I looked forward to attending the Rochester Silo convention because for me it was a vacation from my job as a nursing assistant. My husband Arnie and I would stay at a hotel and attend catered events. A few months earlier, Arnie had decided to go into business with a man from Indiana. They named their joint operation, ‘R&R Sales and Services.’ This career change came as a surprise to me. Up until then, my husband had been a welder and had never expressed an interest in becoming a salesman. The new business sold farm equipment and Rochester Siloes. So far, Arnie hadn’t sold a single silo.

All the activities at the convention appeared to be geared toward pumping the salesmen up to a fever-pitch of excitement. The company claimed Rochester Silos were the best silos in the Midwest. They pointed out with pride how their logo could be seen on top of new silos all throughout the countryside. Everyone attending the silo convention was lavished generously with fine foods and drinks.           

To encourage stronger sales, the Rochester company handed out rewards to their most productive salesmen. The pinnacle of the evening was when the top salesman was presented with a briefcase stuffed with cash.

On our long drive home, Arnie uncharacteristically began talking about what he needed to do to become a good salesman. I suspected he was worried about being a good provider for me and the baby we had on the way. At one point he glanced over at me and admitted, “I need to be able to talk to people as easily as you do.” After a slight pause he added, “I want to be able to start conversations with people in elevators like you do.”

I was surprised.. Did he really admire my crazy ability to talk to anyone who would listen?

In the months that followed, Arnie and I were very busy. He worked on making sales and I was entirely wrapped up in all things that had to do with our newly arrived baby daughter. His business papers piled up on the dining room table because we didn’t have a desk. I wanted the use of the table back, so I made two shelves, one on top of the other along a wall next to the table using four boxes and two planks.

My innovative shelving looked crude, but it worked. When papers cluttered the table, I’d just pull them together in a pile and put them on the shelf. One day Arnie came home and said he needed a certain receipt. Convinced he’d have to spend an entire morning searching for it, he grumbled, “When the table was messy looking, at least I knew where the paper was.”

Unconcerned, I teasingly announced, “Everything in this house is at the tips of my fingers!” I then plunged my hand into one of the piles of papers. The random slip I pulled from the stack turned out to be the very one Arnie wanted.

R&R Sales and Services, the business Arnie had started before our daughter was born, shut down after about a year and a half. Instead of going back to welding, Arnie wanted to continue being a salesman, so he found a job selling workshop supplies and fire extinguishers. Then, his next job was selling farm machinery.

Eventually, Arnie became interested in organic herd health and began to focus mainly on soil products. He formed a business called, ‘Arnie’s Farm Care’ and sold organic products to customers all throughout central Wisconsin. Feeling like he had finally found his special niche, he explained, “If a farmer wants healthy livestock, he has to produce healthy crops.”

Arnie’s wish to learn how to be comfortable talking to everyone came true. He could talk for hours with strangers. That helped him become a very good salesman. Unfortunately, the only thing Arnie never was able to sell was a Rochester Silo.