Facts tell and stories sell. If you want to become really good at sales, then you must know how to tell your story. People think in pictures and they can and will follow a story. People learn better from stories and become emotionally connected to stories. What is your story and can you tell your story and tell it well?

What makes you who you are? You are different from anyone else. Your life experiences, background and everything about you makes you unique. Unfortunately, if you are like most people, you think you are typical and that there is nothing exceptional or unique about yourself, and if that is what you think, you are absolutely wrong.

You could tell any customer 50 things about your product and he might remember a few of them. But, if you shared with a customer five things about yourself, he will remember all of them. People buy from people — not salespeople. People don’t necessarily like salespeople but they do like people who they can relate to or who they can connect to by their story. Stories make you a real live person instead of a commoditized salesperson. A customer can get a product anywhere, but he can’t get you anywhere else. If you don’t believe that, you are doomed to sell less than you could and should. You will also be doomed to experience frustration in sales because you have relegated yourself to the position of “order taker.” Stop selling products.

You do not have to dominate a conversation or talk only about you. However, you have to weave it into a conversation and eventually how that might relate to your customer. A conversation occurs when two or more people are communicating with one another. A conversation is rarely about a product alone. The conversation more often than not includes opinions, experiences, background and a personal spin to those products.

To have a true conversation, you will not only share your story but will also learn your customers’ story. A story is not only what a customer is looking for; it is the who, what and why of a customer. Imagine asking customers deeper questions rather than “what product or model are you looking for?” Dig deeper, dig deeper, dig deeper. The story is there and your customer wants to share that story. When a customer shares their story and you truly listen, you have now connected you, your product and service to them. The connection is deeper and more emotional than other salespeople will have. The following simple questions will allow a customer to share their story with you and begin a conversation and relationship.

“Mr. Customer, what is the most important thing to you when you buy?”

“Mr. Customer, what was the first thing that made you want to buy what you currently have?”

“Mr. Customer, tell me how you plan on typically using ______.”

“Mr. Customer, do you work near here? Where? How long have you worked there? What do you do? How did you get into that?”

“Mr. Customer, as you have been shopping, what one thing has kept you from moving forward in making your decision?”

Think about some of the best books you have read or the best movies you have seen. Did they have a compelling story? Think of the most interesting and compelling people you have ever met. Did they have a great story? Did you want to know more?

Know and communicate the stories of you, your product and business. Just as importantly, you should know the story of your customer. Stories create influence and connection. Influence and connection have created more sales than any product or price ever has. Price creates commodity and lowest price wins in a commodity environment. Price cutting is a self-inflicted wound created by the salesperson with a weak and untold story. In your next three sales encounters, work on sharing your story and understanding your customers story. You will be amazed at the results.

To receive the Free Special Report “Stories of the Rich Salesperson” e-mail me at info@tewart.com with the phrase “Stories of the Rich Salesperson” in the subject line.

https://plus.google.com/102098049858677477751?rel=author">Google

 

Facts tell and stories sell. If you want to become really good at sales, then you must know how to tell your story. People think in pictures and they can and will follow a story. People learn better from stories and become emotionally connected to stories. What is your story and can you tell your story and tell it well?

What makes you who you are? You are different from anyone else. Your life experiences, background and everything about you makes you unique. Unfortunately, if you are like most people, you think you are typical and that there is nothing exceptional or unique about yourself, and if that is what you think, you are absolutely wrong.

You could tell any customer 50 things about your product and he might remember a few of them. But, if you shared with a customer five things about yourself, he will remember all of them. People buy from people — not salespeople. People don’t necessarily like salespeople but they do like people who they can relate to or who they can connect to by their story. Stories make you a real live person instead of a commoditized salesperson. A customer can get a product anywhere, but he can’t get you anywhere else. If you don’t believe that, you are doomed to sell less than you could and should. You will also be doomed to experience frustration in sales because you have relegated yourself to the position of “order taker.” Stop selling products.

You do not have to dominate a conversation or talk only about you. However, you have to weave it into a conversation and eventually how that might relate to your customer. A conversation occurs when two or more people are communicating with one another. A conversation is rarely about a product alone. The conversation more often than not includes opinions, experiences, background and a personal spin to those products.

