Once upon a time, there was a man who lived his life like most others. He went to college and had a series of good jobs. At times, he was a bit foolish with his money and did not save as well as he should. As he got older, he got wiser. His spending habits became more conservative; he bought things he needed, not what he wanted. Learning the difference between what he needed as opposed to wanted, was a valuable lesson.
This man always enjoyed helping others. As he grew older, his desire to help others grew. Unfortunately, as his knowledge and desire strengthened, the economy weakened. He worked part-time jobs; full-time work became elusive. Money became scarce.
Lessons are learned during tough times. Challenges and adversity can be great teachers. He saw a pattern in his life. He took jobs that allowed him to earn money doing the things that he enjoyed doing. He enjoyed writing and teaching and so that was what he did. It made sense. His father and other family members worked at jobs they enjoyed. It was the way that many worked. He followed the advice that said, “go to college, study hard, get a good job, earn a pension and retire.”
He thought about this. Was this the best way to live? Maybe there was a different approach to life. Maybe it would make more sense to work an enjoyable job that provided the cash flow he needed to do the things that he enjoyed instead of working at the things he enjoyed. Maybe there was a way that he could make enough money to write and teach.
He liked the idea of residual earnings. This type of earnings allowed him to earn a continuous cash flow on not only current work but past worked. He learned about residual earnings from some writing he did online. Each month he earned royalties for both current articles he wrote and past articles. He even earned money when a month went by where he did not write.
The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea about residual income. It gave him more control over his finances. There was less worry about layoffs, downsizings, and other events the he could not control.
How could he earn enough residual income?
The man thought. Writing was a nice way to make some residual income but he didn’t think it would generate enough to meet his financial responsibilities. He decided to explore selling. Selling had caught his interest a long time ago. The skill set was interesting. You talk with people, explain the product, and guide them to make the purchase, to close the sale.
“I can sell.” he thought. “Since I’ve been teaching, I’ve become very comfortable talking and joking in front of small and large crowds. There is nothing wrong with selling. Everyone buys products. As long as the products do what they are suppose to do, as long as the price is reasonable, and as long as the company is honest, I see nothing wrong with selling. Everybody buys things.”
The more he thought about selling, the more he liked the idea. As he reviewed this idea, he thought, “Everyone sells. People sell their job skills when they interview; people sell an image by the way they dress; yes, everybody sells.”
The man thought, “What shall I sell? Where shall I sell?”
He decided that he didn’t want to work for a company in the 9 to 5 sense. That wouldn’t resolve the issue of layoffs and downsizing. It wasn’t that he didn’t like working for others; he wanted to start his own business; he wanted financial security.
He knew starting a business was not easy. Starting a business in the traditional sense was expensive and extremely risky. Risk didn’t scare him but he didn’t want to incur debt. He began thinking and wrote down on paper the “wants” and “not wants” of his business.
“ I don’t want a business that requires that I purchase inventory.”
“I want a business that allows me to run it from anywhere. If I decide to relocate, I don’t want to have to close and restart my business.”
“I don’t want a business where I collect the money, pay a distributor, and have to ship and receive the products.”
“I want a business that sells quality products and a business where I can help people.”
He continued thinking, remembering how business was done in the past and how many people still do business. When he was growing up, neighbors would ask each other for referrals when they needed to buy something. “Who sells good televisions. I want to buy a portable television for my bedroom.” “I don’t like my grocer. His prices are too high! Where do you buy your groceries.”
“Times change.” he thought, “but business is still a people to people activity. Referrals are valuable. People trust people more than they trust marketing ads.”
The more he thought, the more he liked this idea. He would look into referral or individual-to-individual marketing. That would be the basis for his business.
“To sell, I need to think like a sales person. To use a Zen-like thought, ‘he needed to become the sales person.’” he thought. This sounded obvious, but as he thought about his own behavior, it wasn’t. When people asked him what he did, he said that he was a teacher, writer, and did some selling. Not exactly a strong sales opening. He had to change his behavior. He quickly learned to say that he sold environmentally-friendly cleaning and health-related products. He presented the person with his business card. He may have taught part-time and written part-time, but now he was a sales person. If he couldn’t say that comfortably and with confidence, he wouldn’t sell anything.
He also learned to be teachable. Network marketing or direct sales companies have a set of procedures that work. If they didn’t they wouldn’t be in business. Some of these procedures may have seemed uncomfortable to him, but they needed to be learned. He had to remember that he was new, a beginner.
Learning and doing were the key to success. He read books about selling and marketing. He read books about lead generation. He read books about closing sales. Like any profession, it needed to be learned and practiced. If he didn’t treat the sales profession with respect, if he didn’t learn to sell, he would fail.
He was a sales person. He sold environmentally-friendly cleaning and health-related products. He had his business card ready, in hand.
The man was sitting in a coffee shop enjoying a good cup of coffee and the free wireless internet.
“I see you working on your laptop. What type of work do you do?” said the lady sitting next to him.
“I sell environmentally-friendly house cleaners and wellness products.” he replied.
“Which brand?”
“He told the lady the brand name.”
“I’ve never heard of them.”
“He explained that the products were sold online.” She wasn’t interested. He thanked the lady for her time and continued working on his laptop.
Another customer sat next to him. They exchanged greetings and they began talking about his business.
“Sounds interesting.” replied the customer.
“I’d like to show you a product presentation.” The man agreed.
Taking advantage of the free wireless internet, he showed the customer the company-crafted presentation. He had practiced that presentation many times and felt comfortable with it.
“Nice, but I’m not interested.” the customer replied.
“I understand.” replied the man. “Do you have any questions or concerns?”
“No, just not interested.” He thanked the customer for his time.
This routine continued a few more times while he was in the coffee shop. No takers. He was not discouraged, he knew selling took time. He also reviewed his presentation to see if he thought he could reword it. He also made a mental note to watch the facial expressions of his potential customers to see if there was a point where they zoned out or where he said something that didn’t go over well. It seemed like a lot to remember, but he was determined to master the selling craft.
He went to the local playground. Many mothers gathered there. He knew mothers did more of the household cleaning than their “lazy” husbands. Mothers also showed more interest in environmentally-friendly and wellness products. He chatted with the ladies. Some expressed interest. He handed them his business card. Some gave him their email addresses while others agreed to send him an email. Others weren’t interested.
He made no sales that day but generated a few potential leads. He didn’t feel discouraged. Awhile back, he read a true story about a famous hair salon products entrepreneur. That entrepreneur was homeless, selling encyclopedias by day and sleeping in his car at night. He related his experiences of knocking on 50 or 60 doors before somebody would even listen to his sales pitch.
“How many doors do you knock on before you quit? 50? 100? 500? You keep knocking until you start making sales and then you continue knocking to make more sales.” he said. “The difference between successful and unsuccessful people is that successful people do the things that unsuccessful people don’t.”
Tomorrow is a new day. He would continue his sales pitch with more enthusiasm.
