Some people spend their whole lives trying to achieve success, but do they even really know what success is or how it is measured? Is it based on the amount of money you make, the house you live in, the clothes you wear, or the car you drive? What about measuring someone’s success simply based on their personal accomplishments that have positively impacted their lives and those around them? Defining success is the easy part – getting there is the hard part.
This expert sales interview explores:
- Obstacles
- Teamwork
- Keeping Focus and Motivation
- Rise: How a House Built a Family
Obstacles
As a victim of domestic violence and a mother of four, Cara knew that she needed to take a big step to boost their lives. Brookins and her kids were tired of living a life with no control and more importantly, they really needed a place to live. This is where she decided that it was time to physically do something to better their lives and that is when she decided to build her own home.
Everyone is presented with obstacles in their lives and it would be very easy to be simply paralyzed by fear. Brookins says that in order to silence fear paralysis everyone needs to consider, “ if we do it wrong, what is the worst thing that could happen? If you can live with the worst case scenario, there is nothing left to fear. You can jump into anything, and each time you mess up, you know you are a little bit closer to getting it right.” And the reality is that nobody is really wanting you to fail – it is mostly just in your own head.
Teamwork
One of the biggest lessons that Brookins learned while building her house with her children was that they didn’t know each other or communicate very well. It wasn’t that they would fight, it was that they were silent. But when you are working together 20 hours a day for nine months to achieve one goal, it really brings you closer out of necessity and good communication becomes essential.
Whether it’s in a corporate setting or building a house, consider this: has the goal been articulated well enough? And if so, you need to trust your team to work hard to achieve that goal. Brookins job as a mother was to lead her children, but in order to be an effective and respected leader, she literally led from the trenches.
Focus and Motivation
Goal oriented and optimistic. She would sacrifice anything to reach a goal, but what she has learned is that she needs to give herself permission to take back some of the things that she has sacrificed. A sacrifice is usually meant to be a temporary thing. Finding balance and focus when you work for yourself is very hard, especially when you are interested in multiple things at once. Brookins explains that it is also important to remove any “get out of jail cards” and sabotage your plan B. Find your most important goal, focus on it, declare it and go for it. That is the key to success.
Rise
After escaping an abusive marriage, Cara Brookins had four children to provide for and no one to turn to but herself. In desperate need of a home but without the means to buy one, she did something incredible.
Equipped only with YouTube instructional videos, a small bank loan, and a mile-wide stubborn streak, Cara built her own house from the foundation up with a work crew made up of her four children.
It would be the hardest thing she had ever done. With no experience nailing together anything bigger than a bookshelf, she and her kids poured concrete, framed the walls and laid bricks for their two-story, five bedroom house. She had convinced herself that if they could build a house, they could rebuild their broken family.
To learn more about how to succeed, watch the entire expert sales interview. If you would like to purchase her book, it is available on Amazon.
About our Host
John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.
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