How I Sold Millions of Dollars of Intangible Products in a Highly Competitive Market
By Christine OKelly | March 11, 2008
If there is one way to put your sales abilities to the test, it’s selling car insurance. Car insurance is an intangible “product” that people are forced to have, don’t want to spend their money on, and never want to use. Car insurance isn’t a sexy product with cool packaging. It won’t help you become more successful. It’s not something you can show off to your friends to make you look cool. Not only does buying car insurance suck, but most people have a pretty nasty opinion about insurance “salesmen.”
Despite all of these challenges, I managed to become on of the top selling auto insurance agent in all of California for one of the largest insurance companies in the nation (think talking lizard). In this post, I’m going to show you the three most important techniques I used to sell millions of dollars worth of an invisible product that no one really wanted.
But before you assume I’m bragging about my natural master sales skills, let me tell you that the way I got to this point was anything but glorified!
Selling Insurance Seemed Better Than Begging For Money On A San Diego Intersection
In an earlier post, I mentioned that the husband and I, along with our two kids under the age of two, jetted from Oregon to California with pretty much no money in order to get away from soul-sucking relatives.
When we arrived, we had a couple hundred bucks in our pocket and nowhere to go. A friend of ours was kind enough to give us money for a hotel room for a few days. When that ran out, we made use of a state program called “emergency homeless assistance” which paid for one more week in the hotel as well as about $600 to put down a deposit on an apartment.
We spent the entire week scouring the town for apartments and jobs, and hitting the food shelters for free food. When we couldn’t find anything to rent in San Diego with the $600, we ventured down to Tijuana to find a cheap place to live. The week of paid hotel stay ran out before we could move in and we had no way to pay for the hotel. The morning that we had to either pay or get out, I actually held up a sign at an intersection begging for money.
I felt like such a loser. I had a college degree. Just months earlier we had been living a very comfortable life. I was a stay at home mom while my husband brought home the bucks during the dot com boom. Now I was standing on a street corner with a cardboard sign begging for money. I just fixed my eyes on the horizon to avoid making eye contact with anyone in the cars.
During that first week in San Diego, I also managed to get an interview with the insurance company. I didn’t particularly want to work at an insurance company, but they advertised a decent salary in their newspaper ad. I actually applied for a customer service position because I never imagined myself as a salesperson - let alone an insurance sales person. But after learning during the interview that the sales job paid $2 more per hour and offered bonuses, I changed my application immediately.
The point I’m trying make here is that I did not go into this this sales job because I thought I could kick ass at sales. In fact, I figured I was probably going to be the worst sales person ever. I chose the job completely out of necessity. And though I had serious doubts about my sales abilities, I knew that I had to do whatever it took to keep this job and be awesome at it, or else we might be stuck in Tijuana - or worse, homeless - for much longer than I cared to be.
It turns out though, that my abhorrence of typical “salespeople” is exactly why I ended up being so good at it.
Being Great At Sales Has Nothing to Do With “Selling”
The reason I thought that I would be so horrible at sales is that I have a lot of compassion for people and I am a horrible liar. I knew that I would not be successful at pressuring anyone to buy something they didn’t really want. But after being put through a rigorous 8-week sales training program with an incredible instructor, I leaned what became some of my most valuable life lessons - pearls of wisdom that helped me to excel in my insurance sales career, grow my own business, and become a better copywriter.
Essential Sales Skill #1: Discover What People Really Need
Sales is all about discovering and then REALLY listening to people’s deepest needs, and then presenting a perfectly tailored solution to put those needs at ease. And here’s the kicker. This means that your product may not always be the answer. If you genuinely care about people and you honestly want to solve their problems, you’ve got to be willing to give them a solution that will truly solve their problem or meet their need even if its not your solution. A great sales person is a great listener, has true empathy for people, and is a passionate problem solver.
“Selling isn’t something you do to someone. It’s something you do for and with someone.”
–Ron Willingham, Integrity Selling
How to Discover What People Really Need
To paraphrase Brian Tracy, unless you really understand what someone needs, you have no businesses offering a solution. Not only do you not know what they really need, they know that you don’t know what they really need. In a sales call, this means asking lots of questions and then buttoning your lip and listening.
Like politicians, if we stop listening and act upon our own agenda, little will be accomplished.
–Dan Sitter, Idea Sellers
The insurance application contained about 30 questions that were required to work up a quote. These questions gave me incredible insight about the applicant’s life, their job, where they lived, and much more. Instead of just blowing through the questions at top speed to get on with the next call, I often asked more questions that helped me to learn more about them. In the end, knowing so much about them helped me to put together a perfectly tailored solution.
I stumbled up on this strategy quite by accident. I wasn’t asking questions about them just to give myself leverage to close the deal. I asked questions because I am genuinely interested people’s lives. I think this is a key component of good sales.
Action Plan:
- If you make sales over the phone or in person, come up with a list of questions that you can ask every customer throughout the conversation in order to learn more about their life and their problem so that you can ultimately offer an ideal solution.
In an online environment, there are even more ways to discover what people really want and need.
- Forums and message boards: Look around on forums and message boards to see what kinds of questions people are asking. Instead of trying to figure out how your product meets those needs, ask yourself if what you have will really provide a solution. This can give you some great ideas about how to improve your product or service.
- Analytics: If you have a website or blog, review analytics to see what types of search terms people are using to find you. Many people seem to use Google like a crystal ball, telling it their deepest needs in hopes to find a solution. Here are some actual terms that people used to find this blog:
- Engaging in blog conversations: I’ve found that conversations on blogs follow the same principles as real life. It’s quid pro quo. If you want people to open up and tell you want they really need and want, you need to open up and reveal some personal things about your own struggles. People are more willing to take the conversation to the next level if you make the first move.
Essential Sales Skill #2: Being Sold On The Product You’re Selling
At the insurance company, I was convinced that I was selling the best product on the market. If I wasn’t absolutely convinced of this, I’m sure that I wouldn’t have done very well in sales. This piece of the puzzle is more important than it may initially seem.
There are lots of people selling affiliate products online that they know nothing about. How can you possibly really become great at selling these products if you’re not sold on them yourself? I toyed around with launching an e-commerce store a while back and then quickly ran into a conflict of personal ethics.
I went through all the steps of finding a wholesale distributor, setting up a DBA, and building the e-commerce store. But when it came time to write the product descriptions, I began to feel really uncomfortable with writing great sales copy about products I had no experience with and knew little about.
I wrote about 30 product descriptions before ditching the project. This is not to say that in order to operate an e-commerce store you need to know everything possible about every product! I think what it does mean is that you have to offer the opportunity for buyers to give their feedback on products and then take a critical look at that feedback to ensure that people are actually benefiting from the products you offer.
For me, the process of creating a great e-commerce store would have required more time and energy than I was willing to commit. I thought it could be a good side project, but once I really examined what it would take to make it the most beneficial for customers, I decided to focus my efforts elsewhere.
The next idea I had to solve this dilemma was to create a blog that only featured products that I or the author of the post had used personally. The formula was fewer products/more trust. Michael Martine and I had a great phone conversation about this which turned into a fun brainstorming session about how blogs can be a powerful tool for e-commerce sites.
In that conversation, he said something brilliant: “If you can’t blog it, don’t do it.” That’s because blogs are built on trust and transparency. This serves as a great litmus test for any kind of sales: If you are unwilling to “sell” it with full transparency and honesty, maybe you should consider selling something else.
Action Plan:
- Instead of trying to find products online to sell that offer the most affiliate fees, ask yourself what products you already have personal experience with. Ask yourself what YOU can teach people based on practices you know work and turn that knowledge into an info-product, application, or physical product.
- If you’re selling affiliate products, critically review the products you are selling. If you review a product and you don’t like it, the trust you’ll lose by recommending it will cost you far more than the couple bucks you make selling it. In his post “Blogging for Money,” Steve Pavlina talks about how he puts products he’s considering recommending through the ringer to make sure they are great. Because of this he has built an incredible level of trust among his readers. His blog reportedly earns $40,000 per month in sales.
Essential Sales Skill #3: Make Benefits Personal
You’ve probably heard about the distinction between features and benefits. But benefits need to be taken to a more personal, tailored level in order to be really effective. Many times, the buyer cannot make the connection between a generic benefit and the way in which they could apply that benefit to their life. Because of this, you need to do it for them.
Really figuring out what the benefits are for different types of customers is crucial and can be one of the most time consuming parts of developing a good sales strategy. For example, a feature might be 24 hour service. Until you apply that to me and my lifestyle, this means squat. However, when you paint a picture describing how I can use this feature, I’m all ears. In the case of auto insurance, 24 hour customer service can be incredibly useful to lots of different people for lots of different reasons.
For a mom, it means that when you finally settle down to manage your bills at the end of the night after the kids go to bed you can call someone and pay your bill or make adjustments to your policy that may save you money. For someone who works late at night, 24 hour service means that if you get into an accident at 11:00 pm on your way home from work, a real person is going to be there to document your claim. If the other person documents the claim first, they may tell a completely different story and put you at fault for an accident where you were actually the victim.
Relating how features provide specific, tailored benefits to individual customers not only helps you make the sale, it keeps them around longer. They aren’t motivated to leave because they are sure that they have the best solution for them. They don’t have that nagging feeling that maybe there is something better out there.
Action Plan:
- List out all of the features of your product or service. Then create profiles of different types of customers and how these features could be applied to their life and become benefits. Invesp Blog has a 5-part tutorial called “The complete guide to increasing conversion rates through persona creation” that can give you more insight on this process.
- Go beyond figuring out how these different “personas” can actually use the product. Dig deep and discover how applying the features can save them money, time, frustration, give them peace of mind, or help them avoid a potentially ugly worst-case-scenario situation. When doing this, be realistic. We’re all smart enough to sense hype a mile away. If you hype something up beyond reason, you’ve instantly created doubt, and then the sale is pretty much over.
- Paint a picture of exactly what is going to happen when the customer goes to apply this feature. For example, if you’re selling web hosting with 24/7 service to a moonlighting entrepreneur, you need to explain how they can apply the 24/7 service to their life. When they are sitting at their dining room table at 10:00 at night ready to pull their hair out because they can’t upload something to their website, they can call a number and someone will walk them step-by-step through the process. If you make the benefits personal enough, those benefits become far more important than price.
A Free Sales Page Coaching Session
Because I enjoy helping people improve their sales I’m offering a free sales page analysis and coaching session to one reader. The best sales letter candidate will be one that is already receiving a decent amount of traffic or that will be placed on a site that is already generating traffic so that we can see some measurable results. Send me an email with your request and I’ll do the tough part of trying to pick one page to review.
What to expect:
- I’ll review your sales page
- We’ll talk by phone or Skype so that I can learn more about your customers and product
- I’ll suggest ways that you can enhance your sales page
- You’ll make the changes until we feel that it’s ready
- You’ll launch your sales page and we’ll measure the results
I’d love to be able to help everyone, but this process takes quite a bit of time! Though I’m getting some fantastic time management coaching from time management coach Dave Navarro I need to be sure that I don’t pack too much into my day that even his hyper productivity techniques can no longer help me!
If you’re up to it, you can link to your sales page in the comments section and see what advice others can provide in terms of where you may need to clarify your message or handle specific objections.
Share Your Strategies and Sales Challenges
These techniques aren’t by far the only ingredients of a sale. These are just the 3 things that made the most impact on my sales numbers. I haven’t even touched on closing which is what most of the sales trainees I worked with found to be the most uncomfortable part (BTW, it really doesn’t need to be). What strategies have you used that have brought you measurable results? What are your biggest challenges with sales?
Topics: Business Development |
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I can’t believe you actually held up a sign for money at a street corner. For some reason that’s almost funny, even though I’m sure it wasn’t at the time. Anyways, you are officially my favorite success story.
You held up a sign for money???
I’m with Jeff on this one, you are really incredible - thanks for the continued inspiration.
PS - I’m enjoying your e-book by the way and it will prove to be very helpful…
Great post. I especially like point #3. While choosing a good quality product (#2)is important, no product is perfect for everyone. So the point is to clarify the benefit the specific target clients will enjoy with the product. And not every prospect is good at connecting the dots — that is where the sales person comes into.
BTW I am impressed with the search key words you get — there is a real surge of interest in small business startup these days. Which means business opportunity for me — got to go to polish my own sales strategies now . . .
Oh my God, can I buy the movie rights to your story? There’s so much good stuff here, I don’t even know what to say!
OMG, Christine,
You once held out a sign to beg for money so your family has a place to stay and now you’re sharing this valuable piece of knowledge that can help us all?
