First, be average…

…because average is the base of great.

Right now you’re not even average…

because all you talk about is how you once looked and lived.

I don’t care about what you once were…I care about once more. Today is your chance to make things better, first by being average.

But you’ve got to stop talking about past successes and present failures. You’re comparing today to your yesterday’s and each subsequent failure, you’re affirming the regretful narrative of how far you’ve fallen.

Stop looking at great. Looking at how well other people are doing and trying to match their results will only make you quit. Because where you are today-as bad as it is, is hard enough so getting “there,” seems damn near impossible.

The first thing you have to do is stop the bleeding. If you’re rushed into the emergency room, the doctor is not going to talk about how many calories you consume in a day-the only thing he’s going to focus on is stopping the bleeding so that you don’t die.

Your success is dying because you’re focused on a great plan instead of averaged effort. I didn’t say average effort, I said averaged effort meaning you show up, put in the work, consistently.

Average is the base camp of great and you have to get from a negative 1 to a zero, meaning you don’t do anything to make your situation worse.

This is your line in the sand. For me, as bad as I wanted the 34″ waist, I had to first draw the line in the sand and say no cheat days because I had to lose the taste and urge for fried foods. When I started, when food came into the office, I would leave so that I wouldn’t start rabidly shoveling food into my mouth saying “I’ll work it off tonight!” (not).

As the emotions died down, then I could sit in the smells and say no & as I learned to sit in the smells, I could then work without being distracted. Now that I’d proven to myself that I could sit and not smash the plate lunch, I developed confidence to build from there.

In other words, I wasn’t adding to the negatives. I didn’t have to worry about eating something and then beating myself up for hours afterwords and doing extra workouts just to negate the already negatives!

Saying no to the fried foods and busting a sweat every day (even if it was for 15 minutes), added wins instead of worrying about covering the losses. Each win got me closer to zero-where I was neutral to the distractions allowing me to place my focus on looking for the next win. In other words, I was building the averages.

If you don’t stop the bleeding, then you have no reason to be consistent, but once you’re not doing anything to make things worse, then you can focus on doing things to make things better…on the way to being great.

And just think. I started with the goal of average.

Average is awesome because great is at the summit.

Square the Circle…don’t Circle the Square

When I’m pressed for time, I’ll run a quick 2 miles around the road that circles my house. (4 laps = 1 mile)

Because I had to force myself to hit the road, I try to hurry & get it over with by cutting the corners instead of fully rounding them off.

At the time, it seems like I’m getting around the circle quicker, but after eight laps, mentally I’m trying to pull up, but my watch tells me to keep running…

It’s not yet 2 miles…

Come to find out, because I cut the corners, I end up having to take needless, extra steps.

An extra 100 ft doesn’t seem like much, but if I add that extra 100 ft up over the next 52 runs, I end up adding a mile’s worth of steps for the same “2 mile” run.

Sound familiar?

You’re tired…sore…frustrated…& the month’s been grueling…

Nothing seems to be going your way…

So you cut the corners…

In an effort to “save time,” you rush through customers, quickly assessing if they’re buying or not…

You take extra days off to rest from last week’s leg day at the gym…

You jump from one relationship into the next proclaiming, “this is the one…”

You “put it all on the card” or renew the loan this month and gamble on figuring out how to make the payments next month(s)…

You cut the corners…because it seems like it’s the quickest way to make your lap that day…

Hurry & get it over with seems logical…

But it’s costly…

Because this is a long race you’re running & you’re needlessly adding extra steps to achieve a decision…outcome…or goal.

Run the full mile you’re in…

Today, I know you don’t feel like it…I know it’s been rough…I know the extra weight of frustration, fatigue, & anger make your run slower & harder…

But take the steps now…

All of them…

Because you’ll take fewer in the long run.

When I’m on that hard ass, “don’t feel like it” run & feel like cutting the corners…

When the voices are banging in my head- screaming that no one will know that I’m cutting the corners…

I tell myself, “Square the circle…don’t circle the square.”

