My Personal Journey

by Linda George
President
Crawford Associates, Inc.

Every one has an interesting story about events leading them to their current job or profession. I am certainly one who can say, “I never would have believed it!” Without writing my whole life story, I’d like to share some of
“My Personal Journey”.

Born and raised in rural Arkansas, my first real adventure was my senior class trip to Pensacola, Florida. When our charter bus pulled up to our motel that night in May, we were all screaming-Oh No! There’s Snow! If you’ve never seen the beaches of the Florida Panhandle - the sand is that white! I vowed to myself then I would live in Florida some day, but I spent the next 18 winters in the real snow of the Midwest.

My senior year aptitude test showed I was best suited to be a telephone operator! What a toot! We didn’t even have a telephone in our house! Yet I spent 20 years in that exact occupation! I started at $72.00 a week and I loved that old cordboard! I still have a pair of cord plugs as a souvenir - but consoles replaced the old switchboard and automation replaced customer service.

There were a few years I call “in between” - in between husbands, in between jobs and in between states. Until I landed in Sarasota, Florida, and landed my husband of 15 years! Now that is another story but not one this magazine could publish!

Other than taking a timeshare tour in the 1980s, I knew nothing about the industry. When I met Will, he had a long history in timeshare and was working at a local resort. He was soon hired by an agency to lead a collection team where all the accounts were timeshare mortgages held by a bank. And who better to hire as his secretary than “moi”! Having his secretary sit on his desk, his lap or whatever, never created a problem for us and I must say that was the best job I ever had!!

Ah! But then our employer notified us - the bank had been taken over by the FDIC - and we were both unemployed! What to do! Resort developers started calling for help collecting those recourse mortgage accounts, so instead of applying for jobs, we applied for a business license. We took our small savings, chose a slightly altered spelling of my maiden name - thus Crawford Associates came to be.

We worked hard and our business grew, we hired employees and we worked harder. But those long days at a desk took their toll and Will began his own journey of pain. He fought through it for years out of sheer determination but the pain finally took over. In 1999, Will resigned and handed the business over to his secretary – yes, “moi”!

For the next few years, I kept the office running, doing my job as the secretary, and if any decisions were needed I would ask Will. These were some really rough years and the business was struggling. Then one day Will broke my heart by saying he felt like I was just waiting for him to die! I then realized and told him the truth - I was waiting for him to get better and come back to run the company. The reality that this was not going to happen was difficult to accept but only then did the full force of my new responsibilities sink in.

While my writing skills were my greatest attribute, I also excelled in record keeping and accounting, organization and planning, but there was a lot more to running a business than my skills provided. I also knew I would not travel and leave Will alone - so I definitely needed help!

Promoting our Office Manager to Vice President of Operations was the best thing I could do for the business! His degree in business management provides the educational background I never had, he enjoys traveling to meet with clients and taking our exhibit to trade shows. He understands the values our company was founded on and shares our business philosophy. With support like this I devote more of my time to managing the business and developing new strategies for our continued growth.

I do not know what determines a business as successful, but we have never faltered in our loyalty to our clients, our responsibilities to our employees or our honesty and integrity. We are proud of the goals we have reached and never fail to recognize the trust or appreciate the support of our business clients.

So here I am today - President - Crawford Associates, Inc. - who celebrated their first million-dollar revenue year in 2005. Just me, on a Sunday afternoon, working in my home office as usual! (Hey, it’s the only office that still allows me to smoke so I can’t complain!)

And as I wrap up this article, I acknowledge that my journey is not over, that there are no guarantees in life and while I make some decisions and choices, I truly have little control over where the next turn will lead me on “my personal journey”.

Note: This article is intended to be entertaining and reflect only my personal perspective of events and happenings.