While on a cross-country flight, I met a man who turned idealism into financial reward in the most unlikely of places—high-rolling Las Vegas. (Continuing the Conversation…)
“But Jack, all marriages and all businesses go through rough times. I know both of those things for a fact.”
“I was constantly tested by the temptation of receiving ‘all the kingdoms of the world’—which is not only a selfish temptation but a false promise. I once had no work during a time when we had nothing. Having nothing but each another, that is. My love for Cindy—and her love for me—didn’t pay the bills! Hard work, effort, sacrifice, and keeping the love between us alive are what turned my inspiration into success on both fronts. I didn’t stray from the path of loyalty to myself and my vision of how I wanted to run a business, and I didn’t stray to the path of temptation, and there’s a lot in this city, to keep me from my desire to be Cindy’s favorite person, and my own favorite person. I guess you could say that I practiced the art of seeing how every decision I made had a cause and effect action that could connect and support my vision of what happiness, fulfillment, and love all look like.
“I tried almost anything once to see if it would fit. It’s the only way to learn. My biggest lesson came from my own father. He didn’t approve of my business—or Las Vegas. He thought weddings should take place in real churches, and he thought I was a fake minister. He came out to tell me so, and while I was sitting at my desk, Dad said, ‘You can’t make a living marrying people who come in under some glittery illusion, on a … a … gamble!’ That happened on the same day I had a deposit bag with over fifty thousand dollars in cash to deliver to my bank. I showed him. He said, ‘I’ve never seen that much cash in all my life.’”
“So what was the lesson?”
“To never accept other people’s limitations as my own. That visit from my father prepared me for another challenge—a media circus that developed when I had to fire some of my ministers for making misrepresentations. By Labor Day, the three ministers were picketing in front of the chapel. My stomach did everything except leave my body! I felt like I did the right thing by choosing the moral path. However, I was confounded that the justice system could backfire and make me look like the scoundrel because of false accusations by former employees.”
Jack took a deep breath. “I used the incident to my advantage. When the noise from a mass of reporters and bystanders hit a fever pitch, I looked up to heaven and stepped out the door of God’s chapel. A microphone instantly appeared in my face. My mouth could not speak, but the words came from my soul as I simply told everyone gathered that my job all along was to help people realize their dreams of happiness and that the employees who were fired had damaged the well-being of those in love who had come to be joined in matrimony.
Read the complete success story in the book, The Quiet Rich: Ordinary People Reawakening an American Dream.
Kevin J. Palmer, Author
The Quiet Rich
