Growing up in a low-income Mexican-American household, the speaker learned from a Girl Scouts troop leader to create opportunities by setting goals and breaking them into steps. A key lesson: never walk away from a sale until you've heard no three times. She applied this persistence to everything, from selling cookies to fighting for the timbali drums in band despite being told girls couldn't play them.
Chapters
When I grew up, my family, we really lived paycheck to paycheck, and sometimes we didn't even have money, and we had to go live with family members, so it was kind of tough. And we also, at times, lived on dirt roads, so we really didn't know how to create opportunity. So one of the first things I learned in Girl Scouts was how to create opportunity, because I really couldn't afford to be in Girl Scouts. But my troop leader said, yes, you can. You gotta sell for everything you want to do. You gotta sell a lot of cookies. That was a really large number of cookies I had to sell. So she taught me how to create, you know, create opportunity and make your dreams come true. So first you set that goal, and then you break that goal up into smaller increments. And then when you. You start working it, and if you need help, you ask for help. Now, that sounds simple. And everyone who's on this call, you know how to do that. Otherwise, you wouldn't be on this call. But to somebody raised in living paycheck to paycheck or near poverty, you don't know how to break out of that cycle. So learning how to create opportunity, that was huge. How to make your dreams come true. And then the other thing, and I've used this my entire life, is never walk away from a sale until you've heard no at least three times. Oh, that's really important. That's great. It was because I grew up in a very traditional Mexican household, and children weren't supposed to speak first to adults. So that's kind of hard to sell cookies if you don't speak first. And so my troop leader gave me that. That advice. And so when I. The first time somebody said no to me, I just stood there in front of them. And then I said, is there anybody else that might want to buy cookies? And she looked at me, and she said, no again. And at that point, there's a thought bubble over my head that says, truth. Leader Mrs. Provine says, Never walk away from sale until you've heard no three times. So I asked again. You know, anybody's day you would make if you bought some cookies. And she talks, but, you know, taught me persistence, resilience. And I use that, you know, going forward. I use that when, you know, my band director wouldn't let. I played timbal. I played the drums. I was first chair. He wouldn't let me march with the big timbali drums because I was a girl. And I said, well, that was my first no. Why else can't I? And he said, well, they're heavy. And I said, okay, so you don't think I'm strong enough. So then I worked up, worked out, worked out, worked out. So I got strong enough so I could carry those to Molly. So even at that young age, I began figuring out, how do you get to that. Yes. How do you overcome the obstacles? And that, if you're an entrepreneur, is an important skill to know.
