The Smell of Success
Posted on November 4, 2015 under Storytelling with no comments yet
Man’s best friend…. most of the time
Micky was young, bright and personable and ready to make her mark in the world. She had a day job which she loved but she also yearned to try something on her own; to be her own boss. Why give up a certain and steady paycheque to chase a dream? It’s called entrepreneurship and Micky was ready to go for it. She was intrigued with nutrition and fitness and discovered a company that afforded an opportunity for her to test her mettle.
The business world is in constant flux and more and more people are choosing to work from home. Technology has enabled people to conduct business anywhere in the world, any time of the day. It also allows people the chance to work in a more casual setting. No need to spend time in front of the mirror in the morning or waste precious time picking out a wardrobe. Unless you are in front of a web cam.
It didn’t take long for Micky to hit her stride and, before she knew it, she was becoming a bona fide success story. She took on the role of recruiting new people and became a coach for others with similar goals. It was all pretty heady stuff and to top it off, she and her partner discovered that they were about to have a child.
On the day of a very important video conference, with people in different parts of the country who were interested in coaching, Micky was both excited and nauseous. The nausea was NOT a case of nerves but rather morning sickness. She would just have to shrug it off. She had been prepping her presentation for the better part of a week and was ready to deliver 40 minutes of optimism.
She settled in at her computer and within minutes was connected to seven other people. She started to feel better physically as she got into the meat of her presentation.
Micky had two dogs and having them around was like wearing a comfy pair of slippers. Casey was a 2 year old black lab and her best friend was Maggie, a 12 pound miniature dachshund. As dogs are wont to do, they started playing with each other … at Micky’s feet, which wasn’t a great distraction at first. Some of the other conference call participants had babies on their laps. This was one of the bonuses of working from home.
Just as Micky was about to deliver her key message, she smelled something awful. It was worse than awful. It was so bad that she went into a serious coughing fit and her stomach did cartwheels. Casey had decided to deliver his own commentary with a series of massive farts. The first one was of the SBD variety (silent but deadly) but the second ricocheted around the living room at a decibel level heard across the country.
Micky lost her concentration. She almost lost her breakfast as well. She was quite rattled and mustered up all of her coaching skills to deal with the stress of the moment. Only when the call came to an end, did she confess to the others what had happened. There was much good natured ribbing. The other participants were effusive in their praise of her presentation and she signed off. Casey, the culprit, and her sidekick Maggie were nowhere to be found.
Flattery will get you anywhere. Flatulence is a whole other matter. It’s not the usual smell of success!
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