When it comes to selling your ass off, nothing succeeds like success. This is true in many things. Once you get a taste of winning, your appetite will grow. So, I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving and shoved as much food down your pie hole as is humanly possible because today is November 28th and I want to encourage you to take the 34 day challenge.
I love this holiday. (Even if it does mark the spot in history where we completely dicked over the Native American Indians). Thanksgiving is more than turkey, stuffing and sweet potato pie…it’s an opportunity for all of us to do a self check.
I want to encourage you to become more aggressive. It’s not what you think, let me finish…I want you to become a more aggressive listener. Believe me, this will change your life. Not just in selling but with your friends, spouse, kids…the whole enchilada.
If you’re going to consistently sell your ass off you’ll need to overcome your share of obstacles and do some positive reframing. One of my favorite success stories on this subject is Tom Maypoffer. Tom was a mediocre wrestler at Glen Ridge High School starting in his freshman year and improving a little in his sophomore and junior years. In his senior year he injured himself playing football and couldn’t go out for wrestling team.
It was more than 20 years ago when I first heard that crazy southern drawl of Zig Ziglar. A friend gave me a set of 6 tapes (yes cassette tapes) to listen to and once I got past the accent I discovered that he knew a thing or two about a thing or two when it came to selling.
It sounds a bit cliche but when it comes to selling the story of the turtle and the hare makes for the perfect analogy. A year of Selling your ass off is a lot like running a marathon race. Just like the fabled story the winner is the one that consistently keeps moving towards the goal, slow and steady wins the race. Not a group of sprints followed by never ending detours and distractions. SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE.
I love a good acronym don’t you? Before we get into what B.H.A.G’s are we’d like to give a shout out to all of the fine folks we met the A.F.P’s 33rd conference on Philanthropy (Association of Fundraising Professionals). There were hundreds of different organizations that served the community in different ways, everything from no kill animal shelters, providing services for those living with A.I.D.S, counseling for at risk youths, protecting the environment, performing arts and the list goes on and on. The point is that we salute all of you and the valuable work you’re doing to make the world a better place.
When it comes to selling your ass off, a lot can be learned from Sly Stallone.
The Sylvester Stallone story begins
Stallone attended school in suburban Philadelphia where he first started acting. He then spent two years instructing at the American college of Switzerland in Geneva. When he arrived back in the United States he became a drama major at the University of Miami where he also began to write.
He left college before graduation and moved to New York to pursue his acting career. He auditioned for almost every casting agent in town with no success. He decided to turn more towards writing and wrote many screenplays while waiting for his acting career to blossom.
In 1974 he got a break as one of the leads in “The Lords of Flatbush”. He also received his first writing credit for additional dialogue on this film. Despite this small break he struggled to build momentum. He kept auditioning with one rejection after the next. He started writing more screenplays and received similar rejection.
Stallone had run out of money and was living in a desperate situation. He could barely even feed his family. Then one day he was walking through the streets of New York and he wandered into the library to keep warm. This became a regular habit for him during the colder months.
During his time at the library he began reading books from writers such as Tolstoy and Edgar Allan Poe. This gave him a bit of an extra edge in his writing endeavors and so he pursued this more and more.
By this stage he was desperate to get work but he wouldn’t take an average job, he knew his outcome, he wanted to be an actor and that was it. He resorted to many regrettable things like hocking his wife’s jewelry. I mean seriously, there are some things you should never do, you could get killed for something like that ha ha.
The Sylvester Stallone story continues…
One day Stallone was sitting at home watching a fight between Weppner and Ali. Weppner was getting absolutely slaughtered but kept holding his ground and coming back for more. This underdog was really fighting for it despite the slim chance he would even get close to winning.
This inspired Stallone to begin writing based on his inspiration from this fighter. He wrote for over 24 hours straight and after this time he had written the entire script to Rocky.
He began trying to sell the screenplay to many producers with enormous numbers of rejections. This went on for months. He was so poor by this time that he decided he had to sell his best friend, his dog. Stallone waited outside of a local liquor store asking people if they would buy his dog. Eventually someone bought the dog for around $50. He was devastated to have to do this.
He kept pursuing this story that he had written. Eventually someone loved it and they agreed to do the movie. He was wrapped and told them that he wanted to play the part of Rocky. They declined and told him he was a writer not an actor. Stallone disagreed and told them he was an actor. He declined there offer of over $100 000 despite his current poverty.
A couple of weeks later they contacted him with an even higher offer and Stallone still insisted that he play Rocky. The once again declined. Was he nuts? I mean the man was poor, he could barely even eat. The offer kept rising just so he would sell them the film without playing the part. The price eventually got to around $400 000 and still he declined. He was certain that he was actor and that was it, there was no compromise.
Eventually they offered Stallone a measly $25000 so they weren’t throwing their money away by having him as the lead role. He accepted. Then the first thing he did was go back to the liquor store to buy back his dog.
He waited 3 days for the guy to come by and finally there he was with his dog. He offered the guy $150 to buy back the dog, the man declined. The offer kept rising, but again, Stallone knew his outcome and kept pursuing his goal. It ended up costing him $15,000 and a part in the movie to buy back his dog. The guy and the dog are in Rocky.
Of course we all know what happened with the Rocky movie. It won Academy Award for best picture in 1976. At the awards ceremony he read out all the rejection slips from those who said the film would be sappy, predictable and a film that no one would want to watch.
How’s that for a story of triumph? It shows that you have all the resources you need to overcome any obstacle and achieve any aim you have in life, no matter what your age, background, colour or gender is.
True persistence pays off every time in every circumstance. Persistence will fight off failure faster than skill or luck ever could. Just ask Sylvester Stallone, he persisted and knew his outcome and look where he is today, he is living his dream.
Nick Vujicic is one of those people that are out there doing more with less. The fact that he was born with no arms and no legs is where his story begins, but is hardly the most interesting or unique thing about him. More than 4 million views on you tube is no accident. The courageous way that he lives his life playing full out and helping others puts most of us to shame.
I know I’ve got it ass backwards. You’re more comfortable with when push comes to shove. But, here’s my question. Why the fuck does Push always have to come to Shove? Just once I’d like it if Shove would get off its lazy fucking ass and head on over in the direction of Push. I mean why does Push always have to be Shove’s bitch? If I were Push I tell Shove to fuck off, enough is enough. How about meeting Push in the middle or alternating once in a while. Isn’t it time for Push to finally enjoy a home game?
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