I will do whatever it takes!

I have been around the speaking/training/consulting business for almost 20 years due to my dad's investment in the industry. He has been a full-time speaker and consultant for about 18 years now and the one thing I know is that the speaking industry is HARD! It is one of the most competitive industries out there and it chews up a mass of dreamers and spits them out...

When I was about 7 years old my dad had been speaking for a while and he was really struggling! He sat down with me by the window, at our old house, and he told me that he thought he was contemplating putting and end to his career in speaking! I know it was hard for him to tell me this because he felt like a failure and he felt like he was teaching me to give up on your dreams! If he only knew the impact that conversation had on my life...

Fast forwarding about 12 years from that day by the window and 12 more years in the speaking industry...

My dad, stepmom, and I were sitting on the first teebox at the Kapalua Plantation Course in Maui, Hawaii... After we putted out on the first green I asked my dad, "Do you remember that time we sat and talked by the window in our old house? You know...when you told me you were considering ending your speaking career? Did you ever imagine we would be playing golf in Hawaii due to all of your hard work?"

The neat thing about kids is they know how to catch you off-guard!

He stopped and smiled at me ...

Which could have been because he was already down one stroke after the first hole or it could have been because he recognized the magnitude of the lesson he taught me 12 years prior!

He just said, "It was worth it! I didn't know it at the time but...it was all worth it!"

I went on to ask him what it was that took him to the next level in his career and he said, "I had to make up my mind to quit or to dig in and do whatever it takes!"

Since then, my dad has sent that message to thousands of people around the world and encourages them to make up their mind and decide to do whatever it takes to be successful (within moral, legal, and ethical boundaries)!

This was the thought going through my head when he challenged me at the start of my career with the company... Am I willing to do whatever it takes to be successful at this? Am I willing to do whatever it takes to be an expert in this field? Am I willing to do whatever it takes to overcome my inexperience?

The overwhelming answer was YES!!

My decision at that point in time will always be, in my mind, the first step in whatever success I achieve later in life. It wasn't an action...it was a decision to do whatever it takes!!

After I communicated my decision to the team they assigned me with my first task as a member of the team...

My assignment: What is it that, the world of purchasing professionals, focuses on to be successful at what they do? How do they approach the sales battle? What are they like, personally? What motivates them? What classes do they attend? What books do they read? What tactics do they use? How can a salesperson negotiate with professional negotiators?

At least this was the verbalized assignment...

The real assignment was...

How much are you willing to do? Are you willing to disregard the expectations and do what YOU are capable of doing? What can you do to become the expert in this field?

My journey started with me asking myself..."If I wanted to be the worlds best purchasing professional...what would I do? If I wanted to be the YOUNG GUN in the purchasing arena, what preparations would I make?

That is when I decided to go to every association website that supported purchasing professionals...

I read every book and every article on all of their websites (which turned out to be over 20 books and 100 articles)...

I interviewed every purchasing professional that I could get an interview with for over 2 weeks straight...

I took online classes that educate purchasing professionals...

After nearly a month of doing everything I could to learn about this profession and the people that occupied purchasing positions I sent in my notes... that could have been passed of as the manuscript for War and Peace!

It was then when I realized that I was on my way to becoming an expert...not just in the field of purchasing professionals but becoming an expert in whatever I chose! This was now possible because I knew what it felt like to do whatever it takes...and I was addicted!