Usually, we tend to expect young people to learn and take their cues from adults. But a NEW generation of movers and shakers have a lot to teach us about business!
Meet Zion. She just turned five in September. At the beginning of her school year, she participated in a school fund-raiser and sold raffle tickets, for chances to win a car at her local County Fair.
Zion’s mom wrote a script for her, and Zion carried it – going from table to table – reading:
“Would you like to support kids in school?”
If her prospect answered, “Yes!” she continued:
“Your donation of only $25 gets you 3 chances to win this car. A donation of $10 gets you one chance. How much support would you like to give?”
In just one hour, this four-year-old sold 31 tickets and raised over $250 for her school!
In 2014, Fox News featured a story about Katie Francis, a 12-year-old who shattered a 30-year Girl Scout cookie sales record. In just eight weeks, she sold 21,477 boxes of cookies! (The average girl scout sells 150-200 boxes). The next year, she went on to break her own record, selling 22,000 boxes!
Katie moved over $75K worth of product through her hands in an 8-week period two years in a row… all while still being a “regular” 12-year-old girl and full-time student. Imagine if she were making a profit on those sales!
Clearly, Katie didn’t just “get lucky.” When asked about her secret to success, Katie listed three key ingredients: time, commitment and asking everyone she met.
“A lot of people said, ‘No’… so I just smiled, said ‘Thank you’ and moved on. You just can’t take ‘no’ personally.”
And… check out THIS 17-year-old:
These youngsters know a few things about business, many adults DON’T. The proof is in their results! So, what can we learn from Zion, Katie and Havalah?
Many entrepreneurs don’t ask the closing question out of fear. It might be fear of rejection or fear of coming off as pushy or “salesy”… but you can’t be afraid to ask that closing question.
Let go of your fear of hearing “no.” When you place all your hope and all your focus on a single customer, you introduce stress and pressure into your conversation – and surrender control of the sale. Instead of listening and identifying your prospect’s needs, the voice in your head screams, “I have to close this deal. I HAVE to close this deal. I HAVE TO CLOSE THIS DEAL!” Your prospect senses your desperation and runs far and fast AWAY.
Your business isn’t built on a single customer, it’s built on thousands. If you talk to everyone you meet, you only need TINY percent to say yes. Those who love you, will stay with you… and send referrals. Offer people your very best, and if they choose to say no, take your cue from Katie: smile, say thank you and move on!
Too often, small business owners use the economy or tough competition as an excuse for poor sales.
Katie had roughly 1.5 million competitors, selling exactly the same product – at exactly the same time. Yet, she sold 107 TIMES more boxes of cookies than the average Girl Scout.
One gentleman said to Zion, “My granddaughter goes to that school, and I’m supposed to get raffle tickets from her. But I’m going to get one from you, because of your presentation.”
What you focus on, you get good at. All three of these young ladies focused on offering professional, outstanding service. It doesn’t matter what’s happening with the economy, or how many competitors you face in the marketplace, you can make sales and build your business.
Now, ALL of these young sales dynamos had possible excuses. In fact, Havalah even gave one to Dani: “I’m very young.”
“No one will take me seriously”
“I’m just a student.”
“My parents make the money.”
“I’m not making a profit.”
“Everyone else only sells this many.”
“I don’t have time.”
“I don’t have resources.”
And don’t YOU dare give me the “little girls are cute, of course people gave them business” excuse.
There will always be an excuse. You will always find multiple reasons not to pursue success. Find inspiration from these stories and overcome your excuses, just like they did!
[RELATED: Overcome any excuse you have about starting or running a business, right here.]
When I was just starting out in business, I asked someone successful in my field to teach me how he did it. He told me I needed to follow his instructions – without any excuses – or he wouldn’t work with me.
This one is CRITICAL, my friend. Follow directions! Follow the strategies other people have tested and repeatedly proven. Look for people who have what you want, and learn from them.
These young ladies, mentioned above, followed simple instructions. Zion’s mom wrote her a script straight from these Script Books. I started out in the interpersonal marketing business, and made my first million using scripts.
Katie probably had a script or presentation for her cookie sales, as well. Havalah attended a live First Steps To Success training seminar and applied the strategies she learned to launch her business and create astounding success.
We can all take a cue from these young ladies, who were hungry to learn and not too proud to take “no” for an answer. They remained humble, teachable and persistent as they made sales!
Building your business is only rocket science if you make it rocket science. The results from these kids prove, in reality, business is pretty basic.
Think back to your first job. What’s the first thing you ever did to earn your own money? Maybe it was babysitting, or mowing lawns, or delivering papers, maybe even running the tried-and-true lemonade stand.
You found a need – parents who wanted a night out, busy neighbors with overgrown lawns, thirsty passersby on a hot summer day – and you filled it!
Honestly, you don’t even have to think too hard about what product or service to offer. Many entrepreneurs follow a creative passion, or incorporate other ideals that are important to them – naturally-sourced products, health consciousness, spiritual beliefs or philanthropy – into the foundation of their business as well.
And while building a business around those things is great, maybe YOU don’t feel like you have any of those. Despite what you may have heard in the past, passion for your product is NOT a requirement for success. Instead, focus on needs in your community, then build a business around that.
Now think back even further to the very first time someone asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” What was your answer? Maybe you always knew you wanted to become a business owner, but possibly you answered something like:
Maybe it was even sillier, like a dinosaur. Whatever your dream, you honestly believed it could become your reality! Your dreams may have changed… but what about your enthusiasm?
The world and our society has a way of sowing seeds of rejection and doubt into us. Over time, we allow worry, fear, pain from our past, “practicality” and acceptance of our “lot in life” to rob us of that childhood enthusiasm.
These kids are among a generation of entrepreneurial youngsters with so much spirit! I see kids like them at our First Steps To Success events all the time. And these kids built their businesses and paid their own way to get our events!
I hope you find their stories as inspiring as I do. USE their enthusiasm, their vision, their willingness to dream big and go after success as a catalyst to rejuvenate your spirit. Recapture the attitude you CAN do anything, if you put your mind to it.
You were built for success. If a four-year-old can do it, so can you! So, if you want to continue taking cues from these girls, and apply proven strategies to build your business, check out this value-packed “Unlimited Success Bundle.”
And if you want the full story of how Dani went from a broke, homeless cocktail waitress to multi-millionaire, get a free copy of “First Steps To Wealth” delivered straight to your Inbox TODAY.
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We all have negative influences in our lives…but when you focus on negative people and things, you actually attract MORE negativity into your life. So choose to focus on the POSITIVE things!
Too often, people pick-up a skill and then assume they’ve mastered it – and when they hit a wall, just give-up. But if YOU quit anything because you hit a wall, GO BACK…with a new way past your OWN personal “wall!”
Your success – and the success of your team – starts with YOU, so commit 100% to your team and clients…truly go “all in.” Raise the bar for your team to create win-win situations to strengthen your team…and grow your finances, TOO!