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or watched an interview that Ali did . If he had , he would have heard Ali explain exactly how he planned to beat Foreman and could have adjusted his own boxing strategy .
6 . GIVE PEOPLE SOMETHING THEY WANT .
Don ’ t be discouraged if people don ’ t buy from you . Figure out what they want and give it to them . When George became an ordained minister , he began preaching on street corners at a friend ’ s suggestion . But nobody would stop to listen to him . “ This broke my heart ,” Foreman said . “ After a while , I realized I ’ m going to make these people stop and pay attention to me .” He began telling his boxing story about beating Joe Frazier , which brought people in droves . “ I learned how to sell myself on that street corner ,” Foreman said . “ You can ’ t be shy . You can ’ t let it break your heart ; you just got to say the next one will stop . I found out it ’ s not easy to make someone stop on the street and listen to you unless you ’ ve got something for them , and I had something — that story .”
7 . BE PROUD OF YOURSELF .
Don ’ t let ego get in your way . Foreman learned not to shy away from his beliefs . If someone rejected him , he said a kind word . “ I didn ’ t want anyone to know that George Foreman was on the street corner preaching ,” Foreman said . “ I decided I ’ m going to be proud of this .”
8 . LEARN TO SELL .
When Foreman went back into boxing , he was getting a lot of criticism in the newspapers and on TV . Reporters were making jokes about his age and weight and talking badly about him . Foreman investigated buying newspaper ads to promote himself , but when he discovered a full-page ad in USA Today was almost $ 100,000 , he decided he needed to learn to appreciate the criticism . “ I learned to play with it ,” Foreman said . “ I ’ d talk my head off when I ’ d get on television . I learned to sell George Foreman , the boxer , and Madison Avenue started to pay attention .” Foreman did commercials for Pepsi-Cola , Doritos , hotels , Meineke , and so on .
After selling a lot of products for other people , a friend suggested he get his own product to sell . This is how he came to partner with Salton , Inc . for the George Foreman grill . “ We did an infomercial and talked about how it worked ,” Foreman said . “ I ’ d see people at the airport , and they ’ d yell , ‘ We love you , George .’ . . . They loved the grill , and it started to sell . I would mention it everywhere . I was a favorite of Jay Leno , David Letterman , and all those guys . They ’ d invite me over and want to make fun of the grill . I ’ d bring one over , and I ’ d cook on their show . It became the talk of the town because I sold it .”
9 . DON ’ T DESTROY SOMEONE ELSE TO MAKE YOURSELF LOOK BETTER .
Foreman refuses to tear down another person . When shooting the first infomercial for the George Foreman grill , the script put down competing products . “ I looked at the script and said , ‘ Nah , I ’ m not going to do that ,’” Foreman said . “ I ’ m not going to tear up someone else ’ s product just to make mine [ look ] good . We ’ re going to make it good . We ’ re not going to destroy anything that someone else is working on to make my products the best . It ’ s got to be the best because it is . They took my advice and said , you were right , and I said , ‘ No , that is right .’”
10 . BE KIND .
Foreman was inspired to change to a likable person after observing how kind people were to him . “ They didn ’ t care about money ,” Foreman said . “ They just liked me . . . and they treated me so nice . You don ’ t have to be the champion of the world . You don ’ t have to be rich or have a nice custom car . People are kind to you . I wish I would have known that when I was champion of the world . I would have treated people so much better .”
Experience taught Foreman that people buy you , not your product or service . “ It doesn ’ t matter what you have ,” Foreman said . “ People buy you . So don ’ t hurt anybody . Don ’ t disappoint everybody . If you meet that expectation of yourself , then they ’ ll buy your product because they feel like they ’ re buying you . Be the nicest human being in the world , not the second nicest . Find out who ’ s the nicest and see what he ’ s doing so you can ‘ out nice ’ him — and you can sell anything .”
Foreman ’ s journey has taken him from poverty to being a multimillionaire to being broke and back to where he now has a $ 330 million net worth . He ’ s displayed courage and resilience and says without principles , fight , and conviction , “ You ’ re not fit . No one is going to give you anything . I never let anything discourage me . As long as I have my principles , my fight , and my conviction , I can succeed .”
His positive attitude and belief that the best is yet to come reminds him to be thankful and that bad times don ’ t last forever . “ Every day , I put my feet on the ground and [ am ] thankful for that day and happy I ’ m alive ,” Foreman said . “ Because there ’ s a possibility of me doing great things if I can just stay alive this day .”
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