Melissa Krivachek, who sold her company for eight figures, says the core of any business is calling prospects and selling. She shares how a 29-day marriage in India taught her that failure is reinvention, and recommends The God Memorandum by Og Mandino for a service-oriented approach to sales.
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All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today, Melissa Krivacek. She is the author of 10 books, a speaker, and is the executive producer of the Ultimate Sales Summit. So welcome to the show.
Thank you for having me, Tyler.
Of course, pumped to have you on. So we like to go deep pretty quick on this show. The first one I got for you is, what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Yeah. Okay. So I don't know if it's the best, but it's the most relevant. So in 2017, I actually got married to a guy and he wanted to move to India, which was his home country after we said I do. And so I left everything behind and I went. And then it turns out like you can have more than one wife if you're Muslim. So I ended up annulling the marriage 29 days in, coming back to the United States with nothing and just sort of picking up where I left off, but having to replace the house, the car and all the belongings. So the purpose of the story is like, no matter what level of success you have, you can have millions of dollars in the bank or have already made millions or you could have made nothing. Like if you know how to pick up where you left off or you know how to reinvent yourself and reestablish your boundaries, then you'll always succeed in life. So failure is really never an option, it's just an opportunity to continue to grow.
Yeah, I think like the ability to adapt is really the, uh, most important thing. Um, so my next one for you: what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
You need to sell, period. Like, that's the advice. Like, you need to call people, you need to talk to people, you need to interact with people. You need to sell.
Mm-hmm. Hey, yeah, you're preaching to the choir here. I like that. And it could tie in next one. What's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry-specific.
Focus on the quality of the prospect that walks in the door. So you'll make the most money if you connect with the highest quality of person that can actually benefit from your product or service.
And then, if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Maybe you should listen more. I'm a rule breaker. So, there's the teachers that teach the rules and then, there's entrepreneurs that break the rules. I'm in the latter part.
Yup. Same here. I like it. And then, so, kind of going down a little bit of a different path. In your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
Oh, to love yourself and know yourself and be yourself.
Okay, so let's dive a little deeper into that. Now, how would you say— how do you do that?
Because I think that's the hard part, Tyler.
Yeah, yeah. Well, I think it's some— for some people it's like natural. I think I've heard it has a lot to do with upbringing as well, you know. Like, for me, when people— I say I don't actually know. For me, it's a natural thing. Like, I'm pretty happy a lot of the time. But for a lot of other people, it's a very big struggle. So yeah, what are your thoughts?
Yeah, I mean, I've definitely struggled with it. But like, you have to know where you came from and what you want to achieve. So like, I give everyone this visual, basically, like, you are here and you want to be here and everything that's here is fear. So you need to realize, like, in order to get from here to here, like, you have to bridge the gap. So you have to leave all the fear behind. That means that if you're afraid of breaking your religious beliefs, if you're afraid of breaking cultural norms, if you're afraid of getting rid of bad relationships or relationships that don't benefit you, then those are the things that you need to do. And I've done those things, but those are the things that are the hardest to do. So in order to be yourself, like, you have to know what it is that you want, what it is that you value, and what it is that you stand for. The biggest question that you can ask yourself to figure this out is like, what is it that I truly value? And then based on your values, you'll be able to find things that you can do to love and encourage yourself and bring yourself up to a place where you're super confident. And then that shows and everyone's like, wants to be around you because it's not the energy that is normal, right? It's the energy that's like, whoa, like that person has something and I want it whether they're talking or not. I know that.
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I like that. Yeah. Okay. Um, so I feel— do you read a lot?
I don't. Yes.
Okay, obviously I set that one up for you. Um, so what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from it?
Um, well, it's called The God Memorandum by Augmandino and it's just a really good Salesperson's Prayer. And it's not a prayer of like, hey, um, give me more money or bring me more clients or make me more successful. It's like, hey, how can I serve more people? How can I do it in a way that's authentic? And how can I be my best today whether I make a sale or not?
And then what is your favorite quote and why?
Quotes? Um, I don't memorize quotes, that's the problem.
All right, so it doesn't have to be exact, even if it's a little mantra or something.
Maybe like money is not the root of all evil.
Yeah, I agree with that. Yeah, that's bad. If when people— if you think that, then you're not going to attract it, you know? So yeah, for sure. Okay, I think that, um, so last one for you, uh, before that, where can our audience best connect with you and find you online?
Yeah, great question. So you can find the Ultimate Sales Summit at theultimatesalessummit.com, or you can find me and my accolades at melissakorvacik.com, which is spelled above because let's face it, it's really complicated.
