Every professional salesman knows how hard it can be to build a client base that is diversified, in both size and purchasing power. Some experts suggest various ways to use your "e-mail Rolodex" to drum up new clients, while others swear by a more old-fashioned approach where you get in the car and drive to a least one business park a week to note names and addresses.

Everything you need to be successful requires a plan be implemented first. A plan that calls for objectives to be defined and a thorough internal analysis of your current marketing practices.

If all that sounds like a lot of work, that's because it is. Being a professional on the top of your game means you'll need to do a lot of mental work. You'll need to think about and envision the places you'll need to go so you can get to where you need to be. It's a lot of effort for one salesman to go alone.

Having a place to look for advice is helpful. Being able to draw on the strengths of someone who's been there before, someone who can supply a shoulder to lean on and some advice that works.

A fellow professional with more than a quarter century of experience is a great source of inspiration and information. A global sales executive with more than 25 years experience and a sixth-degree black belt in karate who believes "the common denominator for change is THINKING, the right thinking."

This positive message for changing your behavior and life started during the instructions I was given during one of my martial arts classes when our teacher asked us to draw a simple stick man.

To get a visual picture of the power within my karate instructor had us draw a simple stick man on a piece of paper. An oversimplistic drawing but a great example that changed my life. Imagine a round circle that represents our head, with two stick arms and stick legs. Imagine again that a thick line divides the head into two parts: the conscious mind (top of the circle) and the subconscious mind (bottom of the circle). The conscious mind has the ability to accept or reject positive and negative thoughts. However, the subconscious is representative of the fact that to get to the truth center in the subconscious, the conscious mind has to be hit over and over again with repetition.

On top of the circle or head sticking out are five lines representing antennae that represented our five senses: touch, sight, sound, taste, smell. While the conscious mind has the ability to reject a particular thought or action, repeating that thought or action over a period of 20 to 30 days causes it to penetrate the subconscious mind or the truth center.

The key to change is by selecting what we will focus on. In other words you are the only one who can change you and it starts with consciously selecting positive thoughts.