This morning, I got onto the 5 train to go Downtown, and this
guy gets on the train and starts speaking like he's at a podium. My first
thought was that he was selling Jesus, but he wasn't. He was selling a book he
had written.
His name was Randy Kearse. He had gone to prison for 15 years
when he was younger, and he spent the time locked up preparing for when he
would get out and change his life. He told us that he had his own publishing
company and every eloquently invited us to look at his book.
Of course, no one looked up except me, but I bought a copy of
his book. I wanted to read the story of a guy who was gutsy enough to walk onto
a crowded train and just open up a sales pitch.
It got me thinking. This guy was in prison for 15 years, and now
he's a writer who has apparently sold 75,000 copies of his books doing exactly
what I saw this morning. I've never been to prison. I've got a college degree.
I'm a little short on excuses today.
Then I thought about this past weekend. I went to Steampunk
Worlds Fair, and Amy and I ran ConCardia, the Info Desk and the Merch Table.
ConCardia, in 5 years has grown from an unplayable game I printed on my home
printer to a fixture at the largest steampunk event in North America. I had
some really awesome people having cards to give out in the game, and a lot of people
really enjoyed it.
You see, this is important because my job has been wearing me
down. I have not been terribly successful in what I am supposed to be doing,
largely because I have not been able to do things that way I feel that they
should be done. I have internalized this, started to doubt myself, started to
think that maybe I don’t have what it takes.
Oh really? I have what it takes to get a quite a few bands, some
awesome reality TV folks, and one very clever magician to be excited about my
little card game.
My first job sales job was 1996. I chaired my first convention
in 2001, and opened my first business in 2002. In 2003, I was a co-founder of
the Come Again Players who still perform to this day. In 2005, I led the
transition of a struggling game store into a volunteer run collective that
successfully operated in various forms for 12 more years. In 2006 I co-founded
Pi-Con which ran for most of a decade. I created the Connecticon Info Desk
department. I have led sales training courses and written a (unfinished) book
on networking.
I have been in sales, marketing and entrepreneurship for 21
years. My sales skills are old enough to drink. I know what the fuck I’m
talking about.
So, if I analyze the data and develop a sales plan, I know a
little bit of what I speak. If I present the plan, and you shoot that plan down
in favor of a plan that my two decades of experience say will not work, listen
to me when I say it’s the wrong choice or don’t blame me for the results.
I have the experience. I have the skills. I have the drive. I
merely await the opportunity to put it all together and once again show the
world what I am capable of.