Shovels Full of Money

Last week we left off with: "People were willing to pay $2 to $5 to have their walks and driveway shoveled. More than they were willing to pay for lawn mowing. I learned a lesson." ----------------------------------------------------------------- --------------- Lets continue: I realized that people were willing to pay more for unpleasant jobs. Shoveling snow in that frigid Wyoming winter was very unpleasant versus mowing lawns in warm weather could actually be pleasing. Occasionally enough snow would fall to close the schools. That would take about 3 feet of snow. I live in Ohio now and a few inches of snow here will close down the schools. If that were the case in Wyoming we would be the least educated people in the world. One glorious morning I woke up to see 3 feet of snow. The radio blared that schools were closed, the weather was drastic and dangerous and no one should proceed outside for fear of frostbite, frozen lung, or death. Hey, sounds like a great day to shovel walks!! And off I went. I always did very good on days like that, making upwards of $20.00. Considering minimum wage at this time was less than $2.20 per hour $20.00 was a great sum of money. I would shovel walks all day, coming home to warm up and not quiting until darkness fell. Prozac lady did not want her walk shoveled by me. Well, I am not sure. She just screamed, "Go Away!" but I am guessing since I had a shovel on my shoulder and the world was filled with snow she knew what I wanted. The box? Oh did I forget to mention the talking box? Of course I asked the talking box if it needed it's walk shoveled. Yes I did. "No! Do not ask me anymore!" was the answer. Our long winter finally ended and the short summer started. I was back in the lawn mowing business! I started off with many accounts from the previous summer and continued to solicit for others. Almost every day I would walk by the box. I made it a point one time per week to stop and ask the box if it would like it's lawn mowed. The box always said no. I remember the day. It was not as hot as usual. There were a few hints of dark clouds in the sky. I could smell rain coming from somewhere off in the distance. Without hardly even thinking I pushed the button on the box. You can read all the chapters of "How To Be an Entrepreneur" by going to http://salessuccessmagazin e.com. These stories are copyrighted by Timothy L. Drobnick Sr. 1995 thru 2005. Any person using this article must publish it without modification and include authors bio and links.