Selling

"Did you ever consider starting your own business?" I asked a friend last week who had been out of work for a long period. No, she never had: she's no good at marketing. She had no interest in the constant "selling" necessary for success. I had to admire that answer, because she knew herself and despite difficulties stuck to what she's best at.

My sales inclinations are not much better. This is somewhat embarrassing coming from a lineage of salespeople: my grandfather, father, uncle and cousins all have had jobs involving selling; however, my nature rebels against persuading people to do something for my personal gain.

Helping people is what I'm all about - I can even be quite persuasive when I think someone can benefit from something I know about. But if I have to do person-to-person selling for a cause, even a good cause, it's going to be hard for me to be successful. I'd be fighting who I am.

To put it mildly, this could be somewhat limiting to the idea of running a business. I would need an Internet-type business that could succeed without me becoming a salesman; this is possible: I've seen examples. However, this could prove to be an elusive concept, and I may, like my friend, end up choosing the employee role.

But in any case, I don't think I'll be getting into the insurance business anytime soon!