YOU CAN Make a Difference

We all know that many factors influence job satisfaction. Contrary to popular belief, compensation has a relatively minor impact. One of the primary drivers of satisfaction is the sense of achievement a person gets from their profession. This is illustrated by the professions ranking highest in happiness based on a recent survey conducted by Myplan.com:  singers, firefighters, aircraft assemblers and pediatricians. Satisfaction comes from being able to see your impact or influence.

If you are not getting a lot of satisfaction from your current job like a lot of people, think about applying your skills to the HOA.  We need your help to make our subdivision a better place.  This year we have had a number of people step up and help make our neighborhood a better place to live by applying their skills.  Here are just a few examples:

• Steve Sullivan:  If you have seen Steve’s yard, then you know that he has a pretty big green thumb.  He developed a landscape plan for the entrance to the subdivision and used his knowledge of plant materials to select the drought resistant plants for the flower beds he designed. Now, the entrance to our subdivision looks more inviting to visitors and potential home buyers.

• Brandon Hyder:  Brandon is a whiz at working on cars and works at body shop. He is pretty good with a blow torch and metal working.  He used his skills to help us add a metal screen to the pool gate so that we could remove the wood on the gate.  As a result of his work, the gate is much lighter and pool members can see the person on the other side of the gate when they are entering and leaving the pool area.

• Jason Barbour:  Jason has a lot of experience doing tree and stump removal work.  He recently started his own business doing this kind of work in addition to working a forty hour a week job.  He used his experience with bucket trucks and chippers to help us gain access to this kind of equipment to do a lot of tree and bush removal around the pool. He used the bucket truck to trim a lot of trees around the pool to lessen the amount of debris in the pool area and make the pathway between the pool and tennis courts safer for residents.  He also used the bucket truck to replace the street light by the tennis courts.

• Doug Poole and Lamar Smith:  Doug does a lot of woodworking and Lamar is a jack of all trades.  They used their skills to create outdoor message centers at the front of the subdivision.  As a result, we now have a way to communicate with residents about upcoming events and a way to promote our HOA website to prospective residents and Realtors.

• Jim Bliss and Jim Hogan:  These guys are have some great landscaping skills.  They volunteered their time and energy to install the small fence at the entrance of Marta Crane Blvd.  They came up with the best design (after I goofed it) and along with others dug holes to get the fence in ground with concrete footers.  As a result, we have a nice decorative fence to anchor the the flower bed across from the Bramlett Shoals sign.

There are many other people who stepped up this year to help that I didn’t name above.  People like Stephanie Meadows, Maria Copland and many others all dedicated their time to help with projects.

I know everyone is busy, but please think about a problem you see in the neighborhood that you have the skills to solve.  Maybe you’ve seen this problem for years and wonder why nobody is doing anything about it when you know that you could do it. I hope that you’ll consider volunteering to help the HOA in 2013 and apply your skills so that you can see your impact and influence like the people mentioned above.  YOU CAN make a difference. If you a skill that see an opportunity to apply, please email me at bramlett.shoals@gmail.com.  Hope to see you at the HOA meeting on 11/27 at 6:30 at Oak Hill Baptist Church.