We were lucky to catch up with Marc Johnson recently and have shared our conversation below.
Marc, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with us today. We’re excited to dive into your story and your work, but first let’s start with a broader topic that might be stopping many of our readers from pursuing their dreams – haters, nay-sayers, etc. How have you managed to persist despite haters and nay-sayers that inevitably follow folks who are doing something unique, special or off the beaten path?
Growing up I never got a lot of attention. People doubted me and my abilities all the time. I was born the fourth of five children to my parents, and the third of four boys. My parent’s second oldest boy died as an infant prior to my birth. I have a twin sister, the only girl in the family. Because of the death of my second oldest brother, my experience was with an older brother, a twin sister, and a younger brother. People made over the oldest child, the only girl and the baby. I got lost in the sauce. Being a shy introverted person also didn’t help.
Fortunately, I was born with a deep sense of purpose, innate confidence, and a strong conviction in what’s wrong/right/fair. My confidence in my abilities and my conviction in my life’s purpose made me question why others didn’t see in me what I saw in myself. Any time I encountered haters and nay-sayers, it just motivated me to prove them wrong.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
So let me formally introduce myself. My name is Marc Johnson, and I am an ice cream man. But not your ordinary ice cream man. I’m your laid-off IT worker/couldn’t find a job in my field/”help I’m running out of unemployment” ice cream man. Yes, described in those terms, ice cream man sounds like the last option of employment right before waving a white flag and digging-your-grave type of occupation. However, it’s the greatest mistake I’ve ever made in my life. Maybe I should rephrase that last sentence. … No, I’m going to own it.
I refer to it as a mistake because no engineer/computer science/IT grad ever progressing in their field all the way to ice cream man. What you hear is some aspire to be Senior Manager, Director, VP, and even CEO’s. I never hear one person say after working 10+ years in IT that they plan on being an ice cream man. That would be a mistake in gigantic proportions. Yet this is my life. When I got married, laid off, and moved to a new city within the same week and was unable to find steady work in my field during a difficult economic climate, The storms in my life were so great that they brought out the haters and nay-sayers out of the woodwork, just to see if I could navigate the storms. I bet many were rooting for the proverbial gray clouds that seemed to congregate over my head.
However, like Brer Rabbit being thrown into the briar patch, unbeknownst to me, ice cream would become my thing. In Corporate America, you meet new people, make friends, build bonds and develop relationships until review time when you’re looking over your shoulder trying to see who’s gonna stab you in the back like you’re the next victim in one of those “Purge” movies. The Ice Cream business is the total opposite.
Ice Cream is the great Equalizer. No matter what problem people may have with each other, ice cream will change the energy of a room. I’ve witnessed the power of ice cream. Once I delivered to a local IT company, witnessed colleagues at each other’s throat; tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. But once they had an ice cream bar in their hands, the tension dissipated, smiles began to form and there was peace and cooperation. Ice cream has a way, unlike anything I’ve ever witnessed before, to take people to their happy place. That’s why our motto is “Fun! Right Here!! Right Now!!!” It brings out the inner-child and puts everybody on equal footing. If you need a morale event; if you want a team building exercise; then hire us and watch your team become more cordial and cooperative. It also helps that we make “The Best Ice Cream in Texas!” our other motto. We were slow to own this claim, but so many of our customers made that proclamation that we decided, “They were right!”
To anyone who’s never had Neighborhood Ice Cream Truck, I hope you give us a try. The thing that sets us apart and the thing that I’m most proud of is our creativity. There are a lot of ice cream places with creative flavors, however we are creative in everything we do. We may come up with a bunch of new flavors, but you will never know because they must be bangers (flavors that really pop). We are the first company that I could find that created an ice cream gift box, which contains ice cream, and delivers it. You could find “Ice Cream Gift Boxes” at Costco, yet they have no ice cream in them, only ice cream accessories like sprinkles, cookies, chocolate sauces, caramel sauces. This is the kind of creativity I speak of. So, if you’re looking for a creative ice cream experience with top quality service, flavors and ingredients, then give Neighborhood Ice Cream Truck (nictruck.com) a try.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Optimism, Persistence, and Creativity are the three qualities that were most impactful to me. There are a lot of people who will doubt your effort and journey. Sometimes the doubt is based on ignorance. Maybe due to lack of experience, they have a hard time seeing how you can be successful in your journey. Other times it can be either they don’t want to see you succeed because your success can make them feel some kind of way, or they are just not believers in you and what you’re trying to accomplish. Optimism will help you steer past the haters and nay sayers. Persistence will keep you on course, and Creativity will allow you to hurdle the pitfalls and traps you come across along the road.
If you are not an optimistic person, surround yourself with optimistic people and find an optimistic, experienced mentor who can guide you. To maintain persistence, write goals with timelines, action items and deadlines. Review these goals daily and stay on track. Being Creative is a harder quality to develop. Either you’re creative or you’re not. If you’re not that creative don’t fret. There are enough creative people on this earth that you can solicit their help and/or borrow their ideas. In the days of Information Technology (IT), ideas are just at your fingertip. Creativity is just a Google search away.
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
My parents have been the most influential, in helping me overcome challenges as well as helping me develop the essential skills, qualities and knowledge needed to be successful. They have instilled in me the confidence, through encouragement to pursue my goals, guidance on developing a plan to execute my goals, and celebration when I achieve my goals. My parents taught me to view failure as a teacher and not a detriment. In addition, they have modeled what ethics, hard work and achievement looks like. I know how to be successful because I have witnessed it. I know how to persevere because I saw them do it. I know how to be steadfast because they showed me. I know I’m most fortunate that the model of success was demonstrated by the two people closest to me, my parents. I also realize that not everyone is as fortunate as me. The most important thing to take away from this is that success starts with desire. No matter where you are in life’s journey, with effort success is yours. Seek and ye shall find. As long as you don’t give up, the roadmap, the mentors, the guidelines, and the information will be revealed to you. Then all you have to do is execute.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nictruck.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/nictruck
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/nictruck
Image Credits
images belong to Neighborhood Ice Cream LLC
