New Year’s Resolutions on Steroids… Graceland Too
It’s the beginning of a brand new year, typically the time when most people consider making New Year’s resolutions about their lives and their businesses. What’s the purpose of resolutions? To try to make your life better than it was the year before – to be happier, healthier, or more prosperous maybe? If you’re one of those folks making New Year’s resolutions, you might want to start by considering why you want what you want and backing into how you can make them work this year, finally…
In Holly Springs, Mississippi there is a man who is perfectly clear about what he wants and what he is willing to do to have it. Paul MacLeod is obsessed with Elvis, Graceland, and everything that has to do with the King of Rock ‘n Roll. Mr. MacLeod is ready to share his obsession with all who come knocking at his door 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year – any time of the day or night… And why would you want to visit MacLeod? Because he is the owner of “Graceland Too“, his home, which is crammed, jammed with floor-to-ceiling Elvis memorabilia including photos, records, figurines, cardboard cutouts, candy wrappers, clocks, and any and everything else he has been able to collect since the late 1980’s. For a mere $5 visitors get to experience sensory overload and spend as much time as they want in Elvis heaven.
Some might believe this is considered “excessive” commitment to your calling, but you can’t deny the fact that MacLeod loves his “work”, and is ready and willing to do whatever it takes to bring it into the world.
If you’ve found it difficult to stick to your New Year’s resolutions in the past, maybe you’re picking the wrong resolutions. When you’re doing what you love, commitment and tenacity won’t be hard to find. Just ask MacLeod whose ex-wife told him, “Make up your mind. Either me or the Elvis collection.” “That put an end to that”, MacLeod says with a chuckle.
Graceland Too has had 368,000 visitors since he started opening it to strangers in the late 1980’s or early 1990’s. MacLeod claims to have 185,000 square inches of carpet that once was in Graceland, 31,000 videotapes, and 43,000 audio recordings of the King. One visitor from Pensacola, Florida says, “This Elvis shrine is as close to Heaven as an Elvis fan can get. This is the ULTIMATE.”
There’s no doubt money is not the main consideration here – MacLeod is doing what he loves.
If you need help figuring out, setting, and keeping your business New Year’s resolutions, I invite you to join us at the NAMC in 2010.
