Do you remember your very first job beyond chores around the house?
I do!
My first real job was when I was five years old. I remember it like it was yesterday. As a businessman in Arkansas my dad was a cobbler, he made and repaired shoes for the town, so he stayed busy. He owned a pawn shop too. We were the only family in town with a yard full of pomegranate trees, seventeen exact.
At the age of five (5) I started the first (1st) grade, so my dad gave me my own pomegranate tree to see what had I learned the first five years of teaching, watching him with the public, and customer service, but on a smaller scale. He helped me with a little spill, and let me take two pomegranates to school a day, no more- then three to sell for two (2) to three (3) cent a piece. That was a lot of money for a 5 year old 65 years ago. I made money each day at school, so my dad let me use some of my change, and invest some in US Series E Saving Bonds.
I learned to talk to the kids that would normally steal the pomegranate if they got a chance to eat a delicious Persian fruit filled with bright red seeds, and could be shared.
I had to know and understand the product to promote its sale. When he saw that I had learned he helped me to prepare a presentation packet ten (10) bright red pomegranates to take to Mr. Simpson’s market so that I could sell to the market. With his guidance I made my first order for five (5) cent a piece. I was rolling in money because there was no competition.
Everything I learned from my Mentor, my Dad made sense when I saw it having a Return of Investment (ROI). Determine the product you wish to promote, the target audience, determine the value and/or the competition, set the pitch, and never have too much product because the value diminishes.
This equates to having a network to rely upon like Mr. Simpson’s market because there were three other markets that said no, practicing your craft, and always make sure that you never advertise unless you have the product, and when you say something about service or price, your “Word” is your “Bond”. To this day I believe, and practice the philosophy of honesty and candor which is reflective in the forty-five (45) year tenure of Transport Financial Services, LLC, and the consistent A+ Rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
This “Thought of the Day” is inspired by the fact that the neighborhood I reside in now has numerous reminders of pomegranate trees in six yards. This is a constant reminder of where. how, and what I’ve learned about business, support, and service.
Thanks Dad!
