很多人认为自己很努力工作,我会说:“你很努力吗?可是你并没有讲话讲到嘴巴流血呀。”
我天生乐观,记得小时候跟别人打架,打到上下排牙齿都掉了,妈妈看到我的模样,心疼地哭了起来,可是我依旧很快乐。妈妈不解地问我为什么?我说:“牙齿都掉了,我从今以后就不用刷牙了。”
从事行销业,我们没有摆臭脸的资格,每天都要笑脸迎人。微笑是会传染的,只要你带着微笑,别人也会对你微笑,气氛就会跟着改变,所以人要尽可能地微笑,把欢乐传给别人。
我的第一份工作是在福特汽车当会计,工作起来驾轻就熟,可是我做得并不快乐。我宁可多绕点远路,也不要在一个我不喜欢的地方工作一辈子。亲友听说我离职了,都觉得很不可思议,但我认为如果不能找到适才适性的工作,这辈子绝对不会快乐。
科学家会发明东西,艺人会表演唱歌,那是他们的专长,那我的专长是什么?我左思右想,发现我的专长就是福特汽车最不喜欢我的地方——我很爱讲话。
老板常瞪着我说:“Leon,我是雇你来工作,不是来讲话的。你可不可以不要讲话,不要影响别人上班?”
当面试新工作时,我告诉每个老板我喜欢讲话,他们一听都笑了。再问我除了讲话还有没有其他要求?I say I don't like complicated administrative work, so I hope there's less of it, so I can talk from morning till night, and have the best benefits. Every boss who heard this laughed out loud.
Although I never found a job that fit me perfectly until my mouth was bleeding from talking too much, I always refused to compromise until my pocket was empty with only 27 dollars left.
My friends teased me saying: "You shouldn't eat McDonald's every day; if you do, your money will run out quickly." So I bought a big bag of green beans and boiled them all up for three or four weeks straight.
My business card said "Salesman," but in reality, my role was more like an entertainer - making phone calls nonstop. The company paid me by the hour to call potential clients and pitch our products over the phone. My goal was to make as many sales as possible within a short time frame.
The company owner would often ask how many calls he should expect each day. He wanted to know how much revenue we could generate through these calls alone. He believed that if we made enough sales on the phone, he could cut down on other expenses such as advertising and marketing campaigns.
But despite all these efforts, people still didn’t take us seriously because they thought our product wasn’t worth buying at first glance. They had no idea what they were missing out on!