Conquering the Pressures of Business

As Published in The Answer Magazine, January 2010
by Ken Walker

THE ED HAN STORY
Stockton, California USA

I hadn’t even had a chance to organize the day’s list of sales calls when my boss called me into his office. I went to see him with a smile on my face. In just two weeks, I would take over part of his operation and become a first-time business owner.

“Uh, oh,” I thought when I saw his serious look. “I wonder what’s wrong?”

“Ed, I’ve been talking to my accountant and attorney,” he said. “They’ve advised me not to sell the publication, but instead to walk away from it. I can’t sell the book to you.”

My heart sank. My wife, Lorri, and I were on the verge of buying one of his three telephone directories. We planned to take out a loan to cover the costs we couldn’t fund from cash flow. More significantly, we had mentally stepped into ownership.
Seeing the alarm on my face, he held up his hand.

“You’re the only one who knows,” he said. “After the distribution of my last book, I’m going to send out thank-you letters to our clients. All you have to do is send a follow-up letter explaining you are the new phone book in town. Just pick up where I left off.”

It took a minute for what he said to sink in. He wasn’t selling us the directory. He was giving it to us!

When I walked through the door 18 months earlier to take my first-ever sales job, I never dreamed that I would one day own a piece of the company.

My entry into business came at a point of crisis. My last job no longer paid enough for us to survive. When a friend told me about an opportunity in sales, I grabbed it.
I quickly discovered there’s a reason fewer than 25 percent of those who go into sales make it a career.

Though I started out on the phone because it was less confrontational, my boss told me, “What you need to do is take these business leads and get out face to face with people. You’re much better in person.”

Overcoming fear of rejection wasn’t any easier in person. I might encounter eight “no’s” before finding a “yes.” Still, as I persevered I learned that once I overcame my fear I had the ability to talk to people, make presentations and close the deal.

After a while, I talked to Lorri about buying one of the directories. I had some background in graphic design and was confident I could handle ad layouts. What I didn’t realize was the all-consuming nature of a small business. I used to think living on 100 percent commissions was tough. Being responsible for everything that goes on is pressure to the max.

We started out with just the two of us. Though Lorri had worked in retailing and previously owned two small businesses, publishing a directory was a new way of life.
Ironically, sales became the easiest part of the process. The four months of production called for 12-to-16-hour workdays, followed by back-breaking distribution of up to 40,000 phone books. We enlisted various community groups and all our children for the latter, paying the kids a nickel for each directory they delivered.

The key piece to our success was our relationship with Christ. There were times when our faith in God was the only thing that kept us going. Each day we prayed and asked Him for favor with whomever we met. Daily, we had to trust God to carry us through obstacles.

God responded to our prayer. Each year we saw 10 to 20 percent growth. Over a five-year period, our revenue doubled. God gave us innovative ideas. We became the first directory in our area to run full-color advertising. We were also the first to include a Spanish-language yellow pages insert. Some of the changes we pioneered showed up later in the phone company’s directory.

We also decided to do some “moral editing.” We omitted listings for adult bookstores, psychics, and other such services. On one occasion I was in the shop, laying out some headings. I sensed the Holy Spirit leading me to call a toll-free number that supposedly provided weather reports. When I did, it turned out to be for a phone sex operation. Needless to say, we didn’t publish that number thanks to that word of caution from the Lord.

After the first year, we realized this publication also gave us an opportunity to tell others about Christ. Using a guide from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, we included a page that told people about the steps to peace with God.

Though we met success, at the end of five years our family was burned out by the time demands. Lorri looked for a buyer and found one. That company paid us a 150 percent premium on our annual sales, far more than our original offer for the directory.

Once the deal closed, I went into a new career in insurance and financial services. Ironically, this job includes plenty of sales calls, but I no longer fear them.

As a nine-year-old boy, I said “Yes” to Jesus. What I didn’t realize then was that receiving Jesus as my Savior and Lord would prepare and strengthen me for crisis to come, including my parents’ divorce the following year. As that young boy, I turned to the Lord Jesus in my time of need, and He sustained me.

During my pre-teen years, doubts and fears would plague me at times, but I stayed true to the Lord because I knew, by His track record in my life, He would always care for me. By the time I entered high school, I was a confident, committed Christian.

My grandparents lived lives of consistent service to God. They lived out, in a very real way, the relationship they each had with God. I could not have asked for better examples to guide me.

So yes, a young boy’s faith in Jesus can grow and sustain him into and through his manhood as he discovers God’s plan and purpose for his life.

As a man in business, I’ve learned that Jesus, the son of a carpenter, knows the pressures and pitfalls of the marketplace. Through BMF, I’ve met many other businessmen who are looking for guidance or solutions to workplace problems. My lifelong journey with Jesus has shown me that when we ask, He gives wisdom, guidance, and creative ideas that can get us around obstacles, bring solutions to problems, sustain us through economic downturns, and reset our direction when we’ve made costly mistakes.

In the economic downturn of 2008-09, many have struggled with slow or inconsistent levels of business. The bottom line is that more sales and/or improved profits won’t buy you happiness.

No matter what business you’re in, following Christ is the best call you can make.

(An insurance and financial services professional with a national company [www.allstateagencies.com/EdHan], Ed Han is also President of the Stockton BMF Chapter [www.bmfusa.com]. Also an author, his first book is titled "Identifying God" [www.edhan-idgod.vpweb.com]. He and his wife, Lorri, have eight children and two grandchildren. They attend Lakeview Assembly of God church [www.lakeviewassembly.com].)

Great Expectations

by Gerald Macy (public domain)

Oh never sit we down and say,
"There's nothing left but sore."
We walk the wilderness today,
The promise land tomorrow.

And though age wearies by the way,
And hearts break in the furrow.
We'll sow the golden grain today,
And harvest comes tomorrow.

Build up heroic lives,
And all be like the sheathen saber,
Ready to flash out at God's call,
Oh victory of labor.

Triumph and toil are twins,
And ay, joy's sun, the clouds of sorrow.
Ti's the martyrdom today,
Brings victory tomorrow.

(I shared this at the commencment of my eighth grade graduation.)