February 18, 2014

Click here to see all posts about "As a man thinketh" by James Allen

Circumstance doesn’t make the man, it reveals himself. A man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thoughts , and so directly, yet surely , shape his circumstances

Journey to become a door to door saleman
 

I remember a period of time when life constantly BEAT me up to the point that I was LITERALLY crawling on the ground to get by. It all started from that May, 2013. I was introduced to an internship for students called “Southwestern Advantage Internship”. Basically, by participating in the internship, students will become independent dealers selling Southwestern Advantage books door to door. I was very excited about this opportunity because I love challenging myself. Door to door sales is considered one of the toughest jobs that you can imagine( I would recommend you to  try it at least once to have a feeling if you are also a type of person who loves challenges…haha). The guy in the video below is the best door to door saleman ever!

My expectation from the internship

I believed that I would be able to increase my sale skills dramatically by taking advantage of this opportunity. I was also expecting to do well because I was very confident in my ability to sell at that time. Prior to hearing about Southwestern, I worked for a direct-marketing company selling credit cards at different locations. I soon became the TOP sale person after four months of joining the company. The reason why I reached the top so quickly was because I regularly asked my peers on how to improve my skills. I also watched videos and read books by Joe Girard and Zig Ziglar on a regular basis.

Arrived in sales school
 

Anyways, back to Southwestern, I had to travel to Nashville city in the US for five days sale training. There were many other students on the same trip with me and we travelled by long distance buses “Greyhound” instead of airplane. It took four days for us to go from Vancouver to Nashville. Some of you might say: “OH MY GOSH! FOUR DAYS sleeping on those long distance buses? You guys are insane!”. Haha. I KNOW RIGHT! It was very uncomfortable sleeping on those buses and exhausting as well since we had to transfer to multiple buses (Yet, it’s way cheaper to go by bus and you are able to see beautiful mountain views as well…ah ha!). Finally, we arrived in Nashville and we immediately had to follow a strict schedule. We had to wake up at 5:59 AM and then head to sale school from our hotel. We weren’t allow to go back to the hotel until 9:30 PM.  Five days training soon passed. We were ready to head to Toronto to sell books and life started to beat me up from here. Click here to see people sleeping on buses and trains! Haha!

Life beat me down to my knees
 

Here we are again, on the long distance bus to Toronto. Unfortunately, I got a cold after I left the hotel which made my trip less enjoyable. It was really cold on the bus and I was constantly coughing. One day later, we arrived in Toronto. To give you more details, every student selling books for Southwestern had to work from 7:59 AM until 9:31 PM from Monday to Saturday. Therefore, we had no time for fun and we barely had enough time to cook properly. As for me, I ate self-made sandwiches for the whole time. Poor diet and intense work schedule - plus the cold I got which I hadn’t covered after arrival, were really too much for me to handle during my first week of selling. I didn’t have any vehicle to use so I had to walk from door to door trying to sell the books. Sometimes it was hot or raining outside and I still had to keep working for 13 hours every day. Imagine it's 35 celsius degree outside and you have to walk from door to door - or it's raining like dog and cat outside and you are soaked from head to toe. It was TOUGH! It was really TOUGH!! I didn’t sell anything during my first week and I was really depressed about that.  Then week after week, I could only sell to a few people. I asked myself: “What’s going on here!!? I was so proud to be the top sale person for that company. I was expecting to sell a lot of books. But now, look at how pathetic I am!”. This is the 1st "revelation" of myself. 

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February 19, 2014

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The wisest mind has something yet to learn

Never stop learning

Continued from the previous post, at that moment, I realized something. I realized that just because I was “the top sale person” in the other company, doesn’t mean that I have mastered the art of selling! There are still so many more things I need to learn in order to really become a pro in the sale profession. Brian Tracy said: “You have to commit at least 5 years in any professions before you can be excellent at it”.  Now, every time I think that I am already good at something, or somebody compliments me on a skill I have, I always remind myself:  “Johnny, be humble, so many people out there are better than you, therefore you have to keep learning and improving yourself”. Like Bruce Lee said: “Once you think you have reached your limit, you will go nowhere but down”. 

You will know who you really are when you get challenged by life

Let’s go back to selling books. Before I came to Toronto, I thought that I would be able to stay disciplined despite of any challenges that I might face when going door to door. But you know what? I failed to follow through the commitments. There were several days that I didn’t go to work. I would find a bench in any parks or any flat grass areas to lie down and sleep so that I could make the day go by faster. Sometimes, I would go into some coffee shops and sat there for several hours. Some other times, I would just walk back and forward on the same street, reluctant to knock on doors, thinking: “What the…am I doing here?”  I thought that through my sale experience selling credit cards, I already developed enough courage to face all the rejections, but no! (Some people were really rude when I met them. I remember a man said to me: “I don’t buy from door to door sale people. Now get the fuck out of my porch!”). Also, I always considered myself as an honest person. However, when I had to report about my day to my student managers, I sometimes lied to them because I was so embarrassed to tell them the truth. This is the second “revelation” of myself. How about you my friend? Did you have any similar experiences? If not yet, one day, you will be able to know who you really are when you get challenged by life!

