Selling

The Illustrated Guide to

You
Custom Design
Your Work Life

“Right on target.”
—Steven R. Covey

John Boyd
Illustrated by
Mike Bohman
 The Illustrated Guide to

Selling
Custom Design
Your Work Life You Praise for Selling You
“Selling You arms you with the knowledge and confidence to approach, interact, and build
John Boyd, technology sales veteran, shows you how to use street-tested trust with hiring managers and prospective customers.”
sales techniques to get the job and the life you want. If you feel a longing —Joseph Grenny, Co-author of the New York Times bestsellers
to make a change, learn how to attract work opportunities that are aligned Influencer, Crucial Conversations, and Crucial Confrontations
with your personal and professional goals. Find out how to sell and market
yourself in any economy.
“An enjoyable ride—Selling You is packed with unique and valuable ideas for finding
satisfying work.”
Praise for Selling You —Rich Feller
“Selling You will make you think of your career in a whole new way. The principles, illustrations, and stories are right on Professor and President, National Career Development Association
target and can make a dramatic impact in your self-marketing efforts.”
—Steven R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and The Leader in Me “Hard-hitting ideas in an easy-to-read and entertaining format.”

“Vibrant images and excellent self-marketing tips—Selling You will put you in the driver’s seat of your career.”
—Richard Paul Evans
#1 New York Times bestselling author of The Christmas Box and The Walk
—Daniel Pink, New York Times bestselling author of Drive and Free Agent Nation

“This book shows you how to determine and get the ideal job for you in any market. It can change your life.” “Selling You will change how you think about work. It puts the power in your hands to dictate
—Brian Tracy, author of Reinvention how, when, and where you work. It is the re-examine, re-charge, re-create guide that will lift
your sights and your spirit.”
“This is a great book—Selling You will inspire you and provide valuable tools to architect your career.”
—Darby Checketts
—Denis Waitley, author of The Psychology of Winning
Author of Customer Astonishment:10 Secrets to World-Class Customer Care
“If you’re trying to get more control over your career or grow your business, this is the right book. It’s simple, visual, cuts
through the fluff, and tells you exactly what you should do.” “John’s SMART selling principles helped me with the motivation and sales strategies to get the
—Robert G. Allen, bestselling author of Multiple Streams of Income first key customers signed for my consulting start-up. There is no down economy if you imple-
ment the strategies in this book.”
—Mitch Brinton
US $19.95
Principal, Virtual CMO Consulting
 The Illustrated Guide to

Selling
“John Boyd’s approach to sales is world class. We have benefited on a daily basis from the
SMART sales system that he developed.”
—Alan Davidson
CEO, Customer Elite

“John’s straightforward, focused, personal selling model helped me land the exact job I carved
out. I actually enjoyed the process. I do not fear losing my job knowing if I had to, I could do
it again.”
—Rhett Barney

“Selling You is full of the principles and concepts we all need to find satisfying work. From help-
You
Custom Design
ing its readers change from a W-2 to a business perspective, to the amazing illustrations to help Your Work Life
its audience capture and internalize its message, this book is a must read.”
—Ken Kaufman
Founder and CEO, CFOwise, Bestselling Author, Impact Your Business

“John’s principles for seeking an optimum work life has played a significant role in shaping
my career path. His ideas helped me land my first full-time sales job in financial services out
of college. I increased my salary a year later by 228% using John’s free agency philosophy. This
carried over into my entrepreneurial ventures—resulting in the founding and sale of three
technology start-ups.”
—Chad Fullmer

John Boyd
Illustrated by
Mike Bohman
 The Illustrated Guide to Selling You: Custom Design Your Work Life
Copyright © 2011 by John Boyd
All rights reserved.

BookWise Publishing
Salt Lake City, Utah
www.bookwisepublishing.com
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without specific written
permission from the publisher. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via
any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only To my Mother,
authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.
who has the courage of a thousand lions.
Book Design by Paul Killpack, Highland, Utah

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Pending

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011901399

The Illustrated Guide to Selling You /John Boyd

ISBN 978-1-60645-060-4

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in the United States of America

Acknowledgements
I started working on this book about seven years ago and completely gave up
on it twice. I have many people to thank for helping me to make it a reality.
Karen, my wife and friend for the past twenty years was my head coach,
editor, and cheerleader throughout the process. She spent endless hours
helping me to untangle my thoughts and get them into coherent written
form. This is partly her book.

Mike Bohman created all of the illustrations. With his amazing talent and
vision, the concepts have come to life. Paul Killpack did a fantastic job on the
design of the book cover and interior. His clean and elegant style captured
my intent perfectly.

I’m grateful for the editors of Precision Editing Group, as well as Laurie
Cisneros for helping me to express myself in a readable way. Karen
Christoffersen of BookWise Publishing lent me her legendary book
production talent and gave me the coaching and encouragement I needed
to finish the project. Thanks to Meagen Bunten and Dian Thomas, as well as
the BookWise authors, for giving me energy and motivation.

