Back to Civilian Life

I was anxious to get through college as fast as possible. It had been over five years since the last time in school, so I wasn't sure how well I would do. My confidence returned after I received my ACT grade - 34. Four of the five categories were in the 99th percentile. I took nineteen hours the first semester and got a job as a night janitor at a local bank.

I changed jobs before the fourth semester. Eureka-Williams headquarters was in Bloomington next door and needed a programmer. Great! The pay was good and they would give me a flexible schedule to accommodate my schooling.

They were using Honeywell equipment and EasyCoder was the programming language - Autocoder in disguise. The computer was octal-based, so it took a slight adjustment on my part to become proficient. Not long after I started there, they sent me to programming school in Chicago to learn COBOL (COmmon Business-Oriented Language.) That became my fourth language. I visited my old haunts at LaSalle to renew the relationship and bring everyone up to date. After numerous attempts to bring me back on board, they gave me an offer I couldn't refuse. They would also pay any tuition for any school for as long as I was employed there. I began another life on August 2, 1971. I had started working there on August 1, 1963.

I liked COBOL. The program listings were easy to read and the minutia required in Autocoder was no longer necessary. I created a few programs and received a new assignment. I was a Senior Programmer at the time and my new title would be Systems Analyst. Tada! My function would be to travel to some top banks in the country and learn how their systems were designed. I would come back to the bank to present my findings to top management who would then make decisions about the future course of the bank's technology. Boy, did I ever enjoy that work! Then, in 1973, my father died of cancer.

This first major loss of my life was traumatic. I did not handle it very well. After a few weeks of self-serving pity, I decided to change jobs. Reuben H. Donnelley in Oak Brook hired me as a Group Leader in charge of custom airline guides. Five programmers were assigned to me to produce hard-copy guides specifically designed for the sales agents to maximize ridership on their own planes. I liked this because I learned IMS (Information Management System) which would serve me well later. After about a year and a half later, I felt I needed another change.

Staying in the digital side of our brain for too long can be taxing. If we don't develop the analog side as well, we feel out of balance - at least I did. I certainly knew how to communicate with a machine, but needed some work on people skills. What's the answer? Sales!

Mutual of New York had an entry program of eighteen months duration for their new insurance agents. Salary plus commission and volumes of training material. I was Rookie of the Year for the region and made Top Club the following year. The problem was I hated insurance. When I found out how much money is made from people's fear and how overpriced the products were, I had to get out.

The big benefit I got from the experience was being introduced to self-improvement. Of course, Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" was one of the first books I read. "The Greatest Salesman in the World," "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," "The Master Key to Riches," etc. It had been some time since I had satisfied my reading appetite. Since my time was pretty much my own, I always carried a book with me. I felt much more comfortable in my own skin now. It led me to the best job I had in my life.

University Computing Company (UCC) was headquartered in Dallas. They were hiring a sales executive in Chicago to cover Indiana and half of Chicago. The first interview was at 90 S Riverside Plaza with Gus, the regional manager. He was impressed with my background, but not with my taste in clothing. He gave me a copy of "Dress for Success" before we parted. I took the hint and carefully chose a new suit for my Dallas interview. It went well. The VP of Sales drove me back to the airport and I asked him:

"Do you have any suggestions for me to do well?"

"Be Yourself."

Best advice I could have received.

I loved the work, loved my colleagues, and made excellent money. In four years, I was never beneath 115% of quota. Truly, this was the best sales force imaginable. There were thirty-six of us and we would get together once a year for a three-day meeting at some resort in Texas. This is where I was introduced to the "Attitude Check."

Professional Sales can be stressful, at times. When we got to the meeting site, it was after a year of presentations, disappointments and successes. We swapped stories from the field and generally had a great time. If someone said anything negative, all those who heard would yell "Attitude Check." After the first day, we didn't hear negativity. It brought to mind my combat experience with the captain.

These meetings were to refresh the crew, educate us on the next year's plan and pass out awards. A couple of hours each day was enough to qualify the event as a tax deduction. We would golf in the afternoon, play poker at night and carouse until late. The third year I was there, I was given an additional duty.

We sold what was called the "UCC Numbered Products: UCC One, Two, Three, Six, Seven, Ten and Fifteen. They were all very, very good. Our techies had the right stuff. All were intended to improve Data Center Operations. UCC Ten was the IMS Data Dictionary. Because of my technical background and having used IMS at Donnelley, I was named the National Sales Executive for the product. I would now be making presentations all over the country. We were in direct competition with IBM and outselling them two to one before I left. When UCC Seven rolled out, I licked my chops.

Seven was a Data Center Scheduling system with huge implications. Jobs in a data center were scheduled by the operators and took a lot of time to organize. Daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual reports had to be run in sequence without errors. In a large organization with thousands of jobs being run, this was no easy task. I understood the potential immediately. The first year of rollout was great for my finances and for the data centers who bought it. I couldn't understand why everyone would not buy it immediately, but many did. All the large companies in Indianapolis jumped on board. There was one company in Chicago that gained my special interest.

