“Hello Mr. Adams, my name is Jack and I am with ABC Box Company and I’d like to introduce you to my company which can provide you with top quality boxes, on time delivery, competitive pricing and superior customer service. When would be a convenient time for us to meet?”

In my sales career, I’ve sold boxes, corrugated displays, plastic displays, hooks, merchandising aids, printing, point-of-sale materials, tape, packaging materials, fulfillment needs and the list goes on. I’ve sold to or made presentations to top Fortune 500 companies. Purchasing agents or buyers don’t care about. you..they only care about themselves and their needs, and this is quite understandable. But the time they lose in dragging sales people along, is astounding. A simple no or “I’m really not interested in moving my business” would have saved immeasurable time for both of us! Instead they are on a revolving list of “Hello Mr. Adams, its Jack again…” Its tiring and deflating all at the same time. After 15-20 years of this.. you think to yourself.. it would be so nice to sell Ice-cream on the beach.. only chocolate and vanilla, but REALLY good Chocolate and Vanilla! The best part is that we have a captured audience.. who would say no to ice-cream on a hot day and lets not give them many decisions to make..chocolate or vanilla, pick one!

Well, I’ve been thinking about this throughout my sales career as I’m getting beaten up on price, production issues, late deliveries and it goes on. A real rat race. Relying on others with your business is paramount to doing business and unless your team is on the same page as you, it is worrisome to say the least.

So after all these years, I found the outlet that I needed to sell Ice-cream on the beach. Its on Junkanoo Beach in Nassau, The Bahamas! I met a friend, Barry who has a hut on the beach selling cold beers, frozen drinks, cigars, sand chairs, etc. I met him when buying a cigar at his stand. This along with 3 beers and 3 shots of Tequila for $10 made us life-long friends!

Well anyway getting back to my life lesson… I told Barry about my “dream” to simplify my life and sell ice-cream on the beach..only 2 flavors… and now I have the outlet and can use his hut as my “store”. Do you have any idea what he told me? He says, “Jack, I tried to sell Ice-Cream, but each time I bought ice-cream and stuck it in the freezer, the power would go out and I would lose my inventory!” That was a moment I will never forget. It tells you that no matter how easy something may look or finding an easier way out is never going to work. There are always going to be issues standing in the way. You have to do the work in order for you to get where you want to go. There is no silver bullet. It takes some people a few years to figure this out or for some like me, it took a lot longer. but let get one thing straight, not matter what I was selling, I put in 150% of my time and effort.

So I abandoned the idea of selling ice-cream on the beach. I’ve moved on to thinking about owning a bed and breakfast on the beach in the Bahamas for my retirement.. a guys gotta dream right?

During these crazy pandemic times, you look at the planet we live on in a totally different way. With nothing to do and lots of free time, I spent a lot of my time in our fenced-in courtyard reading or just enjoying the feeling of the Vitamin D warming me up. Well I don’t know exactly how it happened, but I couldn’t but help notice the beautiful bird sounds from the nearby palm and ficus trees. Their flights from tree to tree was just a graceful and beautiful. I know how I may sound, and believe me, I was thinking the same, I was in a place that I was unfamiliar with… a time when I didn’t have to worry about… well, damn I really don’t have to worry about anything! When was the last time that I ever had to not worry about anything? Wow. It is a time to step back and smell the roses, or feed the birds and squirrels! I swear I’m losing’ it…

One day, it was a windy one and the trees were rockin’ back and forth, it was wind that we haven’t seen in some time, and after the wind died down, I noticed a baby bird in our courtyard, a small black bird that probably got blown out of his nest. I’m throwin’ it bread and peanuts, and wondering if I should pick it up and relocate it. But then I thought about the hawks and predators that it would be subject to… I certainly don’t want to carry that guilt around. But it is squawking up a storm! Before long, its mom and dad, (who were later named Tom and Jerry), came nearby looking for him. They flew on our fence and looked down on their little one wondering how to get him out. Well to this day, I don’t know how that little bird escaped the inside of our courtyard. My mind was wondering and I thought of the possibilities:

1. Tom or Jerry came down off the fence and put the little one on his back and flew him out.
2. Tom and Jerry contracted with a squirrel in the neighborhood and the squirrel, (who was named Rocky), “muled” him out.
3. Or the little bird climbed the tree and hopped the fence.

Either way, one day the little bird was gone. After a day or two, they came back to visit! And brought their friends! We would open our front door and they would fly onto the fence. When we weren’t outside they would squawk a bit letting us know that they were there.

They popped in on us, perched on the fence, waited for me to drop a few nuts and they either ate “in”, or took it to go. They brought their young’uns and fed them too! Totally crazy.. I felt like the old guy on the park bench feeding the pigeons! What the birds didn’t eat, Rocky did.

Eventually I went back to work, (although it was short-lived), the Grackle’s stopped coming by and really haven’t seen them since. It could be that they migrated elsewhere for the summer months, but before long another bird showed up, pecking at our Papaya tree. A Red Bellied Woodpecker! How cool is that? And yes of course, its Woody!

I really need to get back to work.

