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We are all
salesmen, aren't we?
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Some time ago, I received the following E-mail from a friend, who had mistaken my motives in life.
"Jim, you never stop selling, do you? Do all of your friends have to be a part of that?
Do you ever just have a conversation with someone without talking about selling or the Internet? Is this your only comfort level? Relax a little bit....I would feel better."
They had accessed my WIZ answering machine which I leave on the computer when I am not here. It keeps me from getting signed off, and I can place any short message on it that I wish.
My response to this person was this.
You would not believe the number of people who like to look at the stuff I put out. If you will read my home page, Jesus Loves Me This I Know, which you can access with a sidebar link, it clearly states that I can be friends without business involvement. I am a proactive person, and tell folks what I am doing all the time. I derived this from a verse in the Bible. "In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good."
If you think about it, all of us are salesmen with our lives. My life is one of real estate sales, internet business and selling my drywall business to builders, and then when I have captured a builder, I have to sell him on the fact that my service is the best thing for him, and of course I have to back that up with action. That is what I have been doing the last few days, in Williamsburg at two homes I have been working on.
Then there is the aspect of selling ourselves to our families and friends. In an illustration called "Hierarchy of Need" visualize if you would a triangle. Separate the triangle with five even lines through the triangle. At the bottom of the triangle the greatest need of man is Safety. The second level is Survival. Next on the third level is Acceptance, and at the fourth level of the triangle is Contribution, and the top level in the needs of people is Fulfillment.
I might add that most folks whom I am acquainted with are stuck on the middle level of acceptance. Most of us in America have no worry about our Safety and Survival levels. But then we move on from an early age to the third level. Unfortunately, most never progress beyond that. Hence Contribution gives way to the struggle to stay alive, and feed the family and provide for our ever increasing needs. Many of us have taken on too many financial burdens of big houses, cars, etc., and struggle all our lives to pay for them. Hence the term, "keeping up with the Jone's" has entered our vocabulary. That my friends is nothing but pure selling. Salesmanship to try and convince the world that I am something else.
Many years ago, I placed a small sign above my desk. It was a small card with an image of the Lone Ranger's mask on it. The inion below it stated. "What are you in real life?" I was reminded to be real with people. Tell it like it is.
When I attend my church service and meet someone I have not seen for a while, the usual greeting is, "How are you?" Sometimes I respond with, "Do you really want to know?" Our usual reply is "Just fine", when sometimes we are going through so much turmoil or heartache in our lives, we just want to dump on someone. Many folks do not have anyone they can be open and honest with in the problems of life. Sharing pain is not a macho thing for most men, but women seem to be more open than men are. We just try and sell ourselves as being O.K. Authenticity demands that we change this if we want to grow beyond the acceptance area of our lives and move on. When I open up and take off the Lone Ranger mask, I am amazed at the strengthening of the relationship that takes place between the person to whom I opened up my life. It is enhanced and it usually moves to a new level of honesty with that person. It also gives them the right to open up and be honest with you. Many times they are screaming inside for someone to talk with about turmoil in their lives.
Many years ago I entered a Sunday School class room with my wife, and all the folks in the class were seated in a circle. One man commented to me that they had missed my wife and myself at the Sunday School Picnic the day before. Folks were chatting among themselves before the class began, and I will never forget the reaction, as I stated to the man "Yep, my wife and I were going to come, but we got in a big argument right before the picnic, and didn't get it settled in time to come!" Well, my poor wife crawled under her chair, and all conversation in the room stopped as all looked straight at me. We sat down, and I gazed across the room at a good friend and I asked him, "Charlie, why are you so shocked? Don't you ever argue with your wife?" He hung his head and did not answer. I then turned to his wife with a similar question? She did not answer. But I got a real dirty look. I then went around the room and addressed them all. I asked several folks the same question, and one person was brave enough to admit that they had conflict in their home from time to time. Well an amazing thing happened that Sunday morning. That class entered into a new and better era of openness and honesty. We spent the entire class period talking about husband-wife relationships, and how to resolve conflict in our lives. The "called for lesson" for that morning never got taught, but I doubt anyone who was present will ever forget that day.
Contribution is building things into folks lives, to help them progress to the top level, which is Fulfillment.
There are only two things that will do this. Man tries to fill his life with a variety of things. Cars, Homes, Gardens, Sex, Partying, etc., you can fill in the rest. But the Bible is very clear and says the "eye of man is never full".
As I look at the Bible, I see that only two things that last forever. The Word of God and the Souls of people. If I invest my life in anything else, it does not give satisfaction and fulfillment. Real fulfillment in my life is knowing that you have built some of these principles into the live of folks, who are in turn passing them on to others. Many of you have heard the words to the song, "It only takes a spark to get a fire going." The song continues. "And soon all those around will warm up to it's glowing" and continuing, "That's how it is with God's love, once you've experienced it." I hope you have experienced that in your life. If not, please call me and let's talk about it. Email me for my phone number.
When I look at 1 Corinthians 3, I see that we can build any thing we want on our foundation. Wood, hay or stubble or gold, silver, or precious stones. The wood, hay and stubble will be burned up one day, and the other things will endure. I have built a lot of stubble in my life, hence some of the problems I have created by my own self indulgence and stupidity have caused a lot of trouble and heartache in my life. One of Billy Graham's oft quoted verses, says "Be sure your sin will find you out". And another states you "reap what you sow".
God can forgive the sin, but does not promise to erase the consequences. We have to live with them. Hence, some of my problems that I have in my marriage and relationship with my children, and friends and business associates, are not other folks fault, but my fault. I stand guilty.
But there I go selling again. I do not sell Jim Young as a lily white saint, but as a sinner saved by the grace of God, and learning as I go.
We (you and I) are in a selling stage now. I do not want you in my "programs" unless you see that information contained in them is helpful to you. Other folks who know me well, can glean information that I have learned, and turn it into instant profit and success in their lives. You probably never heard of a plan to pay off a home mortgage in five to seven years, without joining a program or getting a second job, but using the resources that you presently have available. But it works for me, and I have saved over one million dollars doing just that.
So sell I must, because I know that mortgage companies, banks, credit card companies are selling you their lies, and I know the truth. Most folks do not even realized that their 6.5% loan on their home cost them 80% or more last month. It is right before their eyes. For instance---House Payment $1000.00. Amount applied to principle------$120.00, in the first payment on the loan. So we paid those crooks called a mortgage company 880 bucks to use their 120 bucks last month. Figure that percentage. Divide the 120 bucks by the 1000 and come up with 88% for your mortgage that month. Look at your amortization schedule. Depending on your interest rate, you will pay on your 30 year loan for over 20 years before you pay more on principle than interest. At that time, your interest rate is effectively 50%. What a lie we have been told. And most folks never live in a home 30 years, but move every 5-7 years, and start the bleeding process all over again. I can tell you how to pay off your home, and we have a free program to do that. Won't you take advantage of that?
"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you
free." John 8:32
Jim Young
I do not have to sell John 3:16, it is free. Please click on sidebar link for John 3:16.
