Alexander Rothbard

Like my grandfather, I am also in sales and feel a special connection to the man who would bring Marlboro out west.  He to me was always confident, he was a man who could sell anything.   He was also a friend of many business men in the Denver area.   I looked up to my grandfather as a hero.  But all heroes have to start somewhere.  This note written by my grandfather illustrates that the first steps are always the toughest.   I have been at that frustration point, where all I saw was failure.  It is comforting to know that a man loved by many had to start somewhere as well.     


 I will have this article in two parts, one part today, and the other part will be published tomorrow, enjoy:

"I Remember the Sale"

By: Alexander Rothbard 

The sale I'll never forget happened a long time ago.  It was my third day as a Philip Morris salesman.  The first two days were a training period, third day I was on my own.  


The assignment slip gave a list of the streets (in a strange city, I asked a million questions as to how to reach my destination.   During the first subway ride I kept thinking and planning how I was really going to sell Philip Morris.


I analyzed my approach, presentation and closing but still no sale.  About 2:00 in the afternoon I hit low ebb--all the enthusiasm gone, my hopes and dreams shattered.    All I could see was failure.  The next stop was a tobacco shop.  I must have looked at the store for 10 minutes, actually fearing another refusal.  Well it had to be and I was desperate.  I walked in and gave no introduction other than I was from the Philip Morris Company.  (Continued Tomorrow)


Poetry Link: Grandfather

Monday: Greg's Journal of Found Things

'"Encyclopedias do not win wars." Asimov, Issac Foundation

"Killing Energy is unstoppable until a country gets to the point of exhaustion and there then is an opportunity for change but variables such as oil will shape the outcome."

"Dominant keeps going but tension pulls at and creates a tipping point and snap a new map is created."

"An individual does not sway a whole system, a system will move on a predetermined course until it needs a new leader to show a new way."

Paraphrased from lectures taught by Courtney Brown, for Science Fiction and Politics class taught at Emory.

Art of War Says:
In sum when in battle,
Use the orthodox to engage.
Use the extraordinary to attain victory.

Tastes do not exceed five,
Yet all their variations cannot be tasted.

The shih of battle do not exceed the extraordinary and the orthodox,
Yet all their variations cannot be exhausted.


When still, they are at rest.
When agitated, they move.
When square they stop.
When round they go.