In 2008, I applied for a job at a recruitment company.
I’m applying for a corporate sales position.
The boss who interviewed me seemed intelligent and interesting.
He also played games and also followed the Naruto series.
I was excited about meeting another gamer and anime fan at work.
It’s also my first time meeting a geek in a high position.
After building rapport, the conversation went to my business skills.
His first question was…
I said yes.
He then asked me…
I told him that I consider myself seven out of ten.
I thought for a few seconds to put together how I’d describe my communication skills.
I can have a conversation in English.
I can prospect in English.
I am comfortable telemarketing in English.
I can present our products and services in English.
I can give instructions and explain things in English.
I’ve sold things to English speaking clients.
I consider myself pretty good because I’ve improved already.
However, I know that I have more things to learn.
I expect that it will take time until I can say that I’m at level ten.
I told the interviewer.
The interviewer smiled and asked another follow-up question.
I thought about my answer a little longer than the previous question.
An eight is someone exceptional at communicating in English.
Level eight communicators are extraordinarily convincing when they speak.
A level eight explain things well.
Level eight communicators can transform complicated information into simple, straightforward explanations.
Almost anyone can follow what level eight communicators are saying.
They can also discuss intricate details in English.
My current goal is to get from a level seven to a level eight.
The people I’ve met who are level eight are top sellers, managers, professionals, and business owners that I’ve met.
Many priests, pastors, and religious leaders are also at level eight.
These people are charismatic, persuasive, and have attractive personalities.
That’s interesting, my interviewer told me.
If that’s how you describe a nine or a ten?
I thought for a minute.
No answer.
I used my favorite stalling technique.
That’s an interesting question.
I’ll need a minute to compose my thoughts.
I told him that’s the first time I’ve been asked that question.
I’ve never really considered that.
I’ve always thought about exactly where I am and where I want to go next.
I learned a planning trick from my previous sales manager.
If I always hit my short term goals, I’m guaranteed to succeed in my long term goals.
So I made it a point to only think about the next level after I reached the next level.
It’s a difficult question.
Can we try another question?
I’ll get back to you when I come up with an answer.
I don’t have an answer for this right now.
He said okay, and we continued our interview.
I eventually got hired.
However, the memory of this question stayed with me.
I realized there’s an important lesson.
I kept trying to recall this event so I can get the lesson.
I read or saw somewhere that researchers studied people who end up in prison for violent crimes.
Violent crimes include murder, rape, and you get the idea.
They’re trying to come up with solutions to violent crimes.
The researchers are trying to determine what are the common factors among people who end up violent.
When they discover what violent people have in common, maybe they can come up with a solution.
At first, they thought it was race.
Wrong answer.
People of different races are in prison for violent crimes.
Next, they thought it was religion.
That’s not really a factor.
There are people of different religions who are imprisoned for violent crimes.
How about family upbringing, social class, and education level?
There are people in prison from the lower class and the upper class.
There are people in prison who grew up from complete families, broken families, and grew up in the orphanage.
There are people in prison with grade school, high school, and college education levels, but they noticed something unusual.
You’re not going to believe what the problem was.
They noticed the people in prison have their communication skills disproportionately lower than their educational level.
The most common relatable example I can think of is back in high school.
Some people don’t have friends or couldn’t get a boyfriend or girlfriend.
The situation stays the same when they get to college.
People generally call them a loser, and they become losers for the rest of their life.
These people are generally bullied or ignored by bullies, teachers, and peers.
We generally forget about these people.
When they reappear in our lives years later, they are either losers or in the news.
If you’re unhappy and miserable and you can’t get what you want with words, what’s the next step?
If you can’t get what you want with words, the next step is you get what you want using force.
I was on my way to becoming this kind of person.
I grew up violent, foul-mouthed and had poor communication skills.
I should be in jail today because there were so many times that I almost did something stupid, but for some miraculous reason, I didn’t.
I somehow found myself learning how to improve my communication skills.
I got better, and I got more of what I wanted in life little by little.
My desire to get what I want by violent means seemed to have gone down little by little.
I worked in sales.
One skill that I learned is called networking for contacts.
This skill involves starting conversations with people and getting their contact information.
I’ll have the opportunity to follow up and offer products if I have their contact info.
My boss was happy that I have this ability.
After our meetings, he would take me to Starbucks so I could get business cards and phone numbers of potential clients.
During our coffee meetings, I notice a group of men.
These men are wearing collared shirts or long-sleeved shirts.
Some are wearing barong or full business suits.
They are usually in their forties or fifties.
Some of these men are older.
They’ll order coffee and a pastry.
They’ll chat about life and family.
One of the men will pass around an envelope with a thick amount of paper.
You’ll hear the words, “are these okay, attorney?”
One or two of these men are lawyers.
They’ll shake hands.
One will write a check.
They’ll continue speaking.
My boss tells me that a big transaction was happening on the table.
In my curiosity, I pretended to go to the toilet to glance at what’s in the papers.
I saw the words twenty million pesos on the check that the guy was writing.
I told my boss what I saw.
That’s normal, he said.
They’re probably buying property or getting the long term services of a company.
That’s probably just a downpayment.
The largest that I’ve seen is 200 million.
You’ll see these meetings happen all the time at coffee shops and Chinese restaurants.
Chinese restaurants?
I looked at my boss.
He’s Filipino-Chinese.
He’s probably telling the truth.
Since that conversation, I’ve seen so many of these transactions take place.
I’ve seen dozens.
I was working in sales and earning a little over minimum wage.
My salary was ₱ 15,000 a month for going to the office forty hours a week.
There’s a group of people who know the right words.
They hang out in a coffee shop.
They earn tens to hundreds of millions of pesos after a one-hour meeting.
These people know something that I don’t.
All I know is they have two things.
They have written the right words.
Those contracts and agreements that they passed around and checked by the lawyer are valuable.
They said the right words that got the other party to agree with them and hand over the money.
If I know these words, I can eventually get to this level.
This is what I feel level nine is.
Level nine is my next goal after reaching level eight.
Have you ever heard of the author named J. K. Rowling?
She wrote the Harry Potter book series.
This series of books eventually became a movie franchise.
In 2019, she had a net worth of almost one billion dollars.
That’s not bad.
All the books in the Harry Potter books have a total of 1,084,170 words.
The first book is 200 pages.
The total number of pages of all seven Harry Potter books is 3,400.
Is earning one billion dollars a bad return for writing 3,000 pages?
If you knew for sure that you’d earn one billion dollars, how much time will you devote to mastering your skills?
I’m not saying that by following me, you can earn one billion dollars.
J. K. Rowling is one of the people that I classify as a level ten.
She’s probably in the highest tier.
These are people who honed their communication skills and, as a consequence, have received the support of millions of people.
I’m not at that level yet.
I’m showing you what’s possible when you reach higher levels.
I’m trying to get from level 7.5 to level 8.
In 2010, I reached level 7.
In 2020, I feel that I’m already at 7.5.
I feel that I’ll need another five years to get to level 8.
Eventually, I’ll train for level 9.
If I get there, I’ll aim for level 10.
During our training, my goal is to get you from where you are and add a few points to your current skill level so you can get hired at your dream job.
What is your current skill level, and where do you want to be?
Thank you for reading this far and thanks for your attention.
I am praying for your success. God bless!
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