Prior to going into a company, I did my homework. I would get their Annual Report and compare the various department expenses, specifically in Data Processing. Any aberration in the cost compared to other companies would send me on the trail. I would find out the kind of equipment they were using to ensure my presence there would help and call to make an appointment. After introducing myself and UCC, I would say that I needed to walk the information flow to make sure the ROI for doing business with us was logical. I set my sights on Combined Insurance at 5050 N. Broadway in Chicago.

The insurance company was founded and owned by W. Clement Stone, the Positive Mental Attitude guru of his time. He, Napoleon Hill, Og Mandino, Zig Ziglar and others were cohorts to some degree. The halls in the building were filled with frames depicting PMA. Most of them I remembered from their books. Before I ever saw the inside though, I had to get an appointment, so I set about going my normal approach.

"Mr. Director, my name is John. I'm with UCC. Are you familiar with us?"

"Yes I am. What can I do for you?"

"From the information I've gathered, I believe we have reason to get together. I would like to come by and walk through the information flow and then present some solutions with a Return on Investment proposal."

"Naw. We don't need any help. Thank you."

"Allright. Do you mind if I check back with you in a month or so?"

"Sure, go ahead."

I call the following month and get blown off again. Same the following month and several more months after that. I take action.

I write a letter to Mr. Stone, thanking him for his books and how they helped my career, state the research I had done on his company, give him the names of two other insurance companies using my products, and relate the calls I had made to the Director of Data Processing. Two days later, I get a call:

"Mr. Stachura, this is the Director at Combined Insurance. Can you come by for a presentation next week?"

"Tuesday at one would be great. Would that work with you?"

"Sure."

I got there at twelve to walk through the information flow and went to set up my presentation equipment in the meeting room. When one o'clock came, there were about forty attendees in the room, glowering at me. They were loaded for bear. I was very prepared.

Three hours later, I had described how each product would benefit their organization, what needed to be done in what sequence to achieve the results and gave them a reasonably close estimate of the ROI. There were no questions.

A week later, I opened my mail to find the largest purchase order of my UCC career. A month after that, I went with my techies to see the installation progress being made. I found out the Director no longer worked there. I felt no remorse.

UCC was purchased by a Swiss industrialist during my fourth year. Drastic changes, both in policy and personnel took place. No more joy in Mudville. Gus was replaced by a new manager that continually carried his bible with him. On October 5, 1981, my mom died. Whatever I had felt when my dad died was multiplied when my mother passed. I went through another horrendous emotional adjustment. My new manager came to the wake and tried to comfort me by saying:

"Maybe you don't pray enough."

I left soon after.

I landed at Informatics, Inc. out of California, near Los Angeles. They had great respect for UCC, so the job was quickly offered. I was flown to LA and quartered in temporary housing with another new hire. We were to be there for a month of orientation, indoctrination and training. The first week changed my life forever.

Counselor Selling is a five-day course in professional sales. Larry Wilson, founder of Wilson Learning, created the class. It is, in my mind, the best sales course for pros. The element that changed my life was the description of the Sales Cycle. It has four steps: Establish Trust, Establish Need, Establish Fit, and Establish Hurry. I didn't like the word hurry, so I refer to that step as Establish Timing.

After the course ended, I began thinking about this cycle and applying it to all the decisions I had made in the past. It was a monumental purge of my historical mistakes. I extended the thoughts to other elements of my life and suddenly realized how this thing called "life" is totally interconnected. That weekend was spent driving up and down the California coast in tears. Ecstasy!

This experience was my turning point. It is best described in the introduction to "Transforming the Mind," available for free on the Internet:

"You may, at some time, have had a 'peak' experience, an ecstatic moment or a moment of greater understanding, when your consciousness expanded - and you knew it. When this occurs, the integration between left brain (logical thinking) and right brain (intuitive feelings and emotions) is manifested in increased energy-flow between the two sides. This is thinking and feeling in an holistic and balanced way. It is a foretaste of an evolutionary jump for humanity - and in essence, what the so-called New Age is all about - a new level of maturity in mental development, an awakening.

By learning how to arouse the whole brain, selectively and at will, the mode of consciousness may be freely altered, appropriate to the task or situation - whether a crisis, making music, relaxing, mental arithmetic, brainstorming, or contemplating nature. In this new wide-awake consciousness, the world seems to be full of possibilities - it possesses a strong sense of rediscovered meaning. This is nothing mystical. It is essentially ordinary consciousness, operating for once at its proper efficiency."

This is also what Dr. Jill-Bolte Taylor writes about in her "Stroke of Insight."

There was no going back. I effectively wiped out all false belief, propaganda, indoctrination and useless value systems. But, what to do with this experience? How can I communicate to others what truth I have found? After some meager attempts at writing about this, I found it impossible to describe it. I could no longer concentrate on what I had known. I accepted a two-year contract in Saudi Arabia.

Next up - Jeddah and Riyadh.