Selling GRIT Newspaper Was Great Boyhood Business Experience

One man’s boyhood business experience selling GRIT Newspapers helped prepare him for door-to-door sales in his retirement.

By Leamon (Lee) Short
May/June 2012
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I assumed this paper was nonexistent until, while browsing at a bookstore recently, I found GRIT; dressed in finery, unlike the GRIT I had known so long ago. It’s been more than 60 years ago that I sold the GRIT newspaper, and I’m now approaching 76.

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When I found it on the newsstand, I bought a copy, subscribed for myself and my sister, and every two months I relive the life of a country boy. I was a bashful boy in Rose Hill, Virginia, so I didn’t have much success, unlike the former carriers recalled in the January/February issue (Check out previous Carrier's Corner entries Delivering Newspapers at the Mill and Developing a Work Ethic).

But that and other boyhood business experiences helped when I turned to door-to-door sales in my retirement. I sold Watkins and Fuller Brush, and became one of the few men to be sales representatives for Avon. I made the President’s Club and the Honor Society.

So, though I doubt I sold many copies of GRIT back in the day, I learned a valuable lesson: Don’t let bashfulness stop you.

Leamon (Lee) Short
Roanoke, Virginia 

Submit your GRIT Carrier story by email to Editor@Grit.com, or mail to GRIT, Carrier's Corner, 1503 S.W. 42nd St., Topeka, KS 66609.

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