The Seeds of Success and Wealth Sprout from Dreams

“Whatever the mind of a man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”-- Napoleon Hill

Yes indeed! The seeds of success and wealth sprout from dreams. The seeds of big success sprout from big dreams. If you dream the impossible, you achieve the impossible noting quite clearly that “impossibility” is only a thing of the mind. Big dreams challenge the mind and the intellect of man. These are the dreams little minds usually misconstrue as impossible dreams. Whatever one person has succeeded in doing, another person can do same and even better. Your rate of achievement is in direct proportion to the size of your dreams, your passion to follow-up on your dreams and your determination to succeed. Money making follows a similar pattern. If you dream little dreams, you stand a very good chance of making little money. Life is a fair and just employer. It only pays you what you deserve by your own efforts and nothing more. If however you dream big dreams and make follow-up commitments, the results will overwhelm you. Remember always that in the quest for wealth accumulation, those who succeed do not necessarily do different things, they do things differently. This is what has always made the difference and will continue to make the difference between the rich and the poor.

“It is the first duty of every man not to be poor,” posits George Bernard Shaw. He should know because his era witnessed poverty in its cruelest form in human history. Everyone has a clear choice to make and that includes you. World famous motivational speaker and writer Dr. Robert H. Schuller posits that “nothing is impossible.” He has a valid point. Something may appear impossible to you because you are yet to address your mind fully to it. Remember, “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe it can achieve.”

Take the ageless Biblical story of David and Goliath related here slightly out of context. We are told that Goliath was a terrifying giant warrior while David was a tiny shepherd boy. David’s kinsmen were so terrified of Goliath that they felt the wisest thing to do was to avoid him. Many believed it was impossible to confront Goliath. As the story goes, David felt otherwise. While his kinsmen saw Goliath as too big to hit, David saw him as too big to miss. He elected to confront Goliath. Armed with his faith in God and his seemingly impossible dream of ending once and for all the crippling threats from Goliath, he challenged Goliath to a duel. David went into this epic battle armed with only a sling as a weapon. We all know that David killed Goliath and the rest is Biblical history. David dreamed and believed he could and he did. We now know that “the impossible becomes the possible when a man and his God confront a problem.” Whatever is your lot my friend, start dreaming today. The future belongs to dreamers who will have the sense of purpose to actualize their dreams.

 

Why You Must Always Challenge Yourself

“Tough times never last, but tough people do.”---Robert H. Schuller

Helen Keller found herself deaf, dumb and blind shortly after birth. These handicaps would have rendered many people completely useless for life but not Helen Keller. Today her story features prominently in human motivational seminars all over the world. Even with all her misfortunes, she still managed to leave her foot-prints in the sands of time. She learned to and became a successful writer. She wrote so well as to inscribe her name indelibly in the pages of history. Her life serves as evidence that “men and women are never defeated until they accept defeat in their own minds.” It is further proof that “there are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge.”  Ms Keller accepted her fate, challenged herself and became rich and famous. Our God is a just God. There is nothing he does without a purpose. He never makes mistakes as we humans do. If God takes anything away from you, He almost always replaces it with something better. Get close to blind people. Their senses of smell and touch are by far better than those with sight. If God takes away your legs, don’t despair. He will strengthen your hands as compensation. If he takes away your hands, he will strengthen your legs as compensation.

Ever heard of John Foppe? At some stage, he traveled to many cities of the world making motivational speeches. He became one of the highest-paid Motivational Speakers in the United States. Yet, he was born without arms. He shaved his beard, drove his car, cooked, wrote and did nearly everything you and I can do all with his legs. Amazing you’ll say but pause and reflect a while. Do you know that there are many people with arms and legs who still can’t make a living? These are people who have refused or neglected to challenge themselves.

Life is full of challenges. Everyone faces his or her own lot according to his or her own portion. The way you face your own challenges is what determines your success or failure. Life favors only those who are able to stay focused and determined even when the going gets tough. And, it sure gets tough sooner than later. Problems are not peculiar to you alone. All of us have our own share of problems. All my life, I have not come across anyone who is free from problems. At any point in time in your life, you are either thinking of a problem or solving a problem. Confronting and overcoming problems therefore is what life is all about. From this type of scenario, it appears that our problems are destined to come to an end only when we die. But, and this is a big “but”, no one has absolute proof about that. Even the dead may have their own problems. Who knows? However, the good news is, since you are reading this article, you are not yet dead. You can therefore face your own challenges squarely as many others have done and are still doing.

