Intro - What I've Learned in my First Six Months as NRA Field Rep.

Greetings,

I have decided to begin my serious blogging with a series intended to highlight some of the finer points of our human nature. 

In November, I made a HUGE career change and began a whole new chapter of my life.  For the past ten years, I've been volunteering with the Friends of NRA program.  http://www.friendsofnra.org/  I first heard about it when my Dad had just purchased the local gun store, and I was getting my feet wet learning to manage it.  A postcard came in the mail with an invitation attend their start-up meeting.  Curious about the program, I drove to a neighboring town and met up with about 15 folks at a restaurant.  That evening, I volunteered to handle all the guns for their upcoming fund-raising banquet.  Thus began the journey that brought me here today. 

For the next five years, I was involved in the capacity of the 'FFL' for our local events.  I was also a single mom, running a very successful gun store single-handedly.  Eventually, we sold the store, and I immediately opened a sign shop in my home, where I could homeschool my boys as I worked.  The learning curve was significant, but I did well enough at it that it sustained us for nearly five years.  During that time period, we got a new NRA Field Rep., and he began using me to make up flyers, signs, and banners for the program. 

About one year ago, he applied for a promotion, which would leave the NRA needing to hire a new Field Rep. for Colorado.  He asked if I'd be interested, and said he thought I'd do a great job at it.  I told him, "Thank you, but NO WAY!"  I had seen how much time and effort the job required.  I'd watched how many miles he drove every week.  I'd worked hand in hand with him for years to build the Colorado program to the point where we were #2 in the nation for fundraising.  I'd seen him struggle with volunteers who procrastinated or didn't keep their word.  I wanted no part of it!  I'd gladly just keep right on volunteering for our local committee, with no responsibility whatsoever. 

Several months later, he announced that he would be leaving Colorado to work for NRA in another state, and again asked me if I'd be interested in applying for the job.  The sign shop was very seasonal, and maybe he caught me at the right time where a steady paycheck sounded like heaven, maybe I had just spent enough time thinking about it, maybe he had convinced me that I really could do this job.  Whatever the reason, I decided to apply.  Four months later, I got the job.  Six months later, I've completed 13 fund-raising banquets and raised nearly $400,000 in grant money to protect, defend, and promote the 2nd Amendment.  Life is good.  I love my job. 

In these first six months, I've observed some things about our volunteers and their motivations, passions, and drives.  It gives me great pleasure to highlight some of these attributes in upcoming installments.