52 Cups of Coffee: Inspiring and insightful stories for navigating life’s uncertainties by Megan Gebhart
Authors: Megan Gebhart
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ignored the concepts of sacrifice and humility until it was too late. I would have left MSU with my fancy degree and full-time job, expecting the world to give me everything it owed me after my four years of “hard work” in college.
But the world doesn’t owe me anything, and if I think otherwise, I may end up falling flat on my face.
As Dave said many times during our conversation, “You can either choose humility or be humbled.”
Dave’s advice gave my previous Cups a new perspective. He told me, “everybody must make sacrifices; you might as well choose the ones you’re willing to make. They should be worth the price you pay.”
His advice made me ask myself: w hat sacrifices am I willing to make?
Denise Busley
Grand Traverse Pie Company in East Lansing, Michigan
Small brewed coffee
Instead of wallowing in the problem; look for a solution.
If you ’ve ever enjoyed the wonders of the pie at Grand Traverse Pie Company in Michigan, thank co-founder Denise Busley.
Her story, however, is even better than the pie. Two years after graduating from Michigan State, Denise Busley found herself in a medical-sales job outside Los Angeles. Between student loans and the high cost of living, it was a constant struggle to make ends meet, and she and her husband Mike couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.
She had a sales territory that had been abandoned for six months, and the sales forecasts she was expected to meet seemed impossible. When her sales numbers were meager at the end of the quarter, her manager walked in and warned her—she had 90 days to turn her territory around.
She was distraught and angry. The expectations were unrealistic and unfair.
Then , something happened. Right after that encounter with her manager, Denise attended the company’s national sales meeting. During the sessions, they made a big to-do about the sales representative with the highest sales of the year. They gave him a big award and displayed his sales numbers: he was making twice as much in commission as Denise was! What’s more, he was also from some sparsely populated “middle-of-nowhere” state.
Suddenly a huge mental barrier disappeared for Denise. She realized she was letting the situation pull her down. If this guy could make that kind of money in his state, there was no reason she couldn ’t match his numbers in LA, where, as she puts it, she “could trip over ten doctors on my way to work.”
It was a light-bulb moment.
After the meeting, she ran (literally) to catch up with the president of the company. “I’m going to be the sales rep of the year next year,” she told him. Then (once the adrenalin wore off) she had a moment of panic and wondered what on earth she’d done. True to her word, though, a year later, she was sales rep of the year.
For Denise, the change happened because she shifted her mindset. Instead of thinking, this isn’t fair, my territory was abandoned, there’s too much competition, she accepted that she was in a tough situation and focused on the goal she had decided—very boldly—to achieve. Then she worked her hardest to achieve it.
Denise eventually left that job, but the lesson stayed with her: accept a situation for what it is and change what you have the ability to change.
* * *
Two kids and 15 years later, it looked liked a job relocation was in store for her husband Mike, and neither Denise nor Mike could justify uprooting their kids and moving to a new state when neither of them were in love with their current jobs. During a trip back to Traverse City, they visited a small pie shop and an idea hit: they would leave their jobs and start a small 15-seat pie shop. Grand Traverse Pie Company was born.
* * *
In the past ten years, Grand Traverse Pie Company has expanded to over a dozen locations around Michigan, which has brought Denise great success in a career she never expected. Even better, her job gives her the resources to do what is most important to her:
But the world doesn’t owe me anything, and if I think otherwise, I may end up falling flat on my face.
As Dave said many times during our conversation, “You can either choose humility or be humbled.”
Dave’s advice gave my previous Cups a new perspective. He told me, “everybody must make sacrifices; you might as well choose the ones you’re willing to make. They should be worth the price you pay.”
His advice made me ask myself: w hat sacrifices am I willing to make?
Denise Busley
Grand Traverse Pie Company in East Lansing, Michigan
Small brewed coffee
Instead of wallowing in the problem; look for a solution.
If you ’ve ever enjoyed the wonders of the pie at Grand Traverse Pie Company in Michigan, thank co-founder Denise Busley.
Her story, however, is even better than the pie. Two years after graduating from Michigan State, Denise Busley found herself in a medical-sales job outside Los Angeles. Between student loans and the high cost of living, it was a constant struggle to make ends meet, and she and her husband Mike couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.
She had a sales territory that had been abandoned for six months, and the sales forecasts she was expected to meet seemed impossible. When her sales numbers were meager at the end of the quarter, her manager walked in and warned her—she had 90 days to turn her territory around.
She was distraught and angry. The expectations were unrealistic and unfair.
Then , something happened. Right after that encounter with her manager, Denise attended the company’s national sales meeting. During the sessions, they made a big to-do about the sales representative with the highest sales of the year. They gave him a big award and displayed his sales numbers: he was making twice as much in commission as Denise was! What’s more, he was also from some sparsely populated “middle-of-nowhere” state.
Suddenly a huge mental barrier disappeared for Denise. She realized she was letting the situation pull her down. If this guy could make that kind of money in his state, there was no reason she couldn ’t match his numbers in LA, where, as she puts it, she “could trip over ten doctors on my way to work.”
It was a light-bulb moment.
After the meeting, she ran (literally) to catch up with the president of the company. “I’m going to be the sales rep of the year next year,” she told him. Then (once the adrenalin wore off) she had a moment of panic and wondered what on earth she’d done. True to her word, though, a year later, she was sales rep of the year.
For Denise, the change happened because she shifted her mindset. Instead of thinking, this isn’t fair, my territory was abandoned, there’s too much competition, she accepted that she was in a tough situation and focused on the goal she had decided—very boldly—to achieve. Then she worked her hardest to achieve it.
Denise eventually left that job, but the lesson stayed with her: accept a situation for what it is and change what you have the ability to change.
* * *
Two kids and 15 years later, it looked liked a job relocation was in store for her husband Mike, and neither Denise nor Mike could justify uprooting their kids and moving to a new state when neither of them were in love with their current jobs. During a trip back to Traverse City, they visited a small pie shop and an idea hit: they would leave their jobs and start a small 15-seat pie shop. Grand Traverse Pie Company was born.
* * *
In the past ten years, Grand Traverse Pie Company has expanded to over a dozen locations around Michigan, which has brought Denise great success in a career she never expected. Even better, her job gives her the resources to do what is most important to her:
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