When looking for an agent, how many rejections does it take to make you shelf a novel? To call it quits? Well, hopefully this will help you remember that its a number game and encourage you to press on.

A friend of mine gave me a copy of this story when he started his own business, and thought it held true to everything we do in life. I am taking a few liberties at the end, replacing the word “people” with “AGENTS”. I hope this helps anyone who is struggling. The author is UNKNOWN.

GO THROUGH THE NUMBERS

Let me tell you a story. Mark Yarnell, minister in a small town in Texas, was headed for bankruptcy and just about to lose his car and home. He looked for a way out and discovered Network Marketing. Luckily, he had a wise sponsor.

The sponsor gave Mark “THE PROMISE”:

THIS BUSINESS CAN SET YOU FREE FINANCIALLY IN ONE TO THREE YEARS.

But he also gave him “THE PRICE”: TO SUCCEED, YOU WILL HAVE TO FACE AND CONQUER 4 MAJOR ENEMIES.

Mark said, “It’s a deal.”

Mark then invited 200 friends over to his house to watch a video. 80 said, “No, not interested.” Mark had encountered:

ENEMY #1: REJECTION. My sponsor warned me about that. But I’ve still got 120 people coming over.”

Guess what? 50 didn’t show up. He had just met

ENEMY #2: DECEPTION. Mark thought, “No problem, my sponsor warned me about that. I’ve got 70 people who watched the tape.”

57 said, “Not interested.” He had just encountered

ENEMY #3: APATHY. Undaunted, Mark thought, “No problem. 13 people signed up.”

Guess what? 12 of them dropped out of the business shortly thereafter.

ENEMY #4: ATTRITION had left Mark with just one serious associate. To this day, that single distributor earns Mark over $50,000 per month.

You may have heard of Bill Britt, one of the most successful distributors in Amway. Some years ago, 20/20 did a feature story on Amway. They spent 19 minutes interviewing whiners and complainers—several distributors who had failed and showed the garages full of products they couldn’t sell. During the last minute of the show, Mr. Britt was interviewed in front of his palatial home. He was asked, “Mr. Britt, this business has obviously worked for you. What’s your secret?”

He replied, “There is no secret. I simply showed the plan to 1200 people. 900 said ‘No.’ and only 300 signed up. Out of those 300, only 85 did anything at all. Out of those 85, only 35 were serious, and out of those 35, 11 made me a millionaire.” Like Mark Yarnell, Bill worked through the numbers.

Jason Boreyko, now president of New Vision, told this story. When he was a distributor in Matol, he signed up 50 people. He heard a lot of “Nos” on the way to those 50. Jason took one man, who he knew would be terrific in the business, to lunch, told him about the business and the man said “No.” Jason took the man to lunch again the next month and told him the updates. Once again the man said, “No.” That went on for six months. The seventh month, something had changed for the man, and he said, “Yes.” That man made Jason over one million dollars. Jason also worked through his numbers.

According to Richard Poe in “Wave Three”, while starting Amway, Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel, America’s eleventh richest people, recruited 500 people. 495 dropped out. The five that didn’t quit built Amway. All $7 BILLION of Amway’s business was built under those 5 people. Jay and Rich had to work through their numbers.

HERE’S THE LESSON: You success is directly related to the degree to which you are willing to work to find an AGENT.

Mark Yarnell’s odds were 1 out of 200.

Bill Britt’s were 11 out of 1200.

Jason Boreyko’s were 1 in 50. (After many Nos.)

Would you be willing to go through 200 AGENTS to find the 1 who will get you published?

Here’s the catch: YOU HAVE YOUR OWN SET OF ODDS AND YOU WON’T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE UNTIL AFTER YOU’VE SUCCEEDED. So if you’ve gone through 50 or 100 AGENTS and you haven’t found THE ONE, either you can give up and assume they don’t exist, or you can recognize that you are working through your own numbers.

THE TRUTH ABOUT REACHING GOALS:

Be faithful to your dreams!

Get really CLEAR on what YOU want!

Hang around successful and motivational people! Forget about the one’s who put you down!

Identify YOUR dreams.

Let no one or any challenge stand in the way of accomplishing your dreams!

Learn from others who are successful.

Set priorities. Do not let anything or anyone permit you to become sidetracked.

Your goals must be pursued EVERY DAY! This can be full-time or part-time, but never sometimes.

WRITE down your goals, and READ them every day.

Review your goals regularly and update them if needed.

HOW TO SET HIGHER GOALS

Answer this question for yourself: “WHY NOT ME, AND WHY NOT NOW?”

Become TEACHABLE! Become a sincere student of those who HAVE DONE IT. Be willing to pay the price.

Know that big goals come with bigger price tags.

Make a clear decision that you are going to do it. Be splecific!

Make your plan, plan your work, and them work, work, work your plan!

YOUR SUCCESS IS UP TO YOU!

We really can do this! All of us. I believe it.

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Sarah is writer looking for an agent. She is currently working on novel # 4, editing novels 2 and 3, and querying novel # 1. For more insight to her work, visit: http://legendoftheprotectors.wordpress.com/ or http://legendoftheprotectors.blogspot.com/

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