See, the road around my house is a circle, but the parameters are a square, so if I stay on that parameter, eight laps is two miles…

But if I circle the square & cut the corners, that same two miles ends up costing me extra steps..wasted energy & time.

Square the circle today….

When you cry to yourself, “ I don’t feel like doing this-I’m just going to round this thing off!!!”

Don’t, because it may feel like it’s quicker now, but remember your life isn’t a lap…it’s many, many miles…

Today’s lap may be hard…but in the end the steps will be efficiently fewer…& it’ll all be worth it.

Have an amazing day…

~Stay in The Sales 💪ife.

Quit reading

Evan Carmichael said,

“Reading doesn’t have to be your top priority, but learning should be…”

So maybe reading’s not your bag, but just because you don’t like to read doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t learn.

You’ve just got to find the way that works better for you.

I get it…

Reading may feel like a chore.

You may fall asleep after 5 minutes of reading or you just can’t seem to stay focused.

That’s cool…don’t beat yourself up because you don’t read or that you’re slow reader.

Beat yourself up because you don’t learn.

🔥Not liking to read is not a reason to not learn.

You’ve got to figure out other ways that you can learn.

I love to read, but after 10 years of voraciously reading I’ve gotten burned out-so much so that I read very little.

But it doesn’t mean that I don’t learn.

I learn through podcasts & I’ve subscribed to YouTube premium where I can listen to YouTube (w/out the screen being on.)

I think ways of learning are seasonal…

There are seasons I like to read & other seasons I prefer audiobooks, podcasts, & YouTube more.

I may stop one, but I never stop learning.

Find what works better for you to keep progressing.

Your 5th grade teacher wasn’t right.

🔥Reading’s not the only way to go, but learning’s the place to be.

Make learning a top priority & it doesn’t have to be in a book.

Have an amazing day.

~Stay in The Sales Life 💪

Be unmeasurable

You know, you can measure a man up pretty quickly if you know the point where he’ll quit…

where when it gets hard, he quits & turns back.

But what about the man who just keeps showing back up? Who keeps driving? Who keeps pulling himself back up?

🔥How do you measure the “unmeasurable?”

You know, if you think about it, when someone says, “I didn’t know you had it in you!” That’s because when you walked into the hard…when you walked into the heaviness…

they tried to measure you up…

They pulled out the tape and they thought to themselves, “THIS is the point where he’s going to quit…give up & turn back.”

And when you kept going…

…and made something out of nothing

🔥that’s the point where you became unmeasurable

Be unmeasurable every day…

Where you’re willing to keep coming back,

go another round,

& lay another brick.

Where you’re willing to hang in there another minute, another hour, another damn day.

To push beyond yesterday’s “far.”

To stretch beyond yesterday’s “hard.”

To make yesterday’s “finish line” today’s starting line.

Unbothered of the obstacles…

Unmindful of how close or how far away you are from the goal…

Just unmeasurable…

~Stay in The Sales Life 💪

You’re good…as of today

Whatever is considered “Best in the World” today is going to be obsolete tomorrow.

Technology is changing…

& if technology is changing so are tendencies…

& if tendencies are changing, so must your techniques.

Oh I get the fact that you’re all that and a bag of hot Funyuns…

You’ve exceeded your wildest expectations…

Making more money than you would’ve ever dreamed of…

You’re good….as of today.

🔥”Laurel” may be a good name for your dog or daughter…

🔥but it’s not a good strategy for your life.

When Kareem Abdul Jabbar broke the NBA all time scoring record, Wilt Chamberlain said, “Had I known anyone would come close to breaking the record I would’ve put it out of sight…”

Laurels…

Wilt was good…as of that “today.”

The sad thing is he knew there was more…

Even sadder is, he could’ve put it out of sight…

but didn’t.

Setting the record made him the “Best in the World….”

🔥Had he kept going…he could’ve been the best ever.

