Today is Monday, so this post is on self confidence.
Over the weekend, Cathy began writing Christmas cards. Last night, as I looked at the cards on the table waiting to be addressed and sent, I flashed back to my days as a Christmas card salesman.
Read on for the story...
In the 1950’s every student at Saint Stanislaus elementary school in Ambridge, PA was expected to sell Christmas cards. We were a parish school in a working class parish. Christmas card and wrapping paper sales added needed revenue to the school. Cards were one dollar for a box of twenty, and wrapping paper was $1.50 for a box of four rolls.
Most kids sold a few boxes of cards – to their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. This wasn’t good enough for me, however. In the fouth grade, I decided that I was going to be the champion Christmas card seller. Everyday after school, during the weeks of the campaign, I went door to door – in my neighborhood, and then in adjacent neighborhoods. (Remember, this was the 50’s, kids were pretty much safe wherever they went in their hometown.) I also called all of my parent’s friends – selling Christmas cards and wrapping paper.
I had a pretty good rap. It went something like this. "Hi, I'm Bud Bilanich. I am selling these cards and wrapping paper for a good cause, our school. The sisters, the other kids at the school and me would really appreciate it if you bought your cards and wrapping paper from me. I’ll take your order now, and deliver the cards and wrapping paper right to your house by the end of November. You won’t even have to go to the store to buy them."
Pretty smooth huh? Notice how I understood benefit selling even then.
Card sales were posted everyday in front of the Principal’s office at the school. As the campaign was coming to a close, I was in second place, behind a sixth grader. I really wanted to be the oen who sold the most cards and wrapping paper. On the last day, I realized I was about $10.00 short. I really wanted to win this contest, so I put in an order for eight more boxes of cards and two more boxes of wrapping paper than I had actually sold.
I won the contest. Now, I had to sell $11.00 more of merchandise. $11.00 was a lot of money in those days. Cokes were a dime, candy bars were a nickel, a loaf of bread was 25 cents, gas was about 27 cents a gallon. Most kids had an allowance of about fifty cents a week. There was no way that I could ever find $11.00 to buy the extra cards and wrapping paper I had ordered. My parents would kill me (figuratively) if I had to ask them for and extra $11.00 just before Christmas. I had one option – I had to sell the extra cards and wrapping paper.
When the cards and paper came, I did two things. I went back to everybody who had bought from me and told them that I had more cards and wrapping paper for sale. I also went back to every house where people hadn’t bought from me and tried to sell them cards. Surprisingly (in retrospect), I sold all eight boxes of the cards and both boxes of wrapping paper. I even had orders for a few more boxes of cards that I couldn’t fill.
I learned a valuable lesson from all of this. I had no reason to believe I would sell the extra $11.00 of merchandise I ordered, but somehow I knew that if I worked hard enough, I could sell those boxes of cards and wrapping paper. And I was right. All it took was a goal (having the most sales), willingness to take a risk (ordering $11.00 more merchandise than I had orders for), a little bit of self confidence (people always told me I’d make a good salesman), and the willingness to work hard.
I didn’t like going back to houses and having people tell me “I’ve already told you that I don’t want your cards”. However, I also got a real charge out of the people who said “I’m glad you came back, I need some cards”.
I won the contest that year and the next two years. I was a Christmas card and wrapping paper selling machine. I kept my old customers and got new ones each year. I learned a great lesson that first year – people will buy things when the time is right. So, I always ordered a few extra boxes of cards and wrapping paper. I was confident that I could sell them – and I did!
The common sense point here: self confidence can help you reach your goals. However, hard work goes hand in hand with self confidence. If you’re not working to do the work, all of the self confidence in the world won’t be enough to reach your goals.
That’s it for today. Thanks for reading. Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense. Check out my other blog: www.CommonSenseGuy.com for common sense advice on leading people and running a small business.
I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.
Bud
PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open. Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.
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