CAREER MEMORIES - #8 BECOMING A FAMILY!

 

Wendy & I found our first home together. It was a Townhouse that we rented in Crofton, MD. We were situated 17 miles away from the Capital Centre in Landover and not too far from the city of Annapolis. We were a one-car family so we had to carefully schedule our time. My drive to the Capitals Hockey office seemed to take about 30-40 minutes each way. It was a relaxing drive through the beautiful Maryland countryside!   

As we turn the calendar to 1983, Wendy was almost ready to deliver our first child. Geri Murray, who was a dear friend and wife of our Capitals’ Head Coach Bryan (one of the three “best men” at our wedding”) organized and hosted Wendy’s first-ever baby shower. Geri was so down to earth and had such a great sense of humor! Shortly thereafter we welcomed a daughter (Jaimee Melissa) into this world on Feb. 1st! She had medical issues that required hospitalization for her first month of life at nearby D.C. Children’s.

Before Jaimee was born, Wendy and I had come to a decision that she was going to be an at-home Mom raising our children. That was Wendy’s dream in life and she excelled at it! I couldn’t have been more proud of my wife for the way she cared and nurtured Jaimee during a difficult period. When we brought our daughter home, we had to find a Pediatrician. I had asked several ladies at our Capitals’ office for recommendations and it seemed the favored choice was a person name Dr. Robert Graw. His practice was located in a rural farming area in Davidsonville, MD. I will never forget the number of farm animals that would make their way up to the office windows on his property. On this one day a goat kept visiting our waiting room window. But never made a noise. Here’s me at a time when our Pediatrician is conducting business and asks “if there were any further questions?” and I blurt out “Yes, Dr. Graw, can you tell me what noise a Goat makes?” Like me, he didn’t know the answer either? So he opened up the office window and the two of us were trying to get this goat to communicate! No such luck!

Two years later, our second daughter arrived in this world. Cali Nicole, who was born in 1985 on Feb. 12th. We now felt like a family! However, at this time, I was starting to evaluate my career and the time spent at the arena late at night after so many games, exhibitions and playoffs. Following the 1984-85 season, we made a decision to move the family to Minnesota and raise the girls in the Midwest. We rented a small apartment in Eagan, MN, a small suburb about 15 miles or so away from Minneapolis where Wendy’s Mom and family lived.

Wendy’s brother, Michael, flew into Maryland to help us pack our townhouse and load up the furniture. Obviously with two babies and their furniture we would have much to take away. We rented a U-Haul truck that Michael would drive while the girls and I drove out in our car.

Then it was off to see what opportunities awaited for me work-wise. Initially I was focusing on public relations firms since that was my specialty with the Capitals. There just didn’t seem to be a match out there for me during this period of time. Weeks were ticking by and I had this meeting with another agency that really changed my life. It was with Mona & Associates. The namesake and principal of the firm was a gentleman name Dave Mona. He actually had accounts with the some of the local Minnesota Pro Sports teams so this naturally drew me to making an appointment. Dave was also a radio show co-host that chatted up the Twin Cities sports scene on a local station so I knew he had a heart for the business! It was the rejection speech given to me by Dave that became my lightening rod and what transformed my career in the years ahead! As Dave finished our meeting, he looked at me and said “Jim, how could I possibly bring you on board? Even though your resume is nice, my business is to sell clients. We sell ideas. Your resume says you can’t ‘Sell a French Fry?’”

I left his office so upset and frustrated because I knew I need to find work. I remember driving back home and stopping at a McDonald’s drive-thru for lunch. Dave’s speech hit me again when I was munching on some French Fries! I rolled down my window, cussed him out and threw the fries outside! During my madness, one fry remained in the car and landed on my dashboard above the steering wheel. I left it there and stared at the thing! ACTUALLY THAT FRY BECAME MY INSPIRATION! I WAS GOING TO LEARN HOW TO SELL A FRENCH FRY!

But I was struggling to get work that would make me happy. Some agencies liked my resume but hung me on the fact that I did not have a college degree? Some made that a requisite to being hired. So, I took three part-time jobs. One was to work game-nights with the Minnesota North Stars; the second was as the Managing Editor of “Let’s Play Hockey”, a local publication that promoted the sport of hockey in the state of Minnesota. I wrote a weekly column, took care of the magazine layout and sold the ads. And the third, and perhaps the one that had the most impact in my life as I would find out, was to deliver the Minnesota Star & Tribune newspaper weekdays. YES I DID!

The Tribune paid me just under $200 a week to deliver their paper to 190 homes in the Bloomington, MN residential area. At this point I remembered the many talks that Roger Crozier shared with me in Washington. One in particular was the SOMEONE lecture. During that time he mentioned to me that “in order to succeed in business, I had to first knock on doors, ask questions, come up with the plan, execute and more times than not, you will get rewarded!” I took that approach and waited until the Sunday before I started my route the next morning. It was a Minnesota Vikings game- day so I knew most everyone would be home. Half answered the door for me and many did not. Those that did, I introduced myself as their new paperboy and asked how the previous service was? Everyone complained - and sometimes loudly - that the person was lazy and tossed the paper out of their car and made the homeowner go fetch it regardless of the outdoor weather conditions.

So I developed a plan. I was going to drive my car along the route. Park it every two blocks. Count the number of houses on both sides of the street that subscribed to the delivery. Walk it to everyone’s front door and lay the paper at their porch step every single day. What motivated me? That FRENCH FRY and the fact I had convinced myself that I was going to set the Tribune Newspaper record for most XMAS Tips ever collected by a route carrier? Did they have one? Probably not. But they did in my head!

So when Thanksgiving and Black Friday approached, I asked Wendy to buy into my crazy idea of buying 190 Hallmark Cards. I handwrote a message of thanks inside each and slid the card inside the newspaper that Friday morning. My home address was clearly handwritten with my message. Soon afterwards, we were inundated with so many thank you notes, cash tips and checks from my customers. It was a wonderful Holiday season not to mention how appreciated I felt by the families I serviced! DOING THIS JOB WAS PROBABLY THE BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO ME BECAUSE THIS IS TRULY WHERE I LEARNED THE ART OF MARKETING!

Yes, thank you Star & Tribune! Without you, I don’t know if my career would have blossomed without those 2:30 AM wake-ups and walking 190 homes every single morning?  I’ve always believed in FATE and shortly thereafter, a call came to me. It was Bob Strumm. He was getting back into the hockey business and was moving to Spokane, Washington to run a Junior Hockey team. He wanted me to join him and team up once again like we did in Billings and Regina. Bob flew down to the Twin Cities. We had lunch together. He laid out the plan and opportunity for me and guess what … I was going to be the Director of Marketing and PR for the new Spokane Chiefs!

I chatted with Wendy about it. We made a family decision to move and re-launch my sports career. I remember my famous words stated to Bob when he offered me the job: “Bob, I’ve never done marketing before? I’m just going to wing it!” He looked at me and said: “Jimmy Boy – You are going to be just fine. You’ll figure it out I know!” Bob gave me a Hug and I was ready for the new challenge ahead!

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