Skip to main content

The Loneliest Yard Sale

yard sale

Do you like yard sales? I know that some people do. The few times that I've participated in yard sales there were always eager shoppers there BEFORE the announced opening time. I've even seen a man (who was extremely well-dressed for yard sale shopping) carrying a map with all of the local yard sales marked, numbered in the order of starting time and access. He was looking for extreme bargains, with some very specific items in mind (he had to have boundaries, he was making the circuit on his bicycle.)

Some people love yard sales. The bargains, the sudden finds, the thrill of the hunt. I do not enjoy them as much, because some have an air of desperation: please buy this crap that I don't want anymore.

It's not all crap. But, some is.

One particular yard sale that wore me out and sucked the joy out of them for me was set up by my significant other at the time. It's the yard sale in the picture above. That's it, just about -- the whole yard sale. Do you see anything that you'd brake a car to get out and look out? Me, either. It was what was left after many previous yard sales.

To be fair she also had a garage full of merchandise. You can't see that in the picture, and you couldn't see it from the street.

After setting it up, she went back to work. Since she owned her own business, she was of course multitasking, leaving me the lonely job of sitting and hoping that people would show up. Or hoping that they wouldn't, so that I could read a book. But, they showed up just often enough that I couldn't really read. Just wait.

And of course they would bargain over prices that were already rock bottom. If you don't want to pay 25 cents for something, why not spare the indignity of bargaining a lower price. Move along. Does that sound cynical or jaded? If you try to sell enough 25 cent items on a hot and dry Saturday I think you'll get the picture.

Products have value. Customers will buy just about anything if it is priced correctly. But, they also won't respect anything priced far below its value -- or anything that clearly HAS no value. Customers will tell you what they think, even if it hurts your feelings.

High performance leaders coach their teams to offer products and services of value. If they do not substantiate more than a drive-by look, something is missing and that missing something will suck the very life out of your team. Yes, you must build your team -- AND you must make absolutely certain that they are offering something of very high quality in return for  someone else's business.

Because when you do, and when customers can't wait until their next encounter with your team, you can stop working the loneliest yard sale. We're all better than that.

-- doug smith

key words:

Comments

  1. David SpiegelJune 2, 2019 at 1:30 PM

    Hence ...I call Goodwill,Amvets or some other charitable organization!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Insist On The Truth

How many lies are acceptable to you? Centered leaders confront all lies as soon as possible. Clarify, validate, ask. A lie left alone only grows worse. The truth may seem flexible but require constant diligence. How else will you know what is true? -- Douglas Brent Smith
Post a Comment
Read more

Pay Attention to Your Problems

What if we just ignored a problem? What if we just denied that it existed? Some people would rather "reframe" it and not call it a problem at all. I have had several bosses who preferred to call problems "opportunities". They didn't fool anyone because a problem is still a problem. We may have the opportunity to succeed, but only if we solve the problem. Denying that problems exist invites them to worsen and grow. We don't want that do we? The trouble with denying problems is that you don't make them go away that way. Call them what you like, they still need to be managed or solved. What's the fear? Let's call problems what they are: problems; and get about the exciting business of solving them. That's what a centered leader would do. Won't you? -- Douglas Brent Smith
Post a Comment
Read more

Should You Judge Ideas?

How did your last brainstorming session go? Having been thru tons of brainstorming sessions, I know that they don't always go well. Sometimes people judge ideas too soon. Sometimes people don't give themselves enough time to develop the best and most creative ideas. Sometimes, people settle for stupid ideas. Yes, we do need to generate lots of ideas. Yes, we do judge too much without letting our imaginations go wild. But, there does come a time when reason must rule. There does come a time when we must fall out of love with our ideas enough to see them for what they really are. Because, as a matter of fact, there IS such a thing as a stupid idea. And you wouldn't want to run with that, would you? -- Doug Smith
Post a Comment
Read more

Roll With Your Creativity

You have a secret healing power. Sometimes you use it without even knowing it. If you're like me, you could use it even more. It's a power that heals each person and when we heal ourselves we are much better positioned to heal and help others. Creativity energy heals. Bring that creative energy out. Encourage your creativity. Avoid shutting it down when it inconveniently offers to embarrass you with a really wild idea. Roll with it way more often. When you've gotten to the point where people ask you what's gotten into you because you seem a little more wild and spontaneous than usual -- that's when you know you're on the right track. You're headed in a creative direction that will burst open the veil of constraints you think you see but is only a mirage. It's all available. The possibilities are endless. Creativity rocks. Might as well roll with it. -- Doug Smith
Post a Comment
Read more

