John Carlton writes in his “Big Damn Blog” about the power of being a true salesman, and about how many people think they know everything about sales and marketing; when really they don’t. John has been making a living as a freelance salesman for 25 years, and he still gets comments on his blog of people arguing that he doesn’t know what he’s doing! Why? Because like so many other things, sales is counter intuitive.

Now, this isn’t a rant about sales; but I wanted to expand on the idea that often, success is counter intuitive as well. Often we think that in order to be a successful businessman, or to live a fulfilling life, or to achieve my dreams, I must live a certain way. And just as often, all these assumptions are nothing more than that – baseless assumptions.

So, how can you find out what you should do to achieve success and see your dreams come true, if you can’t trust your intuition? You need a coach, a mentor. You need someone who will come along side you, who has already been successful and has achieved their dreams. From them, you can learn what really works. Not what people think works, not what your intuition may say works, but what actually produces results.

As you go for your success, be aware that often what your friends may say or even what you may think about success is fundamentally flawed – because this is new territory for all of you. You need the guidance of a mentor to lead you to the truth about what really works, so that you can be truly successful.

In fact what I recommend is that you choose a mentoring program that has a quality control component to it. In a day and age when there is more hype than ever on the Internet, it is very important that a high end program has a system in place to ensure that you are getting what you invested in, especially when it comes to implementing the attitudes, skills and knowledge related to sales and marketing.

After all, your twin tickets to freedom are sales and marketing.