To have a true conversation, you will not only share your story but will also learn your customers’ story. A story is not only what a customer is looking for; it is the who, what and why of a customer. Imagine asking customers deeper questions rather than “what product or model are you looking for?” Dig deeper, dig deeper, dig deeper. The story is there and your customer wants to share that story. When a customer shares their story and you truly listen, you have now connected you, your product and service to them. The connection is deeper and more emotional than other salespeople will have. The following simple questions will allow a customer to share their story with you and begin a conversation and relationship.

“Mr. Customer, what is the most important thing to you when you buy?”

“Mr. Customer, what was the first thing that made you want to buy what you currently have?”

“Mr. Customer, tell me how you plan on typically using ______.”

“Mr. Customer, do you work near here? Where? How long have you worked there? What do you do? How did you get into that?”

“Mr. Customer, as you have been shopping, what one thing has kept you from moving forward in making your decision?”

Think about some of the best books you have read or the best movies you have seen. Did they have a compelling story? Think of the most interesting and compelling people you have ever met. Did they have a great story? Did you want to know more?

Know and communicate the stories of you, your product and business. Just as importantly, you should know the story of your customer. Stories create influence and connection. Influence and connection have created more sales than any product or price ever has. Price creates commodity and lowest price wins in a commodity environment. Price cutting is a self-inflicted wound created by the salesperson with a weak and untold story. In your next three sales encounters, work on sharing your story and understanding your customers story. You will be amazed at the results.

To receive the Free Special Report “Stories of the Rich Salesperson” e-mail me at info@tewart.com with the phrase “Stories of the Rich Salesperson” in the subject line.

https://plus.google.com/102098049858677477751?rel=author">Google

 

1. Manage things and lead people.

Processes should be defined and managed daily. People should be lead by example daily. Management by strict control inhibits star performers and eliminates creativity of intelligent people. Feelings of manipulation are caused by strict control. Control, manipulation, and disrespect keep many dealerships from moving to another level of performance.

2. Speed of the boss = speed of the team.

If the boss has a sense of urgency, the team will, too. The leader sets the tone. Great leaders create an attitude and atmosphere of winning. The leader sets the stage for the proper belief systems necessary to succeed.

3. Coach people more than you manage deals.

If you spend your time coaching people through training, one-on-ones and positive feedback, your people will become less addicted to you. Spend 80% of your day with your team and your customers. The rest can wait.

4. Create a .Stop Doing List..

To find out what to do, you must also define what not to do. What are you doing everyday that you should either, stop doing, delegate, or do less of, or at a different time?

5. Practice the 4 D.s of action management.

Dump it, Defer it, Delegate it, or Do it. With proper action management, you will spend less time in crisis and emergency mode.

6. Recruiting is an ongoing process.

Determine an ongoing action plan for recruiting. What channels will you use to recruit and how much time each week to do it. What automated systems can you set up through web sites, job boards, college placement centers, military posts, etc. can you set up to increase potential candidates? Don’t wait until you need people to dig through the drawer to find the help wanted ad that everyone else uses.

7. Set clear expectations.

People need and desire clear expectations of their job functions, behavior, and performance. The days of hiring people and showing them the inventory, their desk, and telling them to get busy are over. For a greater chance of success, people cannot succeed without written and communicated expectations.

8. People don’t change that much, so stop trying.

Do not try to put in what God left out. When a person has reached adulthood, they primarily tend to repeat the patterns either they have created or that are based upon their nature. Grow a person’s strengths, and stop trying to fix their weaknesses.

9. Educate and motivate daily.

Good people want continuing education. Educate and motivate every day. Educating daily creates results; periodical training never does. If you have people rejecting education, then you must reject them. Would a great coach allow certain players to not practice because they didn’t want to?

10. Listen, listen, listen.

Nothing inspires people more than when they feel a manager will actually listen. People need to be respected and heard. A manager’s best customers are the people they coach.

11. Get out from behind the desk.

Lead the team. People want to know that their leader is one of them. Desks can become huge barriers to communicating.

12. Don’t forget emotions.

Behind all goals, dreams, achievements, and failures are emotions. Learn to tap into each team member’s pleasure and pain motivators to better guide them. Coach each team member with this in mind – thoughts become words, words become actions, actions create habits, habits create results, and they are all seeking emotions.

Great leadership is essential in creating great teams. Expect more of yourself and your team will follow. The leader is the final reason for success or failure.

1. Manage things and lead people.

Processes should be defined and managed daily. People should be lead by example daily. Management by strict control inhibits star performers and eliminates creativity of intelligent people. Feelings of manipulation are caused by strict control. Control, manipulation, and disrespect keep many dealerships from moving to another level of performance.

