Thank You for Our First 20 Years!
It was on Friday, January 29, 1990 that Stop At Nothing officially began operations, the same day I received my small "golden parachute" from First Union National Bank (after 9 enjoyable years with Florida National Bank). Su Gleydura (now Robertson) had left the bank three months before, and was partnering with me to co-create the new venture.
To say that launching Stop At Nothing was a "leap of faith" for Su and me is understating the reality of the situation. For us, 1990 was "The Year Of Fear!" Though we had attended many workshops and seminars, and had been preparing diligently through personal development and lots of study and research, we had no clients in sight. The fact that we were actually better prepared for this career than we were when we started our Trust banking careers was irrelevant. No one wanted to be our first customer, especially those who knew us as Trust bankers. It was an obviously difficult paradigm shift. To add to the mix, Su and I married two months later, in March. What an exciting and terrifying year!
Just as the name Stop At Nothing literally came in a dream in January 1987, after several months of finding few client "prospects," the idea to meet the President of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce came in a dream. The idea was to offer our services in exchange for several years of Chamber and Chamber Committee memberships. So we met, and no money changed hands when we delivered two sessions of our 2-day “Stop At Nothing Seminar" to the entire chamber staff - 78 people including Wally Lee, the Chamber President.
We will be forever grateful to Wally for taking the risk with us, as the sessions led to a great result and a long lasting win-win relationship with the Chamber. Wally's heartfelt endorsement, as well as great reviews by the other Chamber leaders, opened the gates to actual paying customers.
Over the years there have been countless people to thank, but the clients in 1990, with the economy fully in a recession, were the ones who initially decided that Stop At Nothing could actually exist. It was a close call, and we remember the ramen noodle dinners and similar cost-cutting measures that enabled us to make a scrappy start of it. Al Rabassa, who started a small company called Bluewater Marine, was our first paying customer. Thank You, Al! Su and I never worked harder for $1000!
The past 20 years have been like a wild rollercoaster ride, exhilarating and rewarding all the way. We've been through several recessions, 9/11, and many other daunting challenges. We’ve experienced dramatic and unsettling change like all of our clients. Each downturn taught us something and strengthened Stop At Nothing, leading to the next growth spurt. All along the way, we were fortunate to have attracted amazing people, some of whom "started at nothing," just like Su and I compensation-wise, because of their sense of personal purpose and alignment with the reason that Stop At Nothing exists.
Kevin Haas (15+ years), Ted Powell (14+ years), and Jon Patton (3+ years) all left fine careers at IBM, AT&T Universal Card, and American Express, respectively, to join our leadership team. These incredible people, are the Managing Partners who are leading the company now in the day to day. Su and I are still fully engaged, and are also Managing Partners, but our focus is mostly on clients rather than management responsibilities.
Over these years, we've worked with clients from nearly every business sector, from paper mills to finance/banking, architectural firms to telecoms, and cable television to technologies, just to name a few. As long as there are corporate cultures to develop, executives who are aware enough to understand the benefits of personal, professional, and organizational development, and people willing to learn, we are thrilled to be of service.
As we were in 1990, all of us remain keenly aware that it is our clients who get to decide if Stop At Nothing continues to exist and grow. We know that when we effectively serve the needs of others, our needs will be served. This is the total focus of our meetings. Yes, of course we too have budgets, roles, and structure, and face the same human alignment issues as our clients, but we do our best to practice what we teach.
We have been blessed to serve clients all over the U.S., Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. We hope to add Africa to the list soon, so we'll have served clients on all continents (except Antarctica for those keepings tabs). At last count we've led sessions in 40+ countries. One of our seminars, Self Leadership & Empowerment, has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, and Japanese. Oh yeah, I forgot the English translation for the UK, where our clients know we speak a low form of American English and that we cannot spell properly.
We've learned that regardless of various cultures, languages, and geography, (which are all wonderfully fascinating to learn about) in the end people mostly want the same thing - to create a life of love, contribution, and happiness. To be able to help people create that while they also create extraordinary corporate success, gives us rewards that are impossible to describe.
When we started out, the Internet was like a crawling baby. Cell phones were the size of shoe boxes and worked about half the time. We luckily chose Apple for all hardware and software, saving us all kinds of costs, for the darn things always seem to work. Even so, looking back at the clunky tech beginnings is fun! Think of all the gadgets we use now and take for granted, that did not exist in 1990. It's a huge list, and "we can't live without all of it!" Hah!
So this is 20 years of Thank You to every client we’ve worked with, many of whom have become lifelong friends, for taking the risk to engage us to serve your people and organizations. We are so grateful and humbled for the trust placed in us. Thank You doesn't touch how deeply we appreciate each of you.
Thank You to every current and past Stop At Nothing employee, who consistently care about our firm’s mission and purpose. The collective efforts and depth of commitment have been amazing. While the consultants hit the road and do more of the face-to-face service, every employee makes a big difference for our clients.
Thank You to the extended Stop At Nothing family, which includes consultants and vendors who join us in service as partners or in alliance with our firm to serve clients across the world.
Thank You to the Stop At Nothing families who often miss their Moms or Dads as we travel the planet. While we strive to create work/life balance, there are times when we're on the road a lot, so family understanding and support means everything. Without it, we can't do what we do.
Thank You for choosing Stop At Nothing. We will continue to do everything in our power to honor your trust and to make investments in our work the best choice any client can make to develop themselves and their organizations for the next 20 years, and hopefully many more!
With deep gratitude,
Barry
Barry Robertson
Managing Partner