The Value of a Nickel -- Sell Your Products at Optimum Price

Copyright © 2004 Howard Young

When I was a wee tike of eight, my parents started working my tail off in their business -- an American Indian Hobby Shop -- named Buffalo Robe, in Reseda CA. We sold all sorts of items ranging from beads, feathers and bells, to full regalia of Indian and Mountain Man attire.

My job was to package glass pony beads which sold at 95 cents for a bag of 50. I guess they figured I knew how to count by second grade and trusted me to package beads by thousands if not millions. Once a year we set up a production line where I came home after school and would sit in front of TV watching Speed Racer and run a handful of beads across a counting board with 50 holes drilled in it. I would then scoop off excess beads, and place remaining 50 beads into a Dixie cup.

I wasn't very adept at finishing process and my mom poured beads into a clear plastic bag then stapled on a pricing label. For every packaged bag, I received a shiny nickel and by end of week my take home pay was about $10 -- which back in early 70's -- was a lot of money for an eight year old.

When I did research on Jaime Foxx's preparation for movie I understood why he had captured Ray Charles so perfectly. In preparation for Ray, movie, he adapted many of Ray Charles' physical characteristics and immersed himself in Soul, Jazz and Blues recordings to set mood; attended classes at Braille Institute; and spent weeks during rehearsal and production walking around with his eyes sealed tight for 12 hours a day, to gain an intimate understanding of what it really means to be blind.

Many on set where stunned by how spontaneous and natural actor's embodiment of Charles became. But imitation was never point for Foxx. "The key word for me was nuance, because I didn't want to simply impersonate him," says Foxx. "Rather, I wanted to capture some part of his spirit, that's all. There were a lot of little touches which I tried to layer-his musicality, his warmth, his sense of balance, his posture-until physical side of things all fell into place."

The true story sells itself, and Foxx's interpretation is so uncanny that lifelong friends of real Ray expressedgenuine confusion on set.

For all this hard word and dedication Jaime Foxx was paid millions of dollars and awarded highest compliment by movie industry, an Oscar.

What does this have to do with sales training, everything!