Endings and Beginnings - June 26, 2015

Today is June 26, 2015, and the end of my long and enjoyable sales career is exactly 3 months away. It began as an apprentice to "The World's Greatest Salesman," a title my dad Joe bestowed upon himself. I learned from a true genius at reading people, selling the sizzle and knowing precisely when to close. It wasn't always pretty, often it was very funny, and always it was an adventure.

After a brief summer selling televisions in a local appliance store between my sophomore and junior years in HS, I got the urge to make money. I talked Joe into taking me with him to a franchise show in Milwaukee where he had a hot commodity. The product was the Sea Jeep, a small 7' fiberglass boat that had a 6 HP engine. Joe's original partner was an Italian gigolo with lots of cash to invest. Johnny DeSimone looked a lot like Julius La Rosa ("Eh Cumpare" for you septuagenarians) and was a good closer with rich women. Eventually Johnny D got tired of his 20 hour work week and gravitated back to hanging out at the Fountainbleau Hotel looking for unattached gals with plenty of dough. The trip to Wisconsin really opened my 16 year old eyes to how much money one could make with a good product and a golden tongue. This led to future stints with Joe and his various partners as well as a few jobs in Tallahassee which required short hours and high commissions.

As a History and Government B.A. from Florida State University, I was looked upon as a can't miss sales representative by both Union Carbide and Xerox. I chose Union Carbide primarily because of a wonderful man named Tom Skehan who was married to a wonderful woman, Ann Skehan who had been my CCD teacher in HS. That's religious instruction, Catholic style. The Skehans were the perfect Irish American family and were close to my Mom and Dad (Joe). Tom was a hot shot upper level member of the Union Carbide family by this time and had great influence. I loved working there, although it was short lived.

My job began in Philly for training and then to NYC as my first territory. I met some of the greatest sales people with unreal charisma during that short period of my life. My trainer was John Gilseanen, a Long Islander with movie star good looks, a platinum tongue and semason tickets to his beloved Islanders. Selling in NYC was a total dream. It was 1972, and I was making $11,000 a year with a company car and a wide open expense account. Life was perfect! Except I was alone. Irene Matsue Ball changed that by joining me in January 1973 when I made the move to a higher paying job and a chance to live and work in Boston.

Boston was great, but Dearborn Chemical (Rohm & Haas) was as stuffy as Union Carbide. It was a time of great opportunity for someone with my background, so in April '73, I abruptly joined my third conglomerate in 10 months. WR Grace had just decided to sink or swim with a California video tape start-up that badly needed a rep that could make things happen in New England and Eastern Canada. I was that guy and I agreed to a first year package of $22,500 all in with a huge (in those days) car allowance of $450 per month and wide open expenses.

I finally had the job I wanted and was able to excel. In less than a year, through a combination of mistakes, good guidance and exceptional luck, I was enjoying a downtown Boston life style that  was close to as good as it gets for a 25 year old corporate rep. I closed Buffalo and the tri-city area (Syracuse Albany and Troy) and opened up Montreal and Toronto. These big accomplishments were landing contracts with CFTO in Toronto and McGill University in Montreal. Alas, after a sensational year with Karex (WR Grace) selling 1/2 and 1" video tape, the corporate in-crowd was warned that Karex would be sold and that finding alternative employment would be a wise thing to do. A man named Jim Ringwood gave me a huge heads up and found me a new employer and a way to get back to Chicago, where I grew up until I was eleven years old.

Having been booted out of high school, survived hundreds of scrapes, real and imagined, it didn't seem so unusual to me that I was about to embark on my 4th job in a little over 2 years. I became the interim Branch Manager of GBC/CCTV in Boston, a ma & pa outfit that was taking off like wild fire. I had solid success in Boston and was offered the same position in Chicago. I was 26 years old, running an office with 5 people reporting to me, working in a fancy office with a great downtown address, 233 East Ontario.

