Who is John Galt?

I cannot imagine a 24 hour period of my life passing without my reading something! (I frequently use the analogy of the alcoholic, for whom 'one is too many, and a thousand are not enough' to describe my devotion to reading.)

I remember as a little girl, my mother would take all six of us by bus to The Book Fair. It's a big deal here, and the proceeds go to charity. You could buy treasures for as little as a nickel in those days (still can). We'd take shopping bags, and would come back loaded!

I love stories that illustrate universal truths, and I find myself branching from fiction into other writing that offers more of that truth. That doesn't feel like it makes a lot of sense, and in trying to clarify what I mean, I'll probably muddy the water a great deal more. But I'm gonna do it anyway!

In the last few weeks, since I finished 'Spiritual Marketing, my reading has gone like this:

I recently finished re-reading Illusions, by Richard Bach. That sent me hunting for Jonathan Livingston Seagull. In my hunt, I came across Og Mandino's The Greatest Salesman In The World. Next to it was Claude Bristol's The Magic Of Believing. Then I re-read 'semesters' in Zig Zigler's University of Success.

Then, back to fiction - Richard Perry's Montgomery's Children.

(Did I mention that I have a library card? I never use it, I just buy my books. They always want the books back, and I always have a hard time parting with them.)

The recurring theme in all those books is Belief. And the effect on my activities has been the motivation to undertake 'selling.'

I read this forum and others, and in the last month or so I've collected gems that have helped me overcome my 'fear' of selling. Chief among them was the suggestion you made, Gordon, to go out with the intention of getting a 'no.' In another forum, someone said to set a goal of 100 no responses to my cold calling efforts.

I've searched the archives of selected forums where salesmen and women regularly contribute, and have made their words part of my daily reading fare. Somebody wrote once that the quickest way to make money was to go out and sell something. Cool. Now all I gotta do is learn to sell.

My mother would call it stubbornness on my part, this unwillingness to 'not be able to do something.' Ok. I'm stubborn. I may not become the world's most successful salesperson, but I am getting good enough at it to create an income. Unfortunately, that keeps me away from the computer. When I've achieved that level of comfort you write about - where you can do what you want and have your needs met - I'll launch a couple of internet projects I've got going.

In the meantime, I'm going to be re-reading Barbara Sher's How To Get What You Really Want.

Then, it'll be time to take up Atlas Shrugged, again. This time, maybe I'll read John Galt's whole speech.

Mary