Oh you’re good…as of today.

~Stay in The Sales Life 💪

There’s an unedited version too

It may take me 10+ takes to make a 2 min video…

The same is true when I’m recording my podcast…

Some days are tougher than others because I just can’t get what I want to convey to flow right.

But you don’t see all of that…

You only see what I want you to see…

The edited version.

But there’s an unedited version too…

It’s full of takes & retakes; stumbling & slurs; trips & cursing rants.

I get pissed off…

then I get focused.

I try again…

and again…

and again.

Until the final version reveals itself.

All of the jumbled thoughts & efforts become refined and simplified through the try after try after try.

If you thought I was still talking about videos & podcasts you’d be misled.

I’m talking about Life.

Life is full of miscues, redo’s, rants, stumbles, and stalls.

You only see the edited version-the one others want you to see.

But there’s an unedited version too.

ALL of us have an unedited version.

So what you wish, envy, gawk, & wow about are edits.

It’s the version they want you to see.

You see the results…

but what you don’t see is what it took to get there.

The unedited version.

Everyone has an unedited version & I keep telling you this because I want you to realize that what you’re attempting to improve or change in your Life will not be accomplished in one take.

So don’t compare other people’s screens to your lens.

Their screen is the results.

Your lens is your effort & if you keep looking through your lens hoping to see their screen you’ll quit too soon.

Because you’re still editing.

It can be frustrating to see others vacationing while you’re figuring out how to pay the rent.

It can be overwhelming for him to be publishing his 7th book and you’re just trying to write one page.

Damn right it’s hard to show up at the gym in a size XXL and workout next to a slim, fit medium.

The new house, luxury ride, best schools, or padded bank accounts …

That’s the highlight reel.

Don’t compare their reels, highlighting their life, to your life, low-lighting your real fights, bouts, struggles, deficits, & adversity.

Just like you, they have an unedited version too.

You don’t know their full story…

Besides…their story ain’t your path.

What you see from them is possible…

but it’s not all that’s available.

Keep editing. Your screen is coming.

Stay in The Sales Life.

-Marsh

Catch ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Sales Life with Marsh Buice podcast. You can find it on iTunes, Spotify, or Google Play

Get your row on

There’s a Latin proverb that says, “If the wind will not serve, take the oars.”

It’s crazy how we just let the wind do whatever-I mean we see the direction we’re heading & we don’t like it, yet …

(Whoosh)….

We just allow the winds of Life to push us towards doom while we just sit & watch.

We shrug and say, “I can’t help it…the wind is blowing me there!”

Your credit card debt is piling up- all you make is minimum payments & when you do chunk it down in months, you max it back out in minutes for that outfit you had to have…

Your clothes are fitting tighter as your weight creeps back up. You worked so hard last summer to get that weight off before going on that cruise…

You say you need to get back to the gym, but it never becomes a must.

Every day seems to get a little worse for you at work. As a matter of fact, you saw them conducting interviews the other day, yet you didn’t know there was a position even open.

“I wonder if they’re about to run me off,” you whisper to yourself.

Your sales numbers aren’t just down this month…

You’ve gone from a slump, to a rut, to a damn grave. Everyone around you is smashing their objectives, yet you couldn’t make a deal with your customer if you agreed to buy it for them.

(Whoosh)…

The winds are always blowing in our lives…

Some days the winds feel like hurricanes and catastrophe looks eminent.

If the wind will not serve, take the oars.”

An oar is a pole with a flat blade on the end that you use to move & steer your boat in a certain direction.

So here you are sitting in your boat, The SS Life, drifting along waiting for the next gust of wind to push you even further in the direction that you don’t want to go.

More debt…

You’re getting fatter by the second…

No sales…

and you just sit there waiting for the wind to blow favorably…

Hell if the wind did blow in the right direction, you’ve waited so long & have been pushed so far off course that you’d need 4 years of continuous wind to get you back on track.

If you don’t like the direction you’re blowing, get to rowing.

