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(70th Entry) The last several weeks…
I hate it when I go to long without writing. Getting back into the flow seems so difficult.
I just returned from New York! As always… I love New York. There’s just a magic to it.
I attended the New York International Gift Fair where my Mom and I tried to sell our products. Times are tough in the U.S. Buyers are nervous. No one really knows what to expect.
We seem to be a company always in transition… Our old mainstay product was hand-hammered copper. The problem is that copper has become so expensive that it’s prohibitive to sell. Only a select few understand and appreciate it enough to pay the kind of prices that we must charge. Of course the Santa Rosa Candles have been a product… a great product for many years. My Mom started the company with a glass line and that’s where we’re back to today… Glass… Especially the carved glass that is done in our new factory!
I shared with people “our story.” How we’re trying to hire disabled individuals to work, to learn to carve glass. People really responded. I had made a little hand-out that had a few pictures and a few lines about what we’re doing… At the bottom it said… “Be a part of The Story”
As I said, we're a company in transition. We arrived in New York and created the booth with what items we had in our mini-warehouse and some items lent to us by our neighbors who happen to be good friend as well. My Mom hadn’t gone to market in six years. She had to admit that things had changed drastically in that time. We’re located on Pier 94 and since she had been the whole make-up of the pier’s had changed. Not to mention the neighborhood. Pier 94 is located on 52nd and the West Side Highway. This neighborhood has changed dramatically in the last few years. Once what was a rough area has turned into a trendy neighborhood.
It’s good to be back home! There’s lots to do to ensure that the dream survives.
UPDATE...
I've been in New York for the past 12 days. I've just returned home so I'll get back to the writing.
As always there's lots to say!
So hopefully by Sunday I'll start having new entries.
Stay tuned!
(69th Entry) My talk in Irapuato
Last May I went on a meditation retreat. It was a great needed weekend of peace and quiet. During that weekend I met a Doctor by the name of Eugenio. He’s a pediatric orthopedic surgeon for CRIT, Centro de Rehabilitacion Infantil Teleton or just Teleton. Telethon is a clinic for disabled children in Mexico. They now have 11 clinics and aim to have one in every State. At that retreat he casually asked if I would like to come to CRIT and give a talk. I of course answered yes, thinking that the likelihood of it actually materializing would be minimal. Well shortly after that weekend I began hearing from both Eugenio and the Human Resource director of Teleton in Irapauto, Guanajato.
To make a long story a little shorter on Thursday, July 31st, I’m in a car with my two interpreters heading towards Irapauto. Most people only need one interpreter, but I always tend to do things with a little more fanfare… Makari and Nataraj are good friends of mine. Nataraj is the person who has helped with all of the videos and Makari was my Spanish tutor until life just got to hectic. Makari who is from Mexico City understands 90% of everything I say so therefore Nataraj, a Canadian by birth, fills in the 10% gap. Now you understand why I had two translators.
Telethon arranged for us to stay in a hotel for the night. Our friend Eugenio, Dr. Eugenio de Pavia M., picks us up for dinner. We go to the old Sanborn’s in downtown Irapauto and talk for a couple hours. It’s at that time that I discovered that my talk was to be in front of 125 people. I had known that the talk was to take place at 7:00 a.m. which is why I had asked Nataraj to bring a coffee maker. I didn’t realize that I was speaking in front of 125, doctors, nurses, social workers, psychologists… in other words the entire staff of the clinic.
I had brought with me some notes from previous talks. When I returned from dinner I spent a couple hours reviewing the notes. I created my outline… approximately 18 words on a single page of paper… The title of my talk was “HOW TO LIVE WITH, FEEL COMFORTABLE AND BE PRODUCTIVE WITH A DISABILITY”
We arrived at the clinic at 7:00 a.m. where we proceeded to the auditorium. I was introduced and began my talk. It was an incredible experience. I had never given a talk where I had to have it translated. It was an amazing experience. I learned so much. By having it translated I was forced to slow down, say only a couple of sentences at a time. By doing this it forced me to collect my thoughts, think about where I was, think about how it connected to what I had said and where I wanted to go. I realized that I had included just as much or more substance than if I had just been speaking for an hour and ten minutes with no translation. I realized that I was focusing on the audience, watching there reactions. I wasn’t just in my head, talking. There were several times that I paused, looked at my outline and regained my cadence.
It was an incredible experience for me and I hope for those listening as well.
