Importance of Selling Yourself

If you want to be rich, you must learn to be a salesman. Not telemarketing or door-to-door, although, careers like these are far more lucrative than the “normal” job. You have to learn the art of selling yourself; something we all do often without realizing that’s what we are doing.

If you have ever applied for a job, you were “selling” your skills/experience to the hiring manager. If you have ever asked someone on a date, you were “selling” your sex appeal/companionship to the other person. It’s like constant sales pitches to the public. People decide either to “buy” you or not, whether they do is irrelevant; the fact remains, you are in “sales”.

To increase one’s chances of being “bought” we have to distinguish the important factors. The personal needs of the buyer need to be met. You have to show them you are what they want, or better yet, need. In the examples above, a prospective employer is going to need underlying reasons why you are the best person for the job; perhaps your Princeton MBA or years of experience. A prospective significant other is going to need reasons why you are the best match for him/her; perhaps your witty character or your classy personality.

Possibly the most imperative being both your confidence and the way you look. When meeting someone new, the first thing you are based on is the way they see or perceive you; as the saying goes “The first impression is the most important”. Elected officials attempt to sell themselves to the public and votes determine whether the public “buy” them or not. Of course the topics and issues are important, but if a nominee doesn’t keep up his image, his campaign can suffer drastically.Consider the following: 

Despite being favored by most, it is believed the only reason Richard Nixon lost the Presidency to John F. Kennedy is because of their televised debate. It was the first presidential debate ever televised and thus attracted an enormous number of viewers. Richard Nixon had not fully recovered from his recent hospital stay and insisted on campaigning right up to a few hours before the debate. He also refused makeup and his beard stubble showed prominently on the Black and White TV’s. Nixon looked pale, sickly, underweight and tired. John F. Kennedy on the other hand had plenty of rest, looked tanned, confident and relaxed during the debate. Most people who watched the debate on TV believed Kennedy had won while radio listeners (a smaller audience), believed Nixon had won. As a result, John F. Kennedy won the election to become our 35th President.

Kennedy won because of the way presented himself in contrast to Nixon; where Nixon’s “that’s good enough” attitude lead to his downfall. Though, Nixon’s confidence has never been a question of debate, being tired tends to hinder one’s posture and speech and show as the antithesis of confidence and preparedness.

Those who are lazy in appearance tend not to fare as well. As the saying goes “the clothes’ makes the man”. Confidence can be mastered with both proper preparation and spaced repetition. Lastly, it never hurts to smile and a little eye contact goes a long way. Beware of underestimating the impact these have on the “sale of you”, it could make all the difference in meeting your future soul mate.

It All Begins With Proper Philosophies

The road to wealth begins with the simplest thing... The way we think. What you think and how you think affect's how you lead your life. We’re not talking about visualization or any New Age stuff, simply the way we view the world around us. This is a very important concept, often simplified by asking the question: "Is the glass half empty or half full?" Although the question is simple, the answer one gives to the question determines everything. If for example, you are someone who came back from the war without any limbs, would you come back a bitter person who drinks himself to sleep every night cursing at the world while feeling sorry for yourself (the glass half-empty mindset)? Or would you come back sad, but not discouraged, instead figuring out a way to make the best of your newly acquired situation; perhaps opening a rehabilitation center for veterans missing limbs or going into Biomedical Engineering creating new equipment for people in similar situations (the glass half-full mindset)?

Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google has a great philosophy. His mother was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. To make matters worse, he discovered he possesses a mutation in one of his genes that drastically increases the likelihood of him developing the same condition. An editorial in The Economist states that:

Mr. Brin regards his mutation of LRRK2 as a bug in his personal code, and thus as no different from the bugs in computer code that Google’s engineers fix every day. By helping himself, he can therefore help others as well. He considers himself lucky.

Jim Rohn, author of The Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle and The Challenge to Succeed, describes all circumstances in life as “the wind”. In our own individual ship of life, one cannot blame the wind for blowing us in the wrong direction. What guides us to different destinations in life is determined by the way we set our sail. When the winds change, we must change otherwise we don’t know where we’ll end up. Some people do so little constructive thinking they don’t even have their sail up, therefore end up shipwrecked.

If you are not where you want to be, you have no one else to blame but yourself; not the people around you, not the lack of money, not the economy, only yourself. As a student of success and successful people, I can say there is a common thread that links all successful people together: Their Thoughts and Philosophies. Many of them were in worse situations than you and I, but the way they decided to set their sail drifted them to the exotic islands where they now reside.

Now, If you decide you want to take the journey through the road to wealth, you have to decide what philosophies you are going to follow and what direction you will set your sail.

Introduction

Since I could remember, I have always wanted to own a business. When I was young, I would take the Office Depot catalogs and I would search through them page by page choosing every single item I wanted; I would visualize my own office and how everything would look. When I turned 16, my dad and I changed the roof on our house, I thought it was "easy" enough and thought "I can make money off this"! I started day dreaming on how I could make a roofing business work; with a little encouragement from my dad I made it a possibility. I placed ad's in the newspaper and started booking appointments after school. I became mildly successful with this and this opened up my eyes to the world of business. I have since dabbled in other ventures (websites, entertainment companies, etc.) but I have yet to find something that both works and will make me a living.

I have worked a variety of jobs giving me a well rounded resume, the most notable jobs are: At the age of 19 I became a school bus driver, most recently I worked at a casino where I rather quickly moved my way up and gained recognition. I have had many other jobs and most have certainly been fun but I now would like to concentrate my efforts towards business management/ownership. I have studied this subject immensely over the past several years and hope to achieve my goals in the next ten years.

Anyone who knows me, knows I love to talk about business. Ask me anything!