Is Status Quo Working for You?

"In spite of warnings, nothing much happens until status quo becomes more painful than change."
- Laurence J. Peter

This quote may speak to many of us as conventional things are much more comfortable than those that are not. Such things like a 9-5 job, a significant other or best friend that you can count on, or even owning a home or a car. As with most things, I attest that this too plays a huge roll in the balance of your personal and professional life.

With that being said, I again made a somewhat unconventional move recently when my business partner and friend, Mark Cenicola, suggested that we get rid of our own personal cars and buy company cars that we can wrap and advertise BannerView.com. The idea came out of left field, like most ideas that we come up with, and it took a minute to sink in, but once it did, it really hit home.

I'm actually a pretty simple guy that has simple pleasures, and one of them has always been my automobiles. From my first car, a 1985 Mercury Grand Marquis that my dad handed down to me, to my last car, a 2006 VW Passat which was the first brand new car I ever owned, I have always cared more for my cars than probably any other possession I had. My cars have always been more than just cars to me. I've been fortunate enough to always have reliable vehicles, and I always took care of them like they were my children (maybe because I don't have any kids yet). They provided me safe transportation to anywhere I needed to go. They provided me an escape when I'd spend two hours a weekend cleaning the ins and outs of every contour and crevice - not having a chance to think about the stresses in life while doing so. And they provided me a sense of freedom that with a tank of gas and some TLC, I could go just about anywhere I wanted to go, whenever I wanted to go.

Don't get me wrong, I know Mark loved his car, too, but he had his own reasons for concocting this idea, so it was me that was pretty resistant throughout the process of doing what we did. But after analyzing all of the pros, and really seeing no rational cons, it made sense to continue to work the balance of my personal life and professional life by making the leap. While the company is covering the hard costs of the vehicles through our advertising budget that was recently freed up from canceling other advertising commitments that weren't paying off, our personal contributions to the company for personal use of the vehicles is much less than a full car payment that I was still committed to for the next three years. Additionally, by using them as our everyday vehicles everywhere we go, including trips to other states and many local hotspots in our daily activities, we stand to bring much more recognition to our company, which will lead to more business. Of course, being one of the founders and shareholders of the company, more business will ultimately provide a positive impact on my personal life.

I write this blog feeling confident about the decision we made as only days after wrapping the vehicles we have already had people we wouldn't have talked to take notice of the car and provide us an opportunity to tell them a little bit more about the company. Not owning my own vehicle may not be the status quo that I'm used to, however a world of opportunities have come from something I thought I'd never do.