On any given day, I may end up receiving an impromptu phone call to cover an important industry story, or have to address some unforeseen issue with the magazine.
We all have bumps in the road that we have to face once in a while.
It’s important to be open to change, depending on what life (and your job) throws at you.
This couldn’t have been more evident during my ridealong with father-and-son distributor team John and Doug Mansell when I visited Centre Hall, Pa. this past September.
At our first stop of the day, Doug needed to deliver a toolbox to a customer. While attempting to unload the box, his liftgate stopped operating.
We all handle roadblocks on a regular basis (monthly, weekly … daily?), it’s how you react to these events that can truly make or break the rest of your day -- and determine your long-term success.
Doug handled it with aplomb. (Not to mention he had someone visiting him to write a story about his business that day.)
“You just have to keep smiling,” Doug says. “That’s the thing, if you can’t get over stuff. I could dwell on that all day. It’s easy to stay mad.”
We were delayed by about an hour that morning. But, once we were back up and running, Doug was able to get back to his regular schedule and could even joke about what happened with some of his customers.
He relates this outlook to handling other aspects of the business too.
“You just have to keep going, plugging away,” he says. “You never know when you’re going to sell your next toolbox. You never know when you’ll sell your next scan tool. If you don’t have a good attitude about it, you’re probably not going to sell it.”
It also doesn’t hurt to consider another observation Doug made that helps him to stay motivated when times get tough: “You’ve got to have a short memory too.”
