Who's Next?

Well here I am in Nashville, TN. This is an incredible feeling. I arrived here and got all my paperwork done the weekend before I came. Checkout (a process that normally takes about 2 full days) took me about 2 hours and I had my check before 12:00. Now I am just free to hang out with whoever I want and just talk about what I plan on doing next.

To be honest it's the point in my life where I need to start creating long term goals. The problem is that I still have no clue which direction I want to be in. I was talking with a career counselor here at Southwestern and he asked me what type of goals I did have. The first one was that I want to make six figures. He immediately why I chose six figures. I told him I didn't really have a reason other than the fact that I did not want to ever allow finances to hold me back. We talked about more job opportunities and where I should put in my resumé, but after I left he really sparked my thinking. Why do I only want six figures? Why not more? Then I realized that the real reason I wanted that money was not for the actual dollars but more for the idea of security. Which leads me to another rabbit trail of thinking.

When you are in the middle of something be it school, a job, relationship, whatever it is, your mind can play so many tricks on you. Your perspective can get lost and you can twist the reality of your circumstances to allow yourself to be smothered in self-pity or just plain selfishness. Obviously what I'm talking about is the blogging that has occurred over the past three months. If someone read this blog I would be ashamed of myself because of all the difficulties I brought up. The truth is the job is hard, but not to the extent that I made it out to be. There are so many words I would like to say about Southwestern and it's a very tough decision of leaving or trying to corporate recruit full time. There are ups and downs to any decision that I will make. I know that whatever I choose I can be successful and enjoy it, the problem is committing to one of those paths. I wouldn't trade anything for the experience, knowledge, and friends I have gained over the last three summers. It feels like I get 5 years of hardships slammed into 12 weeks so I get to grow faster. It's an awesome experience and I will be sad to leave the bookfield.

There are more ideas I would like to convey but at the moment I think it is all still processing. I'll get back to this later.

Adventures

Well this week was like a sandwich. I had a good Monday and a good Saturday, but the middle was slow. I also got into a hit and run accident. I was cruising a bout 45 mph along the main road in Portsmouth. A guy was in the left turn lane on the opposite side of the street. He made his turn right as I went across the intersection and bumped me. I swerved out of the way kind of, but he still tagged my rear door and tire. I pulled over to the side of the road and he turned down the road to the left and then took off! I jumped out of my car to try to track him down to get his plates, but he was already long gone. Luckily I have collision insurance and they will fix it after the summer. The car is still driveable and the door closes fairly well, but it just looks really crappy.

Besides that everything is good. I can't wait to finish strong, do my deliveries and get on with the next phase of life. So many options have opened up and I am ready to pursue some of them.

Well I was going to keep talking, but then Huey came in and I didn't want to continue talking. I am cutting my hair. It kind of looks like I'm trying to be like Justin Bieber, but I'm not. The week was a tough one, but I am looking forward to finishing strong. I have each summer and plan on just really jamming out this summer. I have 1943 units so far this summer and need about 3100 to go on Sizzler in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico in November. It's totally within my reach IF I just choose to have a good attitude and work super hard. I can't wait to see all of you hopefully late August/early September. Later!

Sick Day

Another Day, Another Dollar

Well here we are at the mid-point of our summer. I took a stat call (accountability to see if you worked. It is where we tell people how many people we saw and how much we sold so) from one of the other managers and each night he would simply say, "Another day, another dollar." It got me to thinking about how much he simply just "clocks in" and "clocks out." He is a very consistent salesman and always works hard. I want to be more like him in the sense of consistency.

This week was tough for me, but I feel so much stronger now having gone through that. It sounds cheesy, I know, but it really does help so much just to take all the things that stopped me last week and change my thinking. "If you think what you've always thought, you'll do what you've always done, and you'll get what you've always gotten."

So here I am, ready for change. I want to be better and I want to have an impact on the first years that I work with. Over the pat few weeks I've been really trying to be a good example for them everywhere except in the selling books department. Here's my week to shine and show them how to sell a lot of books. That's exactely what I plan to do. I will have great news for you next week!

Also I switched HQ's again. If you want to mail me a care package with some food or vitamin waters then send it to: 4015 Greenway Ct, Portsmouth, VA 23707 :)

Thanks for reading!

I didn't forget

For those of you reading this blog, sorry to keep you all in such suspense. I'm sure you were are checking your computer frantically waiting to see how my week went. Just kidding.

Well it was very similar to being on a roller coaster. Monday was another burger day (100 units) then Tuesday was nothing, then Wednesday was 8, Thursday was 116, Friday was 0 and Saturday was 17. Crazy week but I feel like each week uncovers a new part of me to work on. For example last week taught me about consistency. Even though it was my best week ever, my days were still very up and down. This week consistency was amplified through my ups and downs of the days. I'm really looking forward to this week to prove to myself that I can be consistent if I control my thoughts. You see each time I have a zero day or one with low sales, it generally reflects my attitude towards the job. So this week I would really like to just have fun and work hard enough to make the money I need.

On another note, we got to go to the beach today. It was glorious! I tried to even out my book tan, (which is still pretty bad). I also moved HQ's this week and am now staying with an alum that does not charge rent. It's pretty sweet. We also get 50% off at Domino's because he works there part time. He is really quite an impressive guy. He works as an architect by day and then pizza guy at night. He is doing it to put his wife through grad school without paying any loans. Awesome huh? He's on Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University program. Anyway, I'm going to the mall now and I shall talk to you all soon. Peace

BDE which makes my BWE

So yeah, this week was absolutely crazy. My days went like this for sales:
Monday - 120
Tuesday - 52
Wednesday - 7
Thursday - 0
Friday - 103
Saturday - 157

BDE means best day ever and BWE means best week ever in case you didn't figure that out. This week was a big belief barrier week. Up to this point I've never sold more than like 300 or so units in a week. I think my best is like 357. Breaking through to 440 with three days over 100 units was almost mind blowing. I really felt good about doing the job and letting people buy as opposed to selling. To keep my mind occupied from thinking about how many units I sell during the day I think about my family. On Friday I just told myself that I wanted to work hard enough to be able to pay for my dad and I to play golf and to be able to take my mom out to eat. I focused on working hard enough to do that and did not care about how much I made. I knew that if I just did the work in the right way the units would take care of themselves and they did! It feels good, but it also makes me wonder what I am really capable of if I decide to fully immerse myself with this job.

I met some really awesome people this week and one mom actually Facebooked about me coming to her door. She was a sales trainer and coach. She wanted me to come back when her husband could look at the books. When I went back tonight they opened the door and let me right in and then bought books from me. It felt good to think I actually impacted someone enough to be remembered and news spread about me. haha. That sounds really like self-absorbed, sorry.

A few other side notes, B.o.B's new CD rules, Ben Rector is still awesome, the new iPhone...silly, and sleep: necessary right now.