“Fighting for the Little Guy”
This is where we’re supposed to put some touch-y, feel-y, rah-rah message about what we believe as company.
Well, I’m not going to write that because I personally never read any of that stuff on any other company’s website. Nor, do I really believe any of them. And I can’t say with certainty, but I think I speak for 99% of people.
Do I buy a pair of running shoes because some shoe company believes that everyone should have equal chance to run? These corporate marketers, obviously, have never seen the world outside their 1st world, suburban corporate office.
Tale of Two Entrepreneurs
Instead let me tell you about about two people, from opposite sides of the planet.
First one being my mom.
When my family immigrated to US, we had nothing. My mom was the bread winner, and she (and thus, the rest of the family) struggled financially. Even though she managed to scrape by and start a small beauty salon, day to day was a grind. Work 10 am to 10 pm, 6 days a week, just to pay rent. I worked at bagel store making $5.50 / hour, and gave most of my earnings to her so she can pay for stuff.
One day, her store lease was coming up – either accept the insane NYC rent rate, or move somewhere. The landlord was this greasy, slick haired douche-y looking old Italian dude whose always winking at people and talking with his hands. NYC in 90’s sucked – drugs, crime, and worst of all, economy was tanking. My mom got even held at gunpoint from druggies in her own shop. She asked the landlord to put some cameras, and do some security measures since there were more than 50+ tenants in his building. He did nothing.
I was there to watch her negotiate. This cold heartless dude wouldn’t hear of it. 30% rent increase? Jesus. She begged and pleaded. She even got on her knees. That image is forever burned into my head. Answer? Accept the terms or get the F out. Of course, she agreed. Where would a mid-aged immigrant woman with barely any English go? Her store was her only lifeline.
In Korea, she had 4 stores with over 30+ employees and had multiple investment properties. She worked, but only if she wanted to. The media stuck a shiny object in front of her: “America, the land of dreams where sidewalks are paved in gold”. She liquidated all the businesses and properties (worth over 8 figures USD now), to follow her “dream” of living in and making it in NYC.
Turns out that American dream was more of a nightmare.
She worked her ass off. I mean, non-stop. All she got was 80 hour work week, toiling away in a crime infested city, making equivalent of minimum wage after rent, taxes, and overhead. Non-stop grinding on a treadmill that goes nowhere.
I tried to help a couple of times, doing internet marketing to spread promotions instead of using flyers and advertising. But every time we saw some success, she just freaked out and told me to stop. She feared new and unknown like it was the devil.
Since she tried to “make” success with non-stop working, she was rarely home. And of course, that took a toll, a toll on her. Husband left , kids estranged, no social life, no free time, and no money to pay for medical bills. She often just “walked off” health issues she’s had. She’s now retired but financially still struggling, and is constant source of conflict.
Second person is a random kid who I met in Myanmar.
Myanmar recently opened its borders to tourists after decades of military dictatorship and international travel restrictions. I visited 2018’ish, and I remember clearly how poor the country was. Kids begging for money from drivers stopped at traffic lights, little girls pretending to be monks to trick tourists to donate, unemployed drunk men hanging out in temples b/c well, nothing to do, unpaved roads, bathroom sinks that don’t drain, rolling power outages, etc.
There’s this tourist destination called The Golden Rock that’s supposed to have “magical” powers (it’s magic is to suck traveler’s money). There’s all kinds of people trying to generate income for their family there. “Assistants” (people help you up the mountain by taking your heavy luggage to your lodging), souvenir sellers, food vendors, scammers, etc.
There’s one kid that stood out. He sold ice cream. That’s not really unique, as there are were dozens of ice cream sellers (Myanmar is a hot country), but he had a portable refrigerator that he seemed to have built. While all the sellers were gone by mid day (probably from lack of inventory), this kid was the only one standing until night fall. By the time all his competitors were gone, he was the one racking in all the sales to loads of tourists stopping at his destination.
