Sometimes the fun is lost and you lose sight of what really matters.
Seven inches of wet snow had fallen overnight. Paired with a 5:00 am school cancellation, and it meant one thing. We could have some fun by putting on our snow gear and shoveling driveways in our neighborhood.
Armed with our shovels and warm gear a.k.a our entrepreneurial caps, we began our work at our home office on Lakeview Terrace.
Jonny and I had no idea what we would actually do with this money or what we would buy once we earned it. We did know that if we got out there and did the work, three important things would happen: 1. We’d make some money, 2. Mrs. Rabbit would have hot cocoa and cookies waiting when we were done with her driveway and stairs, 3. No matter what happened, we would have fun.
We bundled up and got to work. As we worked, we told jokes, and sang songs with the wrong words to pass the time and forgot about how wet our feet got, or how cold we were getting. We drank Mrs. Rabbit’s cocoa and ate a full plate of her cookies.
We finished with nine driveways at $20 each.
As we walked back home, seven hours later we saw a driveway that still hadn’t been shoveled.
We wanted to get to an even hundred each for the day, so Jonny knocked on the door.
The homeowner quickly took us up on the offer.
We had shoveled nine houses and this one was the toughest all day. The city plowed the streets and the end of the driveway was packed hard with double the amount of snow and ice.
Ugh. This one was going to be a while.
An hour and a half later we finished and went back to the door for payment.
“Sorry I am only giving you ten”
“You boys are making a lot of money”
“It didn’t take you THAT long”
Every line of bullshit was given to get out of paying full price for our service.
A ten dollar bill was put in an envelope and handed to Jonny through the screen.
The door promptly slammed.
Neither of us knew what to do, so we walked home.
As we approached our driveway, we saw our Uncle had stopped by to see my Dad.
As we saw both of them, they asked how we did today?
We both started crying our eyes out as we told the story about what had just happened.
“What was the house number” my Uncle asked.
“14”, Jonny said.
“Oh boy, yeah they don’t pay, I plowed their driveway a few years ago, they wouldn’t pay me either.”
“Did you boys have fun besides that?”
“We did”
Our attitudes had changed from getting stiffed on the last driveway and being sad and ashamed to the fun and joy we had in the blink of an eye.
We both started to smile again as we laughed with my Dad and Uncle about the silly songs, terrible jokes, the warm hot cocoa and the freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.
“That’s the name of the game, have fun, because nothing else matters” our Uncle said.
“What do we do about the $10?” I asked, still curious if we had a chance to recover our unpaid wages.
“We’ll give them a full refund” My Uncle said with a slight smirk.
He asked for the ten still folded in the envelope, and gave us a full twenty dollar bill out of his pocket to make our even $100 each.
“I’ll go give them their refund”
As he backed his plow truck out of the driveway, we were so confused by what he meant.
We ran to the bottom of the driveway to watch him deliver the refund.
A few hundred feet of wet dirty snow and ice plowed to the apron of the driveway and the envelope placed back in the mailbox was their 100% refund.
He backed up the street and said “Boys, remember to always have fun, or don’t bother.”
“Oh yeah and if the customer isn’t happy, make sure they get a refund.”
He laughed as he drove away.
We laughed again as we remembered the fun we had that day.
Recently, my brother Jonny and I recounted that thirty year old story and laughed about the old shoveling days until we cried our eyes out.
He was right. Nothing else mattered.
What really mattered was that we laughed, we joked, we played, we had fun.
The money was simply the fruit of that labor.
Sometimes the joy of what you are really good at and what you have fun doing gets lost in the money.
You were having fun when you started your business and got that first client.
It was exciting when you were offered that job that lit you up.
When you started your relationship you couldn’t wait to tell everyone. That first kiss was magical.
I can help you find where and when the fun stopped and how to make it fun again.
You only have so many days on this Earth.
Make them fun.
Email me joe@joeperrone.biz Subj: FUN