What would it be like to be born with natural ability to sing or play basketball?
Maybe you were born with some ability but not really enough to have the success or lifestyle you really want.
I’ve been reading the book “Shoe Dog” by Phil Knight.
He was the creator of Nike shoes and the book is his autobiography.
It is not only very informative and fascinating to learn about his rise to success, he’s a great writer and the book is really funny.
I recommend buying it.
In the book, he hires Jeff Johnson as his first shoe salesman.
Jeff is taking Japanese-made shoes to track meets and anywhere he can find runners in order to show off and sell the shoes.
He was an amazing salesman and crucial to Phil Knight’s company getting off the ground and becoming the powerhouse that Nike is today.
However, at one point in the book Jeff Johnson has a small break down and has to make a decision to stay with the company or leave.
He calls himself a “Talentless fuck” who should be grateful that anyone would give him an opportunity like this.
I felt a wave of emotion hit me when I read this passage as it struck a familiar chord with feelings and thoughts I have definitely had about myself.
Jeff Johnson is one huge reason Nike even exists today, yet he felt that he was terrible at sales.
How could he have misinterpreted his value and worth so drastically?
In all reality, Johnson probably wasn’t great at sales.
However, he made up for it with creativity and work ethic.
He put in massive hours and took extra care to get information about each customer that bought a pair of shoes from him.
He would send them holiday cards and thank you letters.
In all reality, perhaps he was terrible at skills of persuasion, but he was an incredibly talented salesman!
He decided to be smarter and work around the flaws he felt were innate.
I can tell you this rings true.
In 2002, I was laid off from a job that I loved in the tech industry.
At the time, there were not many jobs available in tech because the entire industry was recovering from a massive crash.
I decided to go into life insurance sales.
I was absolutely terrible at it.
I made almost no money and I could barely talk to my potential clients.
I quit after about 2 years of just getting completely annihilated with rejection.
I liked the idea of commission-based pay so I went into car sales.
I made a little more money, but in all honesty, I was not much better at selling cars than insurance.
It wasn’t enough to live on and I only lasted there a few short months.
Then, I worked for a fashion company selling cologne and perfume.
It was there I started to realize a hint of success.
I found that while I was not good at convincing others, I could use math to figure out how many people I needed to talk to in order to make the money I needed each day.
Somehow that made it easier to be told no so often.
I also developed an incredible work ethic because in many cases I was outworking others in order to accomplish my objectives.
After that, I went into a service/sales type position in the HVAC industry.
I was still not great at sales, but I had learned to use my abilities at that point and I did well.
I outworked all the other employees there and was the top producer for the company for most of the years there.
I still feel that I am horrible at sales even now.
I just adapted and decided what I was good at and did that.
It worked.
Here’s another story:
In high school I almost never got an A grade on a writing paper.
I would try my hardest and spend hours writing a paper that I thought seemed well-written, only to get it returned to me with a C or B grade and usually with some cryptic advice.
I vowed that I would never be a writer because I just wasn’t good at it.
Even now, I feel like I am not great at writing.
It often seems to me like it doesn’t flow well and I’m positive English majors cringe at my grammar and style.
So why do I do it?
Because here I get to write about what I want and I feel that I am helping people in my own way.
This blog is full of reviews and information designed to help people wake up and get out of a rut, or build a cool business, or just get a little bit of brutal honesty.
Maybe someone will see my writing and just think, “WTF? I can write better than this guy!” and go write his or her own successful blog, book or whatever.
That’s a win for me and if you are rolling your eyes at that, it’s ok because I’m here in the arena and public eye doing something good and that I enjoy.
If you are not talented, like me, do what you want to do or what you want to get good at.
You will find the talents you do have and how to use them to have success if you are consistent and persistent.
Perhaps it will require you to put in more time than everyone else.
All I’m saying is do what you want.
Don’t worry that you aren’t talented.
You may surprise yourself.
Thank you for reading.
Phillip Adams