Send out the trainer

Ten years ago I was living my life in overdrive and working full time. The farm was still a functioning dairy, The Husband was working seven days a week, really long days. I was working in sales and as a corporate trainer. My job was based out of Seattle, two hours from the farm so we had an apartment in the city, but I was rarely there. Two weeks out of most months I would fly to another city, usually west of the Mississippi...where I would spend five days training new sales employees, or retraining existing sales staff that was performing poorly, they were usually pretty close to getting the boot.
When I would meet with employees in need of "retraining" the first thing on my agenda was to have a conversation that went something like this.
"OK...I'm sure you know why I'm here. The boys in suits don't like your numbers, but I'm not a boy in a suit. This week I'm here to give you everything I've got, we're starting fresh, what I need to know is ...do you really want this job? Because if you don't want it, why don't we just get it all right out in the open here, I can fly back home today...there is plenty of work for me to do back in my own territory. So, are you in? Or do you want me to go back to the airport? It's really all up to you. At the end of this week I'll be writing a report, and you'll get to sign it...in fact we'll be writing it together. What do you want to do this week? Do you want to help me write a glowing report on Friday or do you want to give me a ride to the airport right now?"
The joke at the corporate office was that when Shelly went out to "retrain", those employees would either quit or their numbers doubled. It wasn't always about numbers, sometimes it was about filling out reports correctly, or following company policy...and now that I don't work there anymore I can say that it was usually because their doofus district manager didn't train them right in the first place.
So, I've decided I need some retraining. This old farm blog will be a year old in two weeks...and I think it needs a boost, or a boot....not quite sure which. I'm boring me, so if I'm boring me I can't imagine how much I'm boring everyone else. It's time to shake it up, or shake it off. I read so many cool, sassy, creative blogs...maybe I'll just be a place where readers can go to find better places to go....hey...now there's an idea!