Nearly 30 years ago in Sydney Australia, I began my sales journey. I had some early successes but about 18 months into running my first sales office I lost all my investment in my new office in Camperdown. This was a big hit for me and I was just on the brink of throwing in the towel and heading back to the states with my tail between my legs.
I felt like quitting many times but this time was different. This hit was much more personally devastating as I had spent all my hard earned capital on creating my “Dream office” on the 4th floor of an old warehouse building. I had spent a fortune to sand and polish 4000 square feet of an old wooden floor. My cool office was immaculate. I had an old timey elevator with an open front and back that I could send down to meet the team in the morning and potential recruits in the afternoon. It was large enough to fit a small car. (Holden Torana for my Aussie readers) This place was awesome I was really proud.
Then it happened, the tenants complained about all the noise and within months I got kicked out and had to relocate because of a clause in the lease about disturbing the other tenants.
At the time, I didn’t feel I could talk to anyone about my feelings as I was the leader of my crew and as a new successful franchisee I was expected to be positive at all times.
I can remember escaping my office to the McDonalds across the street and as I left the office I surprisingly grabbed my managers/owner’s manual that was written by the founder of the company. As I sat alone in my despair contemplating giving up and all the consequences that I would need to face in doing so, I started reading the “owner’s manual” I had in my hands and became inspired by the words written by our self-made millionaire founder. His words re-ignited my flame and got me back on track to deal with my adversity and not let a little thing like losing all my money and beautiful office get me down. I was moved to think longer term and much bigger than I had been thinking up to this moment.
This is one of the reasons I felt compelled to write my own book nearly 30 years later.
The power of written words affected me deeply in a different way than spoken words. I knew there were probably thousands of young sales guys and gals out there who might be feeling compelled to throw in the towel and possibly their careers away as I had felt compelled to do many years ago.
I felt like my words, my experiences and my story might pull them through their doubt and give them that extra encouragement to carry on and conquer their demons.
You can’t imagine how grateful I am for those that have taken the time to read my story and let me know that it has resonated with them and helped them to take their careers to the next level.
“The Making” is a tribute to all of those salespeople out there making calls and learning lessons. I’m quite positive that my story might resonate with sales people that are out there struggling to become successful and in need of some sort of guide to help them reach their next level.
Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to meet up one day and you can share your amazing success story with me.
All the Best,
Dom Kotarski
