Have you ever thought of selling sand on the beach? Neither have I. To most people the mere idea is preposterous.
But isn’t it how all great discoveries, inventions and breakthroughs are made? Someone comes up with an outwardly crazy, outlandish idea, and despite all the skepticism, criticism, ostracism, ridicule and many attempts and failures, finally succeeds making the rest of us look like fools for not being able to appreciate, accept and embrace it at the very beginning. And the world moves a notch forward.
We are all captives to our own stereotypes. It takes courage, ambition, determination and unleashed creativity to break loose, to go beyond ourselves, to defy all the gravity of habits, traditional thinking, prior knowledge, and experience.
Can we re-gain the free spirit we were born with? Can we re-learn our ability to unburden ourselves from the bonds of conventional wisdom, public opinion, peer pressure and other invisible boundaries that keep us in place?
A case study
About a dozen years ago, we were having a nice vacation at Myrtle Beach in South Carolina. It was a beautiful day and we were basking in the sun, enjoying the light breeze and symphony of ocean waves.
Suddenly, I noticed commotion. A little boy, about 5, had broken loose from his parents’ supervision. He ran around the beach with a plastic bag full of sand, stopping at everybody to tell them something. People laughed and sent him off to their beach neighbors or friends. He went on and on, nonstop. His tenacity drew my curiosity.
"What are you doing?" I asked the boy when he was passing by me.
"Selling sand," he replied.
"Sand?" I said, incredulous. "On the beach? Why would anybody want to buy sand? It’s everywhere around here."
Turns out the boy had thought this through.
"I’m not selling just sand," he explained. "I am selling the moist sand from the shore."
I challenged him. "But who needs that moist sand, and why?"
Undeterred, the boy said: "Do you see those people away from water? They might want to build a sand castle, but the sand next to them is not good for that. It’s not sticky, and the people may be too lazy to get closer to the water."
I couldn't argue with that. He continued his mission as I watched, bemused.
After a while without any luck, the boy retreated to the shore, emptied his plastic bag and washed it thoroughly. I thought he’d given up his senseless exercise. Turned out I was grossly mistaken.
He refilled his bag with new, fresh sand and added a few sea shells scattered around in abundance. And he started all over again.
"It didn’t work," he explained as he ran past, "so I took some new sand and added seashells to make it more attractive."
After more laughs and rejections, I saw him hand his bag to a young woman no doubt amused by his persistence. The boy ran away from her with a triumphant smile, waving something.
"I sold it! I sold it! I made two whole bucks!"
He ran up to me, handing me his newly earned two one-dollar bills and lowered his voice:
"Dad, can you put this in my college fund?"
Exploration with AI | How Will You Innovate With SAS® Software?
19 Comments
Such a fun story and lesson!
Thanks, Gary, for such a nice comment.
Thanks for sharing such a nice story. Its indeed inspiring for me
Thank you, Reshna, I am glad you like it.
Leonid,
Heart-warming story; thank you for it!
p.s.
Would you like to buy some used semicolons?
--Michael
Oh, Michael, thank you, you are so kind.
P.S. Why would anybody want to buy used semicolons? With SAS software you get unlimited supply of them for free.
Thank you - isn't it a great metaphor for selling open source software 'moisturised' by some IT/SAS analytics support.. 😉
Agree, with so many offerings around and fierce competition, selling software is hard and challenging, it’s like ... selling sand at the beach. If SAS analytics is an open source software "moisturizer" (or glue) then let it be its selling point - we can't build castles with dry sand.
Also, wouldn't be it to the best if this great literary piece is read by every Sales and Pre-sales staff at SAS - more often than not we learn from children!
Absolutely! You voiced my implicit message.
Thank you for sharing. So cute!
Thank you, Anna. I am glad you liked it.
All I can say is, WOW! What an amazing way to personalize an overlooked problem in our society. Many are so overcome by daily naysayers and fall victim to our monotonous culture. However, those who possess a ingenuous optimism ignite the trail to economic growth and success. Bravo to your son!
Thank you, Marabelle, - very genuine emotions and very profound observations. I think we (adults) can learn (or re-learn ourselves) from children whose psyche are not clogged yet by the "social training". I always find it fascinating how much we can learn from them, which leads me to believe that we humans are born with natural curiosity, creativity and optimism. The question is how not to lose it.
Thank you for sharing this story, Leonid! You have once again made me think about not only what is in, and outside, the proverbial sandbox, but awakened my creativity and imagination. Great job!
Thank you, Kirk! Hope you pass it on to your students...
Absolutely!
Wonderful and engaging story.
Thank you, Deborah, I am really happy that you liked it 🙂