Sandler Training - February/March 2020

company’s goals to the rest of his team. One was in the form of a fishbowl, which overflowed with fish when they met their goal. In December, the tracker featured a Christmas tree that shot out a star when they reached their target.

Is [what you’re doing] the best thing for your customers? If not, modify it, have goals, and continue to work toward those goals.” When it comes to building a business, his other piece of advice for entrepreneurs is to forge ahead without worrying about the competition. Even in markets that appear saturated from the outside, there’s always a place for the next brilliant idea. Take software, for example. “You think there’s no room for digital players but then a player steps in and does stuff a little bit different, and all of a sudden they’ve become extremely successful in a very competitive environment. So, there’s opportunity in any environment if you just do it better and do it smarter,” Jim says. One thing we admire about Jim is his relentless optimism. Instead of focusing on the challenges of the industry he’s in, he keeps his eye on the perks. This was true even back when he worked in sales, a sector that often gets flak from other workers. “I always saw the bright side of it,” Jim recalls. “I enjoyed talking to people, so that certainly helped, but I also saw this as helping people. The first thing I really enjoyed about selling was going out and sitting in front of business owners. You

know, you’re just going out and you don’t know these guys from anybody, and they certainly don’t know you from anybody, but before you know it, you’re sitting down with a business owner and they’re telling you about their problems. They’re confiding in you, and here you are, some upstart 25-year-old or whatever. I was just so interested in what made them tick, what made their business work, and what challenges they had. And if I could find a way to help them, I knew that was going to be good for them and good for me.” That positivity is as much a secret weapon for Catchall Environmental as the Catch- All itself. With those assets and our development training at its back, we can’t wait to see where Catchall Environmental goes next! To learn more about Jim and his company, visit CatchallEnvironmental. com, or reach out to Jim directly by calling 253-279-5110 or emailing jim@ catchallenvionmental.com.

“We put our goals down and we exceeded them each month, and

everybody was really, really excited about it. I just made it much clearer to [my team] what it was all about,” Jim says. Jim is 64 now, with retirement on the horizon. Looking back over his career, he says one piece of advice rises to the top: Don’t give up. “A common thing I’ve said and that other people have said, is, ‘Gosh, if I knew what it took to do this, I never would have done it in the first place.’ Everything we do always bleeds into more challenges, and hopefully rewards, but also more issues than we ever dreamed we’d be running into. It’s all par for the course. You’re out there trying to figure out what will make it work and make it successful, and there’s just not a guidebook. But there are people like [the team at Sandler] who can help bring the sanity back into it … and help us do the things we keep losing sight of because we’re so busy day-to-day,” Jim says, adding, “Just continue the fight, and evaluate what you’re doing and what the solution to [your problem] is.

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