The Southwestern Company Alumni Blog » attitude

A Service-Minded Attitude

Becky Sudman — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 00:09:42 +0000

Fifteen years ago this month I made the decision to sell books with Southwestern. I vividly remember sitting in a classroom in Otto Olson at the University of Nebraska at Kearney absorbing all Curtis Rogers had to say about the opportunity. As Curtis wrote the list of advantages on the board: experience, money, travel… the one that really stood out to me was service.

I had spent my two previous summers working with a grant funded program called Friend to Friend, bringing educational programs to children in small towns during the summer. Nebraska is full of towns of 300 or less people, and there really isn’t much for kids to do during the summer there. So I spent my time starting up reading programs and bringing in speakers to teach everything from exercise to making rope. I didn’t make much money during those summers, but I did make a difference, and to me, that truly mattered.

My original plan for the summer was to take summer classes. Summer classes were not going to give me an opportunity to make a difference in others’ lives. I made the decision to sell that summer to differentiate myself and to make a difference in the lives of the people I would meet. Staying service-minded saved my attitude many a day on the bookfield when sales were slow. I discovered I was making an impact even when people weren’t buying. Sometimes it was just bringing a smile to someone who needed one, reminding young parents to read to their children, or just sitting down with a family to talk about the importance of education.

The confidence I gained that summer on the bookfield came not only from the challenges I overcame, but from knowing that I could make a difference. Now, as the alumni person at Southwestern, I have the rare opportunity to see how our alumni apply the principles they learned on the bookfield to the rest of their lives. Old habits come back way to easily; it is a challenge to not be just a 90 day wonder.

JT Olson is a great example of Southwestern alumni making a difference. Recently, JT founded the Both Hands Foundation. Both Hands is a non profit organization with a two-fold mission. They serve widows in a very practical way in their communities while raising money to help willing families adopt. Both Hands recently completed their 1st Annual Big Build fundraiser.

The Both Hands Big Build team worked on Debbie Jackson’s home while raising money for orphans. Debbie lost her husband to a heart attack on Memorial Day, 2004. She has done a terrific job of raising three kids on her own, however, there are a few things around her home that needed addressing. Check out the video below of the service done during the Both Hands Big Build. To learn more about JT and Both Hands check out his alumni spotlight at www.wesoldbooks.com/spotlight-JTOlson.

It’s hard to be nervous, when your mind’s on service

Becky Sudman — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 22:01:16 +0000

This past week redandblack.com, a student newspaper serving the University of Georgia, ran an article, I Would Bike 4,000 Miles, about Adam Nubern who is biking 4,000 miles this summer with Bike and Build. Bike and Build, is a nonprofit organization that raises money and awareness for affordable housing. Adam sold books with The Southwestern Company for two summers. “He will bike from Charleston, S.C., to Santa Cruz, Calif., helping build homes during rest stops and devoting eight days to new homes in Colorado. Of the eight routes riders may choose from, Nubern is taking the route that logs the most build days than any other trip in Bike and Build’s history. Nubern said he learned the value of a family home as a door-to-door book salesman.

After talking to hundreds of families, he said he realized how important the home is in the development of families and communities.”It’s where families come together to share and grow with one another. All the relational aspects of life happen at the home,” Nubern said.

I also learned of another two-summer bookwoman, Carolina Canavati who is biking with the Texas 4000 for Cancer this summer. She will bike 4,800 miles from Austin, TX to Anchorage, Alaska, raising money to support the fight against cancer.

I know there are countless alumni serving others and I hope to tell you more about them as time goes on. Until I sold books through Southwestern, I’m not sure I truly realized how much your life is enriched when you are serving others.

Most of the time I look at the calendar and wonder where all the time went. At the end of each Southwestern summer I felt very much the same way. However, in the midst of those twelve weeks on the bookfield there was an occasional day I thought would never end. It was those days I was grateful I had learned to help control my attitude by breaking up my goals. During my cross country years I quickly learned to focus on getting to that next tree, then the stop sign…etc. If I focused on the whole race at once it seemed impossible. At Southwestern I broke the summer down to weeks, the weeks down to days, and the days down to goal periods.

During those later weeks on the bookfield I sometimes needed a little more to keep me going. It was then I started to dedicate my weeks to different things. By far, my favorite week was Service Week. I spent my mental energy that week focusing on providing the best service I could to everyone I met. And that didn’t mean making sure they all bought books. I could have been making an elderly woman smile, or reminding parents how important it is to read to their kids. We make a difference every day. I would also give away a Volume Library set that week. What an amazing feeling! That week always flew by, and lo and behold, it was usually one of my best sales weeks of the summer. When I stopped worrying about myself and the things I wanted, and focused on helping others get what they needed, everything fell in to place.

Being service-miinded is just one of the many lessons of the bookfield. Good luck Adam and Carolina!

Remember the Pony

Becky Sudman — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 21:30:13 +0000

In January 2009 CNBC started a ”Pony Blog“. “The Pony blog’s intent is to find the lighter side of the economic crisis and distract you with humor long enough for the seeds of hope to spring forth from the rubble.” It is quite refreshing to see the media finding the positive in the current ecomonic situation. Now most people may pause and ask themselves, what do ponies have to do with the ecomony or positive thinking. However, if you have attended a Southwestern Company Sales School since 1956, you remember the pony. I attended eight Sales Schools and I ALWAYS looked forward to hearing Mort Utley tell The Pony Story. In fact, until now I didn’t realize that anyone but Mort told the story. Well the truth is no one can tell it quite like Mort.

Many days during my Southwestern summers I would be going into that last gravy goal period sitting on zero. (Translation: zero sales for the day with 2.5 hours left) At that point, my affirmation would switch to “there’s gotta be a pony somewhere”.

I learned so many life lessons selling books. I would have said I was a postive thinker before my Southwestern experience, but the bookfield taught me how to harness my thoughts. At first it amazed me that, by continually telling myself outloud good things were going to happen, they did. We really do believe what we tell ourselves; so why do we tell ourselves such bad things? By focusing on finding the yes’s and getting the no’s off my list I could make my attitude do a complete 180.

I would like to say that I am an expert at applying this lesson off the bookfield, but I’m not…yet. Guarding our self-talk can be difficult in a world filled with so many outside negative influences. The ponies are all around us; we just need to remember to look for them.

Until now the video of Mort has been only shown in the Southwestern Sales School. Today I would like to share with you “The Pony Story”.

Remember the Pony