yeah, good one.
as far as negativity goes, sorry to disappoint, but despite all the GREAT things you have in those threads, my negativity does not show thru as you are for some reason, thinking it does. I am professional enuf not to let things like my crappy life effect me, although i can tell you that despite the multitude of them, the one most significant thing that affects my attitude is if the sun is out or its raining cats and dogs as usual. But i am actually happy to get any chance to bid or do anything, so i am automatically in a good mood when i am interacting with customers.
Funny about the church i last went to. the Galloping gourmet, Graham Kerr who i always liked alot, goes there. I got sucked into a light change for a couple days for free, the first week i was there. Didn't really care for all the singing, but when they refused to let me do a class i teach in that very room, (large multipurpose room) and then the next week, handed out flyers for other classes that were being offered, that was it for them - i have never been back.
I am going to have to force myself to go to all the clubs i mentioned before, hit the bulletin boards etc as was offered up. and i guess church too. I had a job yesterday for a hundie and another tomorrow for a buck and a half. a long way from paying bills. one out of the phone book and one a past customer. also last week i gave back a customer $250 because i overcharged him, (not keeping track of the payments he made to me), even tho it left me with $10 in the bank., i also yesterday had to give back money to a friend of mine (another elec contractor), i subbed out work from, because i forgot he referred the job to me, so i am good at being honest. i don't want anybody to feel i bent them over, even if i have to borrow money to do it. and yeah, even tho some might not believe me, with a smile on my face. i have also recently been given a $200 tip because the customer didn't think i charged him enuf, but i did. i have received alot of tips some of a hundred dollars.
you know the expression, got to blow sunshine up their, uh, dresses. i do. i am not so dumb as to think that i am going to get work by being grumpy. the last bid i was on (couple weeks back), the lady had another elec. contractor on the walk thru doing exactly that. man he was blowin the sunshine. i couldnt even compete (in sunshine blowing dept.) he did not get the job either. but compared to THAT guy, yeah, i wasn't even close. but he gave me an up close an personal lesson on how to do it, that's fo sho. even he has gone from seven trucks down to three.
and i do 'dress up' alittle when i do estimates. maybe not so much when i go to work a i crawl thru alot of muck, but for schmoozing, of course. trust me, i might need to work on some things, but not everything. but i do plan to sit down and do a list of goods and bads. at least the goods, since no, i do not think that much about them. When one is up to their butt in alligators, it's hard to think happy thoughts. but i do when i know i need to.