2. Speed of the boss = speed of the team.

If the boss has a sense of urgency, the team will, too. The leader sets the tone. Great leaders create an attitude and atmosphere of winning. The leader sets the stage for the proper belief systems necessary to succeed.

3. Coach people more than you manage deals.

If you spend your time coaching people through training, one-on-ones and positive feedback, your people will become less addicted to you. Spend 80% of your day with your team and your customers. The rest can wait.

4. Create a .Stop Doing List..

To find out what to do, you must also define what not to do. What are you doing everyday that you should either, stop doing, delegate, or do less of, or at a different time?

5. Practice the 4 D.s of action management.

Dump it, Defer it, Delegate it, or Do it. With proper action management, you will spend less time in crisis and emergency mode.

6. Recruiting is an ongoing process.

Determine an ongoing action plan for recruiting. What channels will you use to recruit and how much time each week to do it. What automated systems can you set up through web sites, job boards, college placement centers, military posts, etc. can you set up to increase potential candidates? Don’t wait until you need people to dig through the drawer to find the help wanted ad that everyone else uses.

7. Set clear expectations.

People need and desire clear expectations of their job functions, behavior, and performance. The days of hiring people and showing them the inventory, their desk, and telling them to get busy are over. For a greater chance of success, people cannot succeed without written and communicated expectations.

8. People don’t change that much, so stop trying.

Do not try to put in what God left out. When a person has reached adulthood, they primarily tend to repeat the patterns either they have created or that are based upon their nature. Grow a person’s strengths, and stop trying to fix their weaknesses.

9. Educate and motivate daily.

Good people want continuing education. Educate and motivate every day. Educating daily creates results; periodical training never does. If you have people rejecting education, then you must reject them. Would a great coach allow certain players to not practice because they didn’t want to?

10. Listen, listen, listen.

Nothing inspires people more than when they feel a manager will actually listen. People need to be respected and heard. A manager’s best customers are the people they coach.

11. Get out from behind the desk.

Lead the team. People want to know that their leader is one of them. Desks can become huge barriers to communicating.

12. Don’t forget emotions.

Behind all goals, dreams, achievements, and failures are emotions. Learn to tap into each team member’s pleasure and pain motivators to better guide them. Coach each team member with this in mind – thoughts become words, words become actions, actions create habits, habits create results, and they are all seeking emotions.

Great leadership is essential in creating great teams. Expect more of yourself and your team will follow. The leader is the final reason for success or failure.

Two things keep people from being successful: laziness and the lack of leverage. The good news is that neither of these are incurable diseases, but they can be if left untreated. Let’s take a look at both and how to get rid of each one.

Leverage creates the tipping point that gets you moving and taking action. Leverage can come from wants, needs, fear, love, hate and other emotional triggers. All leverage points are good if you channel them correctly, even if they start out as a negative emotion, such as anger — at least you are moving and will notice that the longer you keep moving, the more likely you are to replace your negative leverage with something more positive.

Discover and get familiar with the “why.” When the “why” gets clear, the “how” gets easy. Also, remember it is okay to start with extremely small steps. Take small steps that are guaranteed to give yourself positive reinforcement. I call these points RPE’s – Recent Positive Experience. RPE leads to more thorough risk-reward behavior patterns. Most people do the opposite. Most people want the goal or success and focus solely on the goal without recognizing the steps.

Each new year I witness newcomers to the gym. They usually have found a leverage point of pain — the pain of being too fat or too unhealthy. What they see in the mirror causes pain. The pain becomes unbearable and they want to remove the pain. I think it is an incredible point in their life and I am amazed at their desire. Sadly, often the burning fire of desire quickly evaporates. After a week, they don’t see the results of the hard work, and they give up. We have become an instant gratification society. We want our results and we want them now. Bailouts, drive-thru’s and video on demand are all based upon instant gratification and speed.

Quickly, despair sets in and people stop taking action; it adds to their failure board as further proof that they cannot win. The sad truth is that they were just days away from beginning to see the results they wanted. They quit too soon. Most people do.

Here is the lesson: At first, focus on the action as the result. The reward is in the action. With continued and corrected action, results are guaranteed. If you knew you could play a sport and win, would you do it? Of course you would. Your life and your goals are the exact same thing. You are absolutely guaranteed success before you even start. It is undeniable and cannot be refuted. It is a given.

