I'll never forget my first Must Thinking moment. I was doing a pro bono project for the publisher of a small magazine that focused on small and emerging businesses. They wanted feedback on their media kit, so I asked for a bit of background on the entrepreneurial community.
They sent over a pile of reading material. Almost immediately, I was bowled over by the positive impact of these entrepreneurs on the economy.
But when I learned that 75% of them closed their doors because they didn't make enough money, I felt terrible. My heart went out to all the good, talented people whose dreams where shattered.
As a business-to-business sales expert, it was also clear to me that they lacked the knowledge and skills needed to acquire corporate clients. Curious, I began researching the "sales" resources available to these entrepreneurs.
Eighty hours later (on what was supposedly a 2-hour project), I concluded that most of the advice they were getting was dead wrong for the corporate market.
At that moment, a little voice inside me piped up and said, "You need to do something about this, Jill."
"I can't make a living selling to small companies," I argued.
The voice persisted: "You have the expertise to help these people."
"They can't afford me," I argued back. "Plus, their goal would be to use me for the fewest hours possible. That's no way to build a consulting practice."
But that little voice wouldn't go away.
