Why I Love To Read

In my spare time I enjoy reading books.  I feel that it’s important to broadened my view of the world.  One of my favorite quotes is by Mark Twain.  The quote goes like this, “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.”  This quote has always stuck with me over the years and has motived me to push on.  The simplicity of it gives me hope that I can have an advantage because I will be able to draw on the knowledge from what I’ve read when I need it.  

Mark Twain’s words of wisdom has helped my to be constantly curious about the world around me.  I would say that it has given me a growth mind set.  Angela Duckwork is the author of the book GRIT.  She says in her book that for a person to have grit that they need four things. These ideas are to develop a fascination, have daily improvement, believe in a greater purpose, and have a growth mindset.  The way I see it reading is very much a grit virtue.  A person that reads has these same values that Angela Duckworh explains in her book.  

In the same manor Will Smith is someone I would identify as a person with grit. Smith says that the key to success is reading and running.  Smith says that everything you could every want to know it in a book.  That if you want to learn or do something bad enough you could find a book about it and learn how to do it.  Smith says in the same manner he credits his success to running.  For Smith when he runs he says that you hear a little voice inside your head that says quit.  If you can learn to not listen to that voice inside your head when it hard to run you will learn how to not quit when you have to do other hard things in life.  

For me I feel that reading an learning is so important.  There are so many good books written by all kinds of authors that are experts in their respective fields.  I have the advantage of living today and being able to learn from so many other people that have come before me.  To me reading is the best way that I can steward my time.   

What I Love About My Job

If I were asked what my favorite part is about my job I would tell you without hesitation.   I would say that it is when I get to train and develop people.  I currently work as the District Manager for the Zaxby’s in Albany, Ga.  We hire lots of people all the time.  Generally the people that we hire it is their first job so they come with little to no experience working in a restaurant or the service industry.  So, the people that I’m training are blank slates.  I get to see them learn and grow as they develop their skills and confidence with us.  

One of the best parts about working at Zaxby’s is that they have a lot of training tools.  I use web base training that has videos and courses of the different tasks that the team members will be preforming while working with us.  However this doesn’t replace the hands on training that team members need to complete their ‘book’ knowledge.  This is where I get to work the team members one on one or in small groups to teach them what they need to know to preform them job duties.  

In addition to the hands on training I like to use other methods to help with the quality of training with my staff.  One method that I use is weekly meeting for my managers and monthly meeting for my cooks & cashiers.  I feel that this is a great way for everyone in my restaurants to learn what they need to know about new products or changes.  This is also a great way for the whole to do focus on our current goals and become motived to achieve them.  

One honor that I’ve gotten over my years at Zaxby’s is that I’ve been invited by Zaxby’s franchising on serval occasions to be a guest speaker for when they teach their Organizational Training Manger Classes.  Zaxby’s has invited me because they want to have real life managers come in an explain what it’s like to be an Organizational Training Manager.  These opportunities have allowed me to share my struggles and success with others to help the Zaxby’s Brand.     

Future Plans

I’m currently attending Troy University.  I’m taking a Business Communication class that is requiring me to start and write a blog.  This blog post assignment is to write about any business career that I would like to be involved in in the future.  When I graduate I plan to continue working as the District Manager for the Zaxby’s that I currently manager.  However, I do have some dreams that I would like to pursue as a side hustle.  For starters I’d like to be a consultant for other restaurants and businesses.  

One of the things that I do on a day to day basis is help my stores with there problems and issues that they are facing.  I believe that I am able to provide managers with a fresh sit of eyes to help them look at their problems from a different point of view.  By helping the managers at the store level identify bottlenecks they are able to address these issues and work towards solutions.  

I also enjoy holding weekly and monthly meeting for my stores and their team members.  At these meeting we discuss current issues and ways we can improve on them.  By have these meeting we can identify the issues at hand and work towards the stores goal.  It has always motived me to see people come together and improve on their goals.   

I believe that at the end of the day I enjoy helping and developing people.  It doesn’t matter if that is training someone on a task or showing them better ways to do certain things.  When others learn and grow the whole company becomes better.  I would love to be able to work with others to help them reach their goals.  

About Me

Welcome to my blog! Here are four things about me...

First off, as you can see from the picture I have a big family.  My wife and I have been married for over 16 years now.  In that time we have six kids together.  Our kids ages range from five to fifteen years old.  So, life for me is always busy with all the after school homework, sports, and family events.  There is always something going on at our house. 

Another interesting fact about me is that me and my family have been on the Disney Channel / ABC.  Our family was selected to be part of their Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day Special.  Disney came out to our house and films because of our families story of adoption.  I could tell you about it but I think it would be better if you watched it.  You can Click HERE to see the Thanksgiving Day Show and you can Click HERE to see the Christmas Day Show.   

Most days you can find me working as the District Manager for the Zaxby's in Albany, Ga.  I have been working with this company for over 16 years now.  Besides eating Zaxby's chicken fingers every day; my favorite part of the job is training and developing people.  It's great to be able to help people and watch them grow and advance in their carers. 

In my spare time I like to do a lot of different things from sports, to music, and being outdoors.   I love to watch Atlanta Braves Baseball and cheer on the Georgia Bulldawgs.  I also enjoy learning new songs on the guitar.  In the summers I love to surf fish and go out kayaking.