Practical monopoly. I watched him for at least 30 minutes – during that time at least 6 bus loads, each with 40+ people, were buying from him for $0.50 – $1.00 a piece. I don’t know how much he made but he had a wad of US dollar bills. In a country where GDP per capita is about $120/mo., he probably made that monthly income one day.
What do my mom and this kid have in common? From the outward appearance and different societies they lived in, nothing. But deep down – they are both “little guys” in the business world. Also, they BOTH have deep impact to the community (i.e. their families) that they serve as bread winners.
How are these two “little people” different? One figured out the tricks to make his life easier, the other one didn’t and struggled.
The irony is that from the outside, they were The Prince and the Pauper since my mom was in US, one of the countries in the world, and the kid was in Myanmar where GDP per capita is one of the lowest in the world. Yet the mind shift made him the prince of his domain, while my mom… well, you get the idea
Stop and Think
If you’re an entrepreneur, in sales, do marketing, or any position where you have to talk to another person (outside your organization) to have an impact, you have a great mission. Whether you sell million dollar factory machines or sell shampoo door to door, your work is what contributes to not just your family, but society in general. It’s not governments, politicians, movie stars, athletes, or any of that crap you see in media.
It’s people who do the work day in and day out, and no one’s cheering for us. What we do is not glamorous. It’s boring, repetitive, and thankless. But unfortunately, that’s life. And because of that, if you’re one of these people, I salute each and every one of you – the hard working mom, dad, grandparent, son, daughter, sibling. You are the true unsung hero.
My mom was too busy “working hard” and playing the “business” game that had very little chance for success. She kept doing it the same way she was doing it 20+ years ago when she started. Rules changed. Games has changed. She didn’t adapt. She didn’t figure out the tricks of the trade, and she just ended up running faster and faster on that hamster wheel with nothing to show for it in her retirement.
We live in a society where people think being busy is somehow being productive. Busy-ness over business. And it’s getting worse because of technology, mainly internet and social media. Somehow, stopping to think is some kind of inferior thing to do. As a result, people engage in “mindless” automation where they do the same thing over and over, even if the strategy is showing NO result.
Instead, stop and think. Because the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.
That kid in Myanmar stopped to think for a second. He asked ‘how can I have that competitive edge? how can I be different?’. As a result, I clearly saw that he figured out the game at age of .. who knows, maybe 13.
There are “tricks” to every profession. We happened to work on sales and marketing tools because generating income (like the two people above) is one of the less-celebrated, but probably the most important, activity in business. And you DON’T have to work hard to succeed. With proper tools (hint hint: GetSalesFox) and some tweaks, you can significantly improve your sales, and thus YOUR life.
Little Guy CAN Win
Why did we choose sales automation? Because that’s where we can apply the greatest “law of effection”. If accounting / payroll was the thing that made businesses successful, heck we’d be making all kinds of crazy stuff like AI / blockchain / <some other tech buzzword> for those. But they are not.
Generating income through sales is the greatest lever of effection. You bring in income? You’re the foundation for family, society, country, and life.
I know I’m preaching to the choir… but life is unfair, and so is business. Rich people have the game to their advantage. Remember that landlord from my mom’s story? He doesn’t have to do diddly squat for his income.
Big companies have army of engineers doing this data-driven sales methodologies, and are closing deals So why not you and me? Why not people like my mom or the kid from Myanmar?
Remember, Google started out as 2 college kids in a garage and were told their idea was stupid. Walmart was started by a small guy in small country town and had his first store stolen by his landlord. Howard Shultz, founder of Starbucks, grew up poor in NYC housing projects.
They all worked hard – but thought differently and used technology to their advantage.
I know this is going to sound like something an ambulance chasing personal injury lawyer would say, but hell, we want the little to guy win because… WHY NOT YOU and ME?
And that’s our mission.
Tools to help the average joe (or jane) win sales in the internet era.