You’re sooo my hero!
Seriously - That must’ve took a LOT of inner strength. You’re truly someone very inspirational!
Thanks for this great article! I never considered myself a good salesperson myself but I’ve had a few sales associate jobs (in clothing stores). I did find that believing in the product you sell DOES help. And being the designer that I am, I often ask the customer what needs to be accomplished… I’ve scored top sales myself many times during that stop gap job (during the .com bust)… and it’s mainly because I’m passionate about style (Fashion school dropout here!) and I’m passionate about seeing other (women) look and feel amazing
lol - yes! I actually held up a sign for money! Pretty good hourly rate too… but I don’t recommend it! I was out there for about 2 hours and made about $60 - just enough to pay for the room and little bit of food and then I was outta there! One kind person even brought me a bag of groceries.
One of the most valuable lessons I learned from this situation and from hitchhiking across the country is that there a LOT of good people out there. If you just watch the news or sit in a mob of angry traffic for hours every day, it would be easy to think that the world is full of cruel uncaring people. They are out there, but there seem to be a lot more great people in the world.
Now whenever I see someone on the corner with a sign, I give them some cash. For me, those few dollars might be a Starbucks. To them, it might be something to put towards a hotel room for the night. Heck, it might even be for a beer - whatever they spend it on, it’s probably something they need to help them escape from the crappy situation they are obvious in!
That is something I have kept in the back of my mind for a while, as I’ve been moving step by step towards my dreams.
Failure is okay - the world is full of many wonderful people who will help you get back up again when you stumble.
Short of dying, what’s the worst thing that could happen to you, if you only try something?
But if you don’t try, you’ll never know.
As harsh as it might seem, many people get their first really fresh start upon being laid off or fired. When you’re there, I guess you have nothing to lose, and a different perspective. Maybe it’s not such a bad thing…
This is a powerful point you make Brett. I think that many times we are held hostage by fears that are unfounded.
I also agree with you that being fired or laid off isn’t always a bad thing. Oftentimes, its just the kick in the butt we need to risk a little more than we were willing to before, and that often means better results.
Thanks for sharing!
I’m not sure I advocate actually getting fired
but perhaps a way to make it work for anyone is to say to yourself, “what would I do if I got fired or laid off?” and then work from that perspective.
Really sit down and think about it some time (well, not you, Christine, since you’ve been there already…)
I think it is a powerful thought exercise.
I figured you would have something to say on this eventually, but the timing sure couldn’t be better, since my post came out today (did that make you feed rushed?).
But I had no idea you’d be telling about holding up a sign begging for money. Your determination is inspiring to me. You wouldn’t know this, but I think about your story (what I already knew) many times a month when I feel stressed out. I tell myself to shut the hell up because what I’m going through isn’t anything like what you went through.
Great sales tips, too! I’ve done some odd sales here and there and believing in the product is a must. Truly listening to people to understand their needs is vital, agreed. There was this sales guy who got fired from my company for not hitting his numbers. Basically, the guy didn’t listen to people. It was painfully obvious to me, because he did that to EVERYONE. Asking for the sale takes confidence and a good sense of timing.
Looking forward to how this whole sales page contest turns out! Should be really fun!
Oh yeah Micheal - I knew a lot of “sales” people like the guy you describe who didn’t listen to people. The ones that didn’t get canned met their numbers by burning through calls and selling the policies when our price was lower. My conversion rate at one point was 70% when the goal was 45%. If 70% were possible, imagine the millions of dollars some of those sales people leaving on the table! It’s mind boggling.
Wow. That was some of the best sales tutorial writing I have ever read. I’ve read a lot of your points before, but the arguments are usually much longer and not so well put together. Listen, Listen, Listen makes sense. On my first sales pitch, the client looked at me and told me that if he didn’t have a relationship with the people that recommended me, he would tell me to get lost in the first five minutes. This post has a lot of answers for what I did wrong. Nice job.
For once I read the whole article. Brilliant story - well told with a compelling and clear message.
I have nothing to add; the glory is yours. Take good care. The Baldchemist
Every once in a while I worry that I’ll end up on a street corner. Nothing particular threatens it, but DC has a huge homeless population.
