First to last

Once upon a time I was working with digital marketing. There was a big meeting. How do I know it was a big meeting? Well we had to fly to the nearest major city (Calgary) to participate. Why were we there? While despite being located in one of the smallest metro areas in Canada, the store was actually THE most successful of 452 stores nationwide. By a long shot. Company reps would come to the store and joke we had more trucks on hand then the factory — so much inventory was needed since we sold so many! Other store owners in non competing regions wanted to learn our secrets and us from them (we still had weak spots).

An impromptu presentation. So here we are in this big meeting. The time comes to review the digital marketing numbers. The difference was so vast that the group decided to pause the normal review session. I was asked to give an ad hoc presentation on just how the heck we were doing so well with it. One of the items for example was how to maximize value from search engine ads. I remoted into my work computer and went through some screens, doing my best to translate the technical concepts into normal english. It was an unexpectedly huge success. The ballroom was quiet. The other store owners were speechless — a mic drop moment.

I’m grinning ear to ear the whole way back to my chair. I settle in and just as I was getting comfortable my boss leans over nonchalantly. With a big warm smile, in his deep radio DJ voice, he said “Don’t let it go to your head. You can go from first to last — fingers snap — like that.”