How many of you love fishing? I am not an avid fishermen, but I do enjoy getting out and relaxing in a boat with a fishing rod in my hand. I may only do it once or twice a year. It’s not for the love of the sport, it is more for the relaxing time that I go. The camaraderie that you have with a couple of good friends and the occasional fish that you might catch. I enjoy that.

There is one thing that you must have while you are fishing. That’s patience. If you struggle with patience you will not make a good fisherman or a good prospector for your business. Fishing is a lot like prospecting.

Lets examine this further. First you have to go out to the right spot. You just don’t go to where you want to go. You have to go where the fish are. You see, when you are prospecting you may have to get out of your comfort zone and go to where your target market is. Like we said before, talking to grandma and Uncle John are probably not going to get you very far in your prospecting attempts. Oh they will listen to you, but your bank account will soon run dry.

When you see a certain marketing strategy, that you really like to do, is not working out for you, change the location. Or try a different marketing technique. Don’t get frustrated and do what the 95% of all network marketers do after about sixty days of working their business. Quit! “This isn’t working for me, I quit!” Patience is required when prospecting.

Try a different spot on the lake. Use a different lure or maybe these fish like worms?  The fish are out there. You just have to be patient. Find them, and use the right bait. You’ll catch em.

One example of this is when I first started video marketing. I was not a good candidate for the screen. At least that’s what I thought. I was nervous and fumbled my words, but I keep working at it. Practiced what I would say before I went in front of the camera. (You don’t want to be reading a scrip.) Finally I put my first video out and I had more people say how good my video was. I thought I was terrible. Sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone. Try different marketing techniques, even if you are uncomfortable with them.

Ever catch a small fish, or one that just wasn’t right? What did you do with that fish? Throw em back in the water?  Sometimes you have to do that. A person in your organization just doesn’t have it or wants to leave for this, that, and the other reason. Let em go. Throw them back. There are more and bigger fish in the lake. It’s the big fish that your looking for anyway.

Remember, once you learn the art of marketing and prospecting, it doesn’t matter what kind of business that you are in. You will be able to find the fish. You will have an arsenal of lures to attract the right fish to you, and you will have the right strategies and techniques to catch those fish and bring them into your boat.

Be patient! Fishing takes time, and so does prospecting. Remember. Quitters never win, and winners never quit.