Start off knowing you cannot lose — unless you quit. Focus on how successful each action is by itself and how each day there are more actions strung together that provides proof of success. Write down what you want and then keep a journal of your actions and success. Read that journal and create a blueprint in your brain that reinforces you, your journey and success. After all, the true reward is the journey to the goal and not the goal itself. Give your subconscious testimonial proof of success for each action. If you are too tired or lack desire to do what you need to do, just look at the journal and take one step. Just one step and then another. Eventually you have given yourself proof that, even on your bad days, you are an unstoppable force.

Divide your big goal into small goals and take one section at a time. Anything is possible this way, and most things seem impossible any other way. Get yourself a reinforcement coach. We all know someone who is a positive influence who knows how to get you going. If you don’t, start looking and asking. Everyone needs a coach.

If you are looking for inspiration, think of something or someone greater than yourself. It is usually harder for us to let someone else down than ourselves. Make a commitment to someone else. Make a commitment to something good that rewards someone else when you reach your goal. Most importantly, make a commitment. What do you have to gain and what do you have to lose? What is most likely? The answer is usually in between. Don’t let your subconscious grow your fear to be so large that it keeps you from taking action. Fear is paying interest on a debt not yet due.

If you are lazy, it’s not a terminal condition. First of all, laziness is a label given as permanent and is nothing more than a state of mind perpetuated into reality. Change your mind to change your reality. Ask yourself, what will I be like in five years, 10 years, 20 years if I keep this laziness up? What will I be as an example? If I were being interviewed at 100 years old about my life, what would I say? Would I be proud?

Here are some tips:

• Start your morning differently • Write, write, and write what you want

• Take one step at a time • Get a coach

• Find the why • Create a new label

• Focus on the good • Give yourself proof of winning

• Ask yourself each day, how did I do?

• Bombard your brain with positive influence – read, listen and watch good stuff

• Give yourself permission to have setbacks. It’s part of the process.

Remember: You are perfect for where you are supposed to be right now, because without you being who you are right now and where you are right now, there is no way you could be who you will be and where you will be in the future. Celebrate the perfection in your imperfection.

To find out how to increase your business bottom line by $250,000 or more, e-mail me at info@tewart.com with the phrase “Business Makeover” in the subject line.

Two things keep people from being successful: laziness and the lack of leverage. The good news is that neither of these are incurable diseases, but they can be if left untreated. Let’s take a look at both and how to get rid of each one.

Leverage creates the tipping point that gets you moving and taking action. Leverage can come from wants, needs, fear, love, hate and other emotional triggers. All leverage points are good if you channel them correctly, even if they start out as a negative emotion, such as anger — at least you are moving and will notice that the longer you keep moving, the more likely you are to replace your negative leverage with something more positive.

Discover and get familiar with the “why.” When the “why” gets clear, the “how” gets easy. Also, remember it is okay to start with extremely small steps. Take small steps that are guaranteed to give yourself positive reinforcement. I call these points RPE’s – Recent Positive Experience. RPE leads to more thorough risk-reward behavior patterns. Most people do the opposite. Most people want the goal or success and focus solely on the goal without recognizing the steps.

Each new year I witness newcomers to the gym. They usually have found a leverage point of pain — the pain of being too fat or too unhealthy. What they see in the mirror causes pain. The pain becomes unbearable and they want to remove the pain. I think it is an incredible point in their life and I am amazed at their desire. Sadly, often the burning fire of desire quickly evaporates. After a week, they don’t see the results of the hard work, and they give up. We have become an instant gratification society. We want our results and we want them now. Bailouts, drive-thru’s and video on demand are all based upon instant gratification and speed.

Quickly, despair sets in and people stop taking action; it adds to their failure board as further proof that they cannot win. The sad truth is that they were just days away from beginning to see the results they wanted. They quit too soon. Most people do.

Here is the lesson: At first, focus on the action as the result. The reward is in the action. With continued and corrected action, results are guaranteed. If you knew you could play a sport and win, would you do it? Of course you would. Your life and your goals are the exact same thing. You are absolutely guaranteed success before you even start. It is undeniable and cannot be refuted. It is a given.