Learn Constantly No Matter How Annoying It Is

Some things that annoy us the most grow us the most. I never asked for some of my biggest lessons. I probably didn't ask for any of them. They hurt. They bruised. They provoked anxiety. They made me sweat. But I learned. I learned that people need lots of attention. That sending an email isn't enough. That a handshake (and even a kiss) doesn't mean that a deal won't ever be broken. That broken promises (especially when a kiss IS involved) are the hardest lessons to take. We go on. We strive forward. We learn. We forgive. I am annoyed by big lessons. My ex-wife once gave me a little present that was a miniature traffic cone with the words "Oh no, not another learning opportunity!" on it. That about sums it up: not right now please, I'd rather not get that lesson. We don't always get to pick the timing, but we do get to decide whether or not we learn from those things that annoy us. Things like the team member who isn't finishing the import...
Post a Comment
Read more

Compassion Does Not Require You To Be A Victim

Is it possible to be too compassionate? I suppose that it depends on what you mean by compassionate. Certainly, we owe it to other living beings (and I include all living beings in that, not just people) kindness, grace, caring, and working to create tolerable or better living conditions. We are fundamentally here to help others. But that does not mean that we need do anything anyone asks. We need not become a victim. Some people are in need beyond our capacity to provide that need. Some people take advantage of our desire to help. Some people (gasp!) simply can't be trusted. I come from a tradition of faith that says help anyway, and I believe that is best. Help anyway. Do what we can. But...and maybe I'm going out on a limb here...but not to the point of becoming a victim. Sometimes we must say no. Sometimes we must walk away. Compassion does not require foolishness. We are not required to surrender our selves when evil prevails. Please do not misunderstand me. I ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is That Problem Solved?

How do you feel after solving a problem?  Usually, there is a rush of joy when I think I have a problem licked. The effort, the work, the time feels altogether worth it. But, sometimes there can be a lingering doubt. There can be a flicker of uncertainty. The faint sounds of the problem still ticking away are heard. Maybe that problem isn't solved after all. Maybe there is still work to do. Sometimes our inner radar will tell us. Centered leaders have ways of knowing when their center is still off. Balance is impossible to fake. If you don't feel better after solving a problem maybe you haven't solved the problem. Ready to go back to work? -- Douglas Brent Smith
Post a Comment
Read more

Step Up Creatively

How's your creativity doing today? We all have days that are more creative than others. If we're not careful and if we let the non-creative days become routine it can squeeze the creativity right out of our lives. Suddenly we stop drawing, stop paining, stop writing, stop exploring fun conversations, stop doing the extraordinary. Let's not let that happen. We're more creative than that. Sometimes when we feel the least creative we need to be the most creative. Overcome the routine. Break out of the rut. Draw anything. Draw it again, better. Write a poem about anything - then write it again with a deeper meaning. Force yourself out of the mundane. Imagine yourself in a room with five of the most people you can think of. You wouldn't want to be the lump on the log who sits there doing nothing creative, would you? You need never be that person. Creativity is always there for the developing. We just need to disconnect from the routine and reconnect to that chi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mistakes Don't Care

I can't erase my mistakes, how about you? I've learned that mistakes don't care how we feel about them. We do have a choice, though. That is the choice of whether or not we learn from those mistakes. It helps to talk about them. It helps to analyze what went wrong. Eventually, though, we must move on. We live with our mistakes, whether we want to or not. Why not get over it, and move on? -- Doug Smith
Post a Comment
Read more

Encourage Your Creativity

Do you find time each day to be creative, to do something creative? It doesn't need to be a big deal. Maybe you aren't going to finish that novel today or wrap up that film. But you can still be creative. Your day, your life can be filled with creative things. Try something new. Take a different way home from work. Read a magazine you've never read before. Draw, and then frame that doodle. Cook a new dish ...we can always find new ways to exercise our creativity. It sparks new ideas and helps us refine old ones. Your brain likes creativity. Why not make sure it gets the creativity it craves today? -- Doug Smith
Post a Comment
Read more