Hello to everyone it's been a long week. As some of you know I sell for Frito-Lay, and this is one of the biggest weeks of the year, so I'm a little tired, but thats okay as my book is still coming along. First check out this display that I built for one of my customers. It's one of the largest displays in this part of the country.
Winter came and I proceeded to going around the neighborhood and shoveling snow for what ever people would pay me. I started to save a little and that was just the point, there wasn’t going to be enough money by the time summer got here to be able to get that mitt that I wanted so badly.
One day while my friends and I were sitting around we were looking at comic books. I saw an ad in the back of the comic book for selling flower seeds, and if you were to sell enough you could earn prizes like different toys and balls and guess what? A baseball glove! Wow! Only one problem, I had just enough start up money to get started and that would leave me with nothing but flower seeds, I said one problem, but really there were two, it was February and who was going to want flower seeds this time of the year?
I talked to my mother about my idea and my problem. I look back and I believe that my mother was my strongest believer in what I could accomplish. She always told me that I could do anything and that she thought I could be a great salesman. I was after all very good looking and very charming for and eight year old. My mother also told me that you can start flower seeds inside the house in late winter and that people would then transplant them outside after the last freeze. My timing should be very good.
Well, I ordered the seeds and was so excited, but I did not know where to start. My mother told me to sit down with a pencil and some paper. She said that I should make a list of all of my aunts and uncles, after that I should continue with a list of all of my friends moms. She said that this would be the place to start because I knew these people they were after all friends and family. I asked my mother if she thought they would be enough for me to earn my baseball mitt. She said she doubted it and that I would just start there. She said it was to get my confidence up. Whatever that meant?
I started out on a cold Saturday seeing all of my friends folks and showing them the flower seeds. My buddies all laughed at me, each and every one. But you know something? I sold flower seeds to all of their mothers. I was so happy with that but I did not understand why my friends all laughed at me, not until my best friend told me that my buddies thought flowers were for girls. I went home happy and sad.
When I got home I told my mother and father about my experience of selling and of the laughter. My mother said that Sunday after church we go see some of my aunts and uncles and I could try to sell them next. My father said that I shouldn’t let my feelings get hurt and that one day my friends will forget all about it. My dad told me that he had to go to the hardware store to get some things and asked if I would like to come along?
I loved going to the hardware store it had all kinds of stuff. Walking on the old creaky wood floors, and the smells of paint and wood and the smell of I don’t know how to say except it smelled old, like the smell of an old car like my grand fathers. There was and area in the back of the store with some chairs and a table and there were always some men sitting around drinking coffee and smoking cigars and cutting up. I always felt like I was one of the guys hanging out there with my dad. I told the old men that I had started selling seeds. One the big guys, he always laughed loud, one hand a cigar and the other a cup of coffee, said that if I sold enough seeds I could come work with him selling insurance. It must of been funny because the whole place started laughing real hard. Suddenly I didn’t feel like one of the guys and I went looking for dad to see if he was ready to go. While standing in line I noticed a rack with all kinds of flower seeds on it. I realized then that the owner would not have had seeds for sale unless he planned on selling them. Thats exactly what I was going to do!