Start off knowing you cannot lose — unless you quit. Focus on how successful each action is by itself and how each day there are more actions strung together that provides proof of success. Write down what you want and then keep a journal of your actions and success. Read that journal and create a blueprint in your brain that reinforces you, your journey and success. After all, the true reward is the journey to the goal and not the goal itself. Give your subconscious testimonial proof of success for each action. If you are too tired or lack desire to do what you need to do, just look at the journal and take one step. Just one step and then another. Eventually you have given yourself proof that, even on your bad days, you are an unstoppable force.

Divide your big goal into small goals and take one section at a time. Anything is possible this way, and most things seem impossible any other way. Get yourself a reinforcement coach. We all know someone who is a positive influence who knows how to get you going. If you don’t, start looking and asking. Everyone needs a coach.

If you are looking for inspiration, think of something or someone greater than yourself. It is usually harder for us to let someone else down than ourselves. Make a commitment to someone else. Make a commitment to something good that rewards someone else when you reach your goal. Most importantly, make a commitment. What do you have to gain and what do you have to lose? What is most likely? The answer is usually in between. Don’t let your subconscious grow your fear to be so large that it keeps you from taking action. Fear is paying interest on a debt not yet due.

If you are lazy, it’s not a terminal condition. First of all, laziness is a label given as permanent and is nothing more than a state of mind perpetuated into reality. Change your mind to change your reality. Ask yourself, what will I be like in five years, 10 years, 20 years if I keep this laziness up? What will I be as an example? If I were being interviewed at 100 years old about my life, what would I say? Would I be proud?

Here are some tips:

• Start your morning differently • Write, write, and write what you want

• Take one step at a time • Get a coach

• Find the why • Create a new label

• Focus on the good • Give yourself proof of winning

• Ask yourself each day, how did I do?

• Bombard your brain with positive influence – read, listen and watch good stuff

• Give yourself permission to have setbacks. It’s part of the process.

Remember: You are perfect for where you are supposed to be right now, because without you being who you are right now and where you are right now, there is no way you could be who you will be and where you will be in the future. Celebrate the perfection in your imperfection.

To find out how to increase your business bottom line by $250,000 or more, e-mail me at info@tewart.com with the phrase “Business Makeover” in the subject line.

Do you hustle? I mean really hustle. As a kid growing up I was a huge fan of the Big Red Machine, Cincinnati Reds baseball team. Pete Rose became my favorite athlete. Forget about Pete Rose as a man and all his personal shortcomings, Pete Rose gave it his all every time he stepped on a baseball field. Pete truly earned his nickname Charlie Hustle.” If you want to be successful, no matter your looks, talent, connections or anything else have going for you, you have to learn to hustle.

Recently I was in New York City on business. Later in the evening after my meetings I went to a famous Jazz Club called the Iridium Jazz Club to listen to T.S. Monk. T.S. Monk is a great Jazz drummer and the son of legendary Jazz musician Thelonious Monk. The music was incredible and I enjoyed the music and atmosphere tremendously. A funny thing happened in the Iridium Jazz Club that night. I learned more about business, marketing, sales and the hustle you must have to succeed than I did in any of the business meetings I attended. Go figure.

While watching the music, I noticed something. A young girl was invited into the club by the club manager, he gave her something to eat and then she took a professional looking camera and starting taking action shots of T.S. Monk and his band. She made me curious, so I asked her what she was doing with her pictures. Here’s is what I she told me and what I learned from her.

This young girl was nineteen years old and a student of Bowling Green University in Ohio. She had saved money and moved to New York for the summer to attend photography school and shoot photos of bands and musicians to build her music photography portfolio. This young girl had moved from a small town to a large city by herself with no connections to pursue her dream.

This young lady had put together unique marketing material that included a catchy brown envelope with rough texture and her name in an unusual font at the bottom. The envelope contained three photos of her work and a business card with a music type photo of herself and contact info. The young lady went to school during the day and at night went to music clubs around New Work City and asked if she could shoot pictures of the performers. While at the clubs she would tell everyone she met what she was doing and of her dream to be a photographer of Rolling Stone Magazine. She let the band know how excited she was to shoot pictures of them and that she would provide them the pictures for free for the chance to build her portfolio. In between her school in the day and the picture taking at night she would call on Rolling Stone Magazine and other music related magazines trying to get an opportunity. I have no doubt this young lady will be successful. As a matter of fact she already is. In creating her dream, she is living her dream. The young lady knows how to hustle.

