If you can't trust in yourself, you can't earn their trust

Following up on my article last week on how to make more money outside of your savings, I received an influx of questions, mostly seeking insights on excelling in sales, to expand on your income. My response is: I don't.? I’m sorry. But I have some experiences and lessons I have learned along the way that I can share.

Being a sales means, your job is to push a product for revenue. It is the most direct, simplest, and pure way of making money. The problem is that if it is not your business, your product, your idea...it is hard to push it.

Trust me, I was there.

When I was just starting out my career, I unexpectedly found myself in sales, after spending for three whole years with machines and equipment. I wasn’t really planning for that, I just wanted to be able to talk to people instead of a…control panel.? With my background in Engineering, I started selling the machines I helped build. I would spend days, weeks and months calibrating the equipment in the summer heat of the factory before presenting it for sale. When I talked to my customers, they could feel my passion, my heart, and my confidence in what I would recommend.? This confidence in turn facilitated the trust between us. Amid a financial crash and a room in reception, I was pushing multi-million-dollar contracts down the pipeline factory. Customers would joke about having to burn down the existing machines (and claim insurance) so they can make space for my machines!? Business was good.

Then I went into finance for better pay.? The shift led to a very brief success, but the detachment from my expertise and passion made me lose steam.? Eventually, the depression issue I have been kicking down the road caught up with me.? I ended my chapter of life in 2016.

I eventually got better.? After a long period of recovery and exploration, I tried my hands on many different jobs.? I was a different person, with a different identity.? I have lost all my friends and family, and had to begin again from scratch.

I did eventually find my passion again with The Genius Workshop(Whampoa).? My boss found me, and through him, I was able to serve the community that I want to believe in.? What we did, and what I did, they aligned perfectly.? I would wake up every day thinking about Legos, and I would finish work every day still thinking about our Legos.? My heat, my passion, was what drove me those days, and I could burn forever because I was staying true to myself.

In the end, sales thrive on passion and trust.? We are all surrounded by products every day, but what people crave…are ideas.? And you can’t sell an idea that you don’t believe in!

What’s your idea today?