Many salespeople don’t like their jobs. For a variety of reasons that stem anywhere from, “I don’t like my company,” “I don’t like my boss,” “I don’t like my coworkers,” “I don’t like our product,” “I don’t believe in our product,” “Our prices are too high,” or any one of 50 ways to say “I make the company too much money and they don’t pay me enough.” They even write songs about it, like “Take this job and shove it.”

People want to leave their job, and either get a “better job” or even start their own business. Almost everyone, at one time or another, has said, “I would love to have my own business.”

Your reason to seek higher ground, or be on your own, may be as simple as wanting to tell the world to shove it. But whatever it is, it starts out as a dream. A dream held by so many people that it’s referred to simply as “The American Dream.” Owning your own business, working for yourself, making your own money and doing it your way.

To achieve this, many people look at the lure of direct selling or a home-based business. For more than 50 years, companies like Amway, Avon, Tupperware and Mary Kay Cosmetics have provided opportunities for men and women to break out on their own. Thousands of millionaires have been born from these ranks.

Here’s the reality check: Because people (like you) have real lives and real responsibilities—kids, house, debt—they can’t just quit and strike out on their own so they start out working part time on evenings and weekends.

There are, however, some hard statistical facts that will tell you four out of five people who start their own business fail in the first year. You may be saying to yourself, “Well, Jeffrey, I am the one that will succeed.”

If you are, my challenge to you is to first look at the following reasons that 80% of people fail and try to make certain you do not fall victim as they have:

1. Failure to understand yourself. Who are you, and what are you really seeking to achieve? Write down who are you seeking to become and what you really want to have.

2. Failure to identify why you’re doing this. What is your reason? What is your driver to make this fantasy a reality? Write down your real reason why.

3. Failure to make a realistic game plan. It must be something you are certain you can achieve. Write your game plan for certain success.

4. Failure to commit to “do.” What are you willing to do to make this happen? What are your intentions? Write them down. If you don’t intend, you will never do.

5. Failure to become a “product of the product.” You gotta love it and believe it before you can ever transfer the message. If you don’t “live” your product, no one else will.

6. Failure for you to have the right amount of funding or backing when you start. Don’t ever run out of money. Write down how much you believe you’ll need and compare it to how much you currently have.

7. Failure to get past the “three ‘you’re crazy’ rule.” Three people tell you “You’re crazy” and you quit. If you want to succeed, you can’t quit.

I’ve been an entrepreneur since the age of seven. My whole family and all of my family’s friends were entrepreneurs. Being in business for myself is not new to me, nor is it confusing nor am I afraid of it. My tolerance for risk is high, and my need to feel secure outside myself is low.

You may not have that same belief system, and you may not have been fortunate enough to grow up in an entrepreneurial environment. If that’s the case, you may need to start slower. But here’s the two-part secret. Part one: You have to start, or it will never happen. Part two: If you do it for the money, you will lose.

Whether you have a job or want to start your own business, if you do it for the love of it, if you do it for the belief in your company, belief in your product and belief in yourself, if you do it because you believe you can help others and make a difference, then the money will follow. Your passion and belief will become transferable and sales will be easy.

As you seek your own brass ring, make sure that if you’re fortunate enough to capture it, that you’re willing to wear it with pride and happiness.

Jeffrey Gitomer, author of The Sales Bible and The Little Red Book of Selling, is president of Charlotte-based Buy Gitomer. E-mail him at salesman@gitomer.com.

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