After the talk, several of us had breakfast together at the little café on site. Afterwards two individuals, Angel Zavaleta (HR dirctor) and Dr. Guadalupe Reyes Mail (Chief of Staff) proceeded to give Makari, Nataraj and myself a tour of the clinic. I think we spent two hours touring the clinic. I kept thinking back to my days as a young child going to the old Scottish Rites Hospital in Dallas. What a difference time has made in the ways we deal with the issue of disability.
This clinic was incredible! Not just in the facilities, but also in the philosophy. First, architecturally the building and grounds were open, airy and colorful. Second, the facilities were a good as I had ever seen. State of the art equipment was everywhere. Third, the philosophy was one of treating not only the whole person… body, mind and spirit; but also the whole family. I could go on and on. It was just a moving experience for me… for the three of us from start to finish.
To have a dream means to have desire. To have desire means to want to accomplish something. To want to accomplish something means to have the confidence, the self esteem and drive necessary to make it happen. There’s a line between confidence and arrogance. In my Mission Statement I make clear what my goals are… I started the blog back in November of 2008. While I haven’t accomplished all of my goals, I’ve made tremendous strides. Dreams sometimes seem to be bigger than reality… sometimes they change over time and sometimes they come true or sometimes you just give up! Sometimes you just keep going when all logic says… it’s impossible!
We have 8 out of 24 employees who are disabled. I gave a talk that lived up to my dreams. Not that it was perfect… But it was! I have a few video clips… the beginning of another dream. What more can I ask in eight months?
Sometimes I question my dreams. Am I really capable of doing…? Do I really have what it takes to do all that I say…? At the risk of sounding arrogant… I think I do!
(68th Entry) A week to remember and a little to forget…
This week started out with the government of the state of Guanajato inaugurating our work of hiring disabled individuals. Read my sister-in-laws, Debra’s, blog entry on this.
Debra's Blog Entry
She does a great job of telling the story.
For me, it was an amazing event. It’s been a dream in the making for over twenty five years. I honestly didn’t think that it would be this monumental of an event for me. But it was. As you read my blog these past eight months we’ve have had our moments… good and bad, highs and lows. The blog can only reveal a small part of the struggles that have actually been taking place in my life. Great things have happened! Yet the struggles continue and give me reason for concern.
Having two factories open in the course of eight months has been very taxing on all of us trying to survive day to day. My parents came for the month of July to help relieve Mary (our office manager) and I of some of the burden. Their help and time was invaluable.
Also this week we had a major catastrophe. No one was hurt… that’s the important thing. A few material items were ruined, but they can be replaced. It’s just part of running a business. Sometimes you have good luck, sometimes not so good.
I always say… “If it was easy, everyone would do it!”
One of the reasons that the inauguration was so powerful for me is not just because it was a dream come true, but a moment when I realized just how far I’ve come, we’ve come. I’m responsible for 24 individuals… making sure they’re paid every week. Some of them could easily get other jobs, but what about the one’s that can’t? We’ve started something that is “catching on”, getting noticed. Bad economy or not… This has to be successful!
In entry 65, I talked about the individuals that came a few weeks ago to interview for jobs. Not only were they inspiring to us, they showed us just how grateful they were to be given the opportunity to work. It was touching, moving. They are all working now for us.
Somewhere in a previous blog or two, I talked about my own struggle to get my first corporate position. It takes a dream… a commitment… help… to get things done.
The week started with an amazing Monday and finished with an amazing Friday… with just one little lousy day in-between.
In my next entry, I’ll talk about Friday… My talk at CRIT, Teleton, located in Irapuato, Guanajato, Mexico. Another very moving day for me…
(67th Entry) “If you build it, they will come…”
God! I hope so. Remember this line from the film FIELD OF DREAMS? People thought Kevin Costner’s role was crazy for building a baseball field in the middle of a
corn field. This is how I feel right now building two new factories in tough economic times and trying to hire disabled individuals to work in them. I feel a little crazy, a little over-whelmed!
I’ve said on many occasions that this is a dream. What I’m trying to do is a dream… a way to give back. Do something different.
What are dreams? Why do we follow our dreams? Why do some people never follow their dreams?
Dreams aren’t always rational. Sometimes they’re something that we’re being called to do. Doing what I’m doing in San Miguel probably was not the best or most rational business decision to be making at this time… or at least at the speed at which I’m doing it.
Motivation, Dreams, Desires!!! What causes us to want to fight for something, fight to be able to do something? Why do some people just give up when faced with adversity?
