By Mark Bowser - Motivational Business Speaker

When things seem at their worst in your sales career then REJOICE because there is only one direction to go - UP!

I heard a story one time that I believe is very helpful for sales professionals like you and me.  When sales drop off and things seem very cloudy, we have to remember that great success is just around he corner.   The story is about a boy nicknamed Sparky.  Sparky had a rough childhood.  He was one of those kids who didn’t have many friends.  It wasn’t that people didn’t like him; it was just that people didn’t notice him.  Sparky was one of those kids that faded into the background.

Sparky had great difficulty with his schoolwork.  When he was in the eighth grade he failed every subject.  His high school years weren’t much better.  He still holds the infamous record for being the worst physics student in school history.

As you can imagine, all this rejection gave Sparky a self-confidence problem.  He refused even to ask a girl for a date for fear of being rejected.

However, Sparky did discover he had a talent.  He was an artist.  He loved to draw his own cartoons.  Soon a dream was formulated in Sparky’s heart and mind.  He desperately wanted to be an artist for Walt Disney.

After graduating from high school, Sparky wrote a letter to Walt Disney Studios inquiring about a job.  He received a form letter asking him to draw a funny cartoon of “a man repairing a clock by shoveling the springs and gears back inside it.”

Well, Sparky finished his assignment and sent it back to Disney along with some of his other work.  After an agonizing wait, Sparky received a letter from Disney.  It was another form letter informing him that they didn’t have a job for him.  REJECTION AGAIN!  Could it get any worse?  What did life have in store for a kid like Sparky?

Sparky continued to draw despite his setbacks.  He decided to tell his life story through a cartoon.  He drew a cartoon of a little boy who was the ultimate loser. A little boy who fell down time and again trying to kick a football.  A little boy who picked out a Christmas tree that made a flag pole look glamorous.  A little boy who lost baseball game after baseball game.

If you haven’t guessed it, that cartoon character has become one of the world’s most loved characters - Charlie Brown.  And the creator of this cartoon strip Peanuts was none other than Charles “Sparky” Schulz.

Just as with the life of Charles Schulz, God has a plan for each of us.  Sometimes life is tough.  Sometimes we have trouble seeing the mountain because we are still bogged down in the valley.  No matter how bad things may seem in our sales careers or lives, we must continue to look up.  God can transform our lives in an instant.  We must trust in Him and continue to work for our dreams.  We truly can “... do all things through Christ, because He gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13 NCV).