February 13, 2004
One of our new salespeople, Sue Lambert, is breaking out as a major player at True West. Amazing since she started here as a receptionist, then moved to store manager and then to sales (which she had never done before). Last night we were walking out to our cars after everyone else had left and I asked Sue to what she attributed her incredible success.

She told me it is largely (95%) due to the Earl Nightingale CDs (“The Strangest Secret for Succeeding in the World Today”) and the Cold Calling CDs which she has been listening to and taking notes on. This was music to my ears because I paid for the Nightingale CDs ($65) out of my own pocket. It’s a real testament to Earl’s posthumous power (he’s been dead for some time) to continue to change and inspire people. We have asked Sue to help spread the word in sales and get others in her department as fired up as she is.

This week we got a new subscriber in Bulgaria who sent a Western Union money order ($100) in care of my name. So I had to go up to Bashas’ grocery store in Carefree, pick up a special Western Union phone, give them all the information, then a woman on the line gave me a pin number, which I took over to a checkout girl, who ended up getting on the intercom to page the store manager. Kevin came up, looked at the pin number, put it in a computer and asked me for photo ID. When I handed him my driver’s license, he said, “You’re not Bob Boze Bell.” (my driver’s license has my real name) I turned to look at the newsstand, which was next to his computer, so I could pick up a True West magazine and show him, but they were sold out! “Well, it’s a pen name,” I said, sounding about as legitimate as a check kiter in a trailer park laundromat. “I mean, Boze is a nickname I got in high school when I ran the bases backwards.” This sounded even more fake than the first comment and by the look on Kevin’s face, he completely agreed.

I’m not quite sure why he ended up giving me money, but he did. However, as he handed me the C-note, he give me a “What a fruitcake” look, and frankly, I deserved it.

Trish Brink came in yesterday and said for some reason the website has been getting a big spike in hits this week and although I couldn’t think of why at the time, I woke up this morning and thought to myself, “Duh! It’s the Westerns channel True West Moment, which runs our website address under my name every time it plays. They claim 20 million eyeballs, do the math Boze, I mean Robert Allen.”

"If the world were a logical place, men would ride side saddle."
—Rita Mae Brown