The Story
"Hi, I'm Abhi with AT&T, and I'm here to tell you about our great new Business One Rate! Are you the one who handles your phone bill? Fantastic! Go grab your last bill, and let me show you…"
That's how it all began, 24 years ago. When Prince's song "1999" was a reality, I entered the business world armed with a business degree from Kent State, an ego the size of Jupiter, a bottle of Mountain Dew, two packs of smokes (Marlboro Lights, of course!), and a red sports car.
Selling door-to-door for AT&T. Seriously, you ask? Seriously.
You see... I envisioned moving to Atlanta, finding my first job as an investment banking mastermind, making a ton of money at 23 years old (think Nicholas Cage in The Family Man), and living on Easy Street.
Easy Street turned out to be hustling as a door-to-door B2B seller for an independent contractor for AT&T. In turn, that meant I was an independent contractor for AT&T. And if I didn't sell... I didn't get paid.
Welcome to the real world, kid.
A quick bit of insight – I sucked at selling AT&T! Really... I was worse than you could imagine. My mentality of "Fxck You – Buy from me - I'm Abhi Singh!", driven by my aforementioned ego, only succeeded in getting me a broken nose, a black eye, a broken pair of glasses, a destroyed relationship, and a ridiculous level of frustration. But that's another story...
After a particularly rough day, I was ready to throw in the towel. For those who know me well... you know that's not an option – but that's where I was. The only problem was that I burned the boats on my way out of Ohio, as I made a splash when I left (shocking, I know).
On that hot summer Georgia day, as I sat at home, I was obsessed with figuring out a path to success and vowed that nothing would stop me. I just couldn't figure out what that path looked like.
That's when it clicked. I was doing this on my own... and I needed help. But in my AT&T role... help was not there. Even though I knew it all (in my own mind)... I had no idea what to do. My only sales experience until then was selling Buicks in college... and even my own Dad didn't buy from me. I realized I didn't know how to sell... anything. That was my pivot point where I had to define what real success was. I sat down that night and changed my definition of success from "being an Investment Banker making $400,000 a year at 24..." to... "being able to retire by 45."
Then the phone rang from a recruiter from Ferguson Enterprises, and off we went.
Fast forward 24 years, 10 companies, and 29 different addresses later... here we are. Depending on who you speak with, the ego may or may not still be in play... but know that the miserable AT&T experience still resonates with me.
Over the course of my career, I navigated a strange, less-traveled path that allowed me to live all over the country and gave me the privilege of meeting some of the greatest people in the world. And the people I was fortunate enough to work for – some good, some not so good – all taught me valuable lessons – mostly over cocktails.
And while I missed my goal of being able to retire at 45... I met that goal at 46. And I am now committed to helping others by sharing the key lessons I learned to help them achieve their goals – faster.
And that's how LMS was born.
Our business consulting approach is different than most. We take a great amount of pride in the fact that we don't take ourselves too seriously. We understand that if we can't help, we are useless, and we have limited time with you. That's why everything we do will be centered around:
Trying to make you laugh. Life's too short to not laugh. And people remember what made them laugh.
Sharing our experiences – both good and bad. We've had some good wins... however, we've had more, and better, failures. We know what to do and what not to do... and we're committed to keeping you from making the same mistakes we did.
Ensuring everyone knows that nothing happens until someone sells something. You can have the greatest product in the world... but until a skilled sales team sells that product – finding a need, creating a demand, selling the value, getting it to the end user – nothing happens. Make sure you understand that simple truth... I didn't appreciate it early enough in my career.
Helping people understand that there may be another way. The business world is divided into two camps – the "this is how we've always done it" crowd and the "could there be a better way" crowd. Helping these two groups come together and realize there may be common ground is a lofty goal... and that's where we step in.
Making sure you know it's up to you. Everything you do, every choice you make, every path you take... is up to you. Yes, there are external influences – family, friends, bosses, associates, hangovers – but all of these external factors shape your decision making.
Lastly, you'll see us focus on three key areas:
- Team: It's all about the team. Transparent communication fosters aligned execution... which creates a winning culture.
- Leadership: Leadership development, for all associates, raises the bar of your organization. If you don't have development plans for your people... you should.
- Culture: Ensuring that Team and Personal development creates a Culture of Success will allow you to accelerate the performance of your organization. As leaders, we're all focused on results. However, rather than focusing on the output, pay attention to the inputs – your people, your culture, and your customers. Everything else will work its way out.
Remember: running a successful business is not rocket science... but it is hard.
And we're here to help.
