ork.

Of course, I was, and still am, great on the phone, but that’s not the point of this article!

There was another key to success that is less obvious: whom I chose to call. In this case, I imitated what the veteran did, and I cal

When I was in graduate school I wasn’t contented accepting the paltry salary I earned as a part-time college instructor.

So, I trekked to USC’s career planning office and scanned the part-time job postings.

One caught my eye.

It was a commission-only job selling office supplies by phone.

Having had many years of experience in telephone sales and management, I thought, why not? Anything I earned would be an improvement on my fixed income.

So, later that day I stopped over for an interview and I was asked if I wanted to try the gig, to make a call or two.

“Sure!” I replied, knowing they wanted to hear if I was as good as advertised.

I noticed that the fellow I had been listening to was selling ballpoint pens to bakers, a gross at a time, so I borrowed his list, which was a Yellow Pages directory, and I called the next name.

To everyone’s astonishment, I closed the deal on the spot, earning about $18 for two minutes of work.

Of course, I was, and still am, great on the phone, but that’s not the point of this article!

There was another key to success that is less obvious: whom I chose to call. In this case, I imitated what the veteran did, and I call

It was a commission-only job selling office supplies by phone.

Having had many years of experience in telephone sales and management, I thought, why not? Anything I earned would be an improvement on my fixed income.

So, later that day I stopped over for an interview and I was asked if I wanted to try the gig, to make a call or two.

“Sure!” I replied, knowing they wanted to hear if I was as good as advertised.

I noticed that the fellow I had been listening to was selling ballpoint pens to bakers, a gross at a time, so I borrowed his list, which was a Yellow Pages directory, and I called the next name.

To everyone’s astonishment, I closed the deal on the spot, earning about $18 for two minutes of work.

Of course, I was, and still am, great on the phone, but that’s not the point of this article!

There was another key to success that is less obvious: whom I chose to call. In this case, I imitated what the veteran did, and I cal

y I stopped over for an interview and I was asked if I wanted to try the gig, to make a call or two.

“Sure!” I replied, knowing they wanted to hear if I was as good as advertised.

I noticed that the fellow I had been listening to was selling ballpoint pens to bakers, a gross at a time, so I borrowed his list, which was a Yellow Pages directory, and I called the next name.

To everyone’s astonishment, I closed the deal on the spot, earning about $18 for two minutes of work.

Of course, I was, and still am, great on the phone, but that’s not the point of this article!

There was another key to success that is less obvious: whom I chose to call. In this case, I imitated what the veteran did, and I cal

selling ballpoint pens to bakers, a gross at a time, so I borrowed his list, which was a Yellow Pages directory, and I called the next name.

To everyone’s astonishment, I closed the deal on the spot, earning about $18 for two minutes of work.

Of course, I was, and still am, great on the phone, but that’s not the point of this article!

There was another key to success that is less obvious: whom I chose to call. In this case, I imitated what the veteran did, and I cal

ork.

Of course, I was, and still am, great on the phone, but that’s not the point of this article!

There was another key to success that is less obvious: whom I chose to call. In this case, I imitated what the veteran did, and I called a baker.

When I was officially hired, I found my own category: restaurants. Between using them and losing them, they burned through thousands of pens per year, by my calculations, and I was right.

I made a very nice supplemental income for a considerable time after that, calling cafes around the country.

At one point, the boss asked me how I settled on restaurants, somewhat surprised, yet still pleased that I had discovered their appetite for writing devices.

I didn’t reply this way in so many words, but I can tell you, it was in large measure because nobody else was selling them ballpoint pens.

I occupied the high ground on the competitive battlefield because my army was the only one that showed up, day in and day out.

I bought pens at 17 cents from the company and resold them at 33 cents, and I pitched them, two gross (288 pens) at a time. The pens were marked 49 cents on the barrel, so my customers perceived they were getti