Your wife is the biggest influence on your success or failure. The service industry is hard. It is ten times harder when you don’t have the support of your spouse.
My wife is Shannon, and she is my biggest supporter. Her voice is constantly playing in my head. Thankfully, it’s a positive voice. I believe she represents what most techs want from a wife.
Here are at least 2 things that Shannon does amazingly well, and I believe all wives should try to model:
#1 – A supportive wife expresses pride in her man
When I decided to become an hvac tech, I struggled with some pride issues. I had a 4 year degree, and I questioned if I was wasting my degree and talents. This fear was compounded when I saw one of my college professors in a restaurant. He ridiculed my tech uniform and affirmed my fears, “Why are wasting your education?”
Walking back to where Shannon was sitting, she could see I was deflated. After explaining the situation, Shannon said,
“Baby, he doesn’t know what he is talking about! I love you! I’m proud of you! And, I think you’re sexy in your bluejeans and tech shirt.”
No matter what I have choosen to do, Shannon has always told the world she is proud of me. Most importantly, I know she means it!
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#2 – A supportive wife will take a risk with her man
Shannon took 4 big risks when she decided to marry me:
- Marrying me! I’m not kidding. Marrying anyone is risky business, but I might have been a bigger risk than most. I didn’t grow up with parents that modeled a healthy marriage. Learning how to be a good husband was going to be tough.
- Moving to St Louis. When an amazing career opportunity became available in St Louis, Shannon told me to go for it! We packed up, and moved 13 hours away from family. In the first 3 months, I lived on the road. Shannon sat the apartment up, and made St Louis a home.
- Moving to Austin. After St Louis, I moved her to Austin to partner in a start-up HVAC and Plumbing business. The business did well, but that partnership was not a happy marriage. When that ended, Shannon still supported me in my next dream.
- Starting Service Excellence Training. SET was my first 100% ownership business. It represented an exciting new frontier. As with all new frontiers, they are not charted and are full of potential dangers. We meet many of those dangers. Through it all, Shannon supported me. Even when I asked her, “Shannon, if we have to sell the house, and use all of our money, do you think this is what we are supposed to do?” she supported me!
An Important Note for all Husbands – Expressing pride and support is not exclusive to the wife. Husbands should do the same. In fact, no marriage will be successful if expression is a 1-way street.