This week is looking like a busy, fun filled, exciting week. On Monday, July 28th, the State government of Guanjato Mexico is coming out to inaugurate a joint program that makes it possible for us to hire more disabled individuals. Then on Friday, August 1st, I’m giving a talk at a national clinic in Mexico called, Teleton. It’s a system of clinics that work with disabled children. The title of my talk is… “Learning to live with, feel comfortable and be productive with a disability”. And… in between keep working with employees, factories, customers and more.
What motivated me to get to this point in my life? How did I learn to live with a disability? What were the steps to feeling comfortable with my disability? Why is there a desire to be productive when in reality I could get by with being less than productive?
Adversity in life seems to cause some to do more and others to do nothing.
I think it starts very early in life.
I think I said this many entries ago… I’ve been asked many times what I consider to be the difference between the issues of having congenital disability and having an accident. And then.. one step further… why do some that have accidents do well in their recovery and others do nothing at all. Simple answer… Those individuals who had happy, healthy, productive lives prior to their accident learn to have happy, healthy, productive lives after their accident. And for many… that had unhappy lives prior to their accident continue that pattern. There are always exceptions! This is not absolute… just a general observation from my own experience.
Once we establish a pattern… Patterns are difficult to break, but they can be broken. Patterns start for many different reasons. Sometimes they start because it’s just easier for people to let us do what we’re doing than to try to motivate us to do something different. If you remember back to my entries 45 to 49 talking about the original grabado maestro and the negative effects he had on several of my employees, then it’ll be no surprise that these employees are again acting out those negative patterns.
We didn’t stay on top of the problem. We became involved in other issues around the company and didn’t keep our focus on the originals problem. How do you motivate people to change? The two girls know right from wrong. They know what they’re doing. The problem is that they have no respect for themselves, for the company, for their co-workers or me.
Another whole dimension of motivation is respect… for ourselves and for those around us. Until we have respect, all other issues are mute. Why should I do something for myself when I can ask someone else to do it for me? Why should I work hard if no one penalizes me when I don’t?
In so many ways bad habits of any sort boil down to respect.
(66th Entry) Feeling sorry for ourselves…
We all do at times!!! For some reason this title has been on my mind for a few days. I have no idea exactly why or… maybe deep down inside I do...
It’s easy at times for anyone to feel sorry for themselves. Who hasn’t? The question is… what do we do about it? How do we react to it? How do we “get out of it”? Or… At times does it serve a purpose?
It seems to me that there’s so much written about subjects like attitude, positive thinking, motivation, etc. and yet this what am I doing? Why?
People who know me now probably would have a difficult time believing that I used to be extremely shy and self conscious… I might not have acted like it at times on the “outside”, but on the “inside” I had this sense that something was wrong… that I was different. After all, everywhere I went/go people stare at me, make comments. It didn’t matter if the comments were positive or negative… they were still comments, looks, reactions...
The interesting thing about being or feeling “different” is that it doesn’t matter what others say. Even the positive comments are interpreted as negative, because you don’t understand the context.
I mentioned before that all of my life I’ve heard the comments… “You’re such an inspiration.” What does that mean? The other comment is… “God has BIG plans for you.” These statements are a tremendous amount of responsibility for someone to bear when they’re extremely shy and self conscious.
What did I do to be an inspiration? What big plans? Is it about me? Or is it about the person saying it? Or possibly… it’s a little about both.
When I was younger, more self conscious and much angrier about life... My answer to the questions above would have been… It’s a way for people to not have to feel or understand their feelings… to not be responsible for their feelings and place them back on me. In other words, when I look at you I feel something. I don’t know exactly what it is or why I do, but I do. So I say something to you so I can feel better.
The irony is I too was that other person and as I changed, my perception of myself changed.. so did the comments… and definitely the way that I interpreted the comments.
Why do telethons raise so much money? It’s because they bring out the emotion, the compassion, and the empathy in people… FEELINGS! Is this bad?
One of my many goals is to create a healthier environment for disabled and non-disabled individuals… To challenge the status quo… to challenge both disabled and non-disabled individuals and to begin to look at the issue of disability in a different form…
One of the things that I’ve learned in my life and it’s taken a long time… is that the dynamics of the issue of disability is a complicated one. It’s about understanding feelings and taking responsibility for our feelings.
Feeling sorry for myself, having a good attitude, getting motivated all have to do with the way that I view my self and my world.
As I said above… there are a lot of people writing about motivation, attitude, positive thinking, etc. When you have a disability or any problem that is “real” to you or you live or take care of someone… there are no simple one, two, three fixes.
