Herman School of Business
Getting Over Those "Firsts"...
When I sold my first form of transportation, my Vespa Scooter, for the grand price of one hundred dollars it was also the first contract for a business deal that I ever prepared. The butcher at the supermarket where I worked was buying the Scooter for his son. I hated to see it go but I loved the one hundred dollars headed my way. Hey, I even financed the buyer with four easy payments. So how did that “first” turn out? The kid who ended up with the scooter played “chicken” with his friend in the woods and they had a head-on collision and laid injured for a day before anyone found them. They recovered from their injuries.
When I became a Probation Officer with the Juvenile Services Administration on the first day I met my first “case” when he left court and came to my office with his grandfather. My first meeting was to lay out the rules for his release from an institution and send him home with a positive outlook on his future. He was shot and killed doing a breaking and entering that night. The next day my Supervisor informed the office that I had cleared my first case faster than anyone else in history…although he preferred a better outcome.
My first solo ride in an airplane left people watching on the ground scared to death, they thought my acrobatics would surely end with a plume of smoke. I thought it was one of the greatest exhibits of piloting skill anyone could witness.
My first business acquisition was a success but that allowed me to buy my next business which turned out to be my first failure. I was actually worse off than when I started in the first place.
My first marriage ended in divorce.
On my first day as a Sales Manager my new sales staff hit the streets after my brilliant training. One of my guys showed up back at my house two hours later in disarray. He had been mugged. He was my first failed trainee and left the field of sales.
My first venture into the stock market in the early 1980’s ended in disaster. After taking fifteen years off from the stock market I thought I would try again in the new millennium. My first venture into stocks in the new millennium ended in disaster and my friends have made me promise to never buy stocks again. In fact, Danny wants me to send a letter to the people in New York so they will never execute a Buy order for me again.
The second book I wrote, HERMANISMS is far more successful than my first book THE INNKEEPER TALES.
Thank God we all get second chances huh!
- Posted: 16 January 2009
- Comments: 0
- Category: Business success
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