Alan Davidson helped me to crystallize many of the ideas in these pages and
his encouragement and editing contribution have been critical. Thanks to
Kris Boyd, my brother and business partner, for his insight and coaching.
I’m grateful to my father, who has been my lifelong sales, business, and
personal mentor.

Celesta Davis is the prototypical autonomous agent—she has customized

her career on her terms. Her editing input was invaluable. Thanks to Chad
Fullmer and Brad Jensen for their influence on my approach to career
management over the years. My children have also played a pivotal role in
this book—they inspire me to be a better person.
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Autonomous Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Cog in the Machine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Back to the Farm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Cubicle Captivity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
The Great Escape. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
My Great Escape. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Think Like a Self-Contained Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Sculpt Your Career. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Daniel Pink’s Declaration of Independence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

SMART Selling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
SMART – Speak
The Magic of Human Interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
The Human Connection Flash Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Cut Through the Noise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Make Direct Contact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Make Your 10-Second Pitch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Manage and Multiply Your Connections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Get People Out of the Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Questions are the Fuel for Building Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Use Self-Interest to Your Advantage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Show Your Cards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
SMART – Move
Maintain Consistent Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Stake Your Claim. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Take Risks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Give Ego a Time-Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Failure by Default. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Playing It Too Safe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Learned Helplessness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Mud Bog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Changing Trains. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Diversify Your Portfolio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
SMART – Attract
Attract, Don’t Persuade. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
SMART – Test
Become a Proud Craftsman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Catch the Vision of Your Potential. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Expert Knowledge Creates High Value. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
High Value Creates More Leverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
High Value Creates More Choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
High Value Leads to More Confidence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Continually Increase Your Value. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Resist the Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Base Your Pricing on the Impact of Your Contribution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Maximize Income Per Hour. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
SMART – Relax
You’re Not in a Hurry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Humanize the Organization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Humanize the Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
He Needs You as Much as You Need Him . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Peek Behind the Curtain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Ride Out the Cycle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Embrace the Struggle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
See the Bigger Picture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Creative Expression. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Do Your Best and Heave the Rest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Don’t Force It, the Stars Must Be Aligned. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Test, Learn, Adjust. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Assumptions in a Vacuum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Blanket Statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Fool’s Kryptonite. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Doubting Specter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Creative Problem Solving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Everything is Negotiable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Better to Ask than to Wonder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Always Counter Offer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Selling You Introduction

Introduction
Josh makes $120,000 a year and hates his job. He’s a talented programmer
who sits in a cubicle ten hours a day writing code. He is expected to account
for his time in 15-minute increments and he feels like someone is always
looking over his shoulder. He loves creating software, but his lack of control
over how he spends his day makes him resentful. When he talks about his
job, his frustration is obvious. He feels trapped.

Most of us will spend a significant portion of our time engaged in paid work—
as much as eighty percent of our waking hours throughout our lives. It can be
one of the greatest opportunities for happiness and personal development or,
like Josh, a source of frustration and misery.

Research has shown that we have a basic psychological need to feel as though
our actions are freely chosen. In other words, emotional health depends upon
ongoing feelings of autonomy. Autonomy means that our activities and goals
are self-determined and are in line with our interests and values.

The lack of this self-determination is a strong predictor of negative emotions,

such as frustration, helplessness or hopelessness. Having little control over our
day can be a significant source of discontent.

Throughout my career, I have tried to create a work life where my activities are
largely self-chosen and are aligned with my interests and values. The resulting
lifestyle has contributed greatly to a sense of personal happiness and freedom.

The process of successfully customizing my own career has sparked a desire to

help others create a work life that gives them greater feelings of autonomy and
fulfillment.

1
 Selling You Introduction

What beliefs do you have about work? How do you find it or create it? What
are you worth to employers and how do you market yourself to them?

As I help you to answer these questions, I will explain specific principles that
have inspired me and many others to proactively seek fulfilling work and increase
personal happiness. Some of the ideas you will have heard before and others will
be new; all will be uniquely conveyed through the lens of my own experience.
All truly wise thoughts have been thought already, thousands of times; but
My goal is to assist you in defining and creating your preferred work situation. to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, until they
In addition, I want to help you gain the confidence to take more control of take firm root in our personal experience.
your current job search, and ultimately your whole career. —Goethe

The first section will challenge you to redefine how you think of yourself and
what you are offering to the marketplace. The remaining five sections will take
you through my SMART selling model that will show you how to approach
your job search like a sales process.

Included in the concepts are instructions for taking action toward your goals,
as well as ideas for avoiding obstacles that might stop you from moving toward
the changes you desire. By applying these principles, you will increase your
ability to sell yourself effectively, develop the career of your choice, and find
happiness in that pursuit.
The biggest mistake that you can make is to believe that you are working for
somebody else. Job security is gone. The driving force of a career must come
from the individual. Remember: Jobs are owned by the company, you own
your career!
—Earl Nightingale

For simplicity, I will assume in the text that you are a job seeker engaging in a
job search. Please note, however, that these principles are equally relevant to
freelancers, entrepreneurs, salespeople and anyone who wants to own their
career. You can exchange comparable terms freely, such as contract for job offer,
sales meeting for interview, and client for hiring manager, depending on your
particular situation.

