NO SALESMAN PLEASE

I've just finish reading a book on financial matter yesterday and one of the subjects that interest me is the topic about the art of selling. The book explained that in order for someone to gain abundant wealth or be successful, one must be able to sell, learn how to sell is very important. Below are some of the inspiring sentences that worth mentioning from the book (The business School by Robert T.Kiyosaki )

"The ability to sell is the number one skill in business"

“If you cannot sell, don’t bother thinking about becoming a business owner”

“All great teachers have been great salespeople. Look at Christ, Buddha, Mother Theresa, Ghandi, Obama to name a few. They were all great teachers and leaders, which mean they were great sales people.”

The word selling is very subjective and arguable, since different person may have different view of what the term “selling” is all about. Selling to me involve a lot of person to person communication. To be able to communicate well is very important since it help you to convey the message with clarity and the other person whom you speak to able to understand and responded accordingly.

I go to work every day to sell my service (professional expertise as an engineer) to my employer (the government) and if everything goes well, I will receive my salary at the end of the month. The accountant sells his professional skills for a steady paycheck. Likewise you and everybody go to work to sell their skills in exchange for money.  So next time you see a Notice outside the office saying “NO SALESMAN IS ALLOWED” is actually inviting more salesmen into their office ( because most salesman can not accept no for an answer). Both the office workers and the salesmen is no different since they are both doing sell but in different manner.

We are all born sales people, whether we like it or not or whether we know or notice or not. To me the different with the successful and the non successful person is their ability to sell well, how good are they in selling. Look at all the rich people. Why are they rich? How they become rich? The answers are many but one of the most important factors is their ability to sell. So selling affects every aspect of life whether you are rich or poor. The better you are at selling, the richer you become (but you must become the business owner not employee, no one become rich being an employee).

Look at the real world, Politicians like Obama, the current US President, who won the recent US elections is a great sales person. The president sells his ideas, visions, plans, strategy and so on to the people of America. 

However, most people are terrified of selling. The word “SELLING” is enough to deter them and make them refuse to sell. This is common situation and facts of life. Why? The answer is because most people are terrified of rejection. Rather than admit their fear, they speak badly about sales people saying such things as “No sales man please”, I’m not a sales person, I’m an educated professional and I don’t do sell I do paperwork and work in an office with the air conditioning unit switched on. I don’t like seeing customer and I don’t like talking to strangers or client. These kinds of people really look down at sales man without realizing that they themselves are a salesman.

Most people who cannot sell are people who have to live below their means, shop at sales, look for discount offer or live frugally simply because they are afraid of selling. Their fear and lack of selling skills keeps them poor. 

To be successful or acquire an abundant wealth one must learn to overcome fear and rejection. Do not let fear run your life. So what if they reject you. They are thousands of people out there you have yet to meet. Who knows may be these people you haven't met yet will give you the opportunities.

Therefore if you want so badly to achieve or get whatever you really want in life, be it wealth, plenty of money, richness or whatever it is, you have to learn to sell first.

Recommended book to read :

Is being honest crucial to business?

Does being honest affect your business well being? Is honesty important in your pursuit to building wealth? The answer is yes indeed. If you want to be a millionaire, an honest person is an utmost requirement. However there are some becomes rich by cheating or become a professional swindler a.k.a conman. This is my friend an act of dishonesty and it will not last long.

Being honest will determine whether you will become successful or otherwise in business or even in your career (as mentioned in the book “The millionaire Mind” by Thomas J.Stanley).

On the other hand, to some people, being honest (they said) has nothing to do with business. They may say “I am always honest but my business is still small, in fact it going no way”. Another will say, “I’m always honest but I’m still broke. Yes, it true. Honesty by itself will not make anyone rich (extracted from a book “How to make money as an employee” by Azizi Ali). If you fail in business, it has nothing to do with being honest; However it may be to do with your business skills. May be you are not fit for business. To get into business one needs financial intelligent and business know how.

Most commonly in business, without honesty, don’t hope of making it big because it will never be. You know why? Because nobody will ever want to do business with dishonest person even though they are pretty, clever, smart, business guru, hardworking or as smart as John Chow.

DIY Sabahan Buggy

I know what you are thinking right now?  It a buggy or it looks like a buggy isn’t it? Well folks, it is a buggy indeed.  By definition, a buggy is an automobile with wheels that project beyond the vehicle body. It actually a DIY buggy made by my friend James Tukalan.  James is a Sabahan and a vivid antique collector, self taught mechanic and inventor, experimenter, he is the Do it yourself kind of a person.

James is passionate about mechanical stuff. The above buggy single handedly made by him using parts from his old Honda 50 motorcycle as well as discarded motor bike he bought from the workshop.

He designed and made the buggy only by visualization without any sketches and he improvises along the way.  This buggy was made in the early eighties and took him roughly six month to complete and he does it part time. I admire his sheer determination and ingenuity to come up with this one of a kind buggy.

James is a wonderful person to talk to; he is friendly and always smiles and laughs.  He is a contractor by profession. He builds house as well as doing interior and exterior house renovation. He stays with his wife and children in kampong Tuavon, penampang, Sabah. Malaysia.

Recommended book to read: