NEW ENGLAND – Paul Moreau
Recovering Financial Wreck
Before he took on the role as New England Regional Finance Manager, Paul Moreau described himself as a financial wreck. He didn’t balance his personal checkbook, made no budgets, always short at the end of the month, with additional bills to pay.
With help from the International Finance Manager and other men, he got on track. Moreau accepted the responsibility of Regional Finance Manager, and over the course of three years in the position, he not only straightened out the Region’s finances, but his personal financial situation is very much in order.
Three years ago New England Regional accounting was not up to date. Moreau jumped right in, asking a lot of questions, and getting help from many sources. He learned. He hung in there at some bleak times, with tremendous tenacity, and he kept on learning. As he became more comfortable with the systems, he realized that there are some universal principles involved, and he began to apply these principles to his own personal finances.
Responsible for accounting and allocating dues payments, paying regional expenses, creating a budget for the New England Region and helping the Regional Coordinator keep to that budget, Moreau’s level of dedication supported his own comeback.
Today, he not only has put the New England Region books in order, but he is positioned to close on buying a house. His wins include “having money left over at the end of the month, with all the bills paid.” He says he could not have done it alone. “If you don’t know, it doesn’t mean you cannot learn.”
SOUTHWEST – Richard Rutherford of Legacy Kings
MDI Man Tells His Kids He Loves Them in Special Way
Because I am man that tries to do fabulous things for his kids. I recently bought a 1966 Mustang for my daughter as a high school graduation gift. On Friday, May 23 I took my son to pick up my daughter from the airport in the car. On the way home, just two miles from our house, some guy pulls a quick (and illegal) u-turn right in front of us.
My win around this is that both my kids had their seat belts on. After reminding them a thousand times how important this is, I finally got a payoff and for once both my kids said, “Dad, now we understand.” I may never hear that again in my lifetime, so I’m going to treasure that moment dearly! Fortunately no one was seriously hurt. Everyone had insurance, and my daughter probably wanted a BMW anyway…
Tell your kids you love them in some way everyday. It may save their lives.
EASTERN CANADA – Tom Rebstock
1000 Meetings in 20 Years – Lessons Support Family Man and Firefighter
At the age of 31 I was facing two failures: a broken sales engineering career and a broken heart. More accurately I was struggling to put them behind me and only moving forward slowly. I had joined a local men’s group in Vancouver; they were good at expression but quite weak at commitment and having a mission. I did get myself working in my career again, but I was pretty raw emotionally. I was stumbling around.
My sponsor Mr. Sanna in a 6-8 month period switched from being a passive man to excitedly going after what he wanted. In one meeting I said yes to the Sterling Men’s Weekend. Going to it changed my life.
Possibly I have been to a 1,000 men’s meetings and events in 20 years. One night I was given a piece of barn board. I was asked to summarize what I got from meetings. I wrote, “Being a man amongst men” on my board. It has been a central theme in my life over 20 years.
Over these years it’s all been about joining a large group being truly reliable, committing to my one true thing, always being disciplined, accepting that I am successful, using the relationship tools I have received, getting my finances right, and loving my future. The keys for me: Taking full responsibility for myself, trusting myself (and other men), getting my father back in my life, finding a wife and work worth committing to, owning both a vision and the actions to realize them. The Men’s Division gave me a path to a better life, community, healing, purpose, vision, courage, commitment, and service. I suspect I may have another 10 years of this left in me, as I value my growth highly.
At 51, my journey has gone from failure to success. In short I joined a men’s team that I was challenged to keep up with. I learned from them how to be my word and make it count in my relationships. I also found that for men like me that success is finding my place amongst men and living life from my purpose. Central for me are my wife, my two boys, the men in my life, and the people my fire truck is called to help.
Rebstock, Tom – son of Bud Rebstock – grandson of George Rebstock
WESTERN CANADA – Rene Querido – Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Weight-Loss, Growing Business and Time with Dad
Rene Querido of Western Canada Region had lost it, or should we say “gained it?” He was overweight and off his path of health. He needed to do something. On February 11, 2014 Rene Querido of Western Region started “Ideal Protein” (IdealProtein.com), an eating plan that involves cutting sugar from your diet, putting your pancreas to sleep, and then waking it up slowly and on purpose … all for a good cause: health!
Between February 11 and April 7 he dropped 34 pounds and leaned down to 15.6% body fat while still maintaining all his muscle mass. Querido is getting feedback about how great he looks, and he feels better than he’s felt since his high school rugby days. He has a new wardrobe, is carrying himself completely differently and has stepped into the role of entrepreneur that his business requires of him.
He is now thinking and feeling more successful because he feels better about himself. “There’s no better feeling than knowing that you set a goal and reached it … killed it actually,” said Querido.
And how is the business doing? He is on a growth kick and his staff members are stepping up to the plate. His manager has expressed MASSIVE interest in replacing him at the top, allowing him to do bigger and better things.
Along those lines, Querido traveled to Moab, Utah for two weeks with his Dad to attend the annual Moab Easter Jeep Safari. Nine days of off-roading with 1500 other jeeps in some of the most stunning country on the planet. This is an annual trip he does to get his head in the right place and come back more powerfully. Last year, however, he was unable to attend. Why? He explains it like this:
“Things just weren’t lining up for me to go. Every time I took care of something expensive, like the jeep’s clutch something else showed up … like tires. When I handled that, something else showed up … a massive tax bill. When I handled that something else showed up. I eventually came to the conclusion that I was not meant to go on this trip. I believe the universe gives you signs on the road of life. Sometimes they are simply “warrior” challenges that need to be handled. But sometimes they are more. The trick is recognizing which is which. This felt like the latter. So, I cancelled the trip.
The same day I would have been leaving for Moab, I got a call from my sister, visiting Dad in Saskatchewan, to say he had had a stroke and was in the hospital. My daughter and I loaded up the Jeep, which strangely had stopped having issues, and headed out to Regina. A month later Dad had open-heart surgery at age 74, because they had discovered (with the stroke) that he had a leaky heart valve. Healing in record time he was back on his feet and being Dad. So I called him in January and said I wanted him to come to Moab with me this year. He said he’d think about it. A few minutes later he called me back and said ‘I don’t need to think about it; I’d love to go.’ (Gotta love a “Fuck-it” from a man who doesn’t even know about them).”
The trip was great and Querido had some extremely valuable time with his Dad who lives about nine hours away from him. He shared appreciation for his Dad in a way that cleared a lot of stuff that had built up over the years, which culminated in his Dad getting choked up and really feeling what was delivered. The senior Querido said THAT was the reason he needed to be on that trip with his son, THAT moment. Special time indeed.
Rene Querido wishes to remind us all that life is an adventure. Sometimes it’s exciting, sometimes it’s trying, and sometimes it’s just there. He says, “Take it in stride. Execute impeccably. Deliver with power. Never, NEVER forget that someone is ALWAYS watching a man-on-fire and wondering how he can have that too. “