B4 the Sale: "The 90 Day Grind"

By Joseph A Zappoli Jr.

B4 the Sale brings us back in time to the old-school truths of belief, education, and networking; then we are led swiftly into a bright, exciting future. Joseph’s intent is to motivate you to the point of unbreakable determination, like the way you felt when you left the theater after watching Rocky or Braveheart. In the case of a movie, your excitement probably evaporated the next day, but after you’ve completed B4 the Sale, you will be pounding the pavement, filled with relentless passion to make your next sale that day and every day you are still breathing!

Joseph will teach you how to be fearless and how to GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY. He stays in the grind with you now and into the future—always learning, selling, and sharing. Joseph insists that being a topnotch sales professional requires you to be honest, teachable, presentable, fearless, approachable, generous, and to develop an unwavering ability to attract people to you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Sep 9, 2015
• ISBN: 9781483432601

Book preview

www.ResetInTen.com

B4 THE SALE

the 90 day grind

Joseph A Zappoli Jr.

Copyright © 2015 Joseph A Zappoli Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-3259-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-3260-1 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 10/26/2015

CONTENTS

Chapter 1   Do You Have What It Takes To Get Out Of Your Way?

Chapter 2   Power

Chapter 3   Networking

Chapter 4   The Salesperson

I thank GOD for his grace and wisdom that’s available to all who choose to follow him.

Thank you to my wife Carmen for allowing me to be me. I’m so blessed to have four fantastic children, Jennifer, DeA’nna, Joey and Anthony. They all have been instrumental in their own way to the fulfillment of my relentless journey through life. I want to especially thank my Mom and my Dad for encouraging my journey throughout my life, and teaching me that anything is possible. Thank you to my sisters Adele and Joanne for being the big sisters that they are, always believing in my crazy ideas and joining me in them. To my wonderful sister in-law Cindy for being so instrumental in all our lives. To Mike who gave me my first job and encouraged me to be limitless. I’d like to recognize Dan Phillips for helping me get my thoughts on paper. I have journeyed through life with the wisdom of great writers, learning from them, book by book, line by line, seminar after seminar. Thank you to the writers that most influenced my life, Napoleon Hill and Tony Robbins. I would also like to recognize my cousin Linda who watches over me every day in heaven just as she did when she was with me on earth, I miss her every day. I’d also like to thank my cousin Vinny for being a great friend throughout my life. Life is a journey, I am thankful for those who I have mention and those who I have met, mentored and partnered with throughout my life, because everyone is a musician in my orchestra. I have had the pleasure of leading and following some great people, but most importantly I am a student, always learning from everyone I come into contact with.

Change your path and change your life

Before we actually dive into this book, I’d like to take you on a short journey, a parable of sorts, which will encourage you to consider the power of the path you’re currently on… and perhaps to consider changing it. It is my sincere hope that the story of Light and Dark’s journey will not simply be entertaining, but that it will open your mind to receiving the ideas contained in this book.

42322.png

Joey grew up in an average middle class city called Babylon. Joey was an average student in school, but he loved to compete in sports. Joey fell asleep one evening and had a remarkable dream, which is described here.

Joey dreamt that he was able to pick a name for himself, but he was only given two choices: his first choice was Light; the second choice was Dark. Joey chose Light. In his dream, he was going on a journey to find his final destination.

He was allowed to bring a friend into his dream, and Light was happy to have a companion to accompany him. His friend would take the name Dark. The young men were very excited; they looked forward to beginning the journey to their final destination.

Their journey would begin in a beautiful park… but not just any park, this park was divided into two sections. One section was Day and the other was Night. The two friends had to decide which path they would take, and they were given a choice to travel together or to take different paths. Both Light and Dark wanted to take their journey together, but Light was gravitating toward the Day path, while Dark was gravitating toward the Night path.

They decided to part ways, but they understood that at any point during the journey, either one of them could choose to change directions and take the other path. However, if one should choose to change paths, he would have to start all over again from the beginning of the park.

Light and Dark set out on their journey into the Land of Possibility. Dark was anxious to begin, so when he arrived at his first street, called Adversity Drive, he decided to bypass it. He headed toward the corner of Shortcut Way and Work Hard Street. Dark contemplated briefly and decided to take Shortcut Way.

The first house he came to on Shortcut Way was the largest house he had ever seen. As he kept walking, Dark realized that all the houses were equally enormous. Each house had very expensive cars in the driveways.

In order to get to the next street, Dark needed to learn all he could from one or more of the homeowners on Shortcut Way so that he would be well-prepared for his final destination. Dark picked the big beige home where the Jones family lived. The Joneses had the best of everything. Dark was amazed by all the beautiful things that were in the home and he was eager to learn how they could afford all these expensive possessions.

