One of my favorite stories I have ever heard took place a few years ago at the Seattle Special Olympics. Nine contestants, all with physical or mental disabilities, assembled at the starting line for the 100-yard dash. At the sound of the gun, they all started out, not exactly in a dash, but with a relish to run the race to the finish and win. All, that is, except one little boy who stumbled on the asphalt early in the race, tumbled over a couple of times, and began to cry. The other eight heard the boy cry. At first, they all slowed down and looked back. Then, they all turned around and went back … every single one of them.

One girl with Down’s syndrome bent down and kissed the boy who fell and said, “This will make it better.” Then all nine linked arms and walked together through the finish line. Everyone in the stadium stood, and the cheering went on for several minutes. There wasn’t a dry eye in that stadium. Nine gold medals were awarded in that race. The crowd cheered the winners on with a standing ovation and learned something about friendship that day that they would never forget. More importantly, they all learned something about themselves.

People who were there, still tell the story to this day. Why? Because deep down we know this one thing:

What matters in this life is more than winning for ourselves.

What matters in this life is helping others win, even if it means slowing down and changing our course.

Our motto at America’s Best Companies is “You can have everything in life that you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” Our job is to stop running the race so we can go back and help you. Your job, in turn, is to stop and help all of your customers to get what they want and, more importantly, what they need.

Recently, we stopped the race to listen to you. We learned that the rising costs of healthcare all across America is one of the greatest concerns of small business owners today. We did something about it. We learned quickly that we could not get health insurance premiums for a family of four down to $200 per month. So what did we do? We found a company that offered a serviceable plan B. That company was Careington International and they are one of the leading providers of health care discount programs in America today. It cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars in research, recreating brochures, updating websites, education, etc … to add these programs. We knew it would be worth it.

For about $30 per month, a family of four can now receive discounts on dental work, vision, hearing, doctor’s visits, chiropractic care, hospitalization, diabetes supplies and prescriptions. These discounts range from 10 percent to 50 percent on most services. The total cost for healthcare in the U.S. in 2008 was $2.4 trillion, or $7,900 per person. With close to 75 million people not covered by insurance and another 15,000 losing coverage each and every day, I knew we had to find a solution and Careington provides an affordable plan B to business owners, their families and their employees.

The greatest sales trainer of all time, Zig Ziglar, once said; “The job of the salesperson is find a need and fill it.” We found a need and filled it. Take a look at these and some of our other new programs at www.gowithabc.com. I am committed to providing the maximum amount of benefits for the minimum investment to every small business in America so we can all cross the finish line … together.


James J. Tracy

President

America’s Best Companies, Inc.