Thanks for sharing your story and the sales skills you’ve learned. I can’t see myself in sales, but it’s better than starving…and I’ve learned ways to sell my blog.
Mrs. Michah, I grew up in Maryland right next to D.C. and remember all of those homeless people! In the winter, I would see them bundled up and standing over the sidewalk vents where steam came up from underground.
As a teenager I remember thinking… why don’t they hitchhike to somewhere warm like San Diego? Maybe that’s part of the reason I ended up in Southern California! If life takes a turn for the absolute worst here, at least you won’t freeze to death!
Very inspiring to me, since my husband recently lost his job. Situation isn’t nearly as bad as yours, so no signs will be held on street corners, but it’s been a good reminder to really work at what I do… and try to get my husband to take a chance on tougher jobs!
That is a GREAT way to think of a job loss Stephanie. If you have a bit of a cushion, then your husband won’t feel pressured to take the first thing that comes his way. If he sets an income goal, sticks to his guns, and has the time to turn down opportunities that don’t meet those income goals, then you guys will be much better off as a result of his layoff.
As Brett said in an earlier comment:
“As harsh as it might seem, many people get their first really fresh start upon being laid off or fired. When you’re there, I guess you have nothing to lose, and a different perspective. Maybe it’s not such a bad thing…”
I agree with you Christine, it is a good situation to find yourself in when one partner has this flexibility. My wife went back to work about two years ago, and is in her second position now.
So far, she is very happy with it, but I always maintain to her that she should ensure that she is happy doing it, as she always has the option to quit and find something else.
Life is too short to be miserable at work.
That’s why I’m working so hard myself, right now - I’m not miserable, but I can do so much better. I’ve been off from my normal job this week, and it has been a gift, as it has given me a good idea of what working from home would be like for me. The environment is good, I just need to get the business up and running.
Thanks for the inspiring story Kelly. You make some of the other Dot-Com Crash stories sound like a cake-walk. I hope to feature your story on my site one day.
Christine,
Your post is incredibly inspirational and very, very useful.
I’m a lawyer so I don’t “sell” in the traditional sense but I’m aware that a lot of what I do involves selling. Your 3 points are a fantastic reminder of he essence of selling.
I’ve not yet fully explored the rest of your blog but it looks very interesting.
Keep up the good work.
A
Your story is really touching…its really awesome that how rose above it.
There are lots of people selling affiliate products online that they know nothing about. How can you possibly really become great at selling these products if you’re not sold on them yourself?
============
OMG - this was me exactly. I bought a report on niche marketing last year and started to diligently go at it.
But I couldn’t go through with it. Why? Because of this very idea - one of the things the guy who wrote the report said to do was to go to Clickbank, find a bunch of affiliate products, and offer them for sale.
But…but…I kept asking myself: Without even test driving those particular products first? I just couldn’t do it. I can’t just offer stuff that I have no stake in, that I don’t know anything about (beyond the name of the product and the basic idea behind it).
Thanks for reaffirming my beliefs in this - it’s good to know other people feel the same way!
You are one strong and determined person Christine. I don’t think I would have had the guts to hold up that sign.
Great post with lots of valuable information. I haven’t got a sales page but it helped me nonetheless for other ideas.
BTW, I loved the second Google search term best. ;-)Don’t we do that right now?
Monika,
I never noticed that Google search term, thanks for pointing that out… best laugh I’ve had so far today!!!
Monika - that’s my favorite one too! I never intentionally tried to rank for the term “sitting on your ass at home making money,” but apparently my site is ranking on page 2 of Google for this search term! I find that hilarious.
I don’t even know you personally, and I definitely *cannot* imagine you sitting on your ass doing nothing, so that’s what made it even funnier to me!
@ Brett: yes, I did the same, love that term “sitting on your ass at home making money”. I actually wonder how many searches this gets every month?
@ Christine: It is too. Hey, that reminds me, I did a Santa Claus joke post last December where I interviewed Santa. In the weeks that followed I got tons of hits for the search term “spanking Santa” - go figure, whatever next.
@ Monika: when I see some of the things that people search for I smile at the power of the web… I’ve had two or three people stumble by my fledgling blog by way of a search for “cross cut saw” (I put a picture of a cross cut saw up there for a post!) - I don’t think they really found what they were seeking, but hopefully they liked what they found!
