Small Town Life – Death of a Saleswoman

When I was single and working a limited amount of time and living in a place I knew very few people, I signed up under someone to be a part of a “relational marketing” group that sold product. I got the kit and promptly put it under my bed and never took it out to “market” to anyone. The main reason was that I never wanted to approach people about my product. How could I possibly know if that person had any interest in what I was selling if I was just sitting there with them at coffee and suddenly brought up my product and mentioned that I was also a salesperson for that product?

I also tried door to door sales for a year in high school and that was a bust.

I’ve never been good at that kind of marketing and I’ve never taken to kindly to being marketed to that way.

When someone calls me up and says, “Hey, I just wanted to talk.” I’m like, “Awesome! I missed you.”

Then they are like, “So I started this business and I want to tell you about it…”

And that’s when my heart sinks. Did this person really want to talk to me EVER? All future calls from them are under scrutiny. Are they trying to sell me something or get me to sign up?

The thing is, I understand the appeal of being a home based business because I’ve been a stay at home mom and I’ve needed income and not been able to find a job and I’ve just been there.

I’m not dogging the product or really the sales people. I think there is a way to approach this whole home based business thing that won’t alienate people. I also love Mary Kay (I already have a MK lady and we have a nice arrangement) and Pampered Chef products. (Don’t call me. I’ll call you.)

However, I have a store and people come to me when I have something they want because I’m in the Yellow Pages or on my website or whatever so I can sell like nobodies business because I know that people have come to me for the express reason of being sold to.

When I answer my phone seeing that it’s one of my friends, I’m answering the phone for the express reason of talking to my friend, not being sold something.

There has to be a way to put it out there that you are a home based business and then allowing people to come to you! I’m not sure what that is but you would think that with social media being what it is, we could accomplish that better.

How about you? Do you “do” the pyramid scheme? Do you “get” the home based business? Is there such a thing as “relational marketing?”

 

Ants

Small Town Life – FFA

We live in an agricultural community. This small town has always elevated FFA (Future Farmers of America) to a status that I can only compare to… Olympians maybe? I don’t know. I’ve never lived in a big city and I don’t know what makes an organization cool for kids there. But here, the FFA is the thing to join. The other day, all the future farmer’s were out on Main (and this is saying something about the smallness of our town), sweeping all the downtown streets and washing the windows of all the businesses. Yes, the got all the way down the three main streets and did all the downtown windows. Can you imagine that happening in a big ‘ol city? Nope… These kids are awesome but the smallness of the town made what they did seem even bigger because EVERY business benefited. It was kinda awesome to see all the kids littering the streets while cleaning up the litter.

Small Town Life – The one handed wonder

I have discovered that I have more time on my hands now that I’m a dairy. While feeding the baby, there is little else for me to do than watch TV or read blogs. However, the blogs I read almost always stir up comments in my brain but I can only type with one hand or thumb as the device may be. Therefore, my comments are always unsatisfactorily short and/sadly under developed. I believe this may be keeping me out of trouble as I can wax rather eloquent in the comment section and inadvertently drive away those I would rather build relationships with. Therefore, I thank my lucky stars for my situational disability to go nuts on your (the blogging world) comment sections. BLOG ON! I have nothing better to do than read all your thoughts and I’m LOVING IT!!!

Here are a few of my favorite Bloggers!!!

Long and luxe

Journey of Kylie

The Culture Monk

Chapter TK

Small Town Life – Unexpected

This week I was traveling to California and with the new baby to boot. I spent about 2 days in the airports from here to there on standby with our newborn and because she is still soooooo small, everyone and their husband asked how old she was and what her name was and how much she weighs. I’m telling you, the best conversation piece is a new baby. People are in love with a baby. I sat with a nice lady from Hawaii who told me about her life and 4 children. After the 4th was born, she had a pregnancy scare (ladies… you know what a heart attack those scares are. The peeing on the stick… the waiting…. the ABSOLUTE TERROR!!!!!)

“I actually considered what it might be like to get an abortion. I couldn’t afford another child. I couldn’t deal with another life to nurture. I was already feeling like I was neglecting the kids I had! I was never one to even consider abortion but in that moment, I knew what I would do.”

I have never been one to consider the termination of a pregnancy an option. My thoughts were, “Why don’t these people plan better?” Until I was there.

Andy and I didn’t plan to have another child after Cate. We were happy with two and DONE! But stuff happens. A little wine… some bad math… a little overconfidence about how well I know my body and BAM! We were pregnant and STUNNED!