Towards the end of the evening at the Jazz Club I got to meet TS Monk. Mr. Monk told me that he went from playing Jazz to R&B music and had some hits and success but when he decided to  came back to Jazz music, his dad had already passed and some of the doors that might have been open before to him were no longer available. Having a famous dad had allowed him some opportunity but he had to be able to deliver. T. S Monk talked to Jazz player who was a friend of his dad and asked if he could come out and play with him. The man said sure and told TS to come on out. TS sat there all night and never got to play. TS asked the man about the next weekend and the man said to come on out. Again, he sat there and never got to play. And so this same scene kept occurring for months. TS would go to the nightclub; he would sit and never get invited to play. Finally, one night he was asked to play. After that night he started to get invitations and opportunities started to open up for him. As TS said to me, he had to hustle and keep believing. 

Whether you are Pete Rose, TS Monk, a young music photographer or a salesperson with big dreams, hustle is a common element of success.

Do you hustle? I mean really hustle. As a kid growing up I was a huge fan of the Big Red Machine, Cincinnati Reds baseball team. Pete Rose became my favorite athlete. Forget about Pete Rose as a man and all his personal shortcomings, Pete Rose gave it his all every time he stepped on a baseball field. Pete truly earned his nickname Charlie Hustle.” If you want to be successful, no matter your looks, talent, connections or anything else have going for you, you have to learn to hustle.

Recently I was in New York City on business. Later in the evening after my meetings I went to a famous Jazz Club called the Iridium Jazz Club to listen to T.S. Monk. T.S. Monk is a great Jazz drummer and the son of legendary Jazz musician Thelonious Monk. The music was incredible and I enjoyed the music and atmosphere tremendously. A funny thing happened in the Iridium Jazz Club that night. I learned more about business, marketing, sales and the hustle you must have to succeed than I did in any of the business meetings I attended. Go figure.

While watching the music, I noticed something. A young girl was invited into the club by the club manager, he gave her something to eat and then she took a professional looking camera and starting taking action shots of T.S. Monk and his band. She made me curious, so I asked her what she was doing with her pictures. Here’s is what I she told me and what I learned from her.

This young girl was nineteen years old and a student of Bowling Green University in Ohio. She had saved money and moved to New York for the summer to attend photography school and shoot photos of bands and musicians to build her music photography portfolio. This young girl had moved from a small town to a large city by herself with no connections to pursue her dream.

This young lady had put together unique marketing material that included a catchy brown envelope with rough texture and her name in an unusual font at the bottom. The envelope contained three photos of her work and a business card with a music type photo of herself and contact info. The young lady went to school during the day and at night went to music clubs around New Work City and asked if she could shoot pictures of the performers. While at the clubs she would tell everyone she met what she was doing and of her dream to be a photographer of Rolling Stone Magazine. She let the band know how excited she was to shoot pictures of them and that she would provide them the pictures for free for the chance to build her portfolio. In between her school in the day and the picture taking at night she would call on Rolling Stone Magazine and other music related magazines trying to get an opportunity. I have no doubt this young lady will be successful. As a matter of fact she already is. In creating her dream, she is living her dream. The young lady knows how to hustle.

Towards the end of the evening at the Jazz Club I got to meet TS Monk. Mr. Monk told me that he went from playing Jazz to R&B music and had some hits and success but when he decided to  came back to Jazz music, his dad had already passed and some of the doors that might have been open before to him were no longer available. Having a famous dad had allowed him some opportunity but he had to be able to deliver. T. S Monk talked to Jazz player who was a friend of his dad and asked if he could come out and play with him. The man said sure and told TS to come on out. TS sat there all night and never got to play. TS asked the man about the next weekend and the man said to come on out. Again, he sat there and never got to play. And so this same scene kept occurring for months. TS would go to the nightclub; he would sit and never get invited to play. Finally, one night he was asked to play. After that night he started to get invitations and opportunities started to open up for him. As TS said to me, he had to hustle and keep believing. 

Whether you are Pete Rose, TS Monk, a young music photographer or a salesperson with big dreams, hustle is a common element of success.

Traffic is slow, business is weak, the economy stinks and banks aren’t buying. Repeat this mantra 100 times and see how you feel. I promise you that if you replay this message enough, you will believe it as absolute truth and become depressed and desperate. No matter what circumstances are at present, the choice is simple: You choose to win or choose to lose.

