One day,
out of the blue, my grandson Andy asked me, “You’re smart, you wrote a book, you've been speaking a long time. How come you’re not rich and successful?”
I didn't have an answer for him.
But I
kept thinking about it.
Later, I
thought, why would he ask me that
question? And
then I thought, why not?
It was
a good question.
And after
much soul searching, I finally came up with the reasons why:
·
I
never asked anyone in my profession for help.
·
I
was too embarrassed to ask anyone for advice.
·
I
never made a habit of sending “thank you notes” to clients.
·
I
never made a habit of networking.
·
I
never asked for referrals.
·
I
never turned my old business into new business.
·
I
never thought of my speaking career as a business.
·
I
didn’t like to make cold calls.
I realized that
when I thought I was working, I was just being busy. I wrote and rewrote my talks, and I spent a
great deal of time writing books and booklets.
I determined
that writing books and booklets was a good strategy for my speaking career. But I was not getting in touch with clients
to get the bookings I needed in order to sell my books and
booklets.
I don’t want anyone else
to feel they have to go it alone. Which is why I wanted to gather the women’s
stories in my new book to help other women - it's much easier to envision your own success if you can see the path to someone else's.
Joan
Kennedy
