Betting on you, the only sure bet.

As I look around me, I see a sea of uncertainty. The economy, the housing market, the unemployment rate, and the banking industry continue to affect the RV industry. As stressful as life can be right now, the only way I find myself dealing with it is to face it head on. Stress motivates me to action and challenges me to a fight. As I understand it, I share this quality with the most successful CEOs in the business world today. This is the quality, which I can bet on each and every time to allow me to claim victory over the day’s challenges.

I begin my day reflecting on my past and being grateful for the air that I breathe and my staff, who despite the challenges, faces yet another day filled with challenges and uncertainty.

After arriving at my office, the first objective is coffee with my staff to boost their moral so we can deal with today’s challenges and turn problems into solutions. As is our daily routine, we begin with a staff meeting. Using a wipe off board, we post the problems on one side and immediately the solution on the other. As the day goes on, we remove each problem as it is tackled, with a blank board signifying a job well done.

Working closely with your team in these challenging times should be handled in the same way as a marriage, where at the end of the day no matter how good or bad it was you take 5 minuets together and turn the day into a comedy of some sort. It’s like kissing your spouse goodnight after a fight always end on a good note.

A good leader reminds herself everyday that there is light at the end of the tunnel even thou you might need a telescope to see it. As challenging as life can be right now, remember one thing; to always bet on yourself. If you do just that, you will be able to lead your team out of the perfect storm and back to safety.

Gigi Stetler Blog

Over the past 22 years I found myself working twice as hard to obtain half as much, being the only woman among the fat cat good ole boys industry who told me to go home and bake cookies. Could I have fallen off the horse again? Something I ask myself when things are not going well. How could I be so successful one minute and not the next? For the next few days I start to remind myself that surviving after being stabbed 21 times is successful and if I can survive that; the rest of what life has in store for me is a breeze.

Throughout my tumultuous journey that it’s not how you act that counts it’s how you react; despite my best intentions life often happens to us unfairly and the only way to succeed is to happen right back. I have been knocked off my horse more times than I can remember and the only thing separating success from failure, as I see it, it’s the ability to get back up and start all over again. So every morning before I start my day I look at myself in the mirror thank god I can still see myself standing and breathing I put my best outfit on and go after life’s ultimate goals.

Having always been a leader in my life which began in my early years with my first kindergarten play while performing the other players forgot there lines I quickly came to the rescue and quietly recited there lines to them. From that day forward I knew people would always depend on me so I had better stay strong no matter what. By no surprise the increasing gas prices, the lending crisis; and the general economic downturn, the RV industry has been hit hard, but quite frankly the entire country has been clobbered. Now is the time to take this country’s rotten lemons and make some lemonade, think of these times as opportunity to prosper.