1992: I am fresh out of school and making hot-melt glue guns for a living. Most people nowadays find the concept of making glue guns rather interesting, but at the time, it was the most mundane and dead-end job you could ever imagine.
My manager, Roger, was a great character, and Paul and I laughed along with him and, most of the time, at him. Roger once told me I would succeed or be in the gutter, and there would be no middle ground. At the time, I considered this a blasé comment, whereas now, I realise how underestimated and insightful he was.
Shortly after this comment, I quit making glue guns as I had bigger ambitions of running my own successful company. It's a shame I didn't know what to expect and understand how hard this would be to achieve.
Anyway, I left. I went to a commission-only role selling high-end vacuum cleaners (if there is such a thing) door to door. If you've ever heard of Kirby or Filter Queen, you'll know how hard this job was. To top it off, if you didn't sell, you didn't get paid. I have tons of stories that happened to me in this role, from having to walk with my 'dem kit' as I couldn't afford the petrol money to drive to picking up a newborn baby and vacuuming underneath him to reveal just how 'filthy' the parents were and how much they needed my machine.
I was a shy, naive kid who took a leap and initially regretted it as I had to sell my 1992 Honda Civic as I knew I wouldn't be able to maintain the payments. This proved a good decision as I went months without earning a penny, and it was a bloody awful time.
So, my next move? I bought a bright yellow Toyota Starlet for £50 that was barely road-legal, but it got me around the East end of London showing my vacuum cleaner.
It would be great to say that I was a fantastic seller and earned loads of money, but this would be a lie. The truth is that I would struggle, being shy and looking for any excuse not to turn up on someone's doorstep. I persisted, and the sales began to come, one a week, two to three a week; it was good and more than doubled my glue gun salary.
After a year or so, I was promoted to closing manager. I was the person on the phone, ready to give out a discount to the salesperson who by now was fighting your corner on price - think double-glazing sales! Mostly, I spent my time trying to convince the person how much they loved the vacuum after the demo they had just watched from one of my sales guys when the reality was it was so poorly 'sold' they didn't feel they needed to buy.
I was 20 and managed people much older than me, which was a big issue for some team members. Especially when I had to discipline, provide training, and fire. It was a pretty cutthroat game as our leads were precious, and poorly executed sales demos would burn through them and waste them.
Is there a moral to this story? Probably not, but it was good to share. If you want me to post a follow-up, comment asking for 'Part 2'.
#1992 #lifestory #transparency
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1moGo get 'em Robert - you'll be great at whatever you do!! They are lucky to have you.