| Being an entrepreneur and running your own business | | | | salesperson also needs to have the finesse and |
| is an intrinsically risky endeavor. If an expensive | | | | people skills to win back lost customers, negotiate the |
| marketing campaign falls flat or a major client signs on | | | | best deal, ask for and get sales referrals, inspire |
| with the competition, you might find yourself scrambling | | | | teamwork, and have the energy and optimism to |
| to make up for the loss. A positive state of mind not | | | | overcome setbacks and keep moving forward in the |
| only helps you be creative, resourceful, and energized, | | | | face of temporary failure. Without a positive mental |
| but it also enhances your ability to anticipate, adapt, | | | | attitude, none of that is going to happen. |
| and regroup. Successful sales and marketing requires | | | | Cultivating a positive attitude also feeds the creativity |
| persistence, continuous improvement, and the | | | | and optimism necessary for nearly every other aspect |
| expectation of a positive outcome. If one | | | | of marketing ranging from sending out press releases |
| doesn’t approach every aspect of marketing | | | | and sales letters to placing ads or launching a web site. |
| with enthusiasm, creativity, and a positive mental | | | | If you don’t believe it’s going to work, |
| attitude, then it’s like embarking on schooner | | | | either you’re not going to try at allor your |
| race with no wind in your sails. You’ll have no | | | | efforts will be weakened and half-hearted. In both |
| momentum or direction, and the competition is | | | | cases, you’re doomed to failure before you |
| guaranteed to overtake you. | | | | even get out of the starting gate. |
| Attitude has an insidious way of infiltrating everything | | | | On the other hand, if you make up your mind to be an |
| we do; and it can lift us up to great heights or pull us | | | | eternal optimist’, you’ll be willing to |
| down to the depths of failure. It can energize us to do | | | | take calculated risks and put your best foot forward. |
| and say all the right things at the right time, or it can | | | | Getting there may involve an integrated program of |
| undermine our motivation and cause us to sabotage | | | | reading motivational books, listening to |
| our own best laid plans. | | | | self-improvement CDs, making a concerted effort to |
| The bottom line is this: either we own our attitude or | | | | identify and avoid (or filter out) a lot of the negativity in |
| our attitude owns us. Every now and then, it’s | | | | your environment, and establishing daily habits that will |
| necessary to make a conscious decision to take | | | | tend to attract beneficial people and circumstances |
| charge of our thoughts, attitudes, and habits. An | | | | into your life. |
| unfocused effort, whether it involves marketing or any | | | | Being an entrepreneur and running your own business |
| other aspect of business, is sure to produce inferior | | | | is an intrinsically risky endeavor. If an expensive |
| results. | | | | marketing campaign falls flat or a major client signs on |
| Allowing negative thoughts to infect your mind creates | | | | with the competition, you might find yourself scrambling |
| a cascading effect of self-defeating behavior. In direct | | | | to make up for the loss. A positive state of mind not |
| sales, one needs to have a winning attitude and a | | | | only helps you be creative, resourceful, and energized, |
| magnetic personality to influence and persuade | | | | but it also enhances your ability to anticipate, adapt, |
| prospects to become customers. That’s only | | | | and regroup. |
| the tip of the iceberg, though, because a successful | | | | |