Normally I turn down these requests because I'm busy. Plus, it's kind like calling up McDonald's to ask them how to make a hamburger. Why would I help someone compete with us?
But this time, for some reason, I sent him my number and told him to call.
He was a nice enough fellow, a social worker at some big agency. When we talked I realized he had too many questions for a phone conversation. So I told him to send an email and I'd see if I could help.
And I did. I answered his 23 questions to the best of my ability. But as I answered them I realized he had little business background. Otherwise he wouldn't have asked some of the questions.
One thing he asked is where we got our funding to start our first house. And I thought that was naive because I've never known anyone who got funding to start a halfway house. Most people just rent or buy a place and start bringing people in.
He also asked how much we paid people. We don't pay them much and never have. This is not a business that allows big salaries; 24 years ago we were lucky to pay utilities and put food on the table.
But the real sense I got from his questions is that he didn't understand what a labor intensive, nitty-gritty kind of business this is.
Helping others change is a work of dedication. It sometimes goes 24 hours. It's frustrating when clients overdose or go back to jail. You sometimes work very hard to help ungrateful people who are only looking for a place to crash.
Most people who have started in this kind of business burn-out, relapse, or else go back to a comfy corporate job before long.
We'll see what this guy does.