It was a very exciting time for Irene and I as we moved into Lake Point Tower, the premier apartment building on the lake in Chicago, the most eastern point in the city right next to Navy Pier. Irene was hired by Leo Burnett Advertising as an Asst. Account Exec, and we were truly up and running with our careers. After one year and an income leveling off at $27,500, I began to notice an up and coming, privately owned company that was knocking them dead in Chicago by leasing cameras and VCRs at extravagant prices. I applied for a sales position that would end up doubling my income in five years. I was off and running, so we decided it was time to raise a family. My son needed the stability that siblings could provide. In 1980, Danny was born, a glorious day just before Thanksgiving.

After 5 years of solid success, I caught wind of a greedy plan that the owner was going to reneg on promised rollover commissions that would cost to me tens of thousands over the next 5 years. At a secret meeting, the top earners in our sales force decided to join an up and coming Video Division of a long established Chicago iconic corporation with a reputation for integrity. I was now on a path that would see me employed by 2 companies over the next 35 years. The commissions were the highest in the industry, and we absolutely killed it. My income went to 6 figures in 18 months on the job. Seamus was born on Halloween 1982. Everything I did for the next 15 years was golden, and we moved to River Forest, Illinois on June 7, 1984.

Our home at 814 Bonnie Brae Place was 5,000 sq. ft. We traveled all over the world with and without the kids. The boys got a wonderful education in the finest schools. I was able to play baseball at a high amateur level until 44 years old. I even got to play with my son Patrick on a team that I coached. He was off to college on a D1 baseball scholarship and thrived. My son Dan played baseball on nationally recognized travel teams and wound up with a scholarship to college as well. Seamus was the football player in the family, and he excelled in baseball as well. In 1986, along came Ruairi who would benefit from his brothers' success and his own off-the-charts ability. By 1998, he was arguably the best 12 year old player in the Midwest.

My son Wataru is a "whole 'nother story." He moved in with us at 15 years old, and won everyone over immediately. He was a wonderful brother to all and a great example at the homework table. He came kind of out nowhere and stayed for 13 years. He graduated from Fenwick HS in 3 years after barely speaking the language at the start. He graduated from Dominican University in 3 years. Scratch golfer. GFG!

I was able to travel to baseball games with the kids virtually every night and every weekend with other great families of like mind. In '98, I changed companies due to the imminent sale of the corporation, and was able to join a company that was so close to mirror image of the one I had just left that I felt 100% at home and continued to thrive as the security industry became high tech. The dollars rolled in and my lifestyle did not change at all. The boys were excelling in school and on the playing field. Patrick spent 9 years in professional baseball of which 3 were in Cologne, Germany. One year Danny joined Patrick on the team him and my wife Irene got to see one game in Cologne where she and her friend Monica watched them both hit Home Runs!

Irene found a job at Dominican University and reinvented herself as a Webmaster, 1 mile from our home, and earned a Masters degree in Computer Science. Danny was able to transfer and attend college for free. Talk about a win win situation! 

Seamus attended Columbia College in downtown Chicago and graduated with a degree in video editing and animation. Ruairi was asked by Florida State University to leave high school in the middle of his senior year to join the baseball team, which he did. That resulted in a wonderful 5 year adventure. He graduated with an English Literature degree after being named captain of one of the great D1 baseball programs in the country. One of his fellow captains and part time road roommate was Buster Posey!

The recession hit hard, and we all felt it. My income was affected, and our retirement took a big hit.  Irene was able to step up her game and significantly right the ship. All during the most difficult economic times our boys were in college or just graduating which was both a hit economically and a fantastic buoy to the family moral. These years were some of our most memorable despite a shift in future plans.

As I wind down the last months of full time employment, Irene and I have put a plan together that will allow us to travel the world semi-permanently as long as we want as long as we are ambulatory. On our workable budget, we intend to rent for months at a time around the globe in places we have always wanted to see. Our home away from home will be Tokyo as often as any destination because the family has offered us the family home, and because we love Tokyo.

I leave the company with a bright future in a changing industry that continues to grow with Angela and a smart young future team that includes a veteran office staff. Many thanks to the Severino family for giving me an outstanding opportunity. Good luck to Victor and Tony in retirement.