There are some companies that you look into and you wonder why you never applied there for a job. Southwestern Company is often one of those companies. They don’t just build up people, or a company but they have built a community that cares for one another. The great thing about them too though is that you can work for and be a part of this community without working directly for the company. They have a lot of businesses that they will refer people to because one of their alumni has started their own company. They also rely on these companies for a lot of the workings of their own company.
Alumni have made companies in all aspects of business including consulting, investments & finance, fine art, executive search, fundraising, publishing and insurance which means that they have a lot of resources at their fingertips. These companies only came about after several summers of being out in the sun working hard, selling books door to door for Southwestern Company . That is probably the reason why you never signed up with them. It is the reason why a large number of people never signed up with them. There is something about this kind of hard work that really builds character, however very few people really want to do it. Part of it is probably because of each person’s memories of other door to door sales people, or their parent’s reactions to door to door sales people. Depending on the family it ranged from fear, to distaste, right through to being glad to see them each year even though they were never the same sales people.
The truth is that for most people it is the first summer that is usually the hardest. If you make it through that and find that you still want to be selling books you are probably going to not just do well but do very well. After one summer you know how to run your own business and make it successful. That is the real key that each of the alumni have learned. You also have made bonds of friendship that can not be broken because no one else knows what it was like out there on your own with no one but your group. In the end it turns out the Southwestern is more than just a company, they are a story of love and a story of growing up and they pass that story on to each person they hire.