What I Did Before I Was an Internet Entrepreneur – Part I

Byjoel

It feels like I’ve been making websites since the beginning of time. But I know that isn’t the case because I actually did have a life before the world wide web was ever invented.

In fact, I had a number of jobs before I became an Internet entrepreneur.

And with each experience, I learned something that has helped me to get to where I am today.

I thought it would be fun to attempt to document what I did before I became an Internet entrepreneur, author and speaker.  I would divide my pre-Internet vocational experiences into four phases, so I think I’ll write a 4-part series revisiting my past.

With that said, here’s how I got my start in the workforce…

I remember when I first laid eyes on the Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I personal computer with 4K of smokin’ hot RAM.  It was love at first sight, and I simply had to have one.

At the tender age of 14 years-old, I secured a work permit from my guidance counselor at Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, IL (home of Allstate, A.C. Nielsen and Underwriter’s Laboratories), and got my very first job at the food court in Northbrook Court mall.

I was a fast-food jockey at The Earl of Sandwich and The Earl of Pizza. I think my job description is self-explanatory. My initial compensation was minimum wage… $2.65/hour.  Big bucks!

I really enjoyed working at The Earl, and remember getting my friends Peter and Lenny positions working alongside me at some point. I became a master of slinging a ladle of sauce on a pre-fab crust and slicing deli meats and slapping them on a bun.

Of course, I also remember burning myself on the massive pizza ovens and cutting my hands on the meat slicer more than a few times. Ouch!

The manager’s name at the store was Ron Stoler (sp?) Ron was 27 years-old and a great guy to work for. He seemed to enjoy me and entrusted me with opening and closing the shop many days. I thought that if I was ever going to manage people, I’d model myself after Ron…. cool and friendly. Ron, if you are out there and ever read this, thanks bud.

However, there was a brief run-in with an assistant manager who gave me a hard-time. He was very religious and didn’t take kindly to a 14 year-old cursing. (Yeah, I had a bit of a foul mouth as a teenager). One time he disciplined me by making me clean the grout in the back room with a toothbrush. I was not happy. And mean assistant manager didn’t last long at The Earl.

I remember saving my money so I could buy my first computer. When I finally pulled enough funds together, I splurged for the TRS-80.  I still remember my mother asking me, “What are you going to do with a computer?”

Not only has Mom made peace with the answer to that question, but she has managed to find some online success of her own!

At fifteen years old, I left one fast food job for another. There was a deli just a couple hops down from the pizza and sub place. I worked there for a couple months.

Then I applied for a position at KB Toys in same mall. I learned a valuable lesson in my brief 3-week stint at the toy store.

The manager told me I had to take an “honesty test.”  Basically, I was to answer questions about myself.  One of the questions was “Have you ever stolen anything?”

The truth was, I had. During my time at the Earl of Sandwich/Pizza, I had probably pocketed a total of $10 or so from the cash register. It wasn’t a lot, and I wasn’t happy with myself for doing it, but I thought I would be honest and share my regret on the toystore “exam.”

A week later I was told that I wasn’t welcome as an employee at KB Toys. As it turns out, I would have kept my job had I lied about my petty theft. But you know what they say about karma, right? KB Toys went bankrupt. Too bad, so sad, buh-bye.

So, it was back to fast food for me.  I took at job at the Arby’s restaurant in the food court.

Yuk. How is that chain still in business? I worked there just a few months before I had my fill of junk food. I was one of the few who DIDN’T work at a McDonald’s restaurant.

By this time, I was 16 years old. Retail opportunities opened up before me and was to enter into a phase that would lead to one of my BEST JOBS EVER.

Want to know what happened next? Part II in the series is here!

What are your memories of your first jobs? McDonalds? Wal-Mart? Lemonade stand? Babysitting? Please leave your comments below!

