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In 1990, I got my first full-time job.  I was hired by an advertising agency to sell outdoor advertising, also known as, billboard advertising.

I liked my job, but it wasn’t easy. I was in charge of creating new accounts.  My sales territory was west of Austin, which included: Albert Lea, Adams, Wells, Blue Earth and Kiester.  The territory was difficult because it included so many small towns with small businesses that had small advertising budgets.

My sales tactic was to visit almost every business in each town to see if they were interested in buying three months or more of billboard advertising. If the potential customer said “Maybe,” or, “I’ll think about it,” then I would return again in a month or so. I enjoyed meeting new people, but it was difficult to find customers that would benefit from this form of advertising and also had the advertising budget to try it.

Join me next week to see how I learned from my mistakes