When asked what I do for a living, I usually don’t give the generic response of, “I’m a VP at Devara … we’re an importer/supplier/decorator of badge holders in the Promotional Product Industry.” Nope … I usually respond with, “I surround myself with the most talented people I can find and then support the living heck out of them, watch them run/succeed in building a strong business and feel pretty good about it at the end of the day.”
I mean who wants to hear the ins & outs of the Promotional Product Industry? … the benefits it affords businesses & groups? … the multi-billion dollar industry that it is? … what a Promotional Product Distributor is? … what a Promotional Product Supplier is? … the mainstream to off the wall products it makes available with a logo? … the fact that promotional products are a proven & critical piece to marketing/branding? The list goes on and on and often leads to solid conversation in no time, but who wants to hear all that? … right? I’d rather start with “I surround myself with the most talented people I can find…” and then “bore” them with the ‘ol generic response above. The World of Promotional Products is pretty fascinating and the World of finding & surrounding yourself with good people, even more so.
I’m 58 … I’m an old dog who’s learned over time that “knockin’ out the rent” is a lot more rewarding/fun when surrounded with good/talented people than not. I often tell my peeps that we can empty our warehouse of badge holders and replace the space with vacuum cleaners and be just as successful because we have solid people working a solid system. I’m the smartest and dumbest person you’ll ever meet and take it from me … it’s all about Peoples, Peoples, Peoples.
Thanks for reading and thanks for always trying to be that talented person!