Large Iguana at the top of my Papaya Tree

So I learned a valuable lesson! After seeing this huge male Iguana at the top of my tree eating all the fresh shoots coming out of the top of the tree, I thought that I’d try to get him down by spraying him with the hose. I really thought that he would jump to another branch onto a nearby tree.. but no. He eventually slipped and fell to the ground below! He landed on our concrete courtyard with such a sound that I will never forget! it sounded like a tire falling onto the pavement, but he got up and tried to exit the courtyard which. he couldn’t do since it is enclosed! Oh my! I opened our gate with the hopes that he would see the opening and exit the premises and he did.. he slowly lumbered out… whew.. that could have been such a mess if he didn’t survive the fall! From now on I’ll just observe, let him eat and move on…

Captains star date – August 2, 2020 – Were having a party tomorrow for my girlfriends 1 yr old granddaughter, so being COVID-19 friendly, (if there is such a thing), she got a thermometer to test the arriving guests. We’re only having 10 people. Crazy times for sure.. “Welcome to my party, please let me take your temperature…” the silver lining in all of this is that 50 years ago, it would have been “welcome to my party, now bend over!”

Monday, August 3, 2020 – day 529 in quarantine; went for a bike ride this morning… during the ride I encountered some head wind… thats ok.. I can work through it, no pain no gain… blah, blah, blah, and then all of of sudden out of nowhere, this older guy, blew by me on a bike! He gave me some kind of beep beep and a wave and then I saw dust! I’m thinking damn, I wonder what kind of bike he had! I saw him again later in the ride but of course didn’t have the opportunity to ask… 

Everbodylovesjack.com salutes Timothy Berners-Lee. This was the gentleman that developed the world wide web! The first web page went live on August 6, 1991. It seems like a lifetime ago.. but its only been 30 years ago! How did we ever do without it? It certainly was a game changer.

I made croutons today! Yup, from bread. 

THE BEAVER SELLS WATER! Dateline 1957 – There was no bottled water for sale back in the 50’s. No Zephyrhills, Dasani or Perrier. It seems that Beaver Cleaver was way ahead of his time! It was a hot summer day and The Beaver was looking for something to do. He decided to sell water to those working around their homes. Wally told him “Why should I pay for water, I can get it from the tap”. While walking around his neighborhood, he came across a water department crew who told him that the water is going to be turned off for a couple of hours. Quickly, The Beav went into action! He replenished his inventory and filled up jars of water. Who came back for water? Wally! He sold water to his brother Wally and friends on his block; even Mrs. Cleaver bought water! The Beaver had a monopoly on water! He sold little waters for 2 cents and large waters for 5 cents. He had a captive audience and ended up making $1.90. Ward had a talk with the young entrepreneur telling him that he should be a good neighbor and friend and give the water away to his friends as a good will gesture and not exploit his friends and family. The young Beaver asked his dad if he was a friend of the grocery store owner in town. Yes, I am said Ward. “Well then Dad, if he is your friend, why doesn’t he share the storeful of food with you?” Ward said “yes, but he is a business man”. “So am I Dad” said the little Beaver.https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zivgqra7QnI?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&autohide=2&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent

I’ve been in sales for all of my working life. This was truly a classic example of a an entrepreneur in action!

In Major League Baseball news, The Pittsburgh Pirates surprised a season ticket holder during this season which no fans are allowed to attend the games. A package with a letter reads that “during a recent home game a foul ball landed in your seat. A gentleman from AT&T Sportsnet was able to grab it for you and you’ll find it enclosed! It goes on to say that we wish you could have been here to catch yourself and hopefully we’ll see you back in your seat at PNC Park in 2021.” 

What a classy way to do business, good job to the Pirates for thinking out of the box during these times!

Watching The Yankees beat up Tampa Bay this weekend, After Stanton hits a home run, the play by play announcer says, “That was the quietest home run ever!” Like, really? Lol EditSearch for:

This Covid quarantine or stay at home order, whatever you want to call it, has been somewhat interesting. I’m in the hospitality industry and unfortunately it is one of the major industries that is really taking a financial hit. Being temporarily out of work causes one to be reflective, take an self-inventory of life. Realize what you have and be grateful. It really is a pause in life, so-to-speak. So far, I read 4 books, all fiction, took a Hospitality Mgt Certificate class from FAU, learned Linked In like a pro, (twice), and even made friends with the birds and squirrels in my courtyard. Feeding nuts to the birds and squirrels couldn’t help me feel like the old guy on the park bench feeding the pigeons.

Jacksperience – Have you had an allergy attack in a grocery store lately? I did! I needed to get through the store quickly only picking up a few things, my throat closed up; trying to breathe by way of coughing.. but trying to hold it back with the mask on not wanting to cough. or god forbid sneeze in public! A sneeze was coming on, and I didn’t want to create attention to myself and get kicked out of Publix! Oh, this Pandemic….

In the current events department, have you heard about the Crocs that KFC is now selling? They smell like fried chicken! And yes, go figure, they sold out in 30 minutes. They were on sale for $59.99 ea, however they are now being re-sold at a whopping price of $250 ea! How is it that dogs are not chasing the people wearing them? I can’t help but think of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry was at a friends house for dinner who was serving Mutton. He took bites, chewed and wrapped it in napkins and put it in his jacket pocket. Elaine was leaving and asked to borrow his jacket. Not knowing about the mutton, Elaine was followed and chased home by a pack of dogs! Thanks for the mutton Jerry! https://www.youtube.com/embed/rJW4xx5G3F0?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&autohide=2&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent