I will be real honest with you: Lately I have been feeling like I am a failure. I was laid off in October of 2008 and started a new job May 2009. That my friends is too much down time for yours truly. I am now  self employed and represent several lines of insurance. There are no leads given by the company I represent so it is all cold calls. Now I was in the RV industry for 21+ years and was either a  salaried or hourly worker. Cold calls are a different animal and I have tried the companies way and it doesn’t work for me. I tried my way and it isn’t working either. In such I  feel like I have failed to launch in my new job. One of the biggest battles for me is defining what is success (and what is work).

So what is success? Is it doing well at our job or is it a balance of personal relationships and work? Is it in the trying or is it “getting paid”? I will say one must get paid or there will arise many problems from NOT doing so. Honestly things are tight now but I am not worried about the money because I know it will come. My struggle is the process. Finding that line where what is failure and what is success is clearly defined. When you work for someone else they define what success and failure is by the task(s) you are asked to complete. Black and White. After years of punching a clock , driving around knocking on doors and making phone calls seems like, well not work. The only marker I have is closing the deal. And if that is success I have a problem with that.

You can always close the deal if you compromise yourself and take short cuts. That is where I think I have found my definition of success or at least a big part of it. Success is not compromising and following your path no matter the resistance given to it. No misleading statements or leaving out information to someone were they make a bad decision because of it. What that means for me is because of my skill, or lack of it at this time, I have to knock on more doors than most. I will have to make more phone calls than most. I will have to write more prospecting letters than most.Knowing that and doing it is two different things and how I handle it will define my success.

“Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it, So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that’s where you will find success.”
– Thomas J. Watson