Hometown Jitters...

Hey Everyone!! Thanks to all of you that read my last blog and thanks to all of you visiting now!!

So... last time I told ya´ll that I was going to tell you about the last and 2nd auction that I did...which just so happend to be in MY hometown of CARMINE, TX! For those of you that don´t know where that is - it is pretty much right between Austin and Houston, if you´re travelin´ HWY 290. This auction was to raise money for the CARMINE VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT!! FOLKS! It SEEMED like there were  a BAJILLION people there!

To put it plainly... I was more nervous than I was for the very first auction in Plum. I mean I went out to THE TAVERN in ROUND TOP the night before with my best friend Kaysie and her Mom. We went out to celebrate me and a friend´s birthday (which was that following Monday). Plus...there was a BIG birthday party for a very good family friend WILLIE :)! He sold us my very first registered horse "TOOTS." She was a BEAUTIFUL dun mare out of Dun Commander and boy could she move.

Carrying on....I talked to a lot of my friends there and I was nervous then already. I didn´t tell everyone, but I did tell a few people (that DID NOT know that I have started auctioneering) to kind of guage their response. They were pretty much like everyone else´s. Some people just look at me kind of confused trying to figure out why I´m doing it, some ask me to do a little auctioneering right then, and some get REALLY interested and ask me a ton of questions. That is pretty much the 3 responses I get. I´m glad I did tell a few people. I think if I wouldn´t have I would have been EXTREMELY nervous.

Well...like I told you earlier. We were out at the bar, so you know I didn´t get to sleep early or anything. (I do want to say that Kaysie and I have to have the best parents! HER MOM and MY DAD made sure we got home in one piece and my MOM watched my little Sugarbritches- Kylee.) Nonetheless...I was up at 7:10 AM. I couldn´t go back to sleep. Believe me...I tried! I don´t know that I EVER had those kind of nerves. It was that kind of nervous where there are CONSTANT butterflies in your stomach that kind of go into your chest and flutter around for awhile. Well...I walk into the hall and go to the first friend I see (LANCE)...and gave him a hug. He asked me if I was nervous and then told me I would be fine as long as I didn´t use that high-pitch voice I use when I´ve been drinking :).

So...I went and did what has become routine for me...SCOUT OUT THE ITEMS WE WERE GOING TO AUCTION OFF, talked to a few people, and drank A LOT of WATER. I went up there and helped spot bidders, just like I did for the first one. Then Uncle Mele asked me to do a few items. It was really no big introduction this time. He just said he had a "helper" and we rolled on with it. You know the JITTERS were really POINTLESS. I mean...I was there to do something and I knew I was going to have to BUCK UP and do it and I WANTED to. Why be nervous...RIGHT?

  

WELL...I am REALLY hard on myself. I had AWESOME feedback from PLUM, but then I start thinking that maybe they were just being nice, maybe people were expecting me to be a ROCK STAR auctioneer and I wouldn´t be (After Plum...Pops and Uncle Melvin were telling people in town that I did REALLY good - NO PRESSURE or anything..), or that I was going to REALLY mess up. You know how it is...you always want to do your ABSOLUTE BEST in your own HOMETOWN.

Well friends....I DID mess up a few times. But I need to cut myself some slack. The auction was a SUCCESS!! I mean I´ve never even seen a minature horse get auctioned off, I don´t know all the hand signals yet, when I´m at $275...it just seemed right to jump it $25 to $300 - instead of $5 (like I had been going up). Hey...I got the bid, so I´ll TAKE IT!! The whole point is to raise money. I feel like I was RATTLIN´ those numbers off PRETTY FAST at this one....probably b/c I was SO nervous.

(The Great Josie Graves says: "Don´t point your finger...use your whole hand.")

The one thing I DID NOT want to do in Plum was take a bid backwards...you know go from $35 to $30...putting stuff on sale. Well GUESS WHAT... I did it in Carmine (According to my cousin-in-law Cody...3 times). Those stinkín´ cattle buyers catch EVERYTHING :)! I think it started when someone asked me to cut the bid in half on that minature pony. I was going up by $25 and I think it was at $225 or something. I was trying to get $250 and the bidder gave me the hand signal to cut the bid in half. LET ME TELL YOU...I knew what he WANTED  me to do, but I was rattlin´ those numbers off so fast I couldn´t think fast enough, but just kept talking and while I´m tryin´to figure in my head brought the bid down to lower than what the bid was at. We got it all straigtened out. It threw me off my game a little - BUT I "put on my big girl panties and dealt with it". I had to BUCK UP and just keep rollin´!

I had a REALLY GREAT response from EVERYONE. THANK YA´LL for that. If any of you OUT-OF-TOWNERS are ever passing that way...Be sure to stop  and check things out. You´ll run into A LOT  of GOOD PEOPLE!!  I want to take some time again to thank EVERYONE THAT DONTATED TO THE AUCTION, ALL THE BIDDERS, THE VFD for not running me off, when Uncle Mele handed me the mike, and EVERYONE THAT MADE THE AUCTION RUN SMOOTHLY.

Some of the BIDDERS (I really am sorry if I forget anybody. Let me know and I´ll give you a shout out in my next blog).
CARMINE STATE BANK
LEECO PLASTICS
ROUND TOP STATE BANK
BURTON ROCKCRUSHERS
CIRCLE B HOLDINGS
CITY GARAGE
GIDDINGS LIVESTOCK COMMISSION
PAM´S HAIR FASHIONS
ROUND TOP SERVICE STATION
CARMINE FEED AND FERTILIZER
ROUND TOP FARM AND RANCH
JW STEAKHOUSE
TREELAND NURSERY
WASHINGTON COUNTY VET CLINIC
ULLRICH´S ELECTRIC MOTORS
and NUMEROUS Individuals there to support the cause!

