Lessons from the Auction Floor
My Mom was the type of mom that believed her kids should always have jobs. I always appreciated the sentiment, and before I got people to pay me for being a geek I held many different job-titles. I sold snowboards, I was a cashier at a home-improvement store, I built mountain bikes, and I got all the free ice-time a hockey player could want working at an ice arena. But one job taught me more life skills than most of the rest…
I was a driver at an auto auction house. And it was awesome. For three hours every Wednesday night I would go to my rival town, sign in, plop down in the first car for the night and fire her up. I drove the “S” line, which was basically the worst of the worst. About 10% of the cars wouldn’t even start and I had to be pushed through by a tow-truck, trying with all my might to keep from scraping the walls of the auction house without the aid of power steering
I digress. I’ve come to realize that many of the principles I learned while doing this job have been very relevant to my career, and I am going to share my top 5 with you, explaining how you can use the principles to better your career as well.