Each concept is associated with a full page illustration, and many include a
story. All of the stories are true, though some of the names have been changed.
These images and anecdotes add clarity to the concepts. Hopefully, the ideas
in the following pages will motivate you to take chances, make changes, and
customize your work life.

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 Selling You Autonomous Agent

Autonomous Agent
I want to ask you to think in a way that may require a subtle, yet pivotal shift
from your current perspective. Think of yourself as a unique, autonomous
agent who has the ability to clearly define your ideal work situation, and the
confidence to make it happen.

Why? Because you must believe that you have the power to choose your work
experiences before you will be able to take control of your work life. If you do
not believe you have some control, you are unlikely to make a change, even if
you desire it.

Being an agent of your career means taking personal responsibility for those
choices. Instead of passively accepting your circumstances, you use your
autonomy to actively seek the changes you desire.

If you have the mindset of an autonomous agent, you are in a position to

proactively create your ideal career. Whether you are a W-2 employee or an
independent business owner, perceiving yourself this way will give you power
to control how you offer your services, charge for them, and grow your value
as an individual worker.

See if these concepts inspire you to a more independent way of thinking about
yourself and your work . . .

The great and glorious masterpiece of man is to know how to live to purpose.
—Michel de Montaigne

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 Selling You Autonomous Agent

Cog in the Machine

Throughout history, people worked in small towns or villages as independent
farmers, shopkeepers, and blacksmiths, etc. Resourcefulness and ingenuity,
combined with hard work, made people productive and successful.

With industrialization, corporations began to dominate many of the world’s

economies. Time clocks, policy manuals, and managed processes began to
diminish individual initiative.

Instead of being small, autonomous entities, individuals became dependent,

generic components of the corporate structure. As a result, workers began to
feel like their identity was absorbed by the corporation and that their individual
efforts had little impact on the company’s production or progress. They became
cogs in a corporate machine.

Many feel the same today.

I want my identity back. I don’t want to be known as the CEO of AOL

Time Warner . . . I’m my own person. I have strong moral convictions.
I’m not just a suit. I want poetry back in my life.
—Gerald Levine

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 Selling You Autonomous Agent

Back to the Farm

Fortunately, changes in information technology are making it easier for us, as
individual workers, to take more control of our careers. Work can be done at
any time, in any location.

A graphic designer in Chicago can work on a project for a client in London.

An American exchange student in China can make sales calls for his uncle in
Los Angeles.

We’re returning to our more entrepreneurial, pre–Industrial mindset. Most of

us aren’t farmers or tradespeople, but we can think and act like them. We can
treat our work lives as they did.

More than ever, you have the ability to be the architect of your career if
you embrace and utilize your autonomy. Like a small farm or business,
you are in control of whether you work hard and succeed, or stagnate
and fail.

Accept that the responsibility of creating satisfying work lies

with you personally. Use your creativity and ingenuity to create
a unique product—You—that you can sell to the world.

If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall
into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned
for you? Not much.
—Jim Rohn

8 9
 Selling You Autonomous Agent

Cubicle Captivity
Maybe you’ve been laid off and cannot find a job. Or you’re working, but aren’t
making enough to pay the bills. Or you go to work and feel like your talents are
not fully utilized.

If so, you are in cubicle captivity. You feel trapped and have little hope. Captivity
is miserable. If you stay in a situation like this for long, your happiness and
motivation will decrease.

Jason was working as a language translator about ten years ago. He was
making $15 an hour and was bored with his job. He was also in the process
of declaring bankruptcy because of an investment that went south. Though
he knew he could do better, he didn’t have a college degree and felt like his
options were limited.

It’s easy to feel like Jason, even if your circumstances are different. When you
don’t like your work situation, and you don’t know how to make a change,
feelings of discouragement can be overwhelming.

If you want total security, go to prison. There you’re fed, clothed,

given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking . . . is freedom.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower

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 Selling You Autonomous Agent

The Great Escape

But there is a way out. You have the ability to escape the captive mindset and
gain control of your career and your work day. The first step is to believe that you
can create a satisfying work life.

Jason resolved to take the initiative and make a change. As he left his
bankruptcy attorney’s office one day, he decided to walk into a technology
company across the hall and ask about software development opportunities.
He was told by the hiring manager that an opening for a Java programmer
would be available in about a month.

Despite his lack of programming experience and formal education, Jason

took some risk upon himself and offered to do the job without pay until the
opening was confirmed. They agreed. He learned enough Java in that month
to keep the job and successfully launched a career that today allows him to
consistently earn a six-figure income while doing work that is challenging
and enjoyable.

Jason believed in himself and confidently approached the company. He took

a calculated risk and creatively closed the deal. Even if your escape from the
captive mindset isn’t exactly like Jason’s, don’t be afraid to be creative and
move forward. Begin to consider possibilities that might give you a chance at
a “Great Escape.”

One can never consent to creep when one feels the impulse to soar.
—Helen Keller

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