I am without my bride for a few days. I am in Michigan. Kim is in Chicago. I spoke in Bad Axe last night and I’ll be in Bay City this evening. Kim is with our Sales Servant Jenna at a conference, promoting the speaking side of our business.
It is always helpful to have an assistant on the journey — to help navigate unknown areas, to staff the book table while I scribble my John Hancock on people’s purchases, and to manage all of the details in order to help the events run smoothly.
My assistant on this trip has been my dad. Many of you know him well from The Escape Plan. He got thrown into the fire last night, as we were very busy at the back of the room. We sold out of Annuals and had to take orders, which can get crazy when you’re already busy swiping credit cards, taking checks, and marking inventory. But I must say, he has done a terrific job. I already sort of knew this, but the point was driven home: Dad’s are the best salespeople for their kids. And they’re allowed to be pretty shameless about it, because they come across as a proud pop, not a sleazy huckster. I have joked that Kim will need to train under him before I’ll let her “back on tour.”
So far it has been a fun experience talking and catching up, not to mention sharing with him what it’s like to do what we do on the road. I miss Kim, but I’m grateful to have my dad here with me.
Even if I do blush when he’s insisting that people buy an extra book and telling them that they absolutely NEED to sign up for our e-mail list.
[tags]dads, the escape plan, sales, speaking, shameless marketing, sleazy huckster[/tags]
[…] Whenever I share stories about speaking tour adventures, I invariably get e-mails from folks wishing they would have known about the event so they could’ve attended. I will admit that I need to do a better job of posting these little notices. So, for those of you interested, I will be speaking in Rockford, Illinois on Thursday, July 20th at 6:30 p.m. The talk will have a faith-based perspective, which means I talk about why I think Jesus invented noogies, wedgies, and wet willies. […]