I would have recognized that voice anywhere. It was the first heavy Long Island accent that I had ever heard. He pronounced words differently; when he said "beautiful," it had at least five distinct syllables.

But it had been 17 years since I had been rude to my first real business mentor. Bob Kushell, president, founder and CEO of Dunhill Personnel Franchise System, was talking with his wife in the Portland Airport when I found myself standing just 12 feet away from him.

Before I could stop myself, I blurted out his name, jumped to my feet and grasped his hand. He didn't recognize me until I said my name, and then that infectious smile spread across his face. I felt his compassion and caring once again as he said, "Gibson, my boy, how are you?"

Suddenly I became a 31-year-old kid again, and I was ready to once again be taught by this patient and caring gentleman. Surely no one has had more to do with my business success than Bob Kushell. I bought a recruiting franchise in Denver in 1973 that was ranked about 300th in the country. With help from Mr. Kushell, I built it into the seventh-ranked franchise in the nation. Then I traveled to New York to tell him I no longer needed his help, nor did I want to continue sending him $80,000 per year in royalties. I even refused to go to lunch with him that day.

See what I mean? Rude!

After we visited for about 20 minutes in Portland, he left to catch his plane and I was left to reflect on the many business principles he had taught me so long ago, including:

• Dollars now. For most of my business career I have been unable to get away from Mr. Kushell's recommended pattern of evaluating every action in terms of what the immediate results will be in dollars now. When faced with a decision, I often ask myself this question from my bootstrapping days: "Will what I am doing pay off in dollars now?"

• Increasing the odds. As a non-gambler, I never knew much about odds. But Bob taught me that in every business situation I should take action to increase the odds in my favor. That could mean making an extra phone call, asking a couple of extra questions, working a little longer, or whatever - just so long as I was increasing the odds that I would come out a winner.
• Non-recurrent problems. He also taught me that one of the great inhibitors to success is repeating the same mistakes. In solving problems in my business and personal life, I always try to include in my solution specific actions that will prevent the problem from recurring.
• Sense of urgency. That means the "do it now" mentality, especially if that action will increase the odds and result in dollars now.
• Business discrimination. Business discrimination means knowing what our business is all about and saying "no" to long shots or issues that we are not confident will result in success. Many of us spend too much time following leads that only lead to dead ends. We have to know when to get off a dead horse, no matter how much time we've invested in riding it.
• Time and priority. Since there are limits to the amount of time we can devote daily to business, we must constantly evaluate which activity gives us the greatest chance of success.
• Decision points. When we reach a decision point we must exercise business discrimination to determine whether, on a time and priority basis, the odds are in favor of earning dollars now. If they aren't, we must shift our focus to something that appears to have more immediate potential for success.

These business terms have served me well. I hope you can adapt them to your business efforts.

If you do, Bob Kushell's legacy will be passed on to another generation of entrepreneurs.