Super Mentors

When I went away to college at The Ohio State University, I knew just one person in all of Columbus, Ohio. And that one guy I knew, I had only met once during orientation as he was my assigned roommate. To say I felt like I was on an island at America’s second largest University would be an understatement. Maybe that was why I was receptive to my mom’s overtures that I meet with a personal and business friend of hers that lived in the area. What began as a simple dinner at a Chinese restaurant became a mentoring relationship that lasted throughout my college career.

Lance Dickenson was a partner at the esteemed Arthur Anderson Consulting Firm. He saw something in me that I didn’t yet see in myself. Equally important in the equation was I held him and his opinions in high regard. I remember as vividly as it was yesterday sitting at his kitchen table and laying out my foray into franchising. When that plan failed I was back in the same seat a year later building on what I learned. And what we came up with would ultimately be the golden ticket that launched Aquascape into what it is today and the industry leader in its field.

Lance was a super mentor in my life. A super mentor is someone who inspires you to dream bigger than you would on your own. My high school football coach was another super mentor to me. Both men believed more in me than I believed in myself at the time. And because I believed so much in them, it gave me the inspiration I needed to go for it in life. Carpe Diem indeed!

I aspire to be a super mentor to everyone I have the pleasure of meeting and even those I don’t. I’m living my dream and I want to empower others to do the same for themselves. It’s why I write these blogs and if you boil it down, it’s even why I get out of bed in the morning! It’s also why I seek out every opportunity to work with kids. I want to pour into others, especially those who are young and impressionable, the way others poured into me. The greatest satisfaction in life comes from helping someone else reach their fullest potential. I believe that. When you believe the greatest satisfaction is helping someone else you want to find every way possible to do just that.

I lost touch a long time ago with Lance. He was in my life for only a short period but he made a big impact. As for the only other guy I knew on campus back then, we are still friends to this day. You might even say I was a super mentor to him. Today he’s a full time pond builder and loving it. That makes two of us!