Tenacity and the Wee-Factor

I remember it as though it were yesterday. The leader of the seminar said quite clearly "If you don't have the tenacity it takes to ask your prospective customer the same question 7 different times in 7 different ways then you are in the wrong business and should gather your things and leave now, before the lesson begins". I thought to myself, "tenacity?", I need to look that word up. I heard a challenge and I was not about to leave!

It was November 1986. My college education had been the-school-of-hard-knocks. I was faced with the opportunity to build a career or be someone's secretary/assistant. Not that there is anything wrong with being an assistant, but it was not what I wanted. I was a young female in what was then a predominately male industry. I was single and I was determined to succeed on my own. Just like I did at age 13 when I saved my babysitting earnings to buy my first Schwinn 10-speed bike.

Thank goodness it was in my genes. Why didn't the leader just say "hard-headed"? That, I KNEW I was! That stand-your-ground attitude was very much instilled in me already. Digging ditches is hard work. Saving peoples' lives is hard work. The work I was choosing to do was easy, but to make it successful one had to work hard at it. I did.

Carrying that tenacious attitude with me through the years has brought me to a new career. After nearly 20 years in automotive and recreational finance, insurance and credit industries I walked away to become a full-time mom. I prefer not to call myself a stay-at-home parent because I tend to believe it takes more than a villaige to raise a child.. It takes tenacity, perseverence and it takes baby gear!

My environment change would have been a culture shock to many. I was no longer surrounded by salesmen wearing power ties, new cars, boats, RV's, doctors buying yachts and bankers to impress. Instead my house, from 4 feet above the ground on down, was empty and childproof. Instead of driving my Cadillac dealer demo, I had the cadillac of baby strollers. Play pens, car seats & booster seats, names like Cosco Juvenile, Safety 1st and InStep and an understanding of fixed wheel joggers vs swivel wheel joggers replaced my vocabulary of transmisssions, outboard motors, amortizations and ROA.

Now, instead of keeping up with the current market rates, I spend my non-mommying time researching top rated, safe baby gear that is affordable. Oh, unless the Steelers are on, in which case even the world of the Wee stops in my house!

So, tell me, what do you drive? . . . . . Or more importantly, what drives YOU?