BJM Free Press |

THE BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN “US” AND “THEM”

Tonight I visited a business owner (casual friend) of mine. She owns a publishing business similar to mine but her customer base is the local market. She bids on contracts for the City, County, State and Federal Governments and draws a large income on a monthly basis.

Being the silent sort of “jeans and T-shirt” type person that I am, I sat down waiting for her to take a break. She began showing me a 37-page publication she had just completed. I thumbed through it and said, “The layout looks great but the words look boring.” (the words consisted of legal language and a lot of numbers that probably nobody really reads). She immediately snapped back; “Well you’d learn to like it if you got paid the $3,500.00 I did for doing it.”

I snapped back, “I might not make as much money you do, but I can get up any time I want, go to bed any time I want, not have to put on make-up and attend round-table meetings, put on an act to win some governmental contract, or deal with stringent deadlines and corporate bull. So, my situation suits me fine!”

Of course this (casual) friend is used to me being outspoken and she doesn’t hate me for life — but it suddenly dawned on me that mail order dealers are a RARE BREED. Most of us enjoy our little hum-drum, lonely existence. We like spending time on each customer order, not being rushed by them standing over our shoulder and asking when it’ll be done.

We also enjoy taking the time to get to know our customers as our friends. Yes — good mail order dealers build personal relationships. They help each other out. They co-op deals together and refer business to one another. In fact — they are REAL people with REAL lives. Most mail order dealers are very down-to-earth and cut through a lot of the “bull” that corporations make a part of their everyday curriculum.

In normal, high-pressure business a type of “game” comes into play. People play the game of brown-nosing just to land a big contract. They attend parties and associate with people they honesty don’t like just to be accepted and get the “inside deals.” All of these things are done for the love of money.

But in most small mail order businesses — we don’t have to conduct our lives in this fashion and live out these horrible nightmares. We have removed money as the ONLY driving force in our life and place PRODUCTS and QUALITY first. And because of this, we don’t have to take a lot of bull. We can do whatever we want. People can’t force us to do anything we don’t want to do. Money doesn’t buy us. We don’t have a price on our foreheads and aren’t displayed in the bargain-store window for the highest bidder. Therefore, we end up being our own person. This is what freedom is all about!

If you had a choice of being financially rich and physically abused OR being poor and well loved — what choice would you make? Only a fool would choose money over love and peace of mind. But that’s exactly what some people do. I’ve worked in many offices where “tattle tales” would pretend to be your friend so they could run back to the boss with lies, get you fired, and take your higher-paying job. But what happens when the boss who fired you is not there any longer? Does the “tattle tale” that got your job by conning and brown-nosing able to continue in the position forever? No. All too often, a good boss will fire them and all the efforts they expended to get the higher-paying position is short-lived. So where did it get them?

A struggling merry-go-round that never ends — that’s where!

And you know — when you think about it — the mail order business has a little bit more to offer than money. Isn’t that why we left the corporate environment anyway? We found out money is not the key to happiness — people are.

So, take pride in our mail order industry. Respect it for what it really is. Be courteous when you call another dealer and their child is screaming in the background. Be understanding and accept them for the down-to-earth reality of what mail order really is. Don’t try to force mail order dealers to act like and be corporate executives. Everyone has a special contribution to make. Everyone has a certain task they perform that is worthwhile.

Train and educate others you see making obvious mistakes. Call them up and inform them what is going on. Talking behind their back will not solve their problem. They’ll only continue making the same mistake and may not even realize it.

We are a rare breed — and it’s up to YOU to continue keeping it that way. Besides, we want to be different from the corporate world don’t we?