I Was Told I Was Incompetent | How to deal with criticism in a healthy and constructive way | Rick's Tips

Hey guys, it's Rick from Elijah Tooling. Give me two minutes I'll make it worth your time.

You know last time I had an interview kind of format with Joe, and we started talking about things that I've learned, in the almost 28 years now we've been in business.

So, we're getting ready to celebrate that in a few weeks, and we're excited about that.

And I thought you know what the heck, I've got a few things that I learned along the way, so I'm going to pass them on.

Today is one of those stories that I remember that kind of shocked me into making some changes, and I wonder if you've ever been like up against the wall, I mean you're to the place that you're ready to quit.

And as a business owner, I bet there's quite a few of you out there that have been in that spot.

Well so was I. And I just want to share with you what happened, and what I did in response.

So, I let one of my good friends know that I was in trouble.

And he's like "Dude let's go have breakfast, let's sit down, let's talk about it".

And first of all, that response was not expected, I just figured yeah talk it out on the phone, or something, but no we needed to have a face-to-face meeting.

So, we sit down, and we start talking about the problem.

And he looks at me, and he says, "Rick, you're incompetent"

Now, you can imagine what that's like to have somebody say, "You're incompetent!", but I didn't take it in the wrong way.

I took it exactly how he meant it, and I knew this person cared about me, and our business.

And so, in light of that, we started talking about how I could gain competency, and it specifically had

to do with our production.

And he basically encouraged me to bring somebody else in that could shore up that place of weakness.

And so, I guess my tip for the day is threefold.

Is one, when you're in trouble don't just do it on

your own. You need some help, and it kind of reminds me of a biblical concept,

which is, there is safety in a lot of counselors.

Get some counselors, get some help. And then, Secondly, when the person gives you their advice, don't be defensive.

Don't like, chafe against what they're telling you.

Take it in, make it count.

I mean you brought them into your situation because you trusted them. 

So, this isn't the time at which you go, "Oh I can't take that!".

They might say something as awful as "You're incompetent!", but the reality is that the wounds of a friend are faithful, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

You don't want kisses all the time.

And then the third thing that I learned from this experience, is I had to act.

So, in this particular case, I had to incentivize somebody to help me out.

And that was another part of our conversation is, how do we incentivize somebody that can come in solve this problem, and we can get down the road.

So anyway, that's my tip for the day.

I hope I made it in two minutes.

Thanks for sharing time with me, and we'll see you next time.

- Rick