My friends thought I was CRAZY to work for FREE that summer
 

This is a follow up post to the one I made below.

http://www.sowpub.com/cgi-bin/forum/webbbs_config.pl?read=3435

At age 15 a LOT of my friends were getting summer jobs at McDonald's for minimum wage. I had already done this the summer before and while I had made money, I didn't have much to show for it now.

Being an Avid reader, I was just being introduced to Anthony Robbin's book "Unlimited power!" I picked up some important tips:

1) Successful people have a LONG TERM focus (which allows them to see any rocks or waterfalls which may be coming)

2) If you want to be successful ACT AS IF you are already successful

3) If you want to be successful hang around Successful people

So I asked some teachers and guidance counsellors and found out about a NEW Summer Student Coop Program. That just started. It would ONLY last for 1 month out of the summer months AND THERE WAS NO PAY!! NO PAY!! NO PAY!

"Hmm! I could make more money at McDonalds and actually buy some decent clothes or Work for Free at some unkown place of employment..." I could work at McDonald's with my friends, or work with strangers. Tough decision at 15....I chose to "FORGET McDonalds!" My friends laughed at that choice,...but it made sense to me!

I figured that since this was a NEW Program, that the Program directors would want to LOOK REAL GOOD to any employers that they met. They obviously needed to impress the employers with Positive, hardworking students...like me :-> Thus when it came time for my interview which is where they would determine my placement, I was....MORE THAN PREPARED!

Dressed in my "Sunday School" best suit, Haircut, Resume in hand (It only had school clubs and previous awards on it)I was ready for them!

The Interviewer asked me "What type of JOB would you like?" here was my reply:

" I want to work in a BIG CORPORATION, WEAR A SUIT and Do business!" (This was what I thought was SUCCESS at the time)

I figure that if I could meet business CONTACTS NOW, by the time I graduate highschool, I could work in a BIG CORPORATION and make more MONEY later on to pay for University.

The interviewer was so impressed, that when he told me WHERE MY placement was going to be, I nearly BURST with EXCITEMENT!

You see most of the other students in the program got "Standard" jobs at places like, The courts, government agencies etc. etc.

I was going to be working at the RITZY FOUR SEASONS HOTEL TORONTO in the heart of downtown TORONTO as a PUBLIC RELATIONS/ BUSINESS CENTRE ASSISTANT. YAHOOOOOOOO!

I performed various office duties, filing,typing, photocopying, preparing media release etc. etc.

I performed so well in my one month, that they asked me to stay on the rest of the summer...WITH PAY! WITH PAY!! Now this was exciting!

Was I Lonely? Heck yes, I was the YOUNGEST employee in the entire hotel! Did I get any benefits???

You bet!!:

- I Eliminated my fear of intimidation by "wealthy Looking" business persons

- I got to meet celebrities Jean Claude Van Dam AND his first wife! When Van Dam walked in, I was all smiles (This was when Bloodsport his first movie appeared. I am a HUGE martial arts fan)I couldn't get an autograph however, even though I REALLY wanted to.."silly" policies :->

- I learned VOLUMES about people, Exceptional Customer Service and business

- I learned the Office Jargon of upper management ie. When somebody asks you "How are you Today?" my standard response used to be "Fine thanks!" end of sentence.

I noticed however that the Presidents and upper management would reply to the same question and return the question ie. "Im excellent thanks...AND YOU SIR!" (You should have seen the look of astonishment and delight on some guests Face when this little 15 year old would return the question with a smiling "...AND YOU SIR/MADAME"

- I met wonderful friends, in coworkers which assisted me later on in life.

- One of the most IMPORTANT things I learned, was that just because you hold an OFFICE JOB, and WEAR SUITS, doesn't mean that you MAKE A LOT OF MONEY!! (over lunch discussions, I found out that the waiters were making WAY more than most of the managers that I was working with! How could that be???

More on this lesson in another post!

As usual, Thanks for reading!

Duane Adolph

P.S

Dien

Thanks again for SOWPUB! I always enjoy posting and reading!

How an 12 year old kid made a fast $2000 profit....
 

Hi Duane!

That was a fantastic post! :)

It shows what a little bit of initiative can do.... :)

I really enjoy hearing stories of successful business teenagers.... The reason why is because I tend to figure -- well, if a teenager can do it, then I should be able to too. :)

Thomas (my brother) started his first "serious" business in his teens, though his first business didn't work out financially, he got a lot of experience from it.... (Here's Thomas's earlier post about his first "serious" business - How I Lost $10,000.) His current business, distributing a particular brand of blank CDs, is doing quite well, and will soon expand into other computer-related products as well.... Thomas is only 20.

Just a couple days ago, I bought "Direct from Dell" by Michael Dell. Man, this guy was a teenage dynamo! You could see the hallmarks of success in his story already....

When he was aged 12, he liked to collect stamps, so he got a job as a water boy in a Chinese restaurant so he had money to buy stamps. He noticed that stamp auctions were quite successful, so he figured that the auctioners must be making good money. So he thought - why not do something similar?

He contacted a few of the other stamp collectors in his area and had them agree that he could sell their stamps on consignment. Once he had the stamps to sell, he placed an ad for "Dell's Stamps" in Linn's Stamp journal, a trade journal, and typed (with one finger) a 12-page catalog. From responses to his ads, he mailed out his catalogs. To his surprise, he made $2,000! And remember, he was just 12 years old!

When he was 16 (in the early 1980s), Michael Dell got a summer job selling subscriptions to the Houston Post. The way he was taught to do it was to just cold call lists of new phone numbers from the phone company. After a while, he noticed that almost everyone who bought had either just gotten married, or had just moved into new houses or apartments. So he wondered, "How could you find all the people who are just getting mortgages or getting married?"

He discovered that in the state of Texas, all couples had to go to the county courthouse to get their marriage license, which included the address where their license was to be sent. In Texas, that information was public. Aha!

Then he found out that certain companies compiled lists of people with new mortgages, ranked by size. He could go after the high potential high mortgage people first.

He wrote these people personalized letters offering them a subscription to the Houston Post.

By now, summer was over, but he didn't want to give up this opportunity, so he'd go to school in the day, and work at his business at night and on Saturdays. He got thousands of new subscriptions for the paper.

One day his economics and history teacher gave the class an assigment on filing your own tax return. On his tax return, Michael Dell put an income of about $18,000, based on his newspaper subscription sales. At first his teacher corrected him, thinking he had missed a decimal point. When she found out he hadn't, she became very dismayed. He was making more than his teacher did!

I've read a few books about billionaires, but Michael Dell's book is a real treasure.... He is the probably the most successful direct marketer in the world today. It shows that the techniques that Gordon talks about (particularly back in the private Study Group forum), or which you can read about in Jim Straw's "Own Your Own Mailorder Business," has the potential for great profits, as they are essentially the same direct marketing strategies used by Michael Dell. (One of Michael Dell's advantages was probably that he jumped into a fast growing industry.)

I've only read the first few pages of his book, but for me just those few pages was already worth the price of the book to me. :)

Thanks Duane, I like talking about these topics.... :)

- Dien


Join the private Study Group forum for just the price of Jim Straw's manual (today is the last day!)