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.

That is why I was a bit surprised when an alum called in last week asking about something I had never heard of.  John Gosch, who sold books in 1976 & 1977, wanted to know if we still had any “Round Tuits” we could sell him.   I was completely unfamiliar with the Round Tuit.  John explained that his sales manager Steve “the rabbit”  Babbitt had given everyone in their organization a Round Tuit to carry in their pockets on the bookfield. 

All of us have replied that we will get a task done when we get around to it.  Well, if you have a round tuit in your pocket — you don’t have to wait.  According to the wiktionary a round tuit is 

“a circular object giving its owner the ability to get done everything that would have otherwise been put off to a later date”. 

I further inquired about round tuits with one of Southwestern’s pillars of knowledge, Dan Moore.  Dan recalled his student manager, Marty Fridson, asking if he had memorized his sales talk yet.  Dan replied to Marty that he would do it when he got a round to it.  Marty took out a sheet of paper drew a circle with the word tuit on it, tore it out and handed it to Dan.   I love how Southwestern lessons from the 1970′s still apply today, on the bookfield and off.

I will always treasure my Southwestern Success Coin and what it symbolizes, but I think having a round tuit in my pocket may be another good reminder of Southwestern principles.

Despite having trained hard in Sales School and practicing my demo more times that I can recall, that morning on Finch Street I was going to have to learn again – by doing. It seems the bookfield isn’t the only place where you can test run something many times, but you cannot predict what will happen when it is live.

A “webinar hosted by Dan Moore” is enough said when it comes to describing the degree of excellence of the webinar.   Everything went smoothly, except for one glitch.  At the last moment, there was a snafu with our capacity limits and many alumni who pre-registered were unable to access the webinar.  

Luckily the webinar was recorded.  Although it is not live, you can still brush the dust off of those SW success principles.  All Southwestern alumni can view the webinar at http://www.wesoldbooks.com/webinarvideo_2010-10.

Please share your feedback and thoughts on the alumni webinar below.

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.

Though she has been officially off of the Southwestern bookfield for nearly 5 years, Haley Price is still selling books.   Only now, she’s written and illustrated the books that she’s selling. 

While not writing, Haley works in global advertising sales for Microsoft in New York, NY.  Through her experience with Southwestern and beyond, she has learned the importance of having a positive attitude, working hard for what you want, and believing in your dreams. 

Haley continues to reference her days slinging books from house to house; and cannot wait until a book kid comes knocking on her door, “I’m going to give that kid the best pony story ever!”

Find out more about Haley’s book at http://www.todayisthebestdayofmylife.com/ or check out her blog at http://blog.todayisthebestdayofmylife.com/.

This fall, I had the pleasure of working ”check out” for a couple of weeks.  Every year I really enjoy getting the chance to see the students as they finalize their Southwestern summer.  Every bookperson can recall how crazy big checkout weeks are and what a team effort is required to get all of the students back to campus on time.  Through all the craziness, book counts, and number crunching (which I must admit the nerd in me enjoys) is the unique opportunity of watching a hard working young person reap the rewards of their efforts.

Yes I am proud to work at a place where you are rewarded for your results and not just your intentions.  Can you imagine if we gave out awards in sales school for those who intended to work hard and have a great summer?  What sort of message would that send?  An environment where there is no politics or red tape involved in your success brings a certain amount of peace to each day.  If you work hard you will get results; if you get results you will be rewarded.  What a simple lesson in controllables for young people to understand.  Of course in most professional work places there is a little politics going on, however, I learned on the bookfield that good things come to those who work.

Setting goals and thinking big are part of the process, but it is the hard work and results that count.  As more and more schools turn to “no fail” policies, simple life lessons are being lost.  In my eight summers on the bookfield as a Southwestern salesman my results were not always extraordinary, but the lessons learned always were.

I am proud to be part of the 150 year Southwestern tradition that still believes that results should be rewarded and the lessons learned will always be the biggest reward.