 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
( Hello ) One of the founders of ‘Burning Man’ – I don’t remember his name – walked up to me, pulled a cigarette out of a pack of Marlboros, cracked his lighter and inhaled at least an eighth of his smoke in one pull. “I just spent my last dollar on my last maxed out credit card to buy these nails,” he said stroking his long moustache and adjusting his leather hat with a sheepish grin. “It’s hard to believe I was a lawyer 3 years ago,” he said laughing, grey smoke fogging his face. It was 1993. And I was 25 years old.
I wished the guy from this thing called ‘Burning Man’ a lot of luck. I wasn’t here to christen the wood structure before its effulgent burn in the desert. I worked in this building for a non-profit. I wanted to make sure I got out of there before the SF underground blocked in my rust bucket of a car with their rust buckets. The South of Market Cultural Center was a cool place to work, but you had to time things well or suffer the parking consequences. It was time to lock up anyways. I wanted to make sure nothing happened overnight to our new $3000.00 Mac IIci. Before I shut off the lights, I noticed a post-it stuck on a letter on top of the heap of other printed matter on my desk. “Joe, you DID IT!” it read. I had won the South of Market Cultural Center a grant for 150K… I persuaded members of a wealthy family to give to our cause. I told the story of the neighborhood kids growing up on 6th Street who wanted to tell their story with the creation of ceramic murals on South of Market buildings. Of course the benefactors had a story to tell too. They wanted to tell a story about enabling other people to tell their story. And with each retelling of each story, the inherent meaning became clearer. The messages coalesced. The stories became valuable.
Twelve years of outside sales showed me how valuable storytelling truly is. Visiting hundreds of companies year round also inspired me to stop selling a product and start selling ideas. I founded Ink Stain, so I could sell your story, the story of what you do for your customers, the story you need to tell. I used to play one of my most favorite road songs over and over again as I drove back from San Jose to San Francisco, or on Route 36 from Denver to Boulder, or on any long stretch of highway. It’s the story of how a road song can really sink in; it’s how outside sales led to an insider’s viewpoint. It’s how a story led to a name and an identity.
It’s knowing that your door is always open Glen Campbell. |
