One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned is to tell someone “I see you.” I learned this lesson when I was a lifeguard at the community pool in a poor neighborhood in Pittsburgh. Kids from the neighborhood spent all day, every day of the summer at the pool. Their parents worked. They couldn’t afford camp…
Target Therapy
This past weekend I took my wife shopping at Target. I haven’t been to a Target for a long time. In fact, I haven’t gone shopping in person anywhere, except Home Depot and the grocery store, for at least 2 years. I do as little shopping as possible. When I must buy something, I usually…
My Downshifting Story (aka How I Escaped the Cubicle)
I’ve worked consistently from when I was 16 years old until I downshifted at age 49. I wasn’t planning to downshift right then. My boss (our 4th VP in 3 years) had resigned a week earlier and the company decided to reorganize our department once again. My position was eliminated unexpectedly. After months of interviewing…
Pleasantly Surprised With Comcast
Let me get this out right at the onset. I despise TV. If it wasn’t for my wife, I would get rid of TV altogether. But since I have no desire to get rid of my wife along with TV, we have cable. I watch it with her in the evenings. She also watches it…
I’ll Gladly Pay You Tuesday for a Hamburger Today
There are two things that are always late. The first is my wife whenever we go somewhere that requires her to get dressed up*. The second is when commissions are paid. This week, I received a question from a reader asking what I thought about her commissions being paid late due to production delays. When…
Colognious Assault
I’ve been nearsighted since I was born. I’ve got no natural athletic ability. My wife says I’m hard of hearing. I’ve got fairly mundane taste in food and I’m tone deaf when it comes to music. But what I lack in my other senses, I make up for with my highly sensitive sense of smell….
Why I Left A Great Job
I had a great job as Director of Sales running a 175 person sales team for a Fortune 1000 technology company. I had a lot of autonomy. I was learning new things every day. In 18 months my team grew from 55 people to 175 people while absolutely crushing our sales numbers. The people I worked…
In For The Long Haul
There have been innumerable times when I’ve been faced with a challenge where I thought, “I’ll just suck it up and get through this quickly.” That’s work pretty well. I got through my high school graduation speech in front of hundreds of people this way. I forced myself to do in-person sales calls as a…
How To Build A Leads List for A Consulting Firm (or for Enterprise Sales)
When I was a little kid and still believed in Santa Claus, I would prepare my Christmas list months in advance. I followed a simple, proven method for building my list. Write down anything I wanted from TV commercials like Rockem Sockem Robots, Slinky, and a Big Wheel. Add stuff my friends owned like Color TVs,…
We All Need A Kick In The A$$ Sometimes
A few years ago I was doing a pipeline deep dive for my team and I saw that my top rep’s pipeline was way too low. This rep (let’s call him JC since that’s his name) was one of the few “natural salesmen” I’ve ever met. He had the hustle, the attitude and the skills…