Of course, because of previous posts, you know we never even considered termination but… it tickled the back of my mind with a question: If I wasn’t me – a girl with a husband, good job, supportive parents, a strong spiritual connection, a church family that loves me and has helped me in ways I can’t even describe – what would I do? I can’t say that I wouldn’t seriously consider termination as an option.

I would normally consider myself pro life. I’m very against termination but the older I get, the more I open my mind, the less I feel like I can judge.

Small Town Living – The Inverse

The inverse of the awesomeness of knowing everyone in town, being an integrated community, is that everyone knows everything. There are no secrets. I had jury duty a while back and realized how hard that must be for the local court system. How can you find objective jurors in a town where everyone knows about the case already because they are all integrated? It reminds me a bit of that movie Mystery Alaska where the town goes after some guy in the beginning of the movie in court and… well, I forget the story line but it’s hilarious how tight knit the community is. They are not going to be pushed around by an outsider.

It’s hard to keep to yourself in a small community. You can’t NOT invite people to a party. They are going to find out. You can’t keep anything small and to yourself, everyone will know. There is talk.

Recently in our little town, there was a land war over a piece of property. It became a huge community issue. Something that wouldn’t make the local news in a city was a major issue that was discussed in the opinion section of the newspaper every single day and indeed, is still being discussed over and over in the local coffee shop, the city counsel and homes all around town. The players were well known community members and what should have been a personal property issue became a community dividing conflict. A rift developed between the sides. It still exists. Somehow, it felt like a huge family feud! I was amazed at what passion was behind an issue that barely effected many of the opinion stating contributors in the local paper.

But that’s part of being in a small town. It’s true what they portray in movies about these kinds of things – they can divide and indeed conquer the beauty and harmony of a small community.

Cold Shoulder

Yesterday was a new experience for me in the world of fatherhood. I picked up our 6 yo for school, and she asked if one of her school buddies (a boy) could come over to our house. So we get home and all 3 kids are playing nicely together. We decided to head to a park to enjoy some sunshine and fresh air. The boy really likes to play on the skate park, and naturally our 6 yo follows suit. Everything is going smoothly. I had to deal with a sharing issue with our 4 yo. Once that was resolved, all hell breaks loose. The boy wanted to play with a golf ball, which our 4 yo had and they played together. This action of changing playmates, caused the 6 yo to become quite JEALOUS. I look up and she was gone, she was hiding from all of us. I found her and I could see she was upset. The boy kept trying to talk to her, but she was having nothing to do with him. She kept running away from him, and giving him the cold shoulder. If this is any insight into her dating life, i feel sorry for the boys who piss her off. I hope she always knows that daddy will be here to guide her, listen to her, and protect her. Anyway, we get home and watched a movie, by the end of the movie the friendship was restored and all was well.

Small Town Living – Gladys

My father lives in a small town and gets all the local gossip from his barber!!!

In this town there is a lady – let’s call her Gladys – who knows everything about everybody. She grew up in the depression and post depression era. There are three generations of her family living in town. Her husband and her lived in the same house for a very long time and when they sold it, she left a long letter explaining the lifestyle and nuance of each and every neighbor for the next owner. She knows everyone and all their gossip from back until the 30’s. It’s amazing. Recently she was in the shop and (mind, we are not a big shop) she literally could not leave as everyone else who came in had to be spoken to and visited with.

This is true for so many of our little town people. They have lived her forever. They know everything about people. It’s amazing!

Truth: Most likely I will be this lady some day. I’m probably never really leaving this town. It’s my home. I love it here despite the fact there is nowhere to shop and no where to eat out. It’s my town.

I am Gladys…

Daddy is a Softy

This morning upon waking the girls up to get them going for the day. The 6yo declares that she doesn’t feel well. I check her forehead and she doesn’t feel warm. So, I keep encouraging her to get out of bed and come down for some breakfast. (In my mind I’m thinking sick day and movies for everyone.) She then stats that she can only breath out of one nostril. I explain to her that its just a cold and that she is not really that sick. I was totally going to let her stay home and just hang out, but she made up her own mind that she wanted to go school.

Daddy is a softy. There I said it. This probably doesn’t bode well for me in the future with 3 beautiful daughters. They can have daddy wrapped around their little fingers. It’s a good thing Wifey and I are a good team and we can strengthen each other in our softy moments.

New Blogger

Hello Word press World.

If you love animals I highly recommend this new blogger.

itsahardmuttlife.com/

 

Pine Cone & Frost

Purple Aster