When I first began my career in direct sales, I landed a position selling encyclopedias door-to-door based on commission. Although most laughed at me and tried to discourage me, I was committed to having success. Out of the gate, I had success right away and wrote seven sales my first week. At the age of 18, I made more money in that week than most people made in a month. The ironic thing about it is that I really didn’t know what I was doing. I made those sales based upon my enthusiasm.
After that week, I started hearing from everyone else how great I was doing. It was wonderful to hear all the praise, but all of a sudden I let my ego get the best of me. As I started learning more about the business, I started over—explaining and overselling and I fell flat on my face the next few weeks. Of course, I had all the excuses. I blamed the area, the economy, the weather, etc., etc. My manager sat me down and told me that I was missing the most important ingredient, and that ingredient was enthusiasm. He made a statement to me that I carry with me to this day, “You have to repeat the things that made you successful.“ How true that statement is!
Success is a journey and we have to understand that we will have ups and downs along the way. When people get into a slump, the majority of the time, self-doubt and lack of belief will set in. We may set expectations very high and put pressure on ourselves and when we do that, we don’t enjoy the ride. It’s natural to have these thoughts; however, we can’t stay there. The mind is a powerful thing and that’s why it’s important to understand that if you’ve had success, it wasn’t a fluke. You just have to think about the things you did in order to achieve that success. It’s time to adopt the philosophy of repeating the things that made you successful. It’s time to get rid of these negative mindsets and turn them into positive ones.
The first step is to believe that you will have success again. Dream big and get refocused on your goals. Remember why you started in the first place. You must shift your beliefs about what success could actually look like and you must have the belief you have the ability to reach it. Believe and achieve.
People who are in a slump often make the mistake of withdrawing from everyone else or even worse, they start hanging around with negative people. It’s important to surround yourself with people who believe in you. I’m talking about the people who will encourage you to succeed.
It’s also important to find a mentor who can coach you through the tough parts of taking your success to the next level. Find the successful people and see what’s worked for them. Match it with your own habits and practices and you will see success.
When you talk about repeating the things that make you successful, start writing down what’s worked for you in the past. We have a slogan in our industry, “Having fun and making money.“ I can pretty much guarantee that if someone is not having success, they’re probably not having much fun. When you talk to the successful people in any industry and things are going right, they will tell you that they are having a blast.
When it comes to success, it’s all about mindset. Make sure you truly believe that you’re capable of achieving success starting today. Don’t allow any limited beliefs or negativities to get in the way. And keep in mind, it’s okay to learn new techniques but remember, the most important thing is your attitude.
Do what you did when you did what you did and repeat the things that made you successful.
Have a super fantastic week!
RICH NORTON
Regional Sales Manager RMS
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash
