(Note: The following is work product that I may or may not use at a future time)

Over the years, I've worn many hats. I've been (in no particular order): a groundskeeper for a cemetary, an office assistant, a dishwasher, a bus boy, a fry cook, a factory worker for a fireworks company, a printer, a fast food restaurant attendant, a car wash attendant, a factory worker for a crutch factory, manager of group homes, stockboy at a WalMart, an underground miner, a plumber, a paperboy, a support technician for an ISP and jobs in various other capacities both volunteer and paid.

Yet there's one role I've never seen myself in: that of salesman. See, sales and I have a nasty history.

It goes back to the childhood days when my mother tried many different things to put food on the table. Our house would be filled at various times with World Book encyclopedias (a huge asset to my youthful education), Fuller Brush products, GRIT Magazine sales materials, and a whole host of other items depending on what my mom and stepdad of the year were into at the time.

And one common thread accompanied the sales, regardless of the product: I sucked.

I also sucked in  the one "sales" job I tried as an adult, but since it was basically a scam I don't count it.

So it seems odd to me that my job is basically taking me in the direction of sales. I'm trying to pick up new contracts for work (and have a line on a rather SERIOUS contract; more importantly, I believe I can land this one), and my role with the Woody Guthrie Center is essentially becoming more and more one of public relations, as my journeys on behalf of the center have taken me to my hometown, will take me next week to Okemah, and should take me later in the year to New York. Future plans also include California and Washington.

Taking on the role of a salesperson hasn't been easy; it's one I've VERY reluctantly adopted. And before doing so, I found it necessary to evaluate why I would dare think I could succeed in the only area where I have consistently failed in the past.

The answer? Confidence. In myself, in my product. I know that what I am selling (or in the case of the Guthrie Center, promoting) is a value for the offering price. I can answer any questions about the product with authority because I have strong knowledge of the product. There's not a question that can be asked that I can't either answer or find the answer for in short order. And when it involves the latter, I always follow up.

What I am fast coming to believe in sales or promotions is that there really only IS one product: yourself. If people like you, you stand a chance. If they don't, you're spinning your wheels. Except in the rare instance where yours is the only (or best, by a substantial margin) product in your geographical area and it is a necessity, people won't buy off of someone they don't like. And, with the rare exception of about a dozen people in a tiny hamlet in the Texas Panhandle, people like me.

Time will tell if my latest ventures will be an overall success or failure. But I have every reason to believe they will succeed because I have a sense of direction and purpose, and more to the point because I have confidence in my ability. Confidence is the one ingredient I believe to be lacking from the past.