Dark took out his notepad and began to ask questions. The first question he asked was what Mr. Jones did for a living. Mr. Jones explained that both he and Mrs. Jones worked full time. Mrs. Jones worked at the Post Office and Mr. Jones was car salesman.

Dark was shocked. You must sell a lot of cars! he said admiringly.

Mr. Jones admitted that working in sales wasn’t easy and then broke into a big smile. Thank goodness for credit and credit cards, he said. He explained how he could buy all these great things and pay for them over time. Mrs. Jones said that she had so many credit cards that she used some credit cards to pay for other credit cards.

The Joneses explained the way credit worked. Dark had a knack for math. He started calculating the interest they paid on the items they had purchased and quickly realized that if they kept up this pace of living beyond their means, combined with the lavish lifestyle they so enjoyed, they would be in debt forever!

Dark decided to move on to the next home, where the Wannabes lived. They welcomed Dark in their home and began to show him around. Their possessions looked just like the Joneses. As a matter of fact, their possessions were identical to the Joneses! When Dark asked the Wannabes why they had all the same things that the Joneses did, they replied that everyone on the block tried to keep up with the Joneses.

Dark thought that seemed a little odd, but nonetheless, he was eager to hear how they were able to afford their expansive home and all the expensive possessions. The Wannabes explained to Dark that they sold drugs to the kids on Dead-End Drive and Loser Way. The Wannabes assured Dark that he would reach his final destination in half the time if he joined forces with them.

Dark was so excited to hear that he could get there so quickly that he gave no thought to the effect this choice would have on his future. He started working immediately. It wasn’t long before Dark began using the drugs he was supposed to sell. He destroyed thousands of kids’ lives by supplying them with drugs. Dark was in and out of jail; when he was out, he would live in the streets and sleep on the park bench on Pain Street.

Dark wanted so badly to be on Light’s path, but he didn’t want to start all over again. He would find odd jobs and steal from most of those who employed him. Day in and day out he worried about that day only—how he would hustle enough to eat, where he would sleep, and how he could get a few dollars for some drugs or alcohol to dull his pain… which never seemed to go away no matter how high he got.

Dark hated his life. He realized he had taken the wrong path, but he still kept turning down dark streets, thinking that somehow this time the results would be different.

Dark had reached his final destination. He arrived in the Land of Possibility just as he had started, with nothing but the clothes on his back… he no longer even had his pen and notepad, which he had misplaced years ago. Dark lived on a park bench on Misery Lane for three years.

Light’s journey was quite different. When he and Dark separated, Light was disappointed to see his friend go the other way, but he was confident that this journey was going to be very exciting.

Light entered the Day section of the park and took some time to get acquainted with the community. He walked up and down all the streets, block after block after block, and he wrote down all the street names. The names were as follows: Hope Street, Victory Boulevard, Determination Way, Education Avenue, Goal Terrace, and Rightway drive

Light decided that he would take Rightway drive first, thinking that if there was some long range goal he needed to keep in mind, he wanted to know about it now. There were about ten homes on the block. Light decided to prepare a list of questions to ask each homeowner.

The first homeowner he interviewed was Mr. Invest. Mr. Invest taught Light about the magic of compound interest. He explained what a 401K was and how an IRA worked. He showed Light his portfolio of diversified funds.

Light was greatly impressed; he asked Mr. Invest how he learned about these things. Mr. Invest replied that he had learned a lot from his own mistakes, jumping into the so-called sure thing or quick return that never panned out. He hired someone who called himself a financial advisor and took a financial beating following that man’s bad advice.

Mr. Invest realized that he should educate himself by reading a few highly recommended books. Mr. Invest readily admitted that if he had educated himself by reading these books before he jumped into the investment world, he not only would have cut the time it took to achieve success in half, he also would have not lost a small fortune!

Light asked Mr. Invest where he worked.

I am a car salesman, he replied.

Wow! Light was impressed. I didn’t realize that car salesman made so much money!

Mr. Invest laughed. It’s not how much you make, he said. I have good months and bad months. The secret to success lies in how much you set aside and invest. Then you watch the magic of compounding interest go to work for you!

Mr. Invest said that one thing that really changed his way of thinking was when he read that if you started to invest $400 a month with a 10 percent return at age 26, and did that consistently for the next 40 years, you would have over 5 million dollars!

Light asked to borrow a calculator. He began to calculate, but no matter how many times he entered the numbers, he was nowhere near 5