For me… in my life… changes have occurred slowly. As I look back there’s always a story. The problem is that I didn’t always understand how to put the story together, to utilize the story. It seems to me that if I had understood the story better, understood the dynamics of the issue of disability better as it was happening… I might have been better able, better equipped to deal with the feelings.
For me… this is where motivation comes from… understanding the story… taking the story and giving it meaning. When I understand my story I have a choice… Do I want to be angry and bitter or do I want something greater?
The question is… How do we express our feelings? Where do we expend our energy?
Do we feel sorry for ourselves or do we take another step?
(65th Entry) This week…
This week has been another exciting week. We’ve made tremendous strides in our new candle facility. We’ve seem to have worked out the kinks of opening a new factory. In addition, we’re finishing our prototypes for our new Grabado machines… glass carving. These machines are being made locally and two (four workstations) are being made for wheelchairs.
On Friday we had four individuals come to our office to interview for positions in Grabado that begin on Monday, July 28th. The four individuals were disabled. These four plus two other individuals (disabled as well) will begin working in two weeks.
As I’ve said numerous times… Life in interesting! I feel as if I’m in a strange position. I have this desire to hire disabled individuals… give people an opportunity to work. This is great! It’s what I want to do. It feels like the right thing to do based on my past and my interests… and the need. All of the individuals on Friday seemed to be very excited about having this opportunity.
In one way this is strange because it’s very touching to watch people as they’re given an opportunity to do… It’s strange because I remember how difficult at times it was for me to have a job… to get a job.
It’s strange because this company that my family has is a business. It’s not a non profit organization trying to do good. It’s a “real” company offering “real” jobs and sells “real” products.
The employees are “value-add”. They produce and truly earn their pay.
We’re in the midst of a severe retail slowdown. Yet, I’ve made commitments to hire and give an opportunity to a number of individuals.
If I had been asked a year ago if I wanted to publicize what I’m doing to the level that I am… I would have unequivocally said… “No Way!!!” “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”
Sometimes I ask myself "Why"... Why am I doing this? Questioning is good. It’s good to know where you’re coming from and why you’re doing what you’re doing. What is my motivation? What are my reasons for doing what I'm doing?
I didn’t want to have to be so public. I worry about exploiting the people I have working for us. However the bottom line is… either we sell our products… and our products are great!!! Or we don’t. The consequences of not selling means… no jobs or at least fewer jobs.
If you had been at my office on Friday, seen the people, seen their eyes, their excitement… and their gratitude… If I was just doing this for business… there are much easier ways.
As I said… I always question my motives. Sure… I want my family’s company to be successful… who wouldn’t?
I walked away Friday frightened… because I have made these commitments… I’ve seen for myself the people. It’s real.
And by the way… selling more means more jobs!
Currently I have four disabled individuals working in our grabado facility… 4 out of 7. By the end of the month we should have six more disabled individuals… 10 out of 13 doing grabado.
Two other blogs to read about what I’m doing…
Jennifer Rose... Staring at Strangers: When Disability is a Metaphor
John Woods... A Life in Mexico: Employing the Handicapped
Plus my sister-in-law will be writing an article about what we’re doing soon as well…
In addition... she has a great blog on Mexico: Zocalo de Mexican folk Art If you have an interest in Mexico... It's a must read!
The response and support that I've received has been amazing.
My Mother and Father are here helping out after four years of retirement from the business.
My brother and sister-in-law are always an integral part of all of this. They are involved in everything from production to marketing to whatever needs to be done!!!
This is truly a family affair and none of this would be possible without them!
Plus friends... more than willing to lend their expertise, guidance and advice to help this project, the products and the company to succeed.
One more person that has contributed so much to this project is our office manger... Mary Gonzales. My brother hired her two and a half years ago when the company moved it's offices to Mexico. She had no idea what she was getting in to. I just walked in one day a year ago and said... this is what I want to do.
(64th Entry) More to talk about…
Another adventurous week in factory life! We now have 18 employees, two factories and our warehouse where we pack and distribute our products. We also wholesale items made by others in Mexico. All of the products we sell are hand made which means there’s always room for human error, inconsistencies, etc.
So this week we discover in our new candle factory that we’ve had open for five weeks that we’ve had a little learning lesson again in what it means to make our own products and what it means to make hand made products.
Mary (my office manager) and I thought that we had learned good lessons from our experience of opening the Grabado factory (glass carving) and wouldn’t make the same mistakes twice. Fortunately I don’t think we have… we just have made new mistakes in a new factory.
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