| Most people are familiar with the old saying, | | | | something all sales professionals can use -- |
| "Easy come. Easy go." In the sales world we | | | | emotional independence. |
| often observe that sales people who | | | | |
| experience success quickly falsely assume | | | | In the sales business, it's easy to see our |
| that the sales profession is going to be | | | | prospects and even our loved ones as the |
| easy. After a month or two, however, those | | | | critics that hold our fortune in their hands. |
| fortunate few often reach a different | | | | If our prospects tell us, "No," or if our |
| conclusion. Without much sweat equity | | | | loved ones tell us, "You will never be a |
| invested, they head off and look for the next | | | | successful entrepreneur," we think the die is |
| rainbow. If only we could teach a new saying, | | | | cast. Time to let the 19th century composer, |
| "Easy come. Forget That." We may not have | | | | Giuseppe Verdi, teach you one of the great |
| that saying, but we can look at a 19th | | | | secrets of successful entrepreneurs... buck |
| Century opera composer who expressed it and | | | | up, spit in the eyes of your critics |
| set the example we may well want to copy. | | | | (figuratively speaking, please!), and decide |
| | | | once and for all that the only opinion that |
| After experiencing a degree of success with | | | | matters is your own. |
| his very first opera, a young and unknown | | | | |
| composer, Giuseppe Verdi, hit the big leagues | | | | Verdi cared little about what the critics |
| by receiving a contract to compose two more | | | | said and he learned to face failure and |
| operas for the most famous opera house in | | | | success with equanimity. One of his famous |
| Italy. Talk about a winning sales | | | | letters in its entirety simply said, "La |
| presentation! One could certainly say that | | | | Traviatta last night... a fiasco. Was it my |
| his success came quite easily. | | | | fault or the singers? Only time will tell." |
| | | | Just in case you didn't know, time told all |
| Verdi's next opera was to be an Opera buffa, | | | | right. Verdi is considered by many to be the |
| a form of comedic opera, but the life events | | | | greatest of all the Italian opera composers. |
| that preceded the opening night of that opera | | | | |
| were anything but comical. In August 1838 | | | | Regardless of whether or not your sales |
| Verdi's 16-month old daughter died suddenly. | | | | business has come easy for you, decide right |
| Just 14 months later, his 18-month old son | | | | now to face failure and success with |
| died of bronchial pneumonia. Only eight | | | | equanimity, that is, with poise, with |
| months after the death of his son, Verdi's | | | | imperturbability, with (dare I say it?) |
| wife died after an illness of just five days. | | | | confidence. Let failure be your instructor. |
| Within 22 months, Verdi's entire family was | | | | Be willing to learn what you need to learn |
| wiped out. Imagine trying to write a comedy | | | | from each failure and then take three more |
| while the family members around you are dying | | | | giant steps forward. |
| one after another. | | | | |
| | | | It's not the approval of the critics that you |
| Not surprisingly, Verdi's second opera was a | | | | need to succeed -- it's the approval of one |
| complete flop. Easy come, easy go? Not on | | | | infinitely more precious. It's the approval |
| your life. Verdi's first success might have | | | | of someone who's been with you for every |
| come easy, but the bad reviews he received | | | | moment of every day of your entire life. End |
| from his second opera hardly sent him away | | | | each day by giving yourself the critique you |
| crying. Instead he dug in his heels and | | | | long for. It goes something like this, "You |
| decided never to pine for the approval of his | | | | did the best job you knew how to do today. |
| critics. From that disaster he developed an | | | | Well done! |
| intense emotional independence. Now there's | | | | |