29 years ago I walked into a Mail Boxes store to interview for a job and met my future wife. I didn’t realize it at the time. I walked up to the counter of the store and was ran smack into a beautiful woman with a big wide smile and sparkling blue eyes. I could…
Too Much Information Is Making Me Stupid
Back in the dark ages, during the dotcom boom of the late ’90s, business was booming at Stargate where I ran the sales team. It was so busy that our challenge was keeping up with the demand while handling our company’s exponential growth. Like the employees at many startups, we adopted a “do whatever it takes”…
The Scrap Man & Sales Partnerships
In my neighborhood bulk trash pickup is the first Monday of every month. People pile up old furniture, appliances, yard garbage and debris at the curb. The weekend before pickup, the Scrap Man drives up and down our streets to pick anything metal that he can take to sell to the recycling center. It’s an example…
How I Stumbled Into A Career in Sales
I loved living there. I had lots of friends, family, security and stability. It was a great place to be a kid. My career objective at the time was to become a truck driver so I could drive big rigs and blow loud air horns. My parents divorced when I was 5, remarried each other a…
Buy a Cheaper House & Retire Early
I hate spending money. It actually upsets my stomach when I think about making a big purchase. I’ll spend weeks thinking about spending $50 or $100 on an item that would be nice to have but is not necessarily a must have. So you can imagine how difficult it is for me when I go…
Mr. Nobody Man
Ever since I was a little kid I wanted to be a superhero. When I was four I’d run around and jump off of furniture in the house in my underwear, my sister’s kneesocks and a makeshift cape shouting out that I was “Mr. Nobody Man!” Then when I was a little older, I became…
How Can a Bidet Solve Your Sales Problem?
I’m sure you’ll be thrilled to learn that I recently installed a bidet in my bathroom. It all started earlier this year when my son Zack returned from a photo shoot in Portugal and exclaimed, We are so stupid in the US! I can’t believe we use toilet paper when the rest of the world uses…
Surprise Party
I turn 50 this month and it got me thinking about my last birthday party – way back when I turned 17. I had been livid all that week because I had caught my best friend Jeff on the phone several times with my girlfriend Julie. Even though Jeff had never given me any reason to…
Take Advantage of Being the Boss
I hate business travel and the complications that come with it: inevitable flight delays & cancellations, noisy hotel rooms promising sleepless nights, bad food at high prices and anything that has to do with flying. Even when I’m out of town for just one night I miss my wife, my pets, my bed, my house and even…
Don’t Be The Answer Man
As the manager of your sales team, you might have more sales expertise, business savvy and (maybe) even more street smarts than any of the reps on your team. If you are an experienced manager, this might be true. (Even worse – if you are an inexperienced manager, you probably think this is true.) One trap…