Floyd Anderson came on board a little over 3 years ago and has certainly stunned us not only by his excellent work ethic, dedication, and humility, but also by his life story and how far he’s come. He is one of our daytime supervisors, who deals with scheduling, meeting our clients, and works in our Vickery Meadow area. After hearing his story, we will be sharing another post that reflects his work ethic and dedication to those who are less fortunate. We hope that his story inspires you to be the best you, give you hope that better days are ahead, and to not grow weary in well doing. For you will reap a harvest if you don’t give up.
Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Anderson came into this world fighting to survive and has fought hard for the man that he is today. Having all odds stacked against him, in St. Bernard Hospital, Anderson came into the world with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck keeping him from breathing and having his heart come to a stop from suffocation during the whole process. He survived. Working as a substitute teacher, his mother was not immune to the hardships of being a single mom, and through the hard circumstances fell into the drug trade. Growing up on the west side of Chicago it wasn’t easy for him nor his family. The financial struggle, the pressure of the drug trade so close to home, and raised by a single mother-led Anderson’s family who he was very closed to step in to help. It was in 1990 that his uncle, Dennis Anderson Senior, would not only step in to raise him, but he took Anderson out of Chicago to Arkansas until he was 17 years old. His uncle was a major influence in his life, making him the man that he is today. A Vietnam veteran working in private security, he taught Anderson how to work hard, have integrity, and be excellent in all he does. He instilled good habits from making his bed every morning to instilling leadership characteristics.
He had to battle with falling into the peer pressure most of his young cousins were falling into. While most of them were going into the drug trade, Anderson was somewhat always felt set apart. There were times he got into trouble, but his family, cousins, always protected him in many ways from getting in the wrong crowd. He got a big break at the age of 17 with a sales job. The next 5 years of his life would be filled by traveling all over the U.S, with a company that not only helped him establish himself professionally but were like a family to him. This helped him overcome many difficulties his family and peers were going through. After his traveling years, he moved back to Chicago to stay close to his family and take care of his aunt who he very much loved. Anderson’s character, his uncle’s influence, and being around a company who helped him grow, gave Anderson the drive to continue to work hard, and become someone his family could be proud of.
A Chicago native, and passionate about his city, it wasn’t an easy decision to leave his family and the place he grew up. But as a man driven by growth, he felt that if he were to grow more, he needed a change of scenery. He came to Dallas for a job interview. Although Dallas was not always on his radar, when he came, he somewhat felt right at home. Yet it wasn’t without a fight. He didn’t know anyone, had never been to Dallas before and was starting out from scratch. He allowed himself to have humble beginnings here in Dallas by living at the homeless shelter, until saving enough money to find something stable. Staying true to his values, honesty, excellence, and working hard, he stayed driven to find a good job, a good place, and making Dallas his new home.
Private security has always been around him, from his uncle being in the business, to working security jobs with leadership roles in Chicago, it came naturally to him. Through many interviews and potential great jobs, he chose Heartland when we reached out to him for an interview.
Today Anderson is one of our supervisors after only starting a little over three years and turning four years as of May of 2022. He values where he started and where he is now. Since coming to Dallas, he found a place to call home, found love and got married, and we can say he is a man his family and daughter can be proud of. We are proud to have him as one of our supervisors who’s made an impact in our city.
We will share another post about some of the great stories he shared with us about working here, but we wanted to make the focus of this post about his life story. We hope it inspires you today that wherever you find yourself, you can make it. Your values, and who you choose to be, can be the game-changer for the type of life you create. What we learned from his story is that your circumstances, your surroundings don’t define your life, but you define how it looks like.
We leave you with some encouragement from him:
“It’s all up to you, you are responsible for your own happiness, no one else, and if you don’t take control of your happiness, you will lose it. When you lose it, you go around feeling sorry for yourself, but you can’t do that. You know I came from a rough background; I know what it is to fall hard on your face. I experience that, and I was in my own way for a long time, but once I was able to get out of my own way, I was able to move forward. It’s all mental, when you get through the mental part, then you can move on and be the best you, you can possibly be. You might have circumstances, shortcomings, but as long as you keep your head up high, keep grinding… don’t stop. As long as you keep moving, you’ll make it. Stay learnable, stay excellent, keep pushing, and keep the Most High first above all else.” – Floyd Anderson
