Believe in me: The motivational force from which all others are derived.

• Author: Wiesner, Pat

A YOUNG MAN I KNOW finally got his first job a couple of months ago.

He graduated from college two years ago, and spent the following year wandering around Spain enjoying himself, and not earning much more than a pretty good facility with the Spanish language. He finally ran out of money and prospects because, just like in the United States, in Spain it's difficult for a foreigner to get a visa that allows one to get a job.

So in the middle of last year he returned to the U.S. thinking seriously about starting a career.

He liked the idea of a job in sales. He was good with people and figured that sales was a pretty good way to the top if he was good at it. He could only dream of someday getting into something where he could use his fondness for the Spanish language.

The problem seemed to be the economy. Times were bad and nobody was hiring anyone, much less a green college grad with a liberal arts education and a year in Spain under his belt. There followed dozens of interviews and tests that generated an equal number of discouraging results.

Finally he was offered a job as an inside salesman in a division of a large company. He wasn't really sure it was what he wanted because he saw himself as an outside salesman, dealing face to face with his customers and prospects. But it made sense to start someplace and begin to build experience.

He was surprised and delighted to discover that he had been hired because of his knowledge of Spanish, and the company made him the inside customer service rep for Mexico! He felt on top of the world working every day on the phone with Mexican buyers.

And it got even better.

A few weeks ago, the outside salesman took this young man on a two-week trip to Mexico to meet a number of potential customers. They set sales records! In less than two weeks, they sold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of new business --...