My Perfect State of Mind

I've decided to spend a portion of my time prospecting by cold calling. A daunting task to some, but after spending the last 2 months building a more passive prospecting method, ie. bringing people to me, I wanted to try something a bit more active.

A friend of mine compared the activity to Hunting for new partners versus Farming them, which is what I was doing. There's nothing wrong in either approach, but for someone that is as hungry as I am for results, I needed something more powerful than I was experiencing.

I've got some experience using the phones in this way, as I was once trained as a recruiter. The most difficult task for me then was simply to get on the phone. I've found that if you ask people what one of their fears would be in building their own business, making cold calls would probably be at the top of the list.

For me, its a litany of excuses and assumptions based on no facts, and complications that are all in my mind. "I can't call while the kids are home, they're too loud", "I'm bothering people while they work", "I'll try to rush through my script, so I can take as little of their time as possible." All these excuses, are based on what's in my head...Fear.

The reality is, the people I'm looking for are open and receptive to what I have to say, and will often thank me for calling. The folks I want are already looking for me. Everyone else, is simply a stepping stone to reaching the right person. My approach is respectful of everyone's time, and my phone manner is quite professional so a simple phone call is not the end of the world.

As I was calling today, I realized that my mind was in a perfect state of zen for making calls. So I decided to write down how I was feeling so that the next time anxiety or fear clouded my mind, I could look back and remind myself of how it should be. I hope this helps anyone else going through similar difficulties...

My Perfect State Of Mind by Scott Fain 

Right now my mind is only focused on the next call I need to make.

I feel no anxiety.
I feel no apprehension.
I feel no fear.
I'm not procrastinating with busy work.

The people I'm calling, while busy, are still courteous to me.
I may be interrupting their day briefly, but for those that want to hear what I have to say, I get "Thanks" and gratitude.
I'm simply calling my way through a  list of people who may or may not be a fit for my opportunity.
Its not important that I sign everyone I talk to, what's important is that I can scratch them off my list.

I feel no sadness.
I feel no anger at being told "NO"
I'm actually happy that I can move on to the next person versus wasting my time with people who are not interested but too afraid to say so.

I'm not invested in the next call emotionally, all I know is that if I keep going I will find the people I'm looking for.
That's all there is to it, keep going and you will find the people you're looking for.

I don't care why some people aren't interested.
I don't care what new venture they started before I spoke to them.
I don't care about their excuses.
Their excuses make them unqualified to talk to me and I need to move on from them as quickly as possible.

My kids aren't an intrusion to my making calls.
They can be managed, and they can be entertained.
If I don't care about others excuses, I have even less patience for my own.

Keep going and you will find the people you're looking for.
If I keep going I'm going to find the people I'm looking for.
If I keep calling I will find the partners I need to succeed.

And that's my perfect state of mind.