A vital sales lesson I learned working as a carpenter in college

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I pulled up to a new construction site in my Dodge truck.

A giant hole marked the foundation for a monstrous 15,000-square-foot clubhouse, the crown jewel of a new suburban housing development.

My truck’s clock ticked to seven and I stepped out onto the gravel to meet the four other crew members gathering in unison.

Endless piles of wooden trusses, studs, and plywood sheets lay scattered around the yard.

I noticed more than a dozen steel beams, the biggest I’d seen as a young carpenter.

The crew looked around silently.

No one would admit it but we were scared standing in front of that giant hole.

Challenges are like that. Their enormity quiets you. It freezes you.

Johnson broke the silence by smashing the ax side of his hammer into the metal band holding together a stack of wood.

I threw eight, long 2x4s on my shoulder and walked them around the perimeter. The others did the same.

Each time someone grabbed a pile, the job became less daunting. The hole felt smaller.

Months later, I stood three stories up on top of a clock tower I’d built, perched on the clubhouse roof admiring the work of me and my peers.

The afternoon sun warmed my face and sparkled on the plywood sheets beneath my feet.

It’s incredible what five guys with a few hand tools can build.

You can build incredible things too.

What you do is challenging, sometimes intimidatingly so.

It’s also doable. But not until you stop staring at the giant hole in front of you and get started.

No matter how big the job, no matter how daunting the challenge, you can always get started.

You can always grab a pile of wood.

Remember,

When we embrace practice, develop awareness, and align our efforts, we can rise above the deal.

We can live #quotaless.