Grab your oars and start rowing.

Damn right you’re gonna face headwinds.

Keep rowing…

Does it look like you’re about to go over the waterfall of bs?

Pivot your blade as you row to adjust your course. You didn’t get here overnight so you damn sure won’t get elsewhere with one row of your oar.

Keep rowing…

Are you getting your ass kicked in sales? Are you about to go up in size in pants? Do you have more month than money?

Row…row…row…

You’re not getting the bad customers, you’re working less & the ones you do work with, you selectively chose because you thought they were the buyers & not the liars.

Joke’s on you.

I get that you’re sore and seeing no results. You’re so tired you couldn’t even lift a pen much less do another squat.

Keep rowing…you got more in you.

When you think you can do no more, you’ve only reached less than half of your capability.

“I can’t go any further,” only means that you’ve reached rock bottom of your comfort zone.

Keep rowing….

Welcome to the grit factory…

Row…

This is where warriors are forged…

Row…

This is your gladiator moment…

Row…

Anyone can paddle in calm waters.

Paddling is satisfying…

Rowing is exhausting…

When the shit gets tough…

Row…

I’ve got to…

because the wind isn’t serving me.

It’s go time…

It’s row time…

Get your row on.

Stay in The Sales 💪ife

-Marsh

You were winning the whole time…

Author Tommy Baker gave a speech titled, “The Journey Is The Win,” and he emphasize this point,

“Even in the midst of chaos and uncertainty the last thing you want to hear is how beautiful the journey can be…yet when you look back on your life, that’s exactly what you’ll remember…”

When you retell your personal hell, you choke up because the words are mixed with joy and pain & are difficult to get out clearly.

Images flash in your mind or thoughts trigger you wondering, “I don’t know how I even got through…”

You thought the win was the destination, only to realize, looking back, that it was in the journey, and you were winning the whole time.

You just didn’t realize it.

The journey is the win.

Often times the wins were disguised as losses and what looked like a setback was really all part of the plan, because not only did you have to learn to win, you also to endure the losses.

Former Seattle Seahawks player Cliff Avril said that one of his biggest regrets while playing in the NFL was that he never took time to enjoy the process.

He fought so hard to make it to the league…to make the roster…to earn the contract…to overcome injuries…to play another year..to get to & win the Super Bowl – all of those are huge accomplishments, yet when he looks back over his career it was over in a instant…

and he never took time to enjoy the process.

The days are long, but the years are short.

You may not enjoy the moment, but you can respect the journey, because of who you’re becoming in the process.

Becoming is not some bubblegum flavored elixir that you take and everything will be just fine..

No, becoming is bitter, distasteful, and often unsettling, but it’s necessary…

…because you have to learn from the losses and grow in the wins.

When you lose, you learn to forge grit, persistence, and resilience…

When you lose, you learn how to figure it out on your own…get outside of your comfort zone, and dig deep to unleash capabilities you didn’t even know was there.

And when you win, you grow in self-confidence, getting a little more surer so when you lose again, you know you’re capable of winning again too.

The journey is the win…

I wouldn’t call it a win if you wouldn’t call it a journey.

Keep moving…

Stay in The Sales 💪ife

-Marsh

It‘s not called First Replier

Million dollar real estate broker Ryan Serhant observed that one reason why you may not be finding success is because you are replying and not responding. In this automated, ever-growing commoditized world, your greatest asset as a sales person is differentiating yourself by responding instead of replying.

In this automated, ever-growing commoditized world, your greatest asset as a sales person is differentiating yourself by responding instead of replying.

We salespeople often reply when the customer we’re currently working with is the cherry to our crap-filled month. Nothing’s been going right & no one is buying, so it’s no surprise this one isn’t either. While everyone around you seems to be swimming in deals, you just so happened to have caught the one picky customer who has NO CLUE what they want; or the customer who seems to be 11 yrs out from buying; or the customer who you just don’t seem to jive with… In defense, we shut down mentally and lay up lame ass replies to their questions & concerns. Replies are words placed in the right order, said at the right time, yet void of any emotion.

