I’m really starting to hate roller coaster rides and yo-yos.
At least the financial ones.
After coming off a great week of sales followed by a good solid week of sales, I get to the office Monday only find the worst weekend sales in several months. My heart sank.
The worst part about the financial roller coaster ride, with its ups and downs, is the emotional highs and lows that comes with it. You work your heart out, you put in excruciating, long hours, you sacrifice so much (not just me, but everyone at Palladium), and there are some days (and weeks) where it just feels pointless. When you wonder if it’s all worthwhile or whether it’s time to call it quits.
I mean, we have three outstanding new books out this month, the Property of the Coalition States® coffee mug, the Rifts baseball cap, and bunch of other cool stuff coming out this month. The stock market has been up the past two weeks, the media is claiming retail sales are up, and economists are starting to feel like the economy is leveling out and a turnaround is coming or even starting. So where’s our sales?
Then, you start to beat on yourself. I took Sunday off and only worked 10 hours on Friday and Saturday – what was I thinking? I need to keep pushing hard, that’s 16-20 hours I could have been working. What if sales don’t pick up? We NEED to get new books out!
Of course, all of that is weariness, frustration and disappointment talking. After the storms Palladium has weathered and survived these last several years, we are not giving up now. No way. Sales will pick up, they always do. I was feeling burnt out and needed ONE flippin’ day off and a couple of short days (10 hours is short for me). It was nice laying around the apartment, reading books, watching the History Channel, talking to friends on the telephone, straightening up the apartment, doing a little laundry and capping the night off watching the AFI’s life time achievement award to actor/producer Michael Douglas. You need to take a little time off to recharge the batteries, something I actually need to start doing much more often. All work and no play turns your mind to mush.
So I was feeling mellow and good about things only to be greeted by lousy sales. It was a slap in the face I was not expecting. My spirits started to plunge.
The call . . .
Then, whatever higher powers that watch out for me sent me a reminder not to let small setbacks and disappointments bring me down. To stay focused and positive. That came by way of a telephone call from a gal named Vickie Fell.
I was the first in the office (I usually am). I had just flicked the hall lights on, hadn’t even put my briefcase down, and was staring blankly at the sale numbers for the weekend – three days of sale that were one third of what they should have been. My mind was filling with the negative thoughts above, when the phone rang.
I walked over, picked it up and was greeted by a cheery voice asking if Heroes Unlimited and Monsters & Animals were in stock and what the current prices were. The happy voice giggled with excitement over the info that both were in stock. Vickie went on to tell me, without knowing who I was, that she loved Heroes Unlimited and Monsters & Animals, and well, Palladium in general, for that matter. She asked how Palladium was doing. I said something like, “We’re doing okay. You know, holding our own.” Cheerful Vickie said, “You’ve done more than that. After everything you’ve gone through, I’m just glad you’re doing so well, producing new books, and haven’t sold out to some big company.”
Those weren’t her exact words, of course. But that was the basic jist. Vickie made me smile as she went on to tell me how she could hardly wait to get her copy of our new Palladium Catalog and how if she won the lotto Palladium had nothing to worry about, because she would buy every book we had in stock plus books to come. She laughed and sung our praises and thanked me for publishing great games and not giving up. Her kind words, deep enjoyment of our products and enthusiastic excitement about Palladium’s future knocked the funk right out of me!
Vickie’s sweet comment about “if she hit the lotto” and “wish I could buy more now” suggested she had her own financial difficulties, yet she positively bubbled with joy and positivity.
I don’t know if you go online much Vickie, but thank you for being you. Thank you for calling when you did. Thank you, for your energy and kind words, and thank you for buoying my spirits before they could tumble into a private little pity party.
All of us at Palladium Books love what we do, work hard at it, and are rewarded by having the GREATEST FANS on Earth.
Don’t let these tough times get you down either. Don’t let all the little things pile up and seem like an unsurmountable mountain. Don’t focus on the negative or let disappointment knock you on your can. And if it does, take a deep breath, dust yourself off, get right back on your feet and keep plugging away. Enjoy the good things, the good people around you. Realize what you do have, appreciate it, and make the best of it.
Life ain’t perfect, but it can be pretty damn sweet if you let it.
Sincerely,
Kevin Siembieda
Publisher, Writer, Game Designer & Junior Philosopher
Palladium Books®, Inc. – 28 years of RPG Publishing (and planning on 28 years more to come).
© Copyright July 20, 2009 Palladium Books Inc. All rights reserved.
Rifts®, The Rifter®, RECON®, Splicers®, Palladium Books®, Phase World®, Palladium Books®, The Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game®, Megaverse®, Nightbane®, The Mechanoids®, The Mechanoid Invasion®, Coalition Wars® and After the Bomb® are Registered Trademarks of Palladium Books Inc. Heroes Unlimited™, Beyond the Supernatural, Dead Reign, Warpath, Shemarrian Nation, Fleets of the Three Galaxies, Mysteries of Magic, and other published book titles, names, slogans and likenesses are trademarks of Palladium Books Inc., and Kevin Siembieda.
Robotech® and Robotech® The Shadow Chronicles® are Registered Trademarks of Harmony Gold USA, Inc.