First Improve yourself.........

First improve yourself then success will follow

Jeffrey Gitomer is one of my favorite sales professional authors, also the author of The Sales Bible. He wrote a book. The Patterson Principles of Selling, based on the sales principles of John Paterson. John Paterson was the President of the National Cash Register Company. The above chart is the outline of what he felt was first the most important part of success, yourself. You must first take care of yourself before you can succeed at taking care of others. (gee that sounds like something I hear as a mother). What followed in Gitomer's rewrite of Patterson's Principles are 34.5 principles of selling.

Each Friday I will post another principle for us all to discuss. When Paterson first wrote his principles each one was followed by an exercise. I will post the exercise as well so that you can practice it throughout the following week. I look forward to reading your ideas.

So before I post the first principle, your first exercise is to improve yourself. Below are just highlights from the chart above.

1. Physically; healthy diet, regular sleep, and exercise. (If you make the time for regular exercise, 30 min, 3 days a week you will feel so much better and function at such a higher level)
2. Mentally; Don't worry unnecessarily, listen attentively, learn from mental superiors, avoid inferior minds, etc. (my thought be positive not negative and listen and learn from those willing to help you)
3. Morally; be truthful even to yourself, form good habits, learn to say "no" etc.
4. Financially; decrease unnecessary expenses, increase earnings, make budgets, hard work, study the business, etc
5. Socially; avoid bad associates, select helpful friends, learn to be happy alone, family is best company, do some charity work (for the right reasons), etc.

Welcome fellow Selling North Idaho Members

Every Thursday I go to a group in Cda. Every other week we are Selling North Idaho Toastmaster, where we practice and improve our communication and speaking skills. The other weeks we are a book study group, where we study sales books to improve our business, marketing, and selling skills. It's a great group if you are looking to improve your business or sales. We meet at Zi-Spa. Anyone is welcome to join us. The webiste link is posted under links.

Today I introduced this blog to the group. I look forward to many of you joining into this blog and posting your sales experiences and ideas to help each other.

Another subject we discussed this morning in the group is the software program, ACT! for time management. Let me know if any of you are interested in training of this program. I meet set up a mini study group for those interested, but I need to know how many would attend. The other thing is I could work with you one on one.

High Gas prices, High Steel prices.......

Where does it all end? Everyone is complaining of high gas prices because it effects all of us, but there are other industries that have been hit hard as well. Steel for instance is sky high right now.

As the owner of a fabrication shop we feel that pain all the time. I bought a sheet of stainless steel yesterday for a customer and paid nearly $200. Of course I have to pass that on to my customer, who is a dear friend.

So if you go to buy something like a ladder rack, tool box, trailer, or anything else made of steel cringe, but don't complain. Just realize that we are paying high prices to our steel dealer, and they in turn are paying high prices and sir charges to the steel manufacturers.

There are so many other things that have been driven sky high because of circumstance out of anyone's control, such as lumber has been effected by some of the natural disasters we have experienced in the last couple years. Recently it was tomatoes, which are starting to make a come back in price and quality. It's not that these industries are trying "rip people off," as I sometimes here, but they have to pay the bills too. A profit is also necessary for a business to survive, for those of you who think it's just a crime for a business to make a profit.

Okay I'll stop ranting and just say this. Support your local businesses, and realize there is a person behind that business who is most likely trying to support a family. Then that leads to another post another day about big corporations vs. The little local guy.

Summary of the points in the book. 

The main characters and their traits in the book.

Who moved my cheese

I recently had the privilege of giving a speech based on the book "Who Moved My Cheese" by Spencer Johnson, M.D.

I had a different speech written and then one night I picked this book up just for something to read. When I was done I trashed my speech and wrote a completely new one. The story in this book so moved me. If you haven't read this book you need to. I can relate to this at so many points in my life. If you are a manager, especially of a company that goes through changes, you need not only to read this, but give it to your employees too.

Some changes in my life I have chosen for myself, so I was willing and able to adjust quickly. Such as moving to Idaho from California. We choose the change, and even though nervous about how it would turn out, we embraced the change and made it work.

Then there are other things that we don't choose in life that happen anyway. That's when some people have trouble adjusting. My first experience was when I was fired from a photography studio. I HATED the job after the new manager came in and fired the photographer, but to be fired was scary. I called my husband in tears over being fired. He simply asked "well what's the problem? I thought you hated it there and wanted out." I blubbered out "well yea, but I didn't want to be fired. I've never been fired!" It was a wake up call. Some things happen for a reason, we just can't or don't always see why. I eventually came to realize the manager did me a favor. Our second child was four months old at the time. It gave me a chance to take six months off and enjoy my children, before landing a new job that tremendously advanced my career.

Then two years after taking this new job and thinking "great now I have a career and I'm doing great," I got another blow! I was pregnant with our third child. Now that was scary. We only planned on two, and didn't think we could afford another. I fought tooth and nail to find a way to stay in my job, but eventually realized it wasn't possible. I eventually made the agonizing decision to stay home with the children. I related the rest of this story in my last post.

Now my husband and I are opening our own fabrication shop. Once again another change that we have chosen, but still it's a little scary. The point is my life takes many turns and changes. I have learned to adjust and go with the flow.

When you move with the changes you enjoy life more. Enjoy the adventure of the change. When you find the new cheese in your life you will savor it with much more pleasure. If you take too long to change there may not be enough left for you to enjoy.

Happy hunting.

Failure to Success

All of us have those moments when we are barely scraping by, and then others where we are rolling in the dough (well I haven't quit experienced the later, but I know I will).

I know my moment of success came when I realized that I first needed to be a mom to my three children. When I quit work a new door was open for me and I was able to help my husband fulfill his dream of owning his own shop. Which we recently opened. Not only am I succeeding at all this, but I am happier then I have ever been in my professional life.

Is success just how much money you make? Or is it defined by achieving your goals? I'd say success is achieving your goals. Money may just be the reward for your success. Sometimes you must fail before you can succeed. Please share your stories of success or failure.

Ladies and Gents intoducing.......

Well this is my first posting, so let me intoduce myself. My name is Amy. I just recently had a friend introduce me to blogging. I really enjoy it, so I thought I'd start my own site. I am a wife and mother of three wonderful children.

I have two boys ages 7 & 3 and a 5 month old girl. I had a career as an Account Rep. for a local printing company, but recently gave that up with the arrival of a third child. It's amazing how much daycare costs, it would have been more than my mortgage each month!

So I put my career on hold only to start up again for myself when my husband anounced out of the blue one day that he was ready to start his business. Hince the title of this blog. It seems like eveytime I turn around my life takes an unexpected turn. Sometimes a very sharp one. Like the arrival of an unexpected and unplanned third child! I believe everything in my life happens for a reason, and when I'm patient I usually see why.

So welcome to my blog and I look forward to your comments.