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Managing Change, Part 2
May 18, 2005
So why did I choose
commissioned sales? Why did I choose the company I chose? What were my
goals? And what did I learn?
Commissioned sales provides the opportunity to be paid on performance,
not on position. It provides the opportunity for unlimited potential
income. It provides the opportunity to work for yourself without
working by yourself.
More specifically, for me commissioned sales provided the opportunity
to tap into a system that worked and that I could learn from. One of
the missing elements in my own businesses was an effective marketing
program. My approach to marketing was simply not working, so I made the
switch to commissioned sales to experiment there within a functioning
marketing system.
I had been working on my endeavors for over a year and a half at that
point, and my wife's patience was growing thin. She had been so
helpful, so patient, so encouraging, but I was struggling to bring in
the necessary income. She was beginning to wonder if I was just another
has-been. She still loved me dearly, mind you, but she was beginning to
think she might have to live the rest of her life scraping by.
Now, I know what you're thinking: That's no way to treat a lady. I
agree. So I decided to make a change. It was a difficult change—very
difficult indeed. In order to get started, I had to pay to take an
insurance training course, to take the state insurance exam, and to get
appointed with the company. That rang up to a bill in the neighborhood
of $500. Remember that I hadn't made anything with my new company yet,
and I hadn't been making a whole lot with my previous work, so paying
out $500 was not an obvious—or immediate—solution to our financial woes.
So I borrowed money—from friends and relatives—in order to pay the
bills. When I was finally appointed with the company, after taking an
insurance training course, passing the state insurance exam, and
completing my company training course, I decided to pour my heart into
it. I was told that I ought to be able to make $1,000 per week and work
20 hours per week—after just six months of experience. For my family,
$1,000 per week is more than enough. So I pursued that goal, with the
hope that after six months or so I would be able to use some of my
spare time to develop my other business.
Well, it didn't work out that way, for various reasons. I spent months
grinding it out, to little or no avail. Finally, I realized that
selling health insurance was not for me. But I didn't quit right away.
I chose to take on that opportunity for a reason. I told my wife one
evening that I was ready to leave, but that I was doing that work
because I was supposed to learn something. And I didn't feel that I had
learned it yet. I said that I couldn't leave until I had. Whether it
took 3 days, 3 weeks, or 3 months, I couldn't leave until I learned
what I had come to learn.
Within a few days, I learned it. It's a valuable lesson that many
before me have learned. Many of the best motivational and personal
development speakers and writers proclaim its importance. And it's a
lesson I didn't think I needed to learn, because I already knew it. I
already knew and had applied it over and over and over. Yet here I was,
having to learn it again. What was that all-important lesson? Check
back again next week, when I'll reveal this oh-so-valuable—indeed,
priceless—bit of wisdom.
With many blessings and
wishes for successful positive change,
Courtney Huntington
Founder
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