Do Not Allow Fear Paralyze You

“The fear of failure is often worse than failure itself.” -- Shiv Khera

This is not an isolated case in history when fear has motivated people to perform great feats. There are several others. Take the case of the ancient Benin Empire. Although there are Benin folk-tales that give credit to the legendary giant “Aidenomon” as the man who single-handedly dug the Benin moat, logical reasoning discredits these tales. Till date, the tales are still being told to children as we were told when we too were little children. We learnt that this giant “was so big that no house was large enough to contain him” hence he lived in Oba market in today’s King’s Square, Benin City. We learnt that the giant “used one hand to uproot palm trees and used whole palm trees as brooms and chewing sticks.” The folktales said, that when he slept, “the breath from his nostrils was so powerful that it uprooted trees in its wake.” And that “he used one hoe held in one hand, standing on one spot and with one stroke, dug the entire moat.” As we grew older, it started dawning on us that these tales were exactly what they were folk tales. They could not possibly have presented the whole truth if you take into account the size and enormity of the Benin moat.

However, a close study of Benin history will reveal to you that the moat was dug through massive communal effort. The moat is simply a marvel if you take into account that it was dug manually without the benefit of giant earth-moving equipment as you find these days. The moat provided complete security for the ancient Binis. It shielded them from attacks by slave-raiders and other warriors. The Benin moat is another clear evidence of the near super-human effort that fear can motivate people to put up when they choose to. The Great Wall of China is also another typical example of how far people can go to insure themselves from fear. Tourists marvel today while on this wall how the ancient Chinese managed to build it through direct application of human labor and efforts. The ancient Chinese simply allowed the fear of conquest and domination to motivate them to achieve the great feat. The wall provided them security and freedom from conquest. They therefore spared no efforts at building it. Human achievement has no limits when it comes to survival because “self-preservation is a cardinal rule of nature.”

You Must Have a Can-Do Attitude To Sell

“Everybody lives by selling something.” --- Robert Louis Stevenson

This is one indispensable requirement for salesmanship. All Salespersons must be self-motivating. Your “Can-Do Attitude” is what the bulk of this book is all about. You must therefore be already familiar with some of the requirements that can give you a “Can-Do Attitude.” A Salesperson is someone who is always able and willing to sell no matter the limitations. To be a good Salesperson with this attitude therefore, you must posses:

Unlimited enthusiasm

Solid belief in yourself and your abilities

Belief in your merchandise

Definiteness of purpose

Unselfishness

Abiding faith

Versatility

Imagination

Positive thoughts

Sincerity of purpose

How to Be a Fantastic Salesperson

“Everybody lives by selling something.” --- Robert Louis Stevenson

To be a fantastic salesperson, here is what you need in abundance:

Good-Health and Energy: You need good-health at all times to be able to sell. When you are unhealthy, your thinking is distorted, your spirit is low, your drive is reduced, your enthusiasm is deflated and your general effectiveness will be seriously impaired. Not many people will want to do business with a sick man.

A Friendly Disposition: According to ancient Chinese, “A man without a smile should not open a shop.” A friendly Salesperson is usually very effective. You must learn to smile and to put customers at ease. A keen sense of humor is an icing on the cake. Facial expression, the correct body language, voice-tone and voice-moderation all enhance your friendly disposition.

Persuasiveness: A good Salesperson must be familiar with the motives that move people to buy. That is, what motivates them to buy? Different people have different motivations for making purchases. Every buyer has a motive for buying. The product may appeal to the person’s reason, their instinct or their emotion. These are the main motivating factors for buying. Armed with this, a Salesperson should be able to persuade a prospective buyer while using these sentiments. People may refuse to buy initially because of lack of money, lack of time, lack of sufficient information, the need not pressing enough and any such other reason. A good Salesperson works to find a way around these obstacles to make a sale. You should never allow a “No” answer to dissuade you from making a sale. You should always find a way to turn the “No” to a “Yes” through skillful persuasion. It is imperative that you display enormous tolerance, accurate thinking, initiative and self-control. You should never pick offense if and when you are turned down. You should always try to act the impression that a turn-down is temporary and that the matter could be revisited when the obstacles have been cleared. Form the habit of making repeated calls on a Customer even if your calls are not yielding immediate fruits.

How to be an Effective Salesperson

“Everybody lives by selling something.” --- Robert Louis Stevenson

To be an effective salesperson, here is what you need in abundance:

Balanced and up-to-date information: Good Salespersons must be well-informed and knowledgeable about their Product and their Customers. You must know your Product in and out and be conversant with all the new trends that affect the Product. You must be able to size-up your Customer to see if he or she is motivated enough to buy, to see if they can afford to buy, to see if they need to buy and finally to find out if they want to buy. If they want to buy and they can’t afford the money, you can work out a favorable credit arrangement to see if that will help them make up their minds. If they are not motivated enough to buy, you can skillfully work on their emotions or you reinforce the reasons why they need to buy from you. If you do not have sufficient knowledge about your product and its market you will experience some handicap trying to persuade anyone to buy from you.  

Empathy: You must be able to show real and genuine empathy to your Customers. Make friends with them. Show concern and care even for their private affairs where and when it is prudent to do so. Always mentally swap places with the Customer to see whether if you were in their shoes how your reaction will be. Take their reluctance to heart and see how you can gradually help them to arrive at favorable decisions. Show genuine concern and willingness to be of help even if you do not make a sale at that material time.