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47 Comments

  1. i alos tried to earn Money with Jobs like babysitting, help old People and do their Shopping
    to be able buying things my parents could not buy for me
    hmmm… did not think of it a Long time ..
    but it was fun already and i learnd how to spent my Money for myself …
    after the Age of 15, during my Holidays from School, i worked in factories to earn Money…
    sometimes it was real hard to do because my friends went to go Swimming or having fun and i had to work 😉
    i think it helped for me too to get what i am now
    looking forward to part 2 😉

  2. I started work at 13 – a few months before turning 14 – at Anthony’s Pharmacy in my home town. I was a “soda jerk” dipping ice cream, making milk shakes, banana splits, sundaes and drawing sodas. I made 50 cents an hour and all the ice cream I could eat. The ice cream part was good for about a week or so then I didn’t want anymore ice cream.

    It was a really great job and I worked there all through high school.

  3. Hey Joel, just like you, did it all, in the beginning it was mostly cutting grass. It kept me in great shape but I did not like the work that much, very mindless.

    Now, my mind can’t stop thinking about the computer and how to outsmart Google. Can I outsmart google?

  5. My first job was as a merit badge counselor at scout camp for a summer. The summer after that I was a pie chef at Echo Lake lodge. Then I worked at Radio Shack for a while and IHOP as cook. I also spent a summer on a forestry crew counting trees. But my first real job after graduating was as a landscaper – it was brutal! I started working with computers long before the Internet and have enjoyed that so much more than digging ditches.

    I actually put together a little video recently about my early days in the computer industry…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8Zz9fsVXnU if you are interested.

  6. My first job was at Poppin Fresh Pies, a Pillsbary chain of Restaurants, I think now they are known as Baker’s Square. They had 28 cream pies and 18 fruit pies and we had to taste every one as well as be trained to cut and serve pies correctly. I have since taken professional pie cutter off my resume, but it comes in handy at pot lucks. I have lots of great stories and friends from my 2 years of working there during high school.

  7. I remember my first job was in 1970 I was 11 years old and started repairing skis at a small ski area in Western Massachusetts. I worked for equipment and clothing. My first paying Job was in 1972 at 13 washing dishes at a restaurant for $2.65 an hour. That lasted about 2 weeks and was then put on the line as a cook. I spent many years in the restaurant business, and have an AS in culinary arts, I got that in 1979. it was easy to get a job back then especially in a town of less than 1000 vetoing residence that had 7 bar restaurants.

  8. I was in boarding school all of my childhood so my first job was in the armed forces as a career soldier,or maybe it was during school holidays working on the farm.
    Anyway, that was way back in 1970 and it sure taught me something about discipline.

  9. First job was a “box boy” at an Albertson’s grocery store in Montana when I was a 15 years old.

    I bagged groceries and took them out to the customer’s car. Also aisle cleanups and incinerating old boxes. $2.30 / hour minimum wage (1976).

    I think they call them “courtesy clerks” now.

  10. First job I ever had, back in the early 70’s, was working the grille at a Red Barn . Remember them? they were similar to McDonalds. Minimum wages were $1.10 back then. Next Hills
    Department Store. Wages were a little better at 2.35 Hr.
    That store is also gone today. Times sure have changed
    since then, with the introduction of the PC !

  11. My First Job (at about 14), was as a Caddy at the Inverness Golf Club in Inverness IL [invernessgolfclub.org/]… got off the bus at the corner on the way home to carry 9-Holes, if I could get a ‘loop’, before going home to do homework…Being big for my age, I gave myself a Raise as soon as I figured out I could Carry Double… No worries about the Back back Then… and of course, on weekends, I’d carry 18 and then sometimes 36 if I could get out early enough to catch a second round for the day… Often Doubles… you haven’t Lived until doing That a time, or two…ah-h the lessons learned in & around the Caddy Shack and Golf Course 😀

  12. First jobs were mowing lawns and working at a bowling alley (as a perk, I got to bowl for free!)
    Like you, I saved up for my first computer – a powerful Atari 800 with a whopping 16K of RAM. I still work with computers every day, so those first jobs were important stepping stones to my life today.

  13. My first job was as a volunteer assistant at a childcare. I was only 12, and my mother “strongly” suggested I take the job to develop a work ethic. As an older teenager and young adult, I did retail and I still love fashion today!

  14. At the age of 16 I was asked by a wise neighbor, who knew that I was fatherless, to build a stonewall. He saw in me a teenager that was without direction.He took in me in as his own and began to develop a work ethic in me which has helped me considerably over the years to which I am very grateful.

