In 2000, I was one among many trainers competing for a six figure sales training contract with a South Florida software company who was dissatisfied with their outbound telemarketing sales results from the prior two financial periods.

Mrs. Jimenez, the gatekeeper, whose contact information was e-mailed to the other 19 trainers and me, invited to bid on this sizable training assignment, was very matter of fact during our first phone conversation, as would only be expected.

During our conversational exchange I detected a real sense of stress in her voice so I asked if she would prefer that I call her back at a later, less busy time.

“No”, she said and continued with, “I just received some distressing new about my husband’s job and I’m a little distracted, now and I apologize to you.”  I empathized with her and offered to help, commenting I had local contacts I’d be glad to call, on his behalf.

Her husband, a mid-level bi-lingual manager, who had been employed for 18 years with a large OEM tool distributor in Miami, just received his pink slip. This was a complete surprise since his recent job performance report awarded him a 5 of 5 stars ratings.

Getting this news, without any prior warning, was cruel and unusual punishment, especially for a loyal employee with an 18 year one-company employment history!

When I inquired further about his job title, responsibilities, bi-lingual skills and whether he was interested in seeking employment since he was already close to retirement, she affirmed my suspicions that his salary loss, at this time, would be ‘catastrophic’.

I made no promises but I ended the call on a pleasant note.

The next day, I made six calls to local friends, associates and past training clients. One of them ‘knew of a plastics manufacturer just a few miles up the road who was adding an export sales department.”

Aha, wasn’t Jimenez bi-lingual? My friend agreed to immediately seek more information. He called his contact at the plastics manufacturer who told him, “Yes, we’d like to interview a bi-lingual person, as soon as possible, since we have no one on staff and we have bushels of export inquiries which need translation.”

Shortly after, I called Mrs. Jimenez and gave her the details and contact information. I can’t begin to describe, in words, her surprise and jubilation. Surprise, that a stranger would make the effort to help and jubilation with my instant results. She asked, if I’d mind calling her husband at home that evening which I agreed to do.

When I hung up the phone that evening, I can’t begin to tell you the feeling of personal satisfaction I enjoyed as a result of making a few phone calls which resulted in something positive happening even though I had no idea whether a job offer would result.

In Paul Harvey’s lingo, the rest of the story is: Jimenez interviewed well and was hired, part-time, which became full-time 22 days after his first interview.

As a result Mrs. Jimenez became my inside scout at the software company. When I asked her who the power broker was on the Training  Review Committee and if I should be aware of any past good or bad history with contracted trainers, she gave me the competitive intelligence I needed to make ‘the convincing presentation’.

Talk about a win-win opportunity.

The Lesson: Pay attention! You just never know where it will lead.

PS When I visit Miami I always have an open invitation for dinner.

You say, you couldn’t make payroll yesterday because your clients have stretched out their payments. Or, you can’t sell products because your bank has frozen your credit line. Maybe, your Horoscope Sign was a 5? Because, because; we can always find excuses upon which to blame our troubles.

FACT: even though the stock market declined 83 points yesterday and the new Stimulus Plan will place future generations at risk, guess what didn’t happen, yesterday?

Brian Williams on the NBC Evening News didn’t broadcast any report by IMS (Immigration Services) about an alarming number of visa application cancellations. Foreigners are still lining up at the gates of our great, but temporarily troubled country, waiting patiently for their legal entry papers. Illegal aliens are still tragically dying in rickety old leaky boats on the high seas off the Florida coast. I’m sure, a few even came across our Southwestern border in the past few nights.

No matter how good or bad Friday the 13^th was for us, it was still a better day than for most foreigners.

Whatever daily calamities challenge small business owners like us, we have much more to be thankful for than when my father first set foot on US soil in 1919. Nicholas Demetrious Alagazakis (Nicholas D. Allen, the Americanized version) was a Greek Immigrant who found himself in a strange, foreign country in a time of war.

Not quite penniless, but with just the clothes on his back, and a working fluency of English; he was destined to make his family of four boys proud of his American Legacy.

Thanks to an established Greek Community in New York City, where he quickly made friends, he found employment and later became an insurance salesman for the Prudential Life Insurance Company.

At the end of WW1, he brought my English mother, Dolly Fortune, to this country where they became citizens. Hard work and good fortune empowered him to become a ship owner of the Prudential Steamship Company headquartered at Battery Place in New York City.

In WW2, he and his company prospered and he moved his growing family to Florida in the late 1940’s where he settled into a new business as owner of the Florida Yacht Basin on the Miami River.

When my brothers and I were growing up, a day never went by when Nicholas didn’t thank this great country for the opportunities it afforded he and his children. While TV and radio were daily distractions, we were constantly infused with his spirit of gratitude and reminded to fulfill our individual American goals and destinies. And, we have. My brother Homer became a ship owner; Winston, an architect; Milton, a software company executive; and me, a sales training consultant.

Our legacy was repeated millions of times in every corner of our great country. Through the Great Depression and the many peaks and valleys of historic economic trends; we have weathered harsh circumstances and still prospered individually and grown our nation.

That’s my story. That’s why I am eternally thankful to be an American. That’s why I still count Friday, the 13^th, as my Lucky Day. Every day I breathe our air is my blessing.

I’d like to hear your story.