The morning was crisp when my parents loaded up the Econoline van with 4 kids and boxes full of partially used cones of thread. It was about 6 a.m. when we were strapped in and headed to the flea market. This morning, which seemed like every other Saturday morning when we headed to the flea market, would change my life forever.

On this morning, at the ripe age of 4, I became a salesman. It was shortly after 8 a.m. when an elderly lady, “abuelita” as we call the elderly out of respect, approached our stall. My chubby little body walked over and asked: “What are you looking for?” When she responded she wanted green thread, I immediately walked her over to our box of greens and asked her which one she wanted to purchase. She thought it was cute that a four year-old was helping her, so she asked me how much the cones were. I replied “They are a quarter. How many would you like?”

At the time, I truly did not understand the power of this transaction. What I did know is that I enjoyed this moment with “abuelita” unlike anything else I had experienced. Looking back, I recall hearing my parents have similar conversations hundreds of times. The words rolled out without a conscience thought.

Since that fateful day, I have enjoyed success in food, retail, door-to-door, business-to-business, call center, non-profit, fundraising, financial services, and online sales. The process, the conversation, the language, has been refined, yet has remained remarkably similar to the words I spoke 30+ years ago. This was the start of my journey!