Back when the word “Green” wasn’t part of our vocabulary, I was out of work, and instead of applying for unemployment I went looking for a job.
I had been home for a couple of years with a new child, but I was looking forward to starting a new chapter in my life; the employment office sent me to a distributor of recycled interior finishes; after completing the interview, I was hired on the spot. Little did I know it was the beginning of a 40 + year career around architects, designers, manufacturers, distributors, and sales reps.
After a couple years of doing accounting for the firm, I was asked to develop a slide presentation program with recycled products information directed to the sales department; it became a profitable enterprise for the company, and it developed into a new stage for everyone involved.
One of the recycled products was manufactured in Germany, another in Italy and yet another in England. Using post-consumer and post-industrial waste, including the used plastic grocery bags, these companies developed new products for commercial buildings, specializing in health care, education, pharmaceuticals and research and development.
Unfortunately, none of the products were manufactured in the US at the time.
It was up to me to learn from the manufacturers. Traveling to Europe was a perk I was not ready to accept without reservations. However, once the first meeting was completed, I was hooked. Learning as much as I could to bring back the information and present it to other people became work I appreciated and developed with every trip I made abroad.
New green marketing was required and new membership in the new and numerous councils dedicated to the recycled process; I was ready to teach new ideas and new methods, along with sales techniques to impart continuing education hours to architects and designers.
Being in the sales business brings out connotations of used-cars salesmanship; however, this was not the run of the mill sales, as it was developed as an educational program. Business cards needed to be designed with a more appropriate title: instead of a sales rep, Recycled Materials Specialist was a new moniker to be used in this new industry. All was well, and my clients began to call me The Green Lady.
Driving 50,000 miles per year visiting clients, traveling to the farthest corner of the US training sales reps in this new market, was a fulfilling experience I enjoyed for more than 40 years. Not to mention air miles, flat tires, ice storms in Minnesota, hurricanes in Florida, earthquakes in California, bad drivers in Texas and other great experiences in other States.
After all the traveling, the teaching, the learning, the visiting, it’s difficult to sit and no longer plan a trip to somewhere every week. It’s time to sit at home, relax, enjoy the grandkids….
I don’t think so.
