I remember sitting in my new office, at my new desk, as a new insurance agent, super excited to get the ball rolling. Kind of like the first day of school vibe. You are ready to be a new person with your new outfit on and your new shoes and a new attitude, to make this year the best one yet. To make the money to get me out of my “negative bank account” mindset, to show everyone that I could be more than a bartender. That I could be more than the broke pathetic girl I saw myself as.

I thought I was seeing myself through others eyes, and to a degree I was, but mostly it was how I saw myself, due to a lifetime of seeing this reflection around me. As a few days went by, I asked a few times what I should do, and there was never a clear answer. “Go out and get business” meant nothing to me. I didn’t have a starting point, so I how could I find my way? It’s like asking someone to drive across the country without a map. You can do it, but imagine how much time you’d save if you had a direct course?

I sat there day after day, getting more and more dejected as time went on. I am a go-getter. I like to be busy. So, sitting at a desk with nothing to do is a prison sentence for me. It’s one of the reasons I’m in sales. I can’t just sit at a desk all day, I have to be going.  I also love to socialize and am very good at making everyone feel at ease around me, and creating a fun and likeable environment. This means sales will be the perfect fit for me, right? Actually, yes. But only if you know how to utilize your gifts. If you are sitting at a desk all by yourself, how are any of the natural gifts beneficial?

It took me five years to figure out how to be successful in networking and relationship building. If I’d have had someone like me around to help, I could have been making sales in six months or less, not six years!! Now when I look back it’s so obvious that I was the way to success, but at the time, I thought all the things I needed to be good at my job were outside of me. The day I realized I was good at my job because of ME was life altering. I stood up, grabbed my Gucci bag and ran for the goal line and haven’t looked back.