The one single ingredient that is always present in any success story is self-determination. You are always responsible. You are responsible for the good and you are responsible for the bad — it’s just that simple. If you will allow any excuse for failure — no matter how overwhelming the evidence — you have sown the seeds for more excuses to follow.

To succeed in good or bad economies takes the exact same ingredients, but in tougher times it takes more resolve to keep producing the successful ingredients. Your success or failure is based upon your beliefs and philosophy. If you do not have a belief system to support success and a personal philosophy of self-determination, you are subject to all forces that cause failure.

You must create an impenetrable mind — a mind that can sustain all attacks of negativity and philosophies of randomness. The dirty truth is that most people do not believe in self-determination. Most people are excuse makers, and have philosophies of luck and a welfare belief system.

In the United States, which is the richest country in the world, with resources and opportunities that can only be imagined by people in some parts of the world, people make excuses everyday as to how they cannot control their own destiny. It is much easier make excuses than to take control of your own destiny. After all, how can it ever be your fault? The economy is so bad, and you certainly don’t control the economy.

The economy is made up of single micro-economies that create a larger macro-economy. You do control your economy, and it starts between your ears. When you listen to the news and hear that things are not good, do you allow that to be your destiny? After all, if you hear it on the news, it must be true, right?

Let me ask you a few questions. Did you allow your expenses and debt to get too high? Did you allow weak processes and accept less-than-favorable results? Did you create an on-going relationship based marketing program to your existing customers, or did you ignore your most valuable asset — your customers? Did you neglect to install and enforce daily education? Have you massively self-educated yourself on a daily basis to stay abreast of all developments in marketing, technology, social media and marketplace changes? Have you created a marketing plan based upon measurable direct response media that you continually tweak? Do you allow excuses and surround yourself with excuse makers?

Success is based upon certain fundamental truths. Install and adhere religiously to those truths without fail and you will succeed. Although everyone has setbacks, setbacks are not failures and are only temporary signs to adjust and plan accordingly. Always ask yourself, “What’s next?” Keep moving and adjusting. Success and failure are ultimately choice. The choice is yours.

Traffic is slow, business is weak, the economy stinks and banks aren’t buying. Repeat this mantra 100 times and see how you feel. I promise you that if you replay this message enough, you will believe it as absolute truth and become depressed and desperate. No matter what circumstances are at present, the choice is simple: You choose to win or choose to lose.

The one single ingredient that is always present in any success story is self-determination. You are always responsible. You are responsible for the good and you are responsible for the bad — it’s just that simple. If you will allow any excuse for failure — no matter how overwhelming the evidence — you have sown the seeds for more excuses to follow.

To succeed in good or bad economies takes the exact same ingredients, but in tougher times it takes more resolve to keep producing the successful ingredients. Your success or failure is based upon your beliefs and philosophy. If you do not have a belief system to support success and a personal philosophy of self-determination, you are subject to all forces that cause failure.

You must create an impenetrable mind — a mind that can sustain all attacks of negativity and philosophies of randomness. The dirty truth is that most people do not believe in self-determination. Most people are excuse makers, and have philosophies of luck and a welfare belief system.

In the United States, which is the richest country in the world, with resources and opportunities that can only be imagined by people in some parts of the world, people make excuses everyday as to how they cannot control their own destiny. It is much easier make excuses than to take control of your own destiny. After all, how can it ever be your fault? The economy is so bad, and you certainly don’t control the economy.

The economy is made up of single micro-economies that create a larger macro-economy. You do control your economy, and it starts between your ears. When you listen to the news and hear that things are not good, do you allow that to be your destiny? After all, if you hear it on the news, it must be true, right?

Let me ask you a few questions. Did you allow your expenses and debt to get too high? Did you allow weak processes and accept less-than-favorable results? Did you create an on-going relationship based marketing program to your existing customers, or did you ignore your most valuable asset — your customers? Did you neglect to install and enforce daily education? Have you massively self-educated yourself on a daily basis to stay abreast of all developments in marketing, technology, social media and marketplace changes? Have you created a marketing plan based upon measurable direct response media that you continually tweak? Do you allow excuses and surround yourself with excuse makers?

Success is based upon certain fundamental truths. Install and adhere religiously to those truths without fail and you will succeed. Although everyone has setbacks, setbacks are not failures and are only temporary signs to adjust and plan accordingly. Always ask yourself, “What’s next?” Keep moving and adjusting. Success and failure are ultimately choice. The choice is yours.