many of my readers know that i sold books door-to-door for the southwestern company for 3 years while in college.  anyone that knows me personally is also aware that i considered this experience to be one of the most challenging of my life.  it was also remarkably gratifying, humbling, and immensely educating.

ironically, all these years later, i now work at southwestern again.  only this time - in a different capacity.

last week i attended their great recruiters seminar in nashville, tennessee.  since my days on the bookfield, i’ve met many successful businesspeople, physicians, entrepreneurs,  musicians,  lawyers, professors.  you name it… 

but i must say, that spending time with these tenacious and hard-working young book sales men and women … had me exceptionally inspired.

one of 2010′s top salespeople, jenny nut, said the following:   “success is not easy; but it is simple.  keep a positive attitude, believe in yourself, believe in others… find a purpose …  you will never go anywhere if you don’t move your feet.”

this is a 21-year old girl who spent the summer slinging books door-to-door.  getting told “no” more than 40 times a day.  working tirelessly toward a goal which she adamantly considered to be well worth the effort.  this is a person who has the gut and the determination to go after what she wants.  this is also a person who made over $20,000 in 90 days. 

and no, the business is not only about money.  money is not the sole measure of success, here or anywhere for that matter.  but i can testify (based on experience), that if one person makes this much of it through the program – they had an undeniably strong work ethic, a positive and resiliant mental attitude, and a mission to succeed.

so here’s to you, bookpeople.  here’s to  the grit, the gumption, the humility, the fortitude – and all other great things it takes to do this job well. 

you inspire me.

The two summers before I sold books with Southwestern Company I helped run a grant funded program in small Nebraska towns.  Basically, we brought educational and fun activities to towns with less than 500 people.  As you might imagine, there are not many constructive summer activities for kids in small towns.  It was a great experience!

The service aspect of working with Southwestern Company was also one of the main engaging advantages that attracted me to selling books.  Whether or not the people I talked with bought, I always knew I was doing a good thing just talking with a family about the importance of education.  The lessons of taking the focus off yourself and serving others radiates through many of our SW alumni.

Five year Southwestern Company alum Ella (King) Herlihy was a Top First Year, a Wall of Greats Winner and is now married to one of the top all-time booksellers in our history, Steve Herlihy who sold for nine summers.  Steve and Ella are great at giving back to Southwestern Company by housing students, hosting SW gatherings and speaking at Sunday meetings.  They have five children (or “booklets” if you’d like to call them that) and live in Atlanta.  

When reflecting on her Southwestern experience Ella states, “Those principles we learned selling books DO help us in our daily lives – it is not a myth – even at age 41 and 46, we still have to make a conscious decision to get up with a great attitude and an “I Love My Job” mentality.  Being a homeschooling mom to five children under age 11 (yes, we already have ALL of the books) requires more patience than is humanly possible and some major attitude management.  We explain to our children over and over again ‘your sister did not MAKE you do that – you and you alone are in control of your attitude.’  We also have been both showing them and telling them that ‘anything worth having is worth working hard for.’  They don’t get it so much yet, but just you wait until they hit the bookfield!  Only 7 more years until Massie is old enough!”

Ella and Steve are involved with a wonderful ministry that brings hope and healing to families with a child stricken with cancer.  Blue Skies, is a a ministry that takes families who are facing life-threatening childhood illnesses for a week-long beach retreat in Florida.  It is free for the families who have a child being treated and the volunteers raise support to fund the retreats.

Blue Skies is in the running for a $250,000 grant from the Pepsi Challenge.  If Blue Skies receives the most votes in December, they will be able to use the $250,000 to take 120 families to the beach for a week of rest and recuperation and reconnecting with one another while they are in the midst of fighting for their child’s life.  You can vote daily in December and help Blue Skies go from #42 to #1 and put Pepsi’s grant to great use.  Vote at www.refresheverything.com/whereskiesareblue.

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.

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!   ]]> http://www.southwesternalumniblog.com/southwestern_company/its-hard-to-be-nervous-when-your-minds-on-service/feed/ 0 http://www.southwesternalumniblog.com/southwestern_company/remember-the-pony/ http://www.southwesternalumniblog.com/southwestern_company/remember-the-pony/#comments Mon, 06 Apr 2009 21:30:13 +0000 Becky Bauman http://www.southwesternalumniblog.com/?p=115

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

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