The Pursuit of Prosperity

By Bob Cox

My wife Diana is a very busy massage therapist, which is a blessing and a curse. The blessing is her client’s walk away feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. The curse is the additional work long after the thrill is gone; namely: laundry, laundry and more laundry! Every Saturday morning, strange as this may sound, I look forward to the challenge of rising early, bagging up all our laundry from work and home and heading to the clean and quiet laundry facility in our park. I receive immense satisfaction whenever I get a large amount of work done is a short period of time. On top of that, I enjoy the simple solitude of this morning ritual, from the time I haul in the hefty bags of dirty laundry until I leave two hours later with several new 33 gallon bags filled with fresh and clean folded sheets, towels, blankets and clothing.

Last Saturday, as I was setting down my supply of clean bags, dryer sheets, laundry soap and quarters, I noticed three crisp white flyers spread out strategically on the long folding counter. Generally, I don’t allow any distractions to slow me down as I enjoy the spirit of competing against the clock. This time; however, curiosity won out as I quickly glanced at the contents.

The flyer was announcing an upcoming prosperity seminar in the park with the promise of no selling during the event. My inner skeptic chimed in as I went about my business, dropping garments and popping quarters into one machine after another like a one man assembly line. I had serious doubts about that claim, believing that those presenters of prosperity would likely slip in a softer and more subtle approach to sales by building curiosity in the audience while slowly revealing their product or service through their questions.

As I was doing this, I kept thinking about how elusive prosperity has been during certain points throughout my life, especially those times I have chase after it as if my life depended on it. A few moments later, when I began to transfer the wet clothing from the washing machines to the dryers, a question and answer came to me: “Want more prosperity? Make more sales calls.”

This certainly was not new advice. After 22 years in outside advertising sales, I have heard those words of wisdom thousands of times, but this time it really hit home as I reviewed the past year’s strategy of making fewer calls and the financial rewards that eluded me. As I reviewed this strategy over and over in my mind, I became swept up with excitement and my spirit soared when I accepted the challenge to increase my sales calls from 20 to 50 per day!

This strategy shift will require plenty of sacrifices, which includes no more late morning starts, no long lunches at home and no coming home early, no matter how drained I might feel on any given day. A few hours later, my son Bobby came by the house for a short visit and shared a conversation with a friend who was having a tough time getting out of the house and off to work the previous week. What’s his occupation? Sales of course! Ah, the magic of synchronistic events.

Bobby urged his friend to follow my advice, to stop focusing on the bottom line results (sales), which he could not control and set a goal that he could control by knocking on a specific number of doors each day. When you choose do that, better results will more than likely come; however, the immediate payoff may be even greater, which is gaining the internal peace, joy and satisfaction of knowing that you’re making a positive and proactive change today to create a better life tomorrow.

You do not have to be in sales or own your own business to benefit from this suggestion. If you are like most other Americans who would love to have more financial prosperity, avoid the pitfalls of dwelling on matters that are out of your control and focus on just one thing you can do that will make the biggest impact on your bottom line. Sometimes, for guys like me, that means getting off my bottom so I can see the line! The sacrifices you will need to make as you raise your game will likely pale in comparison to the thrill and excitement your new direction will bring you. By the way, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!