Posted on May 18, 2012

Living a life with assurance

Every marriage has its trials and tests, some more difficult than others.

Strong marriages possess certain qualities to help them get through these tough times. One of those qualities is the value of assurance.

Lori and I recently spent some time with a couple that have an amazing life story. This year they are married 25 years. They have 3 children. And they’ve owned 3 different franchise businesses.

Meet Kevin & Terri Vass.

They are truly a rare couple who are living a life of assurance.

Kevin & Terri

Kevin was born to be an entrepreneur. He feels it’s “normal to be an entrepreneur.” At age 14, he already had the largest paper route in his area.

Terri marvels over Kevin’s work ethic. She says “it’s more than perseverance, it’s survivorship.”

Kevin doesn’t hold back on his praises of Terri. Without hesitation he declares how smart she is. And then he highlights her volunteer efforts and her desire to give back.

There is clearly something magic between them.

Interestingly, Terri is the extrovert and Kevin is the introvert. He loves coming up with ideas. She enjoys doing the online research to ensure they are applying their ideas to the “real world.”

They make a great team – in marriage and in business.

Building Assurance

Having owned and run three different franchise businesses, in addition to raising a family, Kevin & Terri have dealt with many challenges – and remained together.

Their first business was a Maid Brigade franchise in Charlotte, North Carolina. After 3 years of cleaning homes, Kevin decided it was time for something different. He loves to make things (his expertise is actually in specialty chemicals), so he found a Candleman franchise in Richmond, Virginia.

Moving from a service-based business to a retail store environment was not insignificant. In addition, they sold everything, moving their family from one state to another. As a team they embraced the new business, giving it their all, committed to success.

But, while Kevin & Terri loved selling candles and related accessories from around the world, it didn’t take long to discover some serious financial issues within the franchise that ended up causing them to lose everything. The dream only lasted 2 years.

So, what would you then do?

Here is where Terri’s comments provide tremendous insight into their marriage and business ventures. She states “Have no doubts in the relationship. Don’t blame.” Powerful advice!

About 10 years later, Kevin & Terri were back at it again. This time it was a window cleaning business, operating out of Raleigh, North Carolina. Thankfully it only took them 8 months to realize this was not the right business for them. They just needed to keep looking (stay tuned… as I look forward to writing about their next venture).

Through all of these experiences, Kevin & Terri embraced the value of assurance.

The Power of Assurance

As a value, Assurance means freedom from doubt; inspired confidence; a binding commitment to do. That’s three powerful attributes baked into this value.

Just consider… what it is like:

To be free of doubt. Can you imagine having that feeling in your marriage? It is possible.
To feel inspired with confidence. Can you imagine the joy of exploring new ideas with your spouse with a focus on “possibility thinking”? As I wrote in an earlier post, confidence is contagious. It helps overcome inertia. It helps people make decisions. And it works in a marriage too.
To be committed to action. Can you imagine feeling such a motivation to do something with your spouse? As coach Trey Baker states “action is where the miracle happens.”

Note that assurance in marriage is not about what your spouse thinks, says or does. The power of assurance is all about what you think, how you feel, and then what you commit to do.

Kevin and Terri Vass have proven it’s possible to live a life of assurance – in marriage and in business. And you can too.