Few people know this but I did sales before getting into training athletes full-time.

Many non-sales people would balk at that notion - conjuring up images of the stereotypical sleazy used car salesman - but it's a great way to earn coin if you know what you're doing.

(For the record, I wasn't involved in selling cars)

My favorite movie about sales?

Glengarry Glen Ross starring Al Pacino, Kevin Spacey, Ed Harris and Alec Baldwin. A surprisingly realistic portrayal of what it is to try making a life in high pressure sales with all its highs and lows; promises of fortunes and deliveries of dross in a cutthroat environment of selling real estate.

Alec Baldwin plays a nasty son of a bee-yatch called Blake who has been sent down by corporate HQ to berate the company's salesmen for their lackluster performance.

As he's about to begin his speech, Blake catches a struggling older salesman - played by legendary Jack Lemmon - who has failed to meet his sales quota pouring coffee into his mug at the back of the office.

Baldwin barks at him:

After rattling everyone in the room with this pristinely venomous opener, Blake continues with the best sales speech of all time...

For Blake - a super successful salesman who made $970,000 in salary and commissions last year - nothing else counts but "closing" a.k.a. making a sale:

How Baldwin never received an Oscar for his performance is beyond me.

When I got my first job in sales, I'd get myself pumped up on Blake's attitude.

I would watch that clip over and over again every day before going to work.

My first full month, I placed second out of 12 salesmen at the store I worked at, missing the #1 spot by a hair.

I vowed to claim the top spot next month.

Which I did. And never looked back after that. Almost four years later when I handed in my notice to make the switch to training hockey players for a living, I had broken several sales records at the store, had won all kinds of sales competitions, and had earned the title as the company's #1 salesman in the entire country multiple months in a row.

I don't tell all this to impress you.

Rather, to impress upon you that my success had very little to do with talent. And everything to do with my attitude and burning desire to be the best.

And how anyone could replicate what I did.

You just gotta decide how much you want to succeed.

Most people don't really want success. Even when they say they do. Because words are meaningless. Action is the only thing that matters.

And very few people take right action.

At best, they'll put in a half-assed effort.

At worst - piss-poor results month after month, while attempting to fly under the radar.

Then they wonder why they failed to get a bump in salary.

Or missed that promotion they had in their sights.

Or got laid off when that next round of job cuts begins.

All because they didn't put in the effort required to succeed.

So it is with training.

You get out of it what you put into it.

Remember:

Average people talk.

Successful people do.

So ask yourself today:

Do you want greater success as an athlete?

Do you want better performance on the ice?

Do you want to play your best hockey starting today?

If you answered yes, you may have what it takes to become a closer.

Next step?

Shut up.

And make it happen.

'Cuz that's what closers do.

And coffee is for closers only.

Come grab your steamy cup of hot, dark java at:

http://www.NextLevelHockeyTraining.com

Yunus Barisik