The $1300 Question
The other day as I walked into the permit office to finally get my building permit for our new place i pulled out my check book to at last make it official. The City of Mount Juliet requires payment of lots of fees for the "privilege" of building in the city and one of those is a "City Impact Fee". It's calculated by multiplying the square footage of the new house by a certain amount ($.50). For my house the fee had already been paid a couple years ago when the original builder pulled the permit. That fee was less $ then because the original house plan had quite a bit less square footage than the house I'm building... but still $1300 is a lot of money. As the lady handed me the bill and I was about to write out the check I noticed that it was much more than I had planned. The clerk had known that I would be getting credit for the $1300 but it had slipped her mind so the total she was asking me to pay for this "Impact Fee" was about $1800. I definitely did not want to press the issue as the permit process in the city here apparently is a pain to deal with and they'd already given me credit for a few other charges that I'd other wise have to pay if this hadn't been a pre-existing project. But, there was no way I wasn't going to say something about this one... mainly because it meant a lot of money that I would need for the construction. But also because I'm sort of prideful I guess and I did not want to get "taken" by someone. So I asked the question fully accepting the consequences of irritating the beast at the permit office.
After about 10 minutes she finally returned to the service window and admitted that she'd overlooked the credit and adjusted the amount. By asking one simple question I saved myself $1300. I wish I could make that kind of money all the time by asking one question.
The point in writing about this experience isn't so much to remember this experience with my building fees but to point out that in general people don't really care about you like you do. Even during the process in getting my financing secured this was on display several times and each time I had to constantly be looking out for myself. This may not seem like a groundbreaking revelation but for me it really was. I guess I'm the type that generally thinks that people are good and honest and when they are in the business of getting your business they will go the extra 2 miles to make things work. Every lender I sat down with had the same attitude... when one option hit a wall they never... I mean not once did they offer any other solution or option, some that seemed to me so obvious. It was literally like they didn't want the business, didn't care to use their training and expertise, and were simply there at their desk going through the motions and surviving until the next day.
I guess this last few months dealing with all this just has opened my eyes a little more to the fact that you have to be so self-motivated to really succeed. If someone tells you "no" or something doesn't go the way you hope you will have two options: 1) You can take it and assume that what they say is accurate and that that's just the way it is or 2) You can challenge the norm and not accept the status quo and fight until there literally is nothing left to fight. If you do the former you'll probably notice that not much changes... both for you and for what's happening around you and you won't ever jump ahead and stand out of a crowd much. If you insist on the latter and make it your very personality and nature then you'll start to see that what is normal just isn't good enough for you and that you are heading for bigger and better things... the things that you've always dreamed of. And when these things start to happen for you because you challenged what is normal you'll think back to those nights you lay in bed thinking about how one day this very thing could be possible. You couldn't go to sleep until you finally told yourself that you've got to stop thinking about this and just blank out your mind. The things you think about at the end of the day to yourself are the things that you care most about and usually the very things that you want most to happen in your life.
When these lifelong goals begin to be fulfilled you have to realize, as they are happening, that this is it. In other words, what good does it do to dream and work and hope for something and then when it comes you are too busy thinking and dreaming and hoping for other things that you don't realize that you made it! You're here!! This is the payoff and you did it. No doubt the Lord will be pleased to see that you've achieved what He has set before you to achieve with His help and guidance. Then when you've had the chance to take in the moment and recognize it for what it is be sure and resume dreaming and working and fighting for those next things that you hope for. And don't ever be afraid or hesitant to ask the $1300 question.
After about 10 minutes she finally returned to the service window and admitted that she'd overlooked the credit and adjusted the amount. By asking one simple question I saved myself $1300. I wish I could make that kind of money all the time by asking one question.
The point in writing about this experience isn't so much to remember this experience with my building fees but to point out that in general people don't really care about you like you do. Even during the process in getting my financing secured this was on display several times and each time I had to constantly be looking out for myself. This may not seem like a groundbreaking revelation but for me it really was. I guess I'm the type that generally thinks that people are good and honest and when they are in the business of getting your business they will go the extra 2 miles to make things work. Every lender I sat down with had the same attitude... when one option hit a wall they never... I mean not once did they offer any other solution or option, some that seemed to me so obvious. It was literally like they didn't want the business, didn't care to use their training and expertise, and were simply there at their desk going through the motions and surviving until the next day.
I guess this last few months dealing with all this just has opened my eyes a little more to the fact that you have to be so self-motivated to really succeed. If someone tells you "no" or something doesn't go the way you hope you will have two options: 1) You can take it and assume that what they say is accurate and that that's just the way it is or 2) You can challenge the norm and not accept the status quo and fight until there literally is nothing left to fight. If you do the former you'll probably notice that not much changes... both for you and for what's happening around you and you won't ever jump ahead and stand out of a crowd much. If you insist on the latter and make it your very personality and nature then you'll start to see that what is normal just isn't good enough for you and that you are heading for bigger and better things... the things that you've always dreamed of. And when these things start to happen for you because you challenged what is normal you'll think back to those nights you lay in bed thinking about how one day this very thing could be possible. You couldn't go to sleep until you finally told yourself that you've got to stop thinking about this and just blank out your mind. The things you think about at the end of the day to yourself are the things that you care most about and usually the very things that you want most to happen in your life.
When these lifelong goals begin to be fulfilled you have to realize, as they are happening, that this is it. In other words, what good does it do to dream and work and hope for something and then when it comes you are too busy thinking and dreaming and hoping for other things that you don't realize that you made it! You're here!! This is the payoff and you did it. No doubt the Lord will be pleased to see that you've achieved what He has set before you to achieve with His help and guidance. Then when you've had the chance to take in the moment and recognize it for what it is be sure and resume dreaming and working and fighting for those next things that you hope for. And don't ever be afraid or hesitant to ask the $1300 question.
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