Anything negative, there is something positive

Reflecting back to that time, I couldn’t “directly choose my circumstances”, since I had no control over the weather or the house owners. Yet, I “totally had control over my thoughts and actions”. Now I realize, if I went to work every day, if I knocked on every door I was supposed to knock, if I was being more coachable and had a better attitude, I would have performed much better. So the lesson here is, no matter what kind of circumstances you are in right now, always look for something positive in those circumstances and never ever let your negative thoughts direct your actions. For example, if you lose your bike, you can say: "I lost my bike, which means I will get a new and better bike". Or if you lose your job, you can say: "I lost my job, which means I will find a better job and get better pay". If you break up with your girl friend/boy friend, you can say: "I just broke up with my girl friend/boy friend, which means I will find someone who truly loves me". Try this kind of thinking every time you have issues, and see how that helps you stay motivated. See the video for more insights:

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February 20, 2014

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Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth

There are many kind people in this world

Now, I would like to talk about a few other memorable experiences I had that summer. After about three weeks of selling, I finally got a FREE bike so that I could go to more houses. YAY! The man who gave me that bike was also a saleman, his name is Stud. His children were all grown up. Therefore, I didn’t even bother trying to sell to him since the books I was selling were designed for high school kids and younger. Before I left his house, I asked him if he had any bike to spare, and he gave a small bike. I didn’t really like the bike at first, because it was quite small and it was a girl bike, lol! But then I thought: “Well, yeah it’s a girl bike, but whatever, at least it will make my life easier”. I am very thankful for that man. He was such a nice guy. Thanks to him, I no longer had to marathon for the whole day, lol! I always locked my bike to a fence near the area I worked after I finished work. Unfortunately, one week later, some highschool kids found my bike and totally destroyed it! See the video below for a pro biker :))

Be willing to help people without expecting anything in return

Then I went to look for another bike and I quickly found one. I don’t remember his name, but he was happy to give me a bike and he even spent an hour to help me make sure the bike was working properly. It was a small bike as well and I only used it for a day since it was so hard to ride. And again, I had to find another one. This man, his name is Mark and he was a teacher. When I knocked on his door, I saw him doing barbecue at the backyard. A few seconds later, the dogs began to bark like crazy which made him realize someone was at the door. I thought: “Oh man, he might be angry with me”. Luckily, when he came out to talk to me, he was very nice and calm. I asked him for a free bike and we went to his garage. But AGAIN, a small bike, this one was even smaller than the ones I had, lol! I thanked him anyways and left his house. However, after I crossed the street, he ran after me and told me to come back. You know what? He decided to give me the bike that he was using to bike around in the weekend! It was a big and fully functioning bike. Then he told me something that I can never forget, he said: “Johnny, you go out there and help someone like I helped you today”. At that moment, I learned something very valuable. I learned that when we want to help other people, we should expect nothing in return, and even possibly sacrifice ourself for the sake of other people. 

Here is another valuable lesson from that summer. At my 6^th week of selling, I passed by an area that has lots of mansion houses. I was like: “WOW! I have never seen so many beautiful houses like this in my life!” The people living in those houses must be so rich! I knocked on most of those houses, but I didn’t sell anything. I finally came to this house. I must say it’s the most beautiful house in that area (in my opinion). See this video for some cool mansion houses:

Money cannot buy you love because it's over priced

When I knocked on the door, a man opened the door, he was Caucasian. He looked very upset and he told me to come back another time. I came back the next day, and I met his wife, she was Asian. I also saw a little white girl hiding behind the door, calling her: “mom”. At that moment, I knew that the man was divorced at least once and this woman was his new wife. The woman also looked upset and she told me to come back a few days later. Few days later, I came back and I saw both of them. They didn’t seem to be “happy” together at all! My friend, you see the point here? Money can’t buy love! There was no love in that family even though they were very wealthy. Actually, I found love in a poor family that I dropped by a few days later. They were Filipino and they welcomed me to enter their house. They even gave me foods and chat with me even though I was a complete stranger. They were happy being together and the atmosphere in their family was really cozy! 

A little good deed that I did

Time passed by and I finally reached my 8^th week of selling. I was very disappointed at my performance and I decided to quit. Before I went back to Vancouver, I wanted to do something meaningful to make a good last impression. So I went to see a few people who loved the books I was selling but couldn’t afford the price. It’s pretty touching to see the parents having to say “no” to the kids, knowing that their kids might hate them if they didn’t buy the books. I remember this conversation from a family:

“Kids: Daddy, the books are so cool! Can I have the books? Can I have the books?”

“Dad: No, we don’t have money honey.”

“Kids: Daddy, I want those books!!”

“Dad: I said no!”

“Kids: *crying* You lie! WHY??? WHY???”

I decided to give those kids some of my sample books for free and they cried out of joy! I can never forget that moment and I am pretty happy with how I ended my summer, even though I was a total loser for several weeks.  That’s all I want to share. 

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