Introduction

When I began my career in sales, I was taught the most conventional sales strategy of all: Outwork everyone else.

For five years, I did just that. I was ambitious, and I sold harder, worked harder, and tried harder than my competition. I outran everyone.

Was I financially successful? Certainly. But over those years, a thought was beginning to percolate in the back of my mind: No matter how many people you outrun, you're still running.

Despite my success, I began to wonder if I was doing things wrong. Or perhaps even worse, I was doing the things right, but for the wrong reasons. I was successful, but was I professionally satisfied? Far from it—I yearned for a bigger challenge. Confident? Hardly—I was insecure, constantly trying to prove myself. Happier each year? Not a chance. I had no choice but to run harder each year as the treadmill sped up.

It was a thought that began to haunt me. And over time I began to realize I wasn't alone. Lots of people were running. Hard, fast, and long. What struck me, though, was that not all of them were succeeding. I was in the minority. Of all the entrepreneurs and salespeople out there, very few were reaching their potential. The markets for most industries were controlled by a few key businesses. The majority of sales were made by a handful of high performers. I began to realize that what most people were doing—even the ones running hard—just wasn't working.

For all that running, the vast majority of the world was stuck in mediocrity.

That breakthrough sent me on a new personal quest to understand success, and happiness. To discover why so many people settled for so much less than they were capable of. To define why success seemed so elusive for so many, despite their best efforts.

Four years later, I sold my business and began to teach what I'd learned. Today, that teaching continues. We help thousands of entrepreneurs and salespeople each year do the right things for the right reasons, and rise to their true potential.

This book—and the story of Josh—is, in many ways, my story. But I suspect it's also yours, and that of anyone else who has struggled with finding their way in business and life.

My hope is that all of our stories, like this one, have happy endings.

Richard Robbins