Guys...I just don´t know what to think about all of this, but HEY! I´m havin´ a REAL GOOD time. SO...I´m going to keep pluggin´ away at it! I really can´t say THANKS enough!

So...to wrap it up... I had a couple of hiccups that some people probably didn´t even catch. I did the one thing I didn´t want to do (Go backwards)...and SURVIVED. I had a VERY GOOD response from everyone. I was welcomed back with Uncle Melvin. Not too shabby for my 2ND auction.

One of my good friend was nice enough to come out and take some pictures of me auctioneering. I´m trying to get some of you non-believers some proof...and as soon as I figure out how to embed audio on my blog I will :).

When you stop by...let me know. I ENJOY and APPRECIATE the COMMENTS. I think Uncle Melvin told me the next auction will be sometime in AUGUST! Maybe I´ll see some of you guys then!! Stay tuned for more interesting blogs and if you know of ANYONE that would enjoy reading it...PLEASE PASS IT ON!

Just Gettin´ Started...

Hey EVERYONE!!! Welcome to my blog! FYI - I am a brand spankin´new blogger AND a brand spankin´ new AUCTIONEER!

The whole auctioneering thing is what started this whole blogging thing :). I have a full-time job in TV ad sales, but since I started learning how to auctioneer I just can´t stop thinking about IT. "IT" includes a lot of stuff like: all the sweet compliments I´ve been getting, where and how I made a mistake, how to NOT make it again and/or how to cover it, the differences between one auction to another, getting rid of all the jitters I have for DAYS before an auction, what Auction School will be like.... All that kind of stuff. Needless to say...my mind is OVERLOADED with all kinds of thoughts and this blogging thing seemed like a good idea!

So people ask..... "Have you always wanted to auctioneer?"

The answer to that is I don´t think so. I have always been interested in auctions. My Uncle Melvin :) has been an auctioneer all my life and I´ve been around sale barns as far back as I can remember. My first job was punching cattle at Lee County Stockyards in Giddings, TX. I went from punching cattle and checkin´ them in, to working in the office - settling out the buyers, entering info, stuff like that. I also worked in the café end of things too. To get to the point...I think its just in my blood. I have always been interested in auctions and it WAS on my bucket list to auctioneer.

I couldn´t sleep one night and it was really early in the morning and a thought just popped in my head. "Why don´t I learn how to auctioneer?" So I mentioned this idea to my Pops (who BTW has a mouth the size of Dallas) and he went and told my Uncle Melvin RIGHT AWAY....

So Uncle Mele calls me up and wants me to do an auction with him in MAY (literally a week after I told him I was thinking about doing this). Luckily....I had a shower for my best friends wedding and couldn´t make that one. At least it gave me a little time to practice (and by "practice" I mean talking to myself real fast, watching some You Tube videos, and asking my Uncle a bajillion questions). The next auction was in June at THE ST. PETER AND PAUL CATHOLIC CHURCH in Plum, TX. There was no getting out of this. If I was gonna do it...it was time to BUCK UP and take ´hold of the situation.

Well let´s just say...I WAS NERVOUS OUT OF MY MIND!!! I didn´t know very many people there (at least when we first got there) and I was following my Uncle around like a lost puppy. Later someone told me that they were trying to figure out who I was. They didn´t know if I was "Melvin´s young mistress" or what. That deserves an LOL! That´s any small town for ya!

So I start out bid-calling or spotting the bidders. Thank GOODNESS Uncle Melvin had me do this first. It helped me figure out where the "consistent" bidders were.

AND THEN......Uncle Melvin calls me up to do my first item. I do not remember WHAT I sold, but I do remember that I sold it to Mr. and Mrs. Leer and it went for $85! WHEW! I made it! Everyone was clapping for me and said I did a good job. Anyways...after that it was all fun. I started getting comfortable, people would talk to me when I took my break, the nerves were gone. I´m not saying I didn´t mess up, b/c I did. I lost the winning bidder at one point and started and stopped selling on one item b/c I had what I call "a moment." Ultimately, I jumped a bid higher than I needed to and instead of bringing it back down I just froze.

I do want to take a little time to thank EVERYONE THAT DONATED the items to the auction, THE BIDDERS, EVERYONE THAT HELPED WITH THE AUCTION and the MEMBERS OF THE ST. PETER AND PAUL CATHOLIC CHURCH. It takes all of those elements to pull an auction off. With all SERIOUSNESS...you all gave me the confidence that is keeping me going with all of this. That first auction was MY test to see if it was even worth me pursuing this whole auctioneering idea. I do have one more shout out to HATFIELD DENTAL CLINIC in LaGrange, TX for buying the highest item I had sold at that point. It was an AWESOME metal peacock!!! All the bidders did a FANTASTIC job and I hope everyone there enjoyed theirselves as much as I did!

The best part is MY FIRST AUCTION was a SUCCESS!! I was welcomed back with Uncle Melvin anytime. I believe we helped bring in $36,000 for the church (Sorry if I´m wrong. That´s what Uncle Mele told me). I met a lot of really GREAT people and really....the response from everyone OVERWHELMED me and I am still a little overwhelmed by it all. It kinda feels like the GOOD LORD dropped an opportunity in my lap and it was time to BUCK UP and do something about it. I really don´t know what the "right" next thing to do is, but I am a STRONG believer in "If you don´t know what to do...just do something." That´s probably the sales skills coming out in me.

I plan on doing as many fundraising auctions as I can and Uncle Mele will take me on. Then later this year, going to an auction school to get licensed. It just opens up more opportunities.

Well...sorry this one is so long, but STAY TUNED for my next blog. I´ll be talking about my 2nd auction - which was in MY HOMETOWN! TALK ABOUT NERVES!!