Buzzmaker

I come from a former communist country. There are many disadvantages of living in a communist country. One of those is that it is very hard for you to go abroad. And if you succeed all your neighbors will envy you.

After finishing the 10th grade my parents succeeded to buy me and my sister a trip abroad. Poland was the lucky winner from the list of available countries. It was midsummer and we were going to Warsaw by train. 14 hours by train through the former USSR and then Poland. 

In those times you were not allowed to have foreign currency. We got the equivalent of $10 for the whole trip that last for 12 days. Not too much. You were able to buy some refreshments with these money. So we became creative and we asked people that previously went to Poland. We were told that cotton articles are selling very well, cigarets and spirits. 

After 1 day on the train we finally reached Warsaw. We had to convert the goods we had into cash. This was already organized. We were dropped to a local flea market. I had no experience in selling. My sister gave me a T-shirt and she gave me some advice. Smile and when somebody talks to you show them this piece of paper where she previously wrote the price. Standing there with the T-shirt in my hands I felt ashamed. Fortunately this has passed pretty soon and I started to learn some words in Polish. I learned how they said How much?, I learned the numbers in order to tell them how much the price was and then I helped the others to communicate.

That T-shirt was my first sale and I thank my sister for giving me my first sales training. It worked out so I started to sell more.

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