Yoda's Wisdom

"Do or do not. There is no try." 

The little green man's words actually seemed harsh to me as I watched Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back for the first time. Here, poor Luke is a total noob at using the force and Yoda dares to suggest that he lift his own X-fighter out of the filthy Dagobah swamp using this mysterious telekinesis that he is just now learning how to harness? I'd have thought that such a wise Jedi master would have far more constructive words for his late-blooming padawan.

I wish more kids could somehow understand how it's like to be a salesperson who is not a cute 10-year-old selling $1 chocolates. I guess there is still something to be learned when you encounter those few heartless wretches who won't shell out some pocket change for one measly candy bar. Give the kid a dollar! I don't care if you're diabetic or have ants, just make a donation to the childhood fund since he's at your door!

There's a new kind of tough you have to become when your paycheck depends solely on whether you can find someone in your parents' contacts who will buy some knives from you and then actually sell them the product. It's not the sales pitch that's hard. I'm actually pretty comfortable making sales. But it's setting up those dang appointments. Out of nowhere, a woman gets a call from her girlfriend's young adult son and he wants to come over to her house and tell her about something neat and that's not supposed to be creepy? I hate ambushing people like that! At least in a retail environment, you know that the person walking through those doors gives two hoots about your products, knows someone who would, or won't be surprised when you try to sell him/her something as they try to make their way to the bathroom.

That's actually something I really like about where I currently work. Being a commissioned salesperson in a retail environment is not an easy job, especially in this economy. If I had any say in it, my pay would be better, but I'm really not in it for the money. I do it because I love the products we sell, I love people, I feel good when I can work hard, it beats being unemployed, and, most importantly, it's a tremendous learning opportunity.

You learn some cool things working here. One of my favorites is the importance of the bottom line. It's really not as evil as many are led to believe. I hate money but money is an important cog in our societal framework.  Money can be an end or the means by which an end is reached. The fact of the matter is that if not enough money is put into our store's funds, the doors close, the workers are laid off, and thousands of local customers will miss the store. Our goal is not to take money out of people's wallets, but to offer products and services that are worth the expenditure.

Ultimately, I have no control over anyone's decisions but my own, but I have influence. There's an idea in marketing that there will be some people who will always buy and some people who will never buy. The goal as a professional salesperson is to convince as much as possible of the third group of people - those who "may or may not" - to make the purchase. And since the only thing that puts food on the table is results, that is how a salesperson is judged. Again, it seems cruel, but we all know that a hunter's family will starve if he only tries but never succeeds.

So I'm a great salesperson if I can help a person feel great about spending a fortune into my business and then wake up every morning thereafter thinking, "That was worth every penny!" When you come down the the nitty-gritty of what money is, it is merely a token that represents a job well done. We are fighting for people to give of their finite supply of tokens for the services we offer. Our salaries are largely influenced not by how much effort we put out, but by our ability to make ourselves indispensable. And the market value of the service is somewhere between the highest price someone who needs it is willing to pay for it and the lowest price someone who offers it is willing to accept. My current job does not pay much because if I left, it would not be difficult for the employer to find someone else who would yield similar results at the same pay.

When the day comes that I finally command a salary that can pay a mortgage and a car loan while providing for a family, it will because I have convinced someone that my utility is exactly what they need, but virtually impossible to replace or replicate. Many people can play the piano or the guitar, sing, lead a worship team, or be a spiritual leader; but only I play like me, sing with my voice, lead with my personality and passion, and lead with my insight and character. My ways of accomplishing those goals are unique to me and I will be highly valued by someone who needs my style and quality of work. So when I practice and study, I not only refine my craft, I refine me. Every choice I make either increases or decreases the capital I possess as a person to leverage myself against the higher bidders in my field for the jobs I want.

When I'm selling products off of a shelf in a store or selling myself in the job market, whether I "do" or "do not" does not change who I am. I'm still a child of God no matter what. I will take pride in my hard work and tenacity, but I will rejoice in my success. Success means that I don't give up before I cross the finish line. So we shouldn't feel bad because we don't hold the trophy in our hands because even the best runners don't get their prize until they're finished with the race. And, to be honest, accomplishment shouldn't be seen as a series of failures before the success, but as a journey of "doing" until it's "done."