Monday 19 March 2012

How to Make Money & Double Your Income in 90 Days

A very rich man once told me that it's not all about the money. My response was "that's easy for you to say. You have the money."
He then went on to explain the difference between value and money.
Before we get into that, let me explain:
I was the opportunist sales guy always looking for the next transaction. My sales techniques were a little unpolished but it didn't matter because I was doing the numbers. We all know that sales is a numbers game so no matter how bad you suck, if you just do the numbers you will get some results.
Well, I was getting some results as a matter of fact they were above average results but who wants to be just above average anyway. I wanted more than I was getting so I worked harder at chasing the sale and closing the transaction. I learned all of the closes and mastered the art of handling objections. From this my numbers improved but still were not getting me where I wanted to go. My goal was to get over the $100K/year mark but I just couldn't crack it. How could I work harder? How could I leverage my time? There were only 168 hours in a week. I needed more.
In my first year in the recruitment industry I did 1532 face to face meetings with decision makers. 90% of those meeting were first time meetings which should tell you that I didn't do a lot of follow up. I was looking for the transaction. If someone didn't have business for me, I would move to the next person and so on... After reviewing my 1st year numbers, I realized that I had to do something different but I didn't know what. This is where the very rich man comes in.
His advice was, "forget about the money, forget about the commission, forget about the sales awards. Focus on bringing value to others and all else will follow." Again I thought that it is easy for someone to say that when they already have the money. You've heard the saying "Money isn't everything." I didn't believe that until this point. I always thought that money is the solution to everything. If I'm going to be miserable, I may as well be miserable rich (I still believe this just in a different capacity).
So the lesson is, bring value first and the money will follow.
I was out of ideas so I thought that I would give it a try. I joined a few networking groups as well as the Board of Trade. I went to these events looking for ways that I could bring value to others rather than get a sale. I looked for ways that I could connect other people to help them out so that both parties could benefit whether it was to my benefit or not. I stopped worrying about the transaction and the short term gain and started looking at the big picture and the long term gain. It was no longer all about me but about those around me.
You'll never guess what happened. Prospective clients became clients. Orders just seemed to drop on my lap from people that I helped previously. Orders came from people who I had never spoken to before but they had heard of my value proposition.
From helping and bringing value to my co-workers I was promoted to manager to senior manager to VP. I was now able to leverage my time and make money from other people's efforts rather than limiting myself to the 168 hours in the week. I then cracked the $100K benchmark. Wow! That rich guy was right.
I also learned another valuable lesson here. Be careful who you take advice from. If someone has no money, don't take advice from them on making money. If someone is out of shape, don't take fitness advice from them (I've never understood personal trainers who are out of shape. What credibility could they possibly have?).
So the way to double your income is to bring value to others first. Look for ways that you can increase your value in your community. Do some volunteer work, coach a team, write an article or whatever you come up with... Be the resource in your industry. Become the expert.
I have found a way to further leverage my time. It lies in the power of the internet. I have learned to harness the internet and make money in my sleep. If you would like to see the formula, feel free to visit my site.
Kiven Wenman is a VP Sales and Sales Trainer helping people succeed throughout North America. Kiven has coached and mentored many people to success through consultative mindset focused awareness. He is able to take you outside of yourself in order for you to have a clear look into yourself to see how others are seeing you. Kiven can be contacted at kwenman@gmail.com or visit http://www.myiflylikeaneagle.com.

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