Selling Stuff

July 12, 2013

Friday was a complicated day.

Pretty yellow flowers at Queens Botanical Garden
 

I have a lot of inner faith.  Sadly, I have faith in Universal Laws and Energy and Magnetism BUT I lack faith in myself.  I am still really hard on myself in spite of all the Spiritual confidence I have.  Does this make sense?

Friday was a challenge.  I have challenges at home...with the house and kids.  I feel like I cannot give everyone the attention they want and need and deserve.  A friend bought me food today and I cried over it.  So sensitive because of everything that is troubling me.

Selling stuff is a job...some people are in the job of selling stuff.  Some people sell things because they want others to buy it...and because others' buying it benefits that person.  some people want to sell stuff because if the buyer knows what they want...they want it and that is that.  Someone has to sell what it is others want to buy.  It's pretty simple over all.  I agreed to be a person who sells stuff and that is what I do.

I do not sell things to people.  People want things and I procure them and then transfer them. I act as a bridge and liaison between an experience and a person who wishes to have the experience.  The money exchange is the sale.  But the sale is not "what it's all about". 

It's all about the relationship.

Today I had my first sale as a Travel Agent.  Wednesday I had a small transaction with the promise of a honeymoon booking, but today I booked an Alaska Cruise and IT FELT GOOD!  I really owe it to my Team Leader because she has been so driven and focused and has refused to let me slide and has refused to let me be " easy" on myself.  She is a really great leader.  I mean it.

Some friends of mine will remember when I first started Travel Planning.  It began as a hobby for me.  Then Annika and I went on our adventure in Acting. 

learn more here:
http://annikamsalgado.blogspot.com/

Acting opened doors to traveling...going to so many new places.  Now I am really going places.  It's pretty exciting! Annika and I traveled throughout Boston by train and on foot and also in the car.  A few times her sister Daly was able to take my place and have these adventures with her.  She got a few jobs and we referred some friends who also got some opportunities.  She still loves Acting but we don't have much time for it anymore now that I am working longer hours.

My early experiences with traveling were from childhood.  I traveled in the womb.  My mom became pregnant with me while married to my father and living in West Palm Beach, Florida.  They divorced during this time and she came to Rhode Island to give birth to me.  I was born in Providence. 
Mom said that I was on a plane as a baby so maybe she traveled back to Florida to see my dad for some reason or his family.  I am not sure.  As a toddler, I was one of the early members of a Harley Motorcycle Club.  I never got my own hog....sad face.  I think I had a big wheel bike though...happy face.  My mom's boyfriend (who would become my Dad and adopt me at age 8), has always been a biker.  I can remember being a small child on a motorcycle and traveling to Florida (Daytona) or out to New Hampshire (Laconia).

Dad was also a Truck-Driver who did long hauls.  We went up and down the East Coast with him for years.  Childhood vacations weren't exactly glamorous or planned out elaborate type trips.  We WENT PLACES...constantly.  They liked to get out and go places.  For years we partnered with another family and spent our summer and autumn weekends out on Prudence Island.  We would ferry our car over from Portsmouth to the Island and we had a house with an enormous property.  We put up tents in the yard and just camped!

We did a fair amount of boating too.  My uncle Mike had a fishing boat and recreational boats so we got to explore the Warwick shoreline.  I did not grow up talking about travel per-se or going on elaborately planned vacations.  There were four kids in the family and one parent who worked to support us all, so life was simple.  Mom and Mom's family were farmers, so they stayed local most of their lives.  Dad's family were always very frugal.  My Grammi went on a cruise once.  She loved it and raves about it still. I wish she had/would go on more!

I could not go on one of my Band Trips when I was younger.  I was SO scared to fly.  I went on a very memorable trip (via bus) to a band competition in Montreal and we also visited Quebec.  IT WAS AMAZING.  I was so young, but I have such vivid memories of this wonderful experience. 

Learn more about Quebec here:
http://www.bonjourquebec.com/qc-en/montreal0.html


As an adult I vacationed in  New Hampshire, Cape Cod, Puerto Rico, Texas, Florida...some of these repeatedly.  It's AMAZING how you can pinch a penny.  Even BROKE you can travel...you really can.  No excuses.  I mean it.

So everything in my life changed after my daughter Annika was born...and then my brother was killed.  I started thinking about John and his bravery and sense of adventure.  He had lived in California and trained all over the world.  Then he went to IRAQ and Qatar.  I started to wish I could experience the world as he did and feel free...more free...I began to believe in the connection of FREEDOM and TRAVEL.  So I started planning my own family's vacations and also planning a MOVE to another state.  It took years for me to realize some of the dreams I had and when I realized them they were not exactly as I had planned them.  I blogged about the experiences along the way because writing is a favorite outlet of mine. 

See those blogs here:
http://lionandshark.blogspot.com/
recommended articles:  A Splendid Summer Diversion;
Reflections of Cocoa Beach;  summer Road-Trippin Cocoa Beach;  Flushing Queens Botanical Gardens

Florida became a favorite place for me.  Then my sister moved herself and husband and kids down there.  This past year my other sister moved there.  So now I am all alone up here in RI!  Well...you know what I mean.  I have the boyfriend and kids and the dogs and these two crazy cats....and lots and lots of friends and other family, but nothing can replace a sister.  Last summer I spent traveling and thinking about my life and trying to figure out how to put it all back together after tearing down the towers I had created that no longer served my higher calling and higher purpose in life (which is love).  I went to all the places I had been wanting to go.  When I came home from Florida I was refreshed.

Aside from the Traveling and Writing, there was the Planning and Organizing aspect that I love so much.  That was why for years we had been hosting and creating Events as Avonlea Weddings and Events.  It is hard to "break" into the industry as a small unknown because you need deep relationships and connections.  It takes a lot of time and connections and networking.  I kept working at it though.  Eventually some friends of mine wanted to create a group who would inspire and serve the community and so I was a contributor to organizing and implementing that.  My family vacations were always planned out to the last detail with an itinerary.  I love doing that.  Now I get to do that for others and get paid for it.

When you are passionate about something because YOU PERSONALLY LOVE IT...it is so easy to talk about.  When you talk about it with everyone you meet, eventually you will be heard by someone who wants, loves or needs the things you have connection to.  When you find that person, then they will know you have something that they need and want and that you have the resources to connect them with it and make it the best experience they could have.  THAT, to me, is what sales is.  I think I learned this from my friend Mike Harrold who was an exceptional salesman.  I dedicate this article to his memory.

Love and Peace to you all,

AngelMarie