Recently, I was doing a recruitment seminar (to fresh graduates from the local universities) for one of the large insurance companies in Singapore. I talked about how anyone could achieve time freedom and financial freedom by becoming a financial advisor in Singapore. I shared how becoming a financial advisor was a powerful strategy in becoming your own boss and having the potential of earning unlimited income WITHOUT having to have lots of startup capital.

What shocked me as the number one reason that stopped them from even considering the career was, ‘ we don’t like to sell’ or ‘we don’t feel comfortable with being a salesperson’ Somehow, many of these grads were under the impression that by being a graduate, selling was beneath them!

I looked them in the eyes and told them, ‘ If you do not like the idea of selling to someone else, you will NEVER EVER BE RICH!!!!!’ I believe that if you don’t like salespeople or if you don’t like to sell yourself, you can forget about ever becoming wealthy.

I believe that in order to achieve ANYTHING in life, you must be great at SELLING! If you want to land that lucrative job, you must be great at SELLING YOURSELF during the interview. If you want to get that promotion, working hard and being loyal is not good enough. It is not always the smartest and most hard working person who gets the promotion. It is the person who is able to SELL HIS IDEAS to management and the person who is able to SELL and convince top management why they are the best person for the job.

The person who ends up President of the United States (or any country) is not the smartest person around (look at Bush), but it is the person who is best able to SELL themselves and their ideas to the people.

If you want to get the man or woman of your dreams, you have to SELL YOURSELF (it is called dating). All CEOs are top salespeople. They have to constantly sell their vision to their employees, sell their company, brand and products to the market and sell their business to investors. All the prophets like Jesus, Buddha, Confucious, Mohammed etc… had to sell the concept of salvation.

I have seen so many people with PhDs, Masters Degrees, from Top colleges and even people in the Gifted Program with super high IQs who will NEVER EVER be rich simply because they cannot sell.

Looking back at my life, I feel that what gave me the edge over all my friends and competitors was the fact that I learnt to enjoy and be great at selling! That is what made me into a best-selling author, one of the highest paid speakers in Asia. It also allowed me to build one of the strongest brands in education and training.

To be honest, when I first started, I felt uncomfortable with selling too. I felt uneasy asking people to give me money (which is what selling is all about). I had the wrong perception that the person who sells gains at the expense of the person buying.

Then, I realized that if you provide a product or a service that truly adds value to people’s lives, then it is a win win situation. You are helping that person solve a problem, meet a need or achieve a desire/goal. At the same time, you get rewarded for the value you have created for that person. So, go forth and create value to the whole world… and become rich in the process