[LWN] ?? Broke, Hungry, And Looking For Work
Norman Farrar
Brand Vision, Growth & Profit Strategist | eCommerce Entrepreneur | Trusted Advisor | Host of Lunch with Norm & Marketing Misfits Podcasts
What you’ll find in this week’s newsletter:
? My Days as a Door-to-Door Salesman [True Story]
Back in 1985, I dropped out of college.
It wasn’t the smartest thing to do, considering I was in my last semester.
I was between jobs and really needed money.
I stumbled upon an opportunity to be a door-to-door salesperson for starving artists’ artwork.
Every day, I was dropped off in a random neighborhood, knocking on strangers’ doors and doing my best to sell art from a grocery bag.
During that time, I met a great guy who was also a salesperson.
His name was Nathan, and he was from England.
Imagine the toughest English accent, and that was him.
For some reason, we really hit it off.
We quickly became good friends.
We soon figured out that if we showed this really crappy art from a “nobody” artist to people (from a garbage bag), nobody would buy… Duh.
We started framing the artwork before going to the houses.
On our rides to these neighborhoods, Nathan and I would discussed the stories of these artists.
There was Margot, the impressionist.
We talked about her struggles in art college and how she loved creating art that reminded her of her childhood home.
There was Jerome from Paris, who specialized in realism.
He was a hopeless romantic, obsessed with painting objects that reminded him of his first love in France.
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Or Claude.
He painted incredible landscapes of mountains because he knew he could never afford to travel to these places himself, so he painted them in his basement apartment instead.
I didn’t know it at the time, but by doing this, we were focusing on the personal brands of these artists.
Remember too, at this time it was either sell the artwork, or not eat.
I luckily made enough to cover my small apartment, and pay for food.
One day, we were in a small city called Guelph.
I took one neighborhood, and Nathan took another.
After my shift, I came back to the van, and Nathan wasn’t back yet.
I asked the other guys, “Hey, where’s Nathan?”
Nobody knew.
We eventually found out that he had gone to the wrong house.
He did his spiel about the artist and walked into the house, thinking he was going to get his sale for the day.
It turns out he had gone to the home of an immigration officer.
He was grabbed and thrown into custody.
He was deported back to London.
He was in the wrong house at the wrong time.
Things can change in the blink of an eye.
Appreciate each day, whether it’s business, friends, or family.
Life can change incredibly quickly.
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