Christine…
I LOVE this topic.
Here are some strategies that I use
to make more sales.
I use the word “I” thanks to Christine because I can only talk about what I do or have done. Please don’t take this braggingly.
1) Social Proof - I use testimonials of people that I have helped make more money in their life. I visualize a 10ft wall in between my prospect and I and the more PROOF I have that shows I know what I am doing, the lower that wall becomes to the point that they can step over and hand me their Visa. An example would be
http://www.whoisdaviddutton.com/david-dutton-testimonials.html
2) Passion/Energy - I credit this with probably 90% of my success. I have noticed that people followed my energy and passion. I was in my dorm room at 24 and closed a seven figure deal with CEO’s and CFO’s and they had no clue I was a college student. I did it right over the phone.
Something deep inside me wanted to succeed so I “knew” I was one of them, it was only a matter of time.
3) Empathy - I had a sales manager of a furniture store share this with me. He said he tries to get to the point in a conversation that he could actually put his arm on someone’s shoulder. No he doesn’t do that with everyone but he “could” do it if he wanted to because he relates with them on a different level.
Because of that, I use it when I talk to people and show them I am a real guy just like them. I don’t have all my ducks in a row either.
When I do videos, like the one on my homepage, I do it real “ghetto fabulous” style and not real polished. I want to relate and not put on a front for people.
These are just a few of the things I do that work for me in a HUGE way.
Thanks for a great post Christine.
GREAT points David! My favorite is empathy - I don’t think you can be truly successful at sales without it.
I love the story of how you closed a 7 figure deal in your dorm room - you talk about that in your e-book. By passion and energy, do you mean that you inspired them about what was possible? Or was it confidence? I’d love to hear more about that!
Ghetto fabulous - that’s great stuff. I told your story about the videos to someone the other day on the phone while discussing why some people might be more inclined from a 1996 style design as opposed to the “high design” that most of us want. I immediately thought of your unpolished ghetto-fabulous videos - that’s great!
Thanks Christine…
In regards to passion and energy, let me explain more about that…..
I think through life experiences and a mixture of my belief in God is where the energy and passion come from.
1) Passion - Even at 16 years old I knew deep down I wanted to do something great.Something that would last.
The older I got (early to mid twenties) my passion grew because I realize how short life is and the fact that I believe even people like Bill Gates are just like us,it got stronger.
So my confidence grew because I “knew” I was going to be them someday and/or make a difference in people’s lives. I honestly believe it is my calling.
2) Energy - This is hard to explain but I think you will know exavtly what I am talking about since you have been in sales. Good salesmen know about the “unspoken energy within the sales enviroment”.
I started hearing from more than one person how my energy was addicting. It is tough to say where it comes from really but I know it is there. Even on the phone I can sense it is there. I think the formula is something like
life mission + God = passion x energy = changing lives through sales
I hope that makes sense but that is the formula in my head.
So you like the “ghetto fabulous” videos do you?
I heard this story one time that I think will make you laugh.
If there was a nasty used napkin laying on the table in a mens college dorm wuld anyone pick it up?
Probably not.
However, what if that nasty, gross napkin had Cindy Crawford’s (insert any super model here) personal cell # listed on that napkin?
The value would go WAAAY up to those 18 year old testosterone filled guys in that dorm.
Moral: It is the content that people want and everything else doesn’t matter as much.
Alright…
Catch ya later.
Dave
I was wondering when that e-commerce site was going to get going….:-) I guess I will have to wait a while. It *was* a good idea, but I agree that putting your name on something means you should know everything and anything about the product. Your integrity is so much more valuable than any short term sales you might have made.
I have not held a sales position before, but my husband does. He has watched many others in his field make amazing sales, only to burn out quickly. He, instead, chose to build relationships with clients and recommend financial products that help them the most — rather than what will make the quickest buck for him. Almost ten years later that strategy is paying off.
I love this blog!
Great story about your husband Tara! I think it’s our nature to first take the route that his friends did in selling the products with the highest payout. I mean, who in the affiliate marketing/ecommerce world hasn’t started their search for products to promote by looking in the “commission” column first?!?
But then comes the human element… when you start talking to REAL people and you truly have empathy for their needs, your mission is the find the best product, not the one that pays the most commissions. Your husband obviously has a winning strategy!
