Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Chris Whitney. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Chris, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
This has been a process. I grew up with low self esteem. Never quite measured up to expectations. I learned how to lose at a young age, even though I really wanted to win. I would try new things and many times fail and sometimes succeed. An important thing I learned was to find someone really good at what I wanted to do and learn from them. This helped set the bar for where I wanted to be and also taught me the disciplines necessary to be successful at a task. I made a firm commitment to follow Jesus at 25 years old. I feel this began the process of learning that I could change how I think, act, and react to whatever came my way. As I grew in ability I realized there was a path and plan for me. My lack of education and upbringing did not determine, or limit, my ceiling.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I grew up in Normandy, MO a suburb of St. Louis. I lived in a lower middle class home with an alcoholic father. The oldest of 4 boys. I did not have much affirmation or encouragement in my home. In fact, there was none. I love sports and was always driven to win. I moved out of my family home after High School and I do not have any college credits. This led me to selling women’s shoes right out of high school. I became a manager by the time I was 19… I was good at selling. I left that field and went into construction to make more money. I became a really good drywall finisher and did that for years. Then, I met Elaine and we married within a year of meeting. Now, 37 years later, I’m as in love with her now as the day I met her. Our second child was born with spina bifida and, at the time, construction work was really slow. We ended up losing everything we owned . So, I decided to go back into sales. I sold home improvements and failed miserably. But, that led to me entering into the insurance business which I had such success and I credit that success to how I serviced my clients. God taught me so many things in this season. We were extremely involved at our church and served over 13 years in many areas. We then moved to Franklin, TN to start a church with no financial support and not knowing a soul. Out of that church One Generation Away our food ministry was birthed. We became our own 501c3 in June of 2013. We started rescuing food out of the back of a Hyundai Santa Fe with nothing more than a dream. Our mission is hope, honor and dignity shared through food. Our vision is to wipe hunger off the face of America by teaching people to love one another through service. We dream of feeding 1 million people a grocery cart full of food for free on a single Saturday. We currently rescue food 6 days a week and that food is delivered locally and is on someones table that evening. We also hold mobile food pantries on Saturday mornings where we serve 300 families a grocery cart full of food for free no questions asked. We are now in 3 states with desire to replicate around the country. Why? Because 1 in 10 people and 1 in 8 children in America are food insecure. Join us as we continue to wipe hunger off the face of America.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
1) Never quit. I was never bright enough to know when to quit. Tenacity is key to being successful. 2) Ask questions. Read, listen and watch people that are good at what you want to do and learn. 3) Serve unconditionally. Serving others is the single most important thing you can do to meet your needs and the needs of others.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
We are all about collaboration at OneGenAway. When looking to collaborate, or partner with someone, we try to find people with time and/or resources that also want to impact the least of these in their communities. If you are a business owner and want to encourage your team to serve and are looking for opportunities to give back come out and join us at one of our Saturday morning mobile food pantries. You can even bring your children… in fact I encourage this so they see the example of service with their parents. Anyone that provides a service that can help the people we serve, we want to have a conversation about the opportunity to collaborate. You can email or call us.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.onegenaway.com
- Instagram: onegenaway
- Facebook: OneGenAway
- Linkedin: One Generation Away
- Twitter: @OneGenAway
- Youtube: One Generation Away @onegenerationaway2151
