Lessons My Mother Taught Me

When I was in high school, I worked afterschool and on Saturdays at my family's lighting/gift store. It was a wonderful opportunity to work with my mother who was a master salesperson.

My mother taught me the importance of knowing your products and understanding how they can be used. She taught me how to become a good listener; how to converse with strangers; and the art of persuasion without being too pushy. She taught me time management and prioritizing tasks. She taught me to be truthful, trustworthy and to always put the customer's needs first. She taught me how to deal with rejection while still maintaining my confidence. Most importantly, she taught me to believe in myself!

Of course, these important life lessons didn't happen overnight. But listening and learning from my mother was more valuable than most of the courses I ever took in school.

Here's a perfect example of a life lesson my mother taught me:

A woman came into the store looking for a small pink lamp for her young daughter's bedroom. We had a very large showroom but no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find any pink lamps.

When she left empty-handed, my mother approached me and asked what she was looking to purchase. When I explained that we just didn't have any pick lamps, she said, "Follow me."

My mother first went to the lamp department and showed me a small crystal lamp and a white ceramic lamp. She removed their beige lamp shades. She then went to the shade department and found two pink shades and put them on the lamps. VOILA! Two pink lamps!

It's been over 50 years since that incident and I've never forgotten the lesson: "Think Out of the Box...Make It Happen!"