Tales From the Toolbox

Dave Rasmey uses the phrase, “live like no one else, so you can live like no one else.”? This phrase is some serious truth.? My wife and I have always worked to live within our means, never banking on commissions, bonuses, or overtime.? I know this blog is called Tales From the Toolbox, but I also want to share solid wisdom and insight from other industries too.?

In May 2017 I found myself in a weird stage in my career.? I took a sales territory from producing little fruit and turned it into a booming business from my company.? After all of that? hard work and dedication, my company decided to make a radical change.? December 10, 2015 my company entered into a contract to sell its agriculture division to a neighboring company. If I chose to transition to the other company, I would need? to interview for a position and go through a hiring process, or I could choose to stay with my current company.? I chose the latter.? I shifted into a construction sales territory.? This, too, was an area that struggled.? I thought I was going to have it made in the shade, but I was wrong.

In my intro I talked about how my wife and I never banked on bonuses, commissions, or overtime and here is the reason why.? At the beginning of 2017 my sales manager started riding along with me (never a good sign), to understand why I struggled to get the territory popping.? My manager showed up to my house (I live well within my means) and the first words from his mouth were, “this is where you live?”? This was a punch in the gut.? We lived off my base salary and put commissions into savings, retirement, and paying off debt.? Fast forward to May 2017 with some success and things starting to look promising, my manager shows up without notice to let me know too little success too late and to pack up my office and return all company equipment.? Mind you I had just dropped $11K on a new roof the week before, but thankfully still had some left in the tank, but really?? In a couple of days I had secured a new sales position back in the agriculture world.? I decided to take three weeks off to gather myself from that devastating blow; I was back slinging iron.

My new co-workers asked how I survived taking time off like that? ? How was I able to make ends meet when there was no income?? Were you afraid something may have happened?

I took all of these questions and used it as a teaching moment.

1. ?Never live outside of the base.? It’s called a base for a reason.? This is where the budget starts, I knew what I needed to live and live comfortably, not extravagant.? I could pay every bill, buy groceries, and still have a little left over to enjoy life.? We cut out vacations, put dreams on the back burner, even worked extra side hustles to have entertainment occasionally.
2. Stop living the compared life.? This is your life, and your life only, not someone else’s to live for you. Consumers know when a salesperson is desperate for a sale.? They start forcing sales pitches and get nervous.? If you are able to be comfortable in the front end of business the back end of business takes care of itself.? You don’t need the 3000 sq.ft. home and six cars.? You need shelter, food, and transportation from A to B.?
3. Make smarter choices.? At some point, the pipeline will slow to a trickle, even worse shut off.? You’ll go through a drought. It's not if, it's when.? Commissions, bonuses, and overtime are all icing on the cake. Sometimes you need to leave the fattening stuff for later and eat a little leaner.????

Be good stewards with your income and live like no one else, so later you can live like no one else.

Keep learning and the world turning!

H.B. Kehnemund

#bluecollar #leadershipdevelopment #motivation #tradeschool #makebluecollargreatagain