The Story

I'm not sure why I am doing this. I don't know if anyone will read it or even care what I have to say. Most certainly, I don't feel that anything I say will have any importance. I have been wanting to start a journal, which I know would make my high school writing lab teacher happy (she was my favorite teacher and made a huge impact on my life), so I guess maybe this is more therapeutic than anything else.

In order for any of this to make any kind of sense, I need to tell the story. Kim, (my wife), says that when I tell a story it takes me "5 miles to walk next door". In other words, she says that I ramble on and on. I just want to make sure that all of the facts are there to support my point. So out of fear of being chastised by her, I'll try to make this brief.

My entire adult life I have been in the boat business. My father in law, John, gave me my start at his boat dealership in Little Rock, AR. I began by working in the shop as a boat rigger; I put the boats together. I installed engines, trolling motors and other accessories. Usually after the boats had been retail sold because each new boat owner wanted different things. I also did minor repairs on the boats. John sent me to service school which gave me the ability to work on the outboard engines also. Now, I'll be the first to tell you that I am not mechanically gifted so the thought of ME working on someones outboard engine is a little scary. So let's say that my future as a mechanic was not very bright. The knowledge that I did gain from service school did allow me to be able to speak intelligently to the retail customers about their new boat. So, I was given charge of working with each customer in the pre-delivery process, showing them the ins and outs of their new boat, how to use it and how to maintain it. From there, I began to spend some time inside selling the boats. I do not consider myself a salesman at all. At the fear of offend someone which is not my intent, I do not like salespeople. I do not like to be "sold". When I make a purchase that requires the assistance of a "salesperson", I am immediately turned off by the pushy type. I want someone to help me make a purchase. For that reason, I have always tried to treat people the same way. If someone came into the dealership with the idea of owning a boat, I helped them purchase one. I never (and never will) tried to sell someone a boat. As time progressed, I moved to working inside permanently, rather than working in the shop. We never had more than a couple of people working as salespeople, but I kinda became a quasi sales manager. In this capacity, John taught me about how to buy our products from our suppliers, how to figure retail pricing and obviously how to manage people. John also began to teach me the management side of the business as a whole, so one could say at a point I became the manager of the dealership as a whole. John was ever present at the dealership and he was in charge so I in no way feel like I was "the man". Although my father was (and still is) the most influential person in my life, he taught me how to be a dad and a husband, John was (and still is) my mentor. John taught me many valuable lessons about business and how to treat people.

As time progressed and I grew at the dealership, I began to feel the itch to try something new. I always enjoyed working with the factory representatives of the products that we sold. Bill Atkinson who was an independent representative and John Mitchell who was a factory representative inspired me and encouraged me to try my hand in the "rep-ing" business. Bill hired me to work some boat shows in his territory. I really enjoyed working with other boat dealers in other states. I was able to use my knowledge for our dealership in Little Rock to help these dealers and in turn I gained some knowledge from them that I was able to use back in Little Rock. It didn't take long for me to figure out that this is what I wanted to do. With John's blessing, I set out to get a position with a boat manufacturer. John Mitchell recommended me to his company Godfrey Marine and they hired me to represent their Polar Kraft and Dynasty lines. I had found my calling. As time passed, there were a few transitions, I even left Godfrey to work with Bill as an independent rep for a time, but I was fortunate to be able to back to work for Godfrey and was soon representing all of Godfrey's boat lines. Side bar story, the Deputy family who owned Godfrey Marine (they sold the company; more on that later) were the most generous and honorable people I know in the boat business. I would like to think that if they still owned the company that I would still be working for them. If they started a new boat company, and I was given the opportunity, I would work for them again in a second!

Several years passed and I was blessed to meet and work with a lot of great people. I mentioned the Deputy family who is at the top of that list. I owe them a great debt. But business, as in life, changes. The Deputy family sold Godfrey Marine. All was great in the beginning, no major changes in our day to day business but slowly little things began to evolve. Let's just say, I did not like nor did I feel comfortable with the direction things were beginning to go. Another boat company had approached me about going to work for them so after much consideration I made the decision to leave Godfrey and accept the new company's offer.

The new company was (is) a family owned business. I felt more comfortable in this situation. I guess it's the "big fish in a small pond" theory. I felt like I played a bigger role in the business than I was feeling with Godfrey. I was also excited because I was going to get to work in a territory that I had never worked; the Northeast United States. Imagine a redneck from Arkansas calling on dealers in New York and Massachusetts. It was a little intimidating to say the least. But believe it or not, I met some of the nicest "Yankees" with which I still stay in touch. The people at Comstock Yacht Sales in Brick, NJ and Pier 47 Marina in Wildwood, NJ are awesome people. Yeah that's right, I said NEW JERSEY!!

Just as things were beginning to roll, the economy began to tank. There were many boat manufacturers and boat dealers that were beginning to struggle. Being a small company, we were able to make adjustments and carry on our day to day business. But things were continuing to worsen. Other manufacturers and dealers were starting to go out. I'm not going to make this political, so I'll keep those opinions to myself, but I will say that mistakes were made. I'll add that I believe a big part of the blame goes to the media. Not that the truth should be hidden, but I firmly believe that their news coverage built around ratings only, hurt our country deeply. Anyway, our company began to feel the pinch. Changes had to be made. On August 13, 2008, I was in a hotel room in New Jersey when I received a call telling me that I no longer had a job. I had become a casualty of the poor economy. The company fulfilled their obligations to me as far as income that was due me and did offer some alternatives but they were not realistic alternatives. I think they were offered as a means to ease their conscience, but the decision had already been made.

That brings me to this blog. It is going to be about the life trials of a self proclaimed "professional" that became a casualty of the poor economy, lost his job and can't seem to break back in. I'm not doing it as a means to garner sympathy but maybe someone might get some comfort knowing that they are not the only experiencing tough times.

Next post "The Job Hunt Begins".