Having Hater’s Isn’t Necessarily A Bad Thing

As you might know by now I started a podcast that we titled “Leading From The Middle Of The Pack.”
In the podcast, I talk about business, family, life, and God.
No this isn’t a plug to get you to go listen to my podcast or is it (insert evil laugh here) lol.
Anyways……
In a recent episode, I talked about how haters having fun isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
None of us like it when the world doesn’t like us but think about it.
The people around Daniel (in the bible, not me) didn’t like him because of the blessing God gave him.
Heck Joseph’s own brothers didn’t like him. Until he saved their lives by giving them food to eat for their entire families.
Jesus definitely had some haters.
Just one or 2 right?
NO WAY!!!
Jesus had TONS of haters and still does. Which I find CRAZY!!!
I mean how can you hate a guy who turns water into wine, walks on water, gives the blind their sight, and heals those who are on their deathbed??
He is a real-life superman!!!!
My point is that the more blessing we receive, the more people in this world will come up with a reason not to like us.
And there are some pretty evil people in this world that will try to make your life a living HE double hockey sticks.
I mean let’s just look at Paul for a few moments.
He hated Jesus so much that he actually enjoyed imprisoning believers simply for their faith.
Then all of a sudden God took away his sight, literally, and Jesus gave it back to him. After that, he was one of the strongest believers in the world.
God turned one of Jesus’s biggest haters into a follower that was willing to go to prison and ready to lay his life down for a cause that a few moments earlier he was persecuting others for.
That right there goes to show you that God can do ANYTHING.
My whole point to this devotional (and the podcast, go check it out!) is that when someone doesn’t like you, or they try to make your life harder than it should be. God is using that to make you stronger.
He knows that in the future you will endure much worse things than what you are in the middle of now. He is preparing you for the future. He is sculpting you into the person he needs you to do.
Take Action
Are you good at taking action?
I am great at it, most of the time. All right, I’m decent at taking action. OK, you got me I could be better at taking action.
So…….
Let’s take action together.
Here is what I want you to do. Think of one hater that you currently have in your life.
One person or group that doesn’t like you at all.
Go ‘em?
Now let’s say together out loud, “It’s ok that you don’t like me, because God loves me!”
Prayer
Lord, today we come to you with FULL hearts. Our hearts are full because of the love that you have for us. They are full because of the blessing that you have given unto us. God, they are full because of the lives you allow us to live. Lord, today we like to pray that you help us to be OK with the people in our lives who don’t necessarily like us. God, if it is your will we pray that you might give us a miracle and change a few of their hearts from being haters to being devoted followers. And Lord, if it doesn’t happen right away we understand that it takes time to change. Please give us the patience and perseverance to be strong and push forward in the mission you have given to us.
We ask all these things in your precious Son’s name.
Amen.
A Little More
Part of our business is providing training for companies.
We go into their business and provide them with training on TONS of different topics.
Some of the things that we have touched on so far include: Defensive driving, What to do when you are the first at an accident, forklift operations, safe equipment operations, OSHA walk through, Vehicle inspections, load securements, pretty much anything DOT related, slips trips and falls, drug awareness, hazmat awareness, and so much more…..
Recently I was at a company talking to their drivers. The topic came up about what we should do if we are diving and are the first ones to find an accident in the middle of the road.
This was an easy question for me because of my fire background.
I told them that the first thing I would do is put my hazards on and call 911. As I was calling 911 I would walk up and see just how bad the accident was.
If someone needed immediate attention I would be sure to let 911 know.
The next thing I would do is that I would use my truck to shield the accident. I explained how when a fire truck comes up to an accident scene they literally park their truck at an angle a short distance from the accident across one lane of traffic.
The reason for this is that if someone is not paying attention and they come barreling down the road, they will hit the truck and not proceed into the accident, making a horrible situation even worse.
That driver will hit the truck, something that can easily be replaced, then be deflected off the side of the road.
Somehow that ruffled one of the drivers’ feathers. He bowed up and said there is no way I am going to do that. It’s not my responsibility!
I said that it was 100% their choice what they did, but I would gladly sacrifice my truck if it saved even one life.
After the training the manager of the company came to me and said, that was solid advice, thanks for sharing it with our guys. That is something that I really want to implement throughout my department. Thanks again.
I didn’t think anything of it.
Then a few weeks later I got a call from a local state trooper. “Hey Dan, are you telling drivers that it is their OBLIGATION to BARRICADE the road when there is an accident, and they get stuck in traffic?”
Wait, what did you just ask me?
No joke, those were the words that this one driver told the state trooper, word for word.
So I took a few moments to explain what really happened and exactly what I told the guys.
As we were wrapping up the conversation he said to me, “Dan that is great wisdom to share, I’m not sure how this idiot got his wires crossed, but if you really told them what you just told me, your influence could actually save lives on the road, thanks for what you do!”
A few days later I saw the driver that had that conversation with the state trooper, and he or his wife wouldn’t even make eye contact with me.
I just laughed in my head at the situation.
Because I knew that God had my back. And I also knew that having a hater isn’t always a bad thing. It just means that I am gaining success in my industry.
I smile as I write this, because I know the whole situation. And I feel that you would benefit from knowing it as well.
I worked with the person to help them get the business they bought off the ground. But as soon as they showed that they wanted to cut corners, constantly, I knew that we wouldn’t be a good fit to work together.
So, I ended the relationship, with no hard feelings at all. At least on my end.
Today their business is still at the same revenue they were at when we stopped working together, while ours, on the other hand, is 5X in that same amount of time.
I’m not telling you this to brag. In fact, I had a hard time leaving this in here.
I tell you this so that you can see that when you start succeeding, others get greedy and turn into haters.
If you are someone who is willing to put in the work. We are opening up 5 spots in our business coaching program. To learn more you can send me an email Dan@eclipse-dot.com
Until next time.
Dan Greer
Prayer
Lord, today we come to you with HAPPY hearts. We are so grateful that you give us the opportunity to change the lives of those around us. We are grateful that you give us the wisdom to change our lives and the lives of those around us. And you make it so simple. We can do it with a single smile. God today I would ask that you help us to smile more. The next time we see someone down, help us to smile for them. The next time we are down, help us to remember that you gave us the best gift ever. The ability to know you, your son, and the holy spirit. God, we are so grateful for everything you give us.
We ask all these things in your Precious Son's Name
Amen
A Little More
The other day I got a call from one of our clients.
I love talking to our clients so I always smile when I answer the phone.
“Hey Dan, one of my drivers is pulled over and they are saying that our permit doesn’t cover what we weigh. Isn’t that why we hire your team to make sure that these things don’t happen!”
My smile immediately vanished.
I was shocked because my team is amazing. and it’s not like them to miss something like 20,000 lbs on a permit.
So, I asked him, “Who have you been working with, and who was the one who called our team to get the permit?”
To get to the bottom of the problem I needed the details.
They gave me the details.
My next call was to my team. Then after I got the details I got them started on getting new permits to get the problem fixed. I’m a solutions guy, not an excuses guy.
But I NEED to know the real reason why it happened so that we can fix the issue.
My next call was to the driver so that I could see exactly what happened.
I knew he was going to be upset. He was pulled over and they were going to give him a HUGE ticket. I wouldn’t be happy either.
so……
I made sure not to smile when I made the call. I had a serious look on my face. As we chatted I learned that he was the person who gave his weight to our team. I asked where he got the weights from and how in the world they were off by over 20K lbs!
That’s when he told me that he might have gotten the wrong scale ticket from the weigh station where he originally weighed.
Immediately my heart leapt with joy, this is NOT our fault!
Now to get the problem resolved and get this driver back on the road was my only goal. I was not going to assign blame or make anyone feel bad.
Hey, we all make mistakes. I do it multiple times every single day.
The owner of the company shot me a text. I'm getting permits from the big guys. They won’t make these mistakes that cost me time and $$$$$.
No problem. Let me know if you need anything. We are here to help.
Well……..
After they called the “BIG Guys” they called me about 30 minutes later.
Hey, we can’t get an Idaho permit until Monday. It’s Friday night. And we need to drop this load off tomorrow afternoon.
I told him that I would NOT make any promises.
But my team went to work!
Guess what????
We got the permits that the “BIG Guys” couldn’t get.
My team had the Idaho permit in less than 20 minutes. For the right weight this time.
Here’s the point of all this.
When things don’t go right, smile. I have taught my whole team this.
That right there is how we got the permits. They smiled as they worked and it didn’t take any time at all.
Ok, there might be a little knowledge that went into this too. Lol
Next time you need anything DOT, don’t call the “Big Guys” , call the team who can get it done!
Dan Greer