At the start of 2007 I was teaching English in Japan. I really was enjoying my time in Japan and the work was OK but nothing too exciting. I would teach at secondary schools in the day time and then work at companies in the evening time. I would also work on the weekends as well. I would work all day on Saturdays and sometimes on Sundays.
One day I decided that I needed to do something else although I wasn't sure what that was. I knew that my friend was doing something but I wasn't 100% sure what that was and I made some enquires. It turned out he was working for an international financial planning company. I was told what he did, and I didn't really understand but I decided to give it a try anyway.
As it turned out, I didn't do a very good job. I had no idea what I was doing and in the end I didn't attain the required result and left the company to come back to New Zealand.
I was thinking the other day if I was to be time traveled back to 2007 and was starting again and knowing what I know now what would I do differently as in all honesty I only gave it a half assed effort, which is what I do with everything actually.
Lets imagine that it is 2007, what would I do differently? Here are ten things:
1. I would have had a good think about it. I would have worked through my thought processes in a systematic way and tried to come up with reasons why I should change my job. What characteristics I have that make me a good teacher and what characteristics I have that make me a good financial planner. I would also come up with a list of at least 20 ideas about why I want to change and then make the decision from there.
2. I would do some research to what exactly is a financial planner. Do you know that when I changed careers I had no idea what I was going to be doing and went in blind. Admittedly that is OK in that industry but it didn't do my confidence any good. For the first two years I had no idea what anyone was talking about. In other words I would do my homework.
3. Lets say for argument's sake that I have decided to change careers and have entered the company as a financial planner. I would be prepared. At the very least, up to 2 weeks before starting my job I would have been collecting names of prospective clients. I would be collecting their contact details and be prepared for day one. From memory I went in with nothing and stuffed around all day. Not a great start and it only got worse.
4. I would cold call. I think that it is a legitimate part of the salesman's prospecting arsenal. I believe at the very least, doing it would give me confidence for everyday life and it would allow me to experience what every great salesman experiences and what we should be experiencing in everyday life, that is rejection. I remember listening to an Anthony Robbins recording in which is said the key to success is massive rejection. We as human beings try to do everything to avoid being rejected when in fact we should be embracing it. Counterintuitive I know, but that is the way it is.
5. I would organise my time better. I am absolutely crap at this, even now. I know that if I just sit back for five minutes and think about what I am doing then I know that I will get a great deal more done, rather than do something, get bored with it, try something else, the do a half assed job with that and then try something else. It is just a never-ending circle of nothingness that accomplishes not much.
6. As I said before I would organise my time better. This means organising my days, weeks, months. I never did have a viable plan, a business plan if you will and everyday I was literally flying by the seat of my pants. I must admit though, that coming up with these plans are all very well, it is working those plans that I bet most people have difficulty with. Having the discipline to follow them and change them if needed is the hard bit.
7. I certainly would be more creative with my networking. As you can imagine in a big city like Tokyo, there are events going on most days and nights. I tended to attend things that were very well known throughout the expatriate community and so this would attract, of course, all sorts of sales people and you would meet people who had their guard up from "hello." Of course this could have been in my head.
8. To continue on in the theme of been in my head, the internet had proliferated a whole bunch of new industries and one of those is the PUA industry. For those of you who don't know what I am talking about, this is the community of guys ( and a few women) who sell a whole bunch of products and books about seducing women. One of their big themes is the idea of 'inner game.' This is when you are approaching a woman your inner mind is telling you that you shouldn't do it, you will get rejected etc. So, in other words your confidence is at low. I think if I was to go back to the financial planning industry I would work on my confidence and my own self esteem as well as my thinking of networking. Sometimes I was not comfortable networking as I felt cringy and I didn't know what I was talking about half the time.
9. On that note I would do a lot more reading of newspapers, magazines and online articles. Try to get a thorough understanding of the marketplace. I would also listen to the webcasts on a regular basis. I studied a couple of papers at Massey University during my working time and I did these as you would expect half assed. I think that I would continue studying these papers as it is a good thing to have on your business card as it gives you credibility and extra knowledge is not a bad thing. In fact it is an asset in any field.
10. This kind of job is a lifestyle. You should be living it 24 hours a day. I believe that the best salespeople, whether they be financial planners or real estate agents etc are living their jobs 24 hours a day. By that I don't mean that they are at their desks until 5am, have one hours sleep and go back by 7am, I mean they are fully engaged. When they are at work they are working. They are doing everything to get the sale. They are in the present. This is something that I have heard a great deal recently. Finally I would give it 100% effort. No half assed anything. Blair as a half-assed being needs to be assigned to the garbage bin.
I had a great opportunity to make something of myself and to a certain extent the whole experience wasn't wasted but I could have done a lot better. Now I have to decide whether I want to try it again. If I do I will be going through the above ten points thoroughly this time trying to improve on past performances.
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