We had a customer come in recently who was all busted up. Her life was turned upside down. She left her abusive husband while he left her with bad credit and a repo’d car. Obviously she was an emotional soup-crying, confused, & no idea what to do from here. A tuned out salesperson would’ve pulled her credit & replied with, “Sorry, your credit is too bad I can’t help you,” but a tuned-in salesperson would respond by saying, “Look, your credit has taken some hits, so which family member can we get on the phone right now, to get you back on track? Today is going to be your new birthday!” The responding salesperson aligned with her emotional state & offered a specific course of action.

Think about it…they’re not called First Repliers, they’re called First Responders because they come onto the scene, asses the situation, & work to get you to safety. Customers need that from you. They come in with a range of emotions & need you to asses and respond in a way that aligns with their emotions & the results they need to see. The one they do business with is the one who responds best.

That might as well be you. 😉

I’ll see you in the Sales Life.

⭐️ Catch The Sales Life with Marsh Buice podcast. You can find it on iTunes, Spotify, or Google Play

Stop Apologizing

In his book, “Lose Well,” comedian Chris Gethard  writes,

“When we decide we want to shift the standard of our life to include something new and out of the box, we tend to spend a lot of time apologizing for it and justifying it. People we encounter express incredulity and we scramble to downplay the quest we’re setting out on.”

A’int that the truth…

…as soon as you throw something big and audacious out into the universe, what’s the first thing you do when people snap back with, “You!!…you’re going to do what!!”  “You want what?!” “You think you can be what?!”

You get slippery feet and immediately back away from your loftiness, simply because you expressed your dreams to a small-minded person who has given up on their own dreams.

Look how quick you are to release the reigns of your dreams simply because some else can’t see what you see. 

The minute they push back, express doubt, or look at you like you’re a damn fool, you apologize & justify with, “I know…it probably wasn’t gonna work anyway, but I was just thinking about it…” (Poof) “I was just goofing around..I-I-I was just bullshitting with you.” (Poof)

“Other people’s opinions are one of the most dangerous things to our success”

~Chris Gethard

Stop apologizing for who you are and what you want…if you want it and you’re committed to it..then f’ing do it, and stop apologizing along the way.

I don’t care how minor or major your pivot is, whether it’s learning a new language; if it’s taking swimming lessons so you can enjoy the summer with your kids; if it’s writing a book, blog or starting a podcast; or owning the damn company you for work for now….Go!!! and don’t look back nor explain yourself with weak ass apologies.

For 10 seconds, look up from this & ask yourself, “What do I want to do, go, be, and have?” No explaining…no justifying…and damn sure no apologizing.

If you want to be a stand up comedian, go to Open Mic Nights-yes you’ll be terrible, but you’ll never be good until you get worse first.

If you want to begin speaking, turn your phone on and contribute to the world-yes you…YOU have something we need to hear.

If you want to teach school enroll in online classes…but you’ve racked up a bunch of student loans and the government is already looking for you, then start by becoming an aide just to see if it’s something you really will commit to. (And work out some sort of payment arrangements with the gov, because they will get their money eventually. Trust me, I know firsthand.)

If  want to become an area manager, become a local one first. If you want to be a top producer, learn how to be a consistent one, then stretch the goal. If you want to be a better parent or just a better human being, then go right a damn head, step forward and stop apologizing.

We apologize too much and too long. We apologize over and over and over for our past mistakes and downfalls.

When you keep apologizing for then, you’ll never live your Now.

No wonder you can’t get ahead because your spending your current days apologizing for all of your yesterdays.

And get this...even if you were blemish free, they’d still dis, judge, and talk about you because people would rather judge you than account for themselves. It’s cool though, because they’re not on your bus anyway…

You want it, then do it, & stop apologizing.

I’ll see you in the Sales Life.