First ‘real’ job….the land of corn, soybeans and more soybeans and corn.
My first ‘real job’ took me straight from Montana to Des Moines, IA, the center of Midwest agriculture. I joined three other fresh graduates (Mark, Matt, and Brian) and we became the Four Musketeers while we waited for territory assignments. At the time we were hired by Ciba-Geigy (“Ciba”), a pharmaceutical company based out of Basle, Switzerland, there was a hiring freeze as the company was transforming and merging. Ciba’s agricultural division promptly became Novartis during our first year with the company and today is known as Syngenta. Ciba, and their competitors, developed many chemical concoctions to use in modern agriculture to help with weed control in the farmlands across the world.
As the Four Musketeers, we banded together and began learning how these chemicals worked in the heartland crops of soybeans and corn. We traveled with seasoned sales reps across the Midwest until eventually we were all assigned a territory. I was the last to be assigned and was placed in northwest Iowa, thankfully near Iowa’s best tourist destination and in the same town with extended family. I bought a small condo near the lake, developed amazing friendships with who I still consider ‘family’, and had my first foray in selling. Luckily I had a wonderful team who helped coach me along the way including my work team who became my bff’s and amazing customers, many of whom I am still in contact with today.
I was literally selling chemicals. Herbicides. I grew up with chemicals in Montana. I mixed, sprayed, spilled, and was always around toxic chemicals for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I loved the days when the crop duster would fly over our massive fields to spray the bindweed and thistles. I would try to be sure I was outside on those days – even if I wasn’t directly in the field, I was nearby to smell the sweetness of the spray. I loved the smell of mixing the chemicals that we batched in our spray truck and I did have one summer job where I sprayed weeds for the county. Again, mixing, smelling, spraying, and being in close contact with the chemicals.
Little did I know these toxins would someday haunt me, my nervous system, and my health. In addition, I learned about chiropractic care in Iowa from a dear friend who was my age and new to the profession. I was a great patient since I had an entire spine, pelvis, tail, and hips to adjust and fix. This care opened my eyes to the possibilities of healing, which I didn’t even realize was needed or available. Looking back, I’m so grateful!
I really did love that job. I learned so much and it was the best training ground for sales and negotiation training. Those big pharma companies are no joke when it comes to creating sales ninjas! I did, however, miss the mountains and trees, and the humidity was NOT my friend. One day I was driving down the highway and I saw a mirage of the Rocky Mountains…I knew then I needed to start figuring out a way to head west. The timing also coincided with one of the new chemicals we sold carrying over in the soil and impacting the rotational crop the next season. I sold this on nearly every acre of corn in my territory and therefore every acre of soybeans was impacted the following season. It was devastating to the farmer, the chemical dealer, my company, and me personally. I stood in front of those farmers and sold this to them. It did work well, however, too well given the conditions. Listen, I grew up on a farm and ranch and if this had happened to my family, we would be devastated. I walked every acre this product was sprayed, met with every farmer, and wrote a big check to each of them from the company checkbook to reimburse them for the crop that would not be harvested that fall. Once I completed that arduous task the mountains were begging me to head west.
