rather than complain and wallow in bitterness, he helped Mark and it was said that he was as excited about Mark’s performance as Mark was himself. That’s an unselfish, humble guy.
During his time with the New York Giants Kurt struggled again and was replaced by Eli Manning, who was just starting his career. Even though Eli played terribly, Kurt refused to create a quarterback controversy. Kurt said the worst decision the team could make would be to send him in in a relief situation for Eli because Eli should be able to play without having to look over his shoulder. Class act.
When he played for the Arizona Cardinals, who had been to the playoffs only one time in 60 years, he was again tasked with helping prepare a franchise quarterback like he was in New York with Eli. What he did was bigger than that. He helped Larry Fitzgerald expand his vision of just how good he could be—and just look how Larry has responded.
Not only did Kurt take the Cardinals to the playoffs, he took them all the way to the SuperBowl® (I wonder if the NFL will have a problem with me promoting their most watched event since they are real sticklers on the trademark for the SuperBowl® (oops, I said it again).
After the Cardinals lost the SuperBowl®, he went to find his family in the stands. He could tell they felt badly for him. He looked at them and said, “Life isn’t about a football game. It’s about moments. It’s about the gifts God gives you and relishing them.” He remarked later that one of the things he regretted about losing the SuperBowl® with the Rams after the 2001 season is that they didn’t celebrate what they had accomplished.
Here are some other interesting facts about the guy. He adopted Brenda’s two kids after they got married. They then had 5 more children, including a set of twin girls.
The most impressive thing, even with all of the other things mentioned about him in the special, came at the end, when his wife Brenda, the person who knows his faults and flaws as well as anyone on the planet, said, “He is the best person I’ve ever met in my life. The absolute best person. He makes the world a better place.”
New Year's Resolutions - I hate 'em. I don't need to wait for the new year to make adjustments. I should be doing that the whole year through.
But here's the thing. I'm human. And even when I know the right thing to do I don't always do it (I'm on a journey toward self-improvement just like the rest of us). Therefore, the new year is a good time to refocus, to reprioritize, and recommit.
This is by no means an exhaustive list; how could it be?
These are just some of the things for which my gratitude is overflowing this Thanksgiving.
If I've left you off the list, it's not intentional.
Everyone I've met has blessed my life and you are no exception.
As soon as I post I know I'll think of 5 more things to add. Perhaps I'll keep updating the list on Facebook - Oh, there's one more thing for which I'm (mostly) grateful...
You need tools and insights to grow your small business, but you’re too swamped to even look up from your To Do list.
If you’re like many small business owners, you barely have time for yourself. You’ve got products to develop, sales to make, employees to tend to, customers to serve, bills to pay, and books to keep.
That doesn’t leave a lot of time to search out, much less find, valuable thoughts and ideas to help you do what you do even better.
That’s where I hope to help. I research successful individuals and companies and provide tools and insights about what they're doing so you can keep your eyes where they belong--your business.
Although I haven’t read the book, "The Four Agreements," I know that I align with its premise. The concepts resonate with my personal experience of how I learned to speak my truth, eliminate needless pain, clarify what I believe is going on, and do my best. I try to live the Four Agreements in real life, although I do it very imperfectly and it's still in progress. But that's what real life is - halting, slow, steady progress. There is no overnight success, there are no shortcuts.
Here's what I've learned about the importance of and the rewards I've gained from my imperfect efforts to live the Four Agreements in real life.
