CHAPTER THREE
GOIANIA, GO BRAZIL
“Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well”
Ecclesiasticus (ch. IV, v. 20)
Well, he thought, no way can I go on like this. I must change my life. He had heard his parents mention the city of Goiania, state of Goias, Brazil (300 miles away); the city was growing very fast, because it was nearby Brasilia, the capital city of Brazil. His parents would go there once a month to sell plants (nursery) in swap markets, with success. They had made friends with a couple who lived there.
Tony looked at his life and decided to change. Several people in his family had made careers at Brazil’s national bank, the Bank of Brazil. The bank was growing fast and a branch manager could earn four times the salary of a graduate engineer.
So the young man had a new destination, Goiania. He would transfer to a university in Goiania, where he could study at night, and look for a career position in a bank.
He applied for a job in every bank in that city, and finally thanks to the help of that couple, he was able to get a job at a Japanese bank – Banco America do Sul. He had a successful interview and was supposed to start work the following month.
While he was waiting, he saw an ad in the local newspaper. It was the biggest ad of the day. It read: Professional Sales Person wanted. High salary with benefits and international traveling. Since he was doing nothing, he decided to check it out. The company was holding interviews at the best hotel in the city. He was shocked to find that over 500 people had applied and they were seated in a large conference room in order to take a test.
After the tests were completed they began calling out the names of those who were rejected. When only 30 people were left in the room they called the name of a person sitting by Tony, and they asked for Tony as well. He was told, “We just want to know who you are.”
Interesting fact: as this guy sitting by Tony was doing the test he kept muttering, “I know this test, I have done it before, and I know the trick.” Tony did not know what he was talking about it.
After that, the company representatives began the presentation. So far nobody had told them what type of service or product would be sold. As the presentation unfolded it began to look more like a priest or minister trying to sell Bibles! Every one was very curious to find out what it was. Finally at the end they showed the product: They were some recorded audio-cassettes with famous Brazilian anchors (Cid Moreira & Sergio Chapelen) where they motivated people to achieve their dreams. The idea was simple:
repetition. You hear something so many times that you program your mind to make it. For example, when you want to get a photocopy, you may say get me a Xerox, instead of photocopy, you hear this so many times that you change the names of things. So the proposition of the tapes was: You listen to good stuff every day, you will program your mind to do good things. This was the idea of this company called “Success Motivation Institute”. And it was music to Tony’s ears! It was everything he had wished for.
He had no doubts; he gave up the bank job, and went to the sales training of the new company. Later he learned that he had achieved the second best score of the initial test.
These tapes changed Tony’s life. He would listen to them day and night. He even recorded his own tapes, where he would say: “I will get it! I will be successful in selling these tapes! I will make it!” And he would go all night playing the tape, even while sleeping.
The rest is history. His first check equaled the value of a brand new car in Brazil! His happiness knew no bounds. Finally he was able to sell! And his clients were the biggest entrepreneurs in the city, which increased his own status to their level. He was grateful for the help of his sales manager, who kept him motivated and helped him to accomplish the sales.
Always close to God he also enjoyed the local Catholic Church youth group and made lots of friends, among them one person who used to live in Los Angeles, California. She was enthusiastic about America and shared it with him.
Going to the USA was one of his biggest dreams since childhood. He had tried before, but lacked the needed financial support. The stories and all the things he had heard had thrilled him.
By this time the sales manager, who Tony liked very much, got involved in a scam related to drugs. The guy took some money from the company and was fired! They replaced him with a very conservative guy who did not share the same philosophy of Tony and the old sales manager. Once more Tony saw new opportunities on the horizon, new doors opening.