From Chapter 1 of The Savvy Guide To Making More Money
Finding your motivation and self-belief: why are you doing this?
One balmy evening in Malta, I was having dinner with a really good friend who was preparing for a job interview the next week. As we were enjoying local delicacies and listening to the waves in Spinola Bay, she shared with me how this interview was the step-up in her career that she had been waiting for - a golden opportunity. I was pretending to be the interviewer, and giving feedback on her answers, and encouraging her to believe in herself and to up the ante. However, my usually calm friend reacted angrily to my comments and eventually spat out, 'What would you know anyway - when did you ever go for an interview?'
Of course it was just a bad case of the nerves and our friendship didn't suffer, but her reaction got me thinking. Admittedly, I have never gone through the rigours of a HR psychometric test or a five-person panel interview in which I have to elaborate on my CV with a view to securing a full-time, wage-paying job in the traditional sense. However, every single time I have pitched a client, applied for funding, met a prospect for coffee, I have been 'interviewed for a job'.
We tend to think being self-employed and being employed are two completely different things: as if people who run a business, or who are financially self-sufficient, have a totally different set of skills, in comparison with a person who works in an office or on a building site or in a classroom or a hospital. The things they do might technically be very different, but at some point both groups have somehow successfully persuaded someone to buy from them.
Business people write brochures and post sales copy on a website, while employees-to-be write a CV. Business people ask for 'testimonials', while employees-to-be ask for references. Business people anticipate objections that relate to price when they hear a sales pitch, while employees-to-be develop their own answers to sticky questions like 'What is your greatest weakness?'
The employee has just one customer (this is actually called a 'monopsony' in economics), and they are looking for a much larger sum of money than the business person, who is pitching for a smaller amount but from a larger number of people. The business person has to have a diversified portfolio of incomes. So if you have ever worked a day in your life and got paid for it, you've demonstrated the ability to make money. We just need to refine and optimize the process until it is scaled to the level that you want to reach.
That night in Malta, my friend said to me, 'I could never do what you do.'
What exactly did she think was so difficult?
'Trying to sell to people all the time and get money from them and always keeping an eye on the competition.'
'Isn't that the same as your applying for this job, getting paid and working your way up, so that you can get a promotion in the future?' I said.
So if you think that you could never do what I do, I have to tell you: you're already doing it every day. The only difference is that I have had to ask for the sale multiple times, and not just once every ten years or so. As a result I have more practice, and I have had to develop and refine a system that will increase my chance of making the sale. This is what I would like to share in this book. But, first, let's address some legitimate doubts you might have.