10/19/2026
Early in my career, I was handed a script. It was a word for word, approved by corporate opener.
I stood on a stranger's porch, said the first line exactly as written, and watched her face close like a door mid-swing.
I tried it a dozen more times over the next few weeks. The result was always the same: polite, distant, and done in ninety seconds.
One evening, I just stopped. A homeowner answered, looking half annoyed. Instead of launching into the pitch, I told him honestly why I was standing on his porch and what actually excited me about this work. Twenty minutes later, we were still talking. Not about products, but about his kids, his plans, and what kept him up at night.
That was the moment I realized you can't force a square peg into a round hole. You can push it for a while, but eventually something breaks. Usually, it is the relationship you were trying to build in the first place.
I stopped trying to sand myself down to fit a corporate template a long time ago. I would much rather be direct, authentic, and real with the people I work with than read off a page.
