On August 22, 1988 I started my career at the ripe old age of 23 and, even on day one, I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to be when I grew up. Nine days earlier, on my last day of class, I was offered a job as an Account Executive at the Santa Fe Reporter in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The job was a great start and the General Manager really offered the job to me as a favor to the Journalism Department Head at New Mexico State University. Two profound truths had come into sharp focus on that hot summer day at the end of my senior year. 

First, I had not done a summer internship as a journalism student, which was unheard of at the time. This meant that my prospects of getting hired by anybody were slim. I had worked full time since I graduated high school, taken a semester off due to “burn-out” and found some time to get married along the way. I was definitely busy and overworked as a student but, as the first in my immediate family to attend college, I didn’t think I had a choice.

Second, I was offered a job in a career field that I didn’t want to consider. Actually, I did consider SALES as a career choice, but consideration usually meant that I would say, “No Way, No How, will I ever be a salesman!” Even the title seemed unappealing to me. Besides, I didn’t own a polyester suit, my hair was too long and I didn’t like to wear really wide ties! Can you tell that I really had no desire to go into sales?

As my wife and I prepared to get married in 1987, and mostly because her parents and my Mom kept asking what our plans were for the future, we agreed that whoever got the first job offer is where we would go. She was a business graduate, and measurably smarter than I, so when my academic advisor and journalism professor, Dr. Bill England, would recommend that we start out in a SALES job, just to get our foot in the door, I felt confident that I would not win the foot race toward the dawn of our heretofore unknown careers. On August 13, 1988, I won the race and absolutely could not turn it down.

I started off as an Account Executive selling newspaper advertising for a weekly newspaper, which had a staff of 4 Account Executives. I had no idea what I was doing but I had a degree in advertising and plenty of experience talking to people as a bartender in college so I figured I could do this. Besides, any job that has “executive” in the title can’t be all that bad! Long story short, I quickly realized that I enjoyed my job as an Account Executive. I won a couple of sales contests, I made friends with many customers and I gained intimate knowledge of the inner workings of a small business. Today, 32 years later, I prefer working with business owners; small, medium or large, and I enjoy helping them succeed.

I took a job, in the beginning, and made a career out of it. I took an often misunderstood profession and resurrected its nobility, in my mind, at least! Finally, I became a practitioner at the “Art of Sales” and turned sales into a passion. In the early 90s I started working on my own journey of self-development and soon realized that I could help others improve their own skills in the pursuit of THEIR own success.

So, when I ask you, “why you do what you do,” or when I try to encourage you to join me in this wonderful world of small business ownership it’s not simply because I manage one of the greatest organizations to ever be founded in Grant County, New Mexico, USA. I truly want to know what you are passionate about! I want to help you live the dream that helps you turn every day into a Saturday. Your SUCCESS is my passion and I know what you are capable of. Even if you have lost sight of it in the often overwhelming stress of running a business. 

Reach out to me! Let me come buy you a cup of coffee and let’s talk about your passions!