I was hit by a pickup truck while legally crossing a street on August 30th 2007. No broken bones but enough "soft tissue damage" around the left knee to cause it to swell approximately five times its' normal size resulting in two blood clots.
Since then I've been working from home.
It's not what I thought it would be.
I miss the human contact. The ability to go park yourself outside someone's door if you really need something from someone in another department for a customer. It's boring staring at the same four walls all day and it's tough managing your time. No, getting started, staying focused and getting things done isn't my problem. Punching out for the day is. I need to learn when to call it a day.
I have learned yet another reason why sales is such a great profession. You can do the job from almost anywhere! Until they introduce mandatory video phones my customers or my boss for that manner has no idea I haven't showered that day or that I'm in my pajamas, eating a bowl of Fruit Loops while receiving the latest "booster shot" of technical mumbo jumbo from product management. During the really dry ones; rather than struggling to stay awake in a meeting room with my colleagues I can freely multi-task and be sending out emails to my customer list! All from the privacy of my own home! Did I mention no... absolutely no commute time!
Who am I kidding?
Today marks the first of a two day sales kickoff our company is having in Florida this week. Did I mention that I'm stuck here in snowbound Waterloo Ontario? Guess where I'd rather be? While I'm tossing back blood thinners and painkillers they're probably tossing back fancy drinks with those tiny umbrellas poolside!
In an attempt to try and compensate for all the fun and human interactivity I'll be missing out on at the kickoff I've turned things up a notch this week on Linked in. I've sent out invites to loads of contacts, high school friends and University alumni I've lost contact with over the years. In just one week my number of connections has gone up over 30%. If my sales follow suit it will be a good year.
But remember this is coming from a guy who got hit by a pickup driver executing a blind right turn at red-lighted intersection. With my luck my increased activity on Linkedin will be interpreted by our HR department as a fullscale job search in which case I could stand to lose my employment in addition to my already forfeited mobility!
Enough introspection. I've got some cold calls to make!
James Gingerich
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesg2006
http://softwareindustryrant.blogspot.com/
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