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A tangential note:

One of the Big Fatal Mistakes of inexperienced persons who embark on self-employment is to undervalue oneself, and as a result, to undercharge. Customers do not respect this. When the price of something is too low, people invariably perceive that something is wrong with it. This detracts, and it is a reason that many entrepreneurships fail. Yet, there are many types of salesmanship applicable to many situations.

In the case of being a mental health consumer seeking help to move ahead in life, salesmanship may be needed to convince the appropriate people to go along with what you want. You may need to do some convincing that you are a viable person, one who can do very well in life with the necessary help. You may also need to explain exactly what is in your way, and in what ways you need a reasonable level of help. And here, it is also necessary that you don't undervalue yourself. This morning or yesterday morning, I forget which, I was on the phone with one of the many people responsible for my treatment, when I mentioned that I placed a classified advertisement in which I'm trying to offer copyediting services to the public. The mental health professional had a perplexing reaction. So, I said to him, in a chiding tone, that I have a life outside of just being a mental health consumer. 

The abovementioned events could illustrate that I am not just a body to which you should prescribe medications nor am I just a clueless person to supervise. I have a brain. 

To mental health counselors, the mentally ill clientele aren't full-fledged human beings. Therefore, it doesn't matter very much if we die before we reach age 60, it doesn't matter if our entire lives seem like a waste of time, and really it doesn't matter to many mental health professionals what we do or what happens to us, because to them, we lack the capacity to be a person. Then, it is no wonder that we aren't respected, it is no wonder that we aren't taken at our word or taken seriously. It only matters that we behave ourselves such that we don't create a nuisance to the greater society. 

This is where we must employ vast salesmanship. We must sell ourselves to the counselors that we can in fact do very well in life, that we are not just a commodity to be managed and controlled, and we are capable of activities that contribute to society. If we can sell ourselves in that way, doors that were shut may open. 

In my early twenties and continuing to age 27, I had jobs doing repair of home electronics. By 27, my condition was worsening, and this prevented me from continuing. At 25, I'd gotten Social Security benefits after toughing it out for numerous years and supporting myself in various jobs. I can't do that anymore. Instead, I look to areas in life where I can still be excellent. And this makes a big difference in how much help I receive from the mental health treatment system. 

Part of our salesmanship might be to learn how to come across to others better and to give the impression that will help them respond well to us. I haven't done this. When people see me in person, they think I'm a dumb big guy whom you don't want to encounter in a dark alley. I don't know how to remediate this. Therefore, I have adopted the habit of dealing remotely with everyone. And in the long run, this is probably going to bite me in the behind. If I knew how to control other people's perceptions of me, I would be employing that knowledge. But I can't control how anyone things, and I can't control anyone's impression of me. So, I don't try. 

My salesmanship efforts have been directed instead at selling myself to myself. And this is not a new concept; it might even be part of someone's intellectual property. Yet, if I can believe in myself just a bit more, I have made it harder for those who oppose me to gain the advantage. And I will be less likely to sabotage my own efforts. There you have it--sales in a nutshell!