Maybe those who does online sales could provide an option to allow potential buyers to contact them by phone. This really humanizes the sales process. What could be learned by talking to real people and not just looking at impersonal web stats.
Thanks for sharing your story Tara!
What a wonderful story! Really, really inspiring. And it shows that you never know what’s going to happen for you when you take action. The most amazing opportunities pop up when we least expect them. I have on my site that my personal philosophy is the Zen saying: “Leap and the net will appear.” I try to remind myself of this every time I’m attempting to do something new or scary. What a wonderful opportunity you made for yourself and what awesome lessons you learned. Thank you so much for sharing them with us! I’ll take them back to my work and my clients.
Oh I like that Diane! “Leap and the net will appear” - that’s great. I have absolutely seen this to be true again and again throughout my life. Thanks for sharing this great quote. It’s one I’ll probably remember and refer to for the rest of my life.
WOW… What a post… Wish i would of found this post back in 1995 when i was selling insurance !
Well, maybe not… I probably wouln’t be here today working for myself if i did…
Lol Pete! Your comment reminds me of how many paths we might have taken in life but didn’t. Like you say, it’s probably a good thing your insurance career ended for whatever reason - although you probably didn’t think so at the time!
I’ve been remiss about reading your blog and I have you bookmarked for good now. Every time I visit you inspire me to get on it! You truly are gifted at Gab and I mean that is the most positive way.
As far as unemployment is concerned, I almost feel as if I am. The housing market for designers has dropped off the planet here in OC. I started my business out of my home about ten years ago, moved n to a small office after two years and then on to a larger office that was beautifully designed. I recently had to come back to the home. I’ve been in mourning for the past few months and coming out of it. I built a nice business. We were growing and then, Wham! The industry fell apart. We’re all in the same boat as it has trickled in to many other areas. I’m desperately seeking ways to improve the conditions for myself.
My son started me on the blogging last year. I finally understand about sharing and joining up with others. Thanks for sharing. I will implement many of your ideas. It’s time for me to “Rock On!”
Oh wow Michelle - I can imagine that these are scary times for you being in the real estate industry! I wonder if you could write a book? You are already writing such great content on your blog and with such passion!
Hi Christine,
Actually I have been writing a Design Book for “Beginning Designers”. This will help them in the market place today. Things are moving so fast and changing on the internet. What type of book are you considering? I would love to chat with you more about that.
Thanks for your interest!
Michele
That’s kind of what I was thinking Michele (about the book) You could probably come up with a good angle with the housing market being down… Maybe more people are spending their time and energy remodeling since they aren’t buying… maybe they want to learn how to ’stage’ a house so that it has a better chance of selling now and when the market bounces back… Judging by the quality of your blog and the depth of your knowledge, I bet you could own that niche!
Hi Christine,
I spent quite a bit of time on Saturday reading your text. I copied most of it out.
I’ve gotta tell you, you are so inspiring.
The story about how you were basically homeless I wanted to share with my husband’s niece. She is 21 years of age.
When I read the part about the parents who were “blood suckers” - it truly raised a few hairs for me. I felt very much this way with this little spoiled brat, if I may say. I’m sure she views me this way.
The problem is she has to go and we kicked her out.
Wow! It hurt to do that. She has been her for 11 months.
She’s a shop-aholic and no one can tell her what to do. We brought her here from Chicago to help her start a college career. We put a down payment on a brand new car, and paid for her first semester in college. All to find out after six or seven months, she was not going and just using us for all she could. She’s never had to spend a dime here. Never lifts a finger unless asked. It’s been a tough one for me because I cannot take her by the shoulders and shake her. She’s not my kid.
If there were a way that she could read half of what you wrote about, I think she could find some value in what we’ve been providing her. I’m not so sure she can persevere through the tough times like you did. She’s moving in with her bro and he asked for $250 per month to help with the rent and utilities. “She asked him if he was going to make a profit off of her!” I almost laughed. This is her mind set.
So, I wish kids would take the time to read valuable information such as yours. Your could help the world!
Geez - what a story! I have tried to “help” people too with just about the same outcome - it’s so frustrating!! It’s just proof that you can be given lots of opportunities and never excel while someone with nothing and the the desire for success can overcome just about anything. Thanks for sharing Michele!
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