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Jeff Vogt had a problem. He wanted to fly for Southwest Airlines when thousands of other qualified people also wanted to fly for the company. He was rejected out of hand.
Sound familiar? You have no doubt been in a similar situation where you “wanted”. The trick is to make your ‘want’ workable even in times of stress, a bad economy, non-supportive spouse, tough competition, or lousy alignment of the moon. In other words, when the world rejects you out of hand, your desire must be stronger than temporary denial.
Jeff Vogt had been around farming all his life. Tractors and brown dirt were his stock-in-trade. He was a farm boy. But Jeff was competing with military jet jocks and other pilots who were just as capable and qualified. How could farming possibly work to his advantage?
We need to consider a couple things. First, farmers are hard working people. Second, as any farmer will tell you, when till the field and seed the soil, you naturally engage in a growth process. Things begin to happen. Kernels germinate. Crops emerge.
The reality of the situation is that you’re standing in your own fertile field right now. You simply have to seed the soil. The results may not show up immediately, but patience and persistence are key.
For Jeff Vogt, things certainly didn’t look promising. In fact, Southwest’s repeated rejections weren’t his only problem. He had sent resumes out all over the United States and was rejected over and over again.
But Vogt had three things in his favor: Desire, determination, and dirt. Lots of earthy, brown dirt. With those resources, he hatched an ingenious plan that would separate him from the horde of other pilots.
Vogt moseys out to his tractor that will somehow get him a flying job. He ponders before making the final decision. Now, spurred on by a tiny seed of an idea, he fires up the tractor and begins to roll.
Maneuvering beneath the hot California sun, the plow squeaks and strains. Dust flies as he disks, digs, and carves the ground. To a bystander, he’s just another grower tilling the soil. But a bystander can’t see the fire that burns in the farmer.
The tractor continues to plow nonsensical swaths across the land. Hours pass. By the end of the day, the tilling is complete. Jeff stands back to admire a symphony of patterns. The bystander on the ground still can’t see anything other than a field of tilled dirt. In fact, no one can see much of anything, unless you’re 36,000 feet in the air… where Southwest tends to fly.
Airline crews begin to spot the field. At first they do a double take. “What the hell is that, Frank?”
In huge 700 foot letters carved in the soil, is the inscription, “I ♥ Southwest”. Beneath this, is one more endearment - Southwest’s telephone number:
“800 I FLY, SWA”
Word spreads like wildfire. Gate agents, reservation clerks, flight attendants and pilots alike begin to talk about the monster message spotted in California. Soon, many of the 24,000 employees at Southwest hear about Jeff, including the CEO, Herb Kelleher.
Vogt is called in for an interview. Things go well. Jeff Vogt collects a harvest in the form of his dream job.
Jeff Vogt had a passion, a viable plan, and dared to be different. He used resources literally right under his feet to carve out the circumstances he wanted. And Jeff is now living proof, of living excellence.
Here are three take-home points we can learn from Jeff:
1 Think outside the barn. In other words, don’t get locked into one way of doing things. There may be more effective ways to reach your solution if you simply take time to open the barn doors of your world and look.
2 Be country cool. Kick your shoes off, wiggle your toes, feel the sun on your face, listen to the breeze and relax. We choke our creative genius when we become too concerned about what others may think of our ideas.
3 Till the soil. Contrary to what many think, it is not a lack of talent or skill that keeps people from achieving excellence in their lives - it’s a lack of action.
Tilling the soil is nothing more than getting out there and doing instead of dreaming.
So even though times are tough and no one on earth can see your effort, work the soil anyway. If you sow you shall certainly reap. Big time.
Another example of creative job seeking is Larry Mardis. Larry was making a living as a California carpenter in the 90’s when the real estate market was anything but bullish. Construction startups were down. To make matters worse, Larry had an expensive habit. He loved to fly.
At first glance, sporting around in a rented Cessna may have seemed foolish. But Larry came up with a creative solution to not only support his wife and child, but feed his flying addiction as well.
Mardis decided to use an airplane to job hunt. His strategy was simple and direct. Larry would rent a Cessna 150 and comb the countryside in search of new construction. He could cover an entire city and spot new construction in minutes - something that would take him hours or even days in his truck.
Upon spotting a jobsite, Larry would circle it, take note of its location, and then retrace the route back to the site via his truck. He would find the foreman, hand out a business card, and follow with a killer quote: “Saw you from overhead…thought I’d drop in.” His creative tactics must have worked. Larry was always busy!
What can we learn from Larry Mardis? Once again, creativity counts. And once again, you must stay loose, action-oriented and open to new ideas that speak to you. If you have a hobby, dream, leisure pursuit or other interest that shouts to be freed, take heed. Follow your heart and, as we suggested in Chapter One, imagine a perfect outcome. What may pass off as a playful diversion may be bankable passion in the making. If your heat speaks, answer the call.
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