The First Contract

It was a good day. I went on a meeting with Reg and we got our first contract. I really didn’t do much. It was a pre-established relationship. I am in a weird situation here, but it is a welcome one. Throughout my career I’ve had to reluctantly wear the hat of salesman. As a freelancer, you are always having to sell yourself. That was difficult for me to do. It uses the side of my brain that I don’t like to use. I’d rather stay completely on the creative side. That is why a lot of creative people in Hollywood have agents, so they can stick with the creative side. I had various agents through the years but they just didn’t do anything for me. While I was in Bahrain, I also had to function as the Sales Manager. We had numerous come through the doors (5) and I wound up selling our biggest accounts. But then having to make the shows, manage the staff, and keep the payroll coming in, it was quite a challenge. But still Im very proud of what we accomplished.

That brings us to my company, www.onetvo.com or Onetvo. There are two very sharp partners on board, one a London born Indian, Reg, and the other an impressive Emirati named Ali. Ali and I like to talk about religion. Ali is becoming somewhat of a local celebrity. Im hoping to help further establish him. My primary job here is to be creative. Reg and Ali are both excellent salesmen. So that task is temporarily taken out of my hands. But since im a team player through and through I’ll continue to help the company anyway I can. I think being a salesman is in my genes from my Insurance Salesman father. But I just can’t cold call. The rejection is tough for me. I know I’ve been rejected thousands of times in my life, but its not in my dna to give up. But in cold call sales…I give up. But if someone pre-establishes a relationship, then I like selling. But for now, I can focus in on being creative.

I am trying to exercise a lot here, because Ive been eating a lot. I walk everywhere, but the problem is the heat. It was about 100 degrees today but really humid. By the time I walk five minutes to the restaurant Im pretty sweaty. I don’t know what else I can do about it. But the weather is starting to get cooler. Again the weather is really hot for 4 months a year, then for 8, it is simply divine. I have tried not using the elevator whenever I can. By the time I get to the 20^th floor however, I think Im dying. I didn’t think stair climbing was that difficult. But once you get past floor #7, it seems as if someone stole all the oxygen out of the world. It is a pretty amazing aerobic workout. But Im also starting to feel old…just a tiny bit. All the hints are there. When I ran marathons…way way way back in High School/College Days, it used to take me about 6-8 weeks to get ready to run in one. Granted I never did well, but I finished them. Now its hard enough to even do three miles. Its frustrating that my body won’t do what I want it to do. But I still feel young at heart and that is the important thing. I am somewhat of a medical marvel. I eat like absolute crap, fast food wise (Jenni is trying to change me…but she’s not here is she) and I have diabetes, yet my blood pressure and cholesterol are great. Im also supposed to be Bald, like my father and both my maternal and paternal grandfather, but I have modern science (Propecia) to thank for that. That stuff really works. Everyone tells me that my eating habits will catch up with me eventually. Maybe they are right. I am trying to change. But God told me that I’d have a long life. He hasn’t been wrong with much that he’s told me. I think its so I can enjoy my wife and have more kids. I feel like these prime wonderful years of my children’s life were stolen from me. So Ill live a longer life as kind of recompense so I can experience all of that again with Jennifer. Im so fortunate that God brought her into my life.