  15. Hey Joel,
    The first job I had was at Kentucky Fried Chicken and it was 1971. I went on to do more restaurant work which has given me an incredible work ethic. No, never again will I do food service but I am thankful I did.

  16. I was lucky to have a valuable skill. I knew how to solder. My first job was assembling circuit boards for my dad when I was 14 and being family he paid by the part, not by the hour so I made good money. My first “real” job was assembling circuit boards for metal detectors for minimum wage, but I worked my way up to $3.85 an hour.

  17. I grew up out in the county and at 10 years of age I was driving tractor in the fields. I worked in a tomato factory and learned everything about tomatoes. Had a job cleaning, rebuilding and painting punch presses. Worked in a gas station for a few years. Was in the navy for a few years also. Got a job in the auto industry where I learned a lot of different and interesting things. Through an accident I became handicapped and started to help with internet marketing of which I have learned quite a lot including information overload. Still working at internet marketing but it has been a slow process for me but will make it.

    John

  19. Hi Joel,

    My first proper job was when I was 12, though I’d had many part-time odd-jobs before that 🙂

    I decided to give up school and work full-time at the local chicken farm. At weekends I worked at the local Pig farm (just down the lane from where Paul Daniels now lives in Wargrave, UK)
    I was earning at least double what my old dad was earning at the time and I was able to help out with the family finances (which were very poor).

    Sadly, the school-board chap got notified by a well-meaning neighbour and the court-house visit followed with me being taken out of circulation for a few years 🙁

    However, when I did get released back into society I started my legit career as an Apprentice Chef. I out-grew that one and took several varied jobs before settling on being a Plasterer, which I continued with right up until mother nature stomped on me 🙁

    I now sit at this Ol’ puter writing all sorts of stuff, trying all sorts of income streams, taking one step forward – two steps back.

    I bet that resonates with many of your readers here Joel 🙂

    All the best – Pete

  20. Humm in my case it’s the recycling depot center. i worked there in 1993 i was 17. After that in 1994 i worked at Exo-s Smart innovation and continued there for 19 years. The last three years i spent there i was a Team leader. I left in april to become my own boss and start my own online business in affiliate marketing.

  21. My first job was picking Raspberries and Strawberries in the fields at the age of 12 so I could buy school clothes. I remember I badly wanted these pair of Nike’s, but they were around $30 and it was more than my mom was willing to spend on shoes for us, so in order to get the clothes I wanted for school I had to get out in the field and pick pick pick so I could kick kick kick on the kickball court with some shiny new Nikes on my feet! I’m super thankful for that job that instilled a lot of work ethic in me.

  22. I was 14 years old and there was a root beer / hot dog stand right behind our house. I started as a carhop making 70 cents an hour + tips. I made enough in tips to buy my own car at 16.

    Thanks for the memories, Joel!

    Winnetta

  23. My first job was being a receptionist at a dance studio when I was about 14. My parents told me they could not afford and did not want to pay for classes, so I worked at this studio so I could take classes. I didn’t necessarily like the work, but I absolutely loved taking classes and that was the beginning of my dance journey. 🙂

  24. Probably from age 11 on I would pull weeds for 25cents an hour, babysit for 50cents and hour and was able to buy my 10-speed ram’s head handlebar bike around age 12:) Also bought all my own school clothes throughout jr high and high school. Shoveling snow in the winter was where the “big money” was and winters on the Northshore in the 70s were a boom time.
    First “real” job was at Green Acres CC as a waitress, ended up getting sick on their food and was let go. 2nd job was at Northbrook Public Library working with my older brother in the music dept setting up the reel-to-reel tapes so people could listen to albums on headphones, was let go as soon as they “found out” my brother and I were related, that was at age 14/15. So next “real” job was at NBCourt at Naturalizer Shoes and had many friends working in the Food Court… Stu Minsky at One Potato Two, Greg Carr at Arby’s…. Eventually also worked at Barnaby’s and Michael’s Hair Salon uptown and Thom McCann shoes in Deerbrook Mall.
    Learned alot about customer service with all these jobs and the most important thing I learned is to work hard at any job you have, no matter how menial, it shows dedication and pride, and it has often led to promotions- always good 🙂

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