Foundations are the Key - Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 36

(Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 35 - April 11, 2026)

The Golden Rule is fundamental: treat other people as you want to be treated. Some might say the standard for carpentry is measure twice, cut once. I’ll offer what many sages see as the key to building and construction in general: get the foundation right before you go vertical with the structure everyone will see.

Have you ever kept an eye on a major build and thought:

What’s taking so long?

When are we gonna get to start seeing some actual building?

The foundation phase is sometimes surprisingly extensive, especially for larger, more involved structures. But once the base is complete, activity oftentimes escalates inversely to the early phase and the structure seems to shoot up and out, with the project taking shape quickly as the permanent building assumes its position.

Over the years I’ve hears building veterans’ deliver the same message in a variety of ways, often saying something sounding like: if you don’t get the foundation right, you’ll be fighting the building the whole way. And it’s so true. The foundation is crucial in commercial, residential, and all other factions of construction. The initial efforts are consistently paramount to what’s coming along after. 

Foundational work is tedious, time consuming,
and too easily overlooked &/or forgotten
 

I’ve tried to rework this insight to sound less foreboding, more encouraging: Get the foundation right & what follows will unfold smoother.

Proactive, upfront efforts can apply to more than erecting a steel structure or framing up a house. One can apply this introductory step taking to starting a career, business, or partnership, professional or personal. If things get started off correctly, down the pike will be better than if something significant is kicked off too quickly and without proper planning.

As I described in a previous post, in December of 2013, I should have scheduled a trip up to New York City, and probably even Minneapolis. That would have established needed clarity for all involved, resulting in documented specifics that were signed off on. However, I was overly flattered, and frankly too intimidated to make this move.

Once I had something in writing with network executives, I could have begun assembling teams. These advisors would have included an attorney, business manager, accountant, project manager, and superintendent or people helping me wearing more than one of these caps. Some of us would then sit in an office scratching notes and drafting documents to be reviewed and signed. Other meetups would take place in a war room with the floorplans, architectural renderings, spreadsheets, calendars, and the site plan.

And then on the family side, commitments to help with our kids would be ironed out, dependable caregivers to pick up the slack so their young lives didn’t feel disrupted too severely during this three-month phase coming up around the bend.

After all, if the network was paying for the renovation costs, then I could invest some resources into support on my end, fulltime/four-month staff from December through March.

These are foundational steps and pieces that needed to happen before all that would follow. I was simply ill equipped to take even these steps, and in that way, not really ready for this unexpected opportunity that was more than I could have asked for or imagined.

At the end of 2013, I did not meet this moment as needed and this faltering on my part was my biggest mistake of many. I wasn’t savvy and mature enough and this initial business malpractice was where I botched my chance to really leave my mark. It’s not all really plain and very simple to understand, but this is the stone-cold nutshell truth none the less. And so, one of the lessons driven further home for me is the value in getting the foundation right, in something new like renovating with film crews, so that what follows will unfold more smoothly.

(Response to TV Show Viewers: Post 36 - Coming Soon)