If Buddha Was A Salesman – Right Livelihood

Right Livelihood asks us to love our world through our work, instructs is to avoid vocations that harm others. Right Livelihood is doing the right things for the right people.

From a businessman's perspective it is knowing your vision, your mission, your path and living a life consistent with that path. Who you are and who you want to be. It is the answer to the guidance counselor's question, “if you had a million dollars, what would you do?” or the hiring manager's question, “where do you want to be in 3 – 5 years?” Define where you want to be and the way that you are going to get there.

Identify your path and align your actions accordingly. Is what you are doing today getting you to where you want to be and creating the person whom you are to become? What can you do to advance? Take on new challenges and incorporate new tasks into the daily routine that give you another starting point from which to grow. If your vision is to add more marketing skills to your sales skill set, what little things can you do to market something? If speaking at conferences is where you will be, what speaking opportunities are you taking now? If aiming for larger clients is your goal, how are you building your product and team today to best address the needs of the larger client?

Make sure that you are acting not only in the best interest of yourself but also the best interest of the environment in which you are working. You help yourself by helping others. Provide fertile soil and pure rain to the garden in which you grow. Be a helpful resource to your customers, coworkers and partners.

4 Keys to Happiness

The Buddha once told laymen that there are four things conducive to happiness in this world:

1 - To be skilled, efficient, energetic, earnest and learned in your chosen profession.

Work passionately to be the best professional and expert in whatever you do. Don't sell, be a valuable consultative resource to your clients.

2 - To protect one's income and family’s means of support.

You are no good to anyone else when you can't take care of yourself. I am assuming that if you are reading this blog that you are in business and not working for not for profit, charity, or out to save the Manatee. Make sure you are paying yourself as you help others.

3 - To have virtuous, trustworthy, and faithful friends and spiritual aspirations.

Act with a good heart and surround yourself with colleagues and business partners who share similar values. You are who you surround yourself with.

4 - To be content and to live within one's means.

You are who you are and not the deals you have already closed or your next career move. Enjoy who you are and what you have while not wishing to be anyone or have anything else.

Money and Fame Will Take Care of Themselves

“Don't Be Best Friends With Pride And Vanity”

“Abandon All Hope For Rewards, Don't Expect Applause”

Monetary and fame rewards are results of what others give to us. When we base our actions and life on others then we allow them to be the masters of our fate. We act in their best interest and not ours.

Loosen the tightfisted grip on worldly values. Be centered, balanced, straightforward, calm and clear amid any temporary weather conditions. Right Livelihood is acting upon what is inside of you no matter the weather or outer circumstances beyond our control. Acting based on Right Livelihood means learning to both sit and stand erect, needing nothing to lean on. We stand up for ourselves and our beliefs and stand behind our words and deeds. We become master of our domain.

When we surround ourselves with the right people who reward us for doing what we have set out to do then we truly earn our rewards on our terms. Money and fame are not wrong but achieving money and fame based on actions that are not in line with our path and values causes conflict and false joy. To have joy within oneself without conflict is true happiness and can only be achieved by living in a way that is aligned with your path.

“If you meet Buddha on the road, kill him” - Because he must be an imposter, since the only real Buddha or divine being is within you.

There is no one else that can guide you or give you peace besides yourself. Awaken your inner guru, your inner guide – the Buddha within, the secret master comfortably ensconced forever in our own heart cave. This inner guru is non other than truth itself – our own innate wisdom and heart center's noblest intuitive understanding and love.

My Promise to Myself

In the digital advertising space, I am an advertising consultant. My job is to know my space, my industry and be able to consult with the right publishers how my solution addresses the pressing issues that hold them back.

Every Buddha needs to work. Every salesman needs to sell. I have set my path (vision & mission) and I act in a way that is in accordance with that mission and vision.

Today I will let myself just be and I will concentrate on just doing. I will let happen what is supposed to happen. I can only control what I can control and I will do the best that I can do with the resources that I have available to me.

I will not engage in destructive behavior but rather creative behavior that generate positive results. This may include educating myself on industry trends and happenings, examining the results of clients who use my digital advertising in order to create best and most efficient practices, sharing that information through blogs and tweets, and, most importantly, getting in contact with potential business partners to advance the adoption of my company's product. I will evangelize what I have to offer in order to get meetings, set demos and close deals. This is what I do since I am a salesman. 

This blog post was developed based on the book, “Awakening The Buddha Within” by Lama Surya Das. It can be found: http://www.amazon.com/Awakening-Buddha-Within-Tibetan-Western/dp/0767901576

If Buddha Was A Salesman – Right Action – Derek Jeter takes grounders and batting practice very day

Right Action asks all of us to focus on how we conduct our everyday business. Our sales career is the ultimate art form and we are the creators. Any good business plan, career plan or sales plan should have a Vision, Mission, Strategy and Tactics. The plan sets forth a big picture goal (Vision) done by accomplishing something (Mission) in this way (Strategy) by doing this (Tactics) every day. A mentor of mine taught me that “You never get paid for the work that you do today.” Right Actions are the activities done on a daily basis that support the greater plan. The blocking and tackling, the execution that make plans successful. Activity drives results.

Additionally, a clear perspective on Right Action teaches us that our actions are like karmic seeds. When we behave positively we get positive results. If we hurt others, we hurt ourselves. Helping others serves ourselves. Give more than you take.

Finally, do. There is nothing such as a perfect plan so get to a point where you can stop planning and start doing. Generate positive momentum and don't be afraid to make mistakes. A body in motion has the tendency to stay in motion. Get your body in motion.

Derek Jeter takes grounders and batting practice every day

New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter won the Rookie of the Year Award and helped the Yankees win the 1996 World Series. Jeter was also a member of championship-winning teams in 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2009. In 2000, Jeter became the only player in history to win both the All-Star Game MVP Award and the World Series MVP Award in the same year. He has been selected as an All-Star eleven times, won the Silver Slugger award four times, and he has won the Gold Glove award on five occasions. He is the all-time hits leader among shortstops and his .317 career batting average through the 2009 season ranks as the fifth-highest among active players. He has been among the American League (AL) leaders in hits and runs scored for the past ten years. He is the all-time Yankees hit leader, having passed Hall of Fame member Lou Gehrig in 2009.

Derek Jeter gets to the ballpark and practices taking ground balls and participates in batting practice every day. Do you? Do you practice your presentation consistently? Are you doing the little things every day that contribute to grand success? Derek Jeter does. I find that the hardest call to make is the first one. The best call is usually the last one – so make another one.

You Manage What You Measure

You manage what you measure. Tactics and activities that are not measured are wasted activities. On a positive note, not measuring your activities such as calls made, emails made, social media followers, meetings set/held, proposals out, etc. does not give you the positive reinforcement that what you are doing is ultimately working. Measuring what you do also allows you to optimize your actions and focus on what works best.

Don't Take Wasn't isn't Freely Given – Give to Others

You work and live in an industry and market that is a lot smaller than you think. You competitor today is your partner tomorrow. The prospect that rejected you today is your reference in the future. Help everyone. Be a servant to others and they will serve you (or at least you will be served). Think of every contact you make as part of your environment and by strengthening your environment, you make the soil in the garden you grow that much more fertile. Be a consultant to your coworkers, clients, prospects (even if you are consulting them on things unrelated to your sale and product) and industry partners. I promise you that karma will repay you.

Be careful about accepting gifts from others. Give more than you accept. When going to a client's/prospect's meeting place I don't accept the water/soda, etc. that I am inevitably offered. Be prepared, be centered and self contained. You are at the meeting to give to them. Be strong within your foundation and be ready to give to them.

Just Do It

The definition of an expert is someone who has made all the mistakes that there are to make. When one aged Zen master was asked to relate his biography, he exclaimed, “Just one mistake after another!”

As we think about our actions we can't help but reflect on our mistakes. All the things that we wish we could undo; we all have regrets. Each mistake is a learned opportunity. A mistake not made is a mistake waiting to happen.

My blog is terrible. I don't have the reach to get it out to enough people and the content is not good enough to warrant anyone sharing it with their network – ever. I am making mistakes. I will get better. I will stick with it, regret what I am doing today and over analyze my mistakes so that I don't make them again. What I am doing right is that I am doing it and if I don't do it I won't get any better.

Embrace mistakes and endeavor to make them. Conquer the paralysis by analysis by getting out there and doing. As Wayne Gretzky once said, “You never score on 100% of the shots you never take.” If your Vision, Mission, and Strategy are in place then concentrate on you actions to reach your success.