But desire alone is not enough. To make her dream come true， Markita knew she needed a plan.
“Always wear your right outfit， your professional garb，” her aunt advised. “When you are doing business， dress like you are doing business. Wear your Girl Scout uniform. When you go up to people in their tenement buildings at 4：30 or 6：30 and expecially on Friday night， ask for a big order. Always smile， whether they buy or not， always be nice. And don’t ask them to buy your cookies； ask them to invest.”
Lots of other Scouts may have wanted that trip around the world. Lots of other Scouts may have had a plan. But only Markita went off in her uniform each day after school， ready to ask and keep asking folks to invest in her dream. “Hi， I have a dream. I’m earning a trip around the world for me and my mom by merchandising Girl Scout cookies，” she’d say at the door. “Would you like to invest in one dozen or two dozen boxes of cookies？”
Markita sold 3526 boxes of Girl Scout cookies that year and won her trip around the world. Since then， she has sold more than 42000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies， spoken at sales conventions across the country， starred in a Disney movie about her adventure and has co-authored the best seller， How to sell more cookies condos， cadillacs， computers... and everything else.
Markita is no smarter and no more extroverted than thousands of other people， young and old， with dreams of their own. The difference is Markita had discovered the secret of selling： Ask， Ask， Ask！ Many people fail before they even begin because they fail to ask for what they want. The fear of rejection leads many of us to reject ourselves and our dreams long before anyone else ever has the chanceno matter what we are selling.
And everyone is selling something. “You’re selling yourself everydayin school， to your boss， to new people you meet.”Said markita at 14. “My mother is a waitress： she sells the daily special. Mayors and presidents trying to get votes are selling... I see selling everywhere I look. Selling is part of the whole world.”
It takes courage to ask for what you want. Courage is not the absence of fear. It’s doing what it takes despite one’s fear. And， as Markita has discovered， the more you ask， the easier （ and more fun ） it gets.
当今世界上最伟大的女推销员可不会介意你喊她小姑娘，因为自从玛吉塔·安德鲁斯7岁时起，她已经靠推销女童军饼干赚了8万多美元。
13岁那年，她发现了推销的秘诀。通过放学后挨家挨户的推销，一向害羞得要命的玛吉塔已经变成了卖饼干的楷模。
这起源于一个愿望，一个强烈而热切的愿望。
在玛吉塔8岁的时候，父亲离开了她们，此后母亲在纽约当服务员，他们母女俩的梦想就是要环游世界。“我要努力工作，赚足够的钱供你上大学，”一天母亲说，“你会上大学的，等你大学毕业后，就赚足够的钱让我们环游世界，好吗？”
在玛吉塔13岁那年，《女童军》杂志发布消息说销售饼干最多的女童军队员将可获得两人免费全球旅游作为奖励，于是玛吉塔决定尽全部力量推销女童军饼干，要比世界上任何人卖得都多。
但仅有愿望是不够的，玛吉塔知道她要梦想成真就必须制定一个计划。
“当你去做生意时要穿得像做生意的样子，要随时随地穿得体的套装和职业服装，穿上你的女童军制服。在4：30或6：30去推销，尤其是星期五晚上去登门推销时，要争取大订单。不管他们买不买，要随时面带微笑，令人愉快。而不要让他们‘买’你的饼干，要请求他们投资。”她的姨妈建议说。
可能有许多其他女童军队员也想去环球旅游，可能许多人都有计划。但只有玛吉塔每天放学后都穿着制服，随时随地锲而不舍地请求人们为她的梦想投资。“嗨，我有一个梦想，我想通过出售女童军饼干为我和妈妈赢得一次环球旅行，”她会站在门口说，“你愿意投资买进一或两打盒装的饼干吗？”
那一年玛吉塔共卖出3526盒女童军饼干，赢得了环球旅行。从那时候到现在，她已经卖出了4.2万多盒女童军饼干，还在全国的众多销售会议上发言，主演了一部讲述自己的经历的迪斯尼电影，并与人合著了一本畅销书《如何售出更多的饼干、楼盘、汽车、计算机以及其他的一切》。
比起其他成千上万的拥有梦想的人，无论老人还是小孩，玛吉塔并不比他们聪明，也没有他们那么活泼开朗。不同之处在于玛吉塔发现了销售的秘诀：请求！请求！再请求！许多人还没有开始就已经失败了，因为他们不敢争取他们想要的东西。害怕被拒绝使我们许多人在被别人拒绝之前，就已经先否定了自己和自己的梦想，无论我们推销的是什么。
其实每个人都在推销一些东西。“每天你都在推销着自己，在学校推销、向你的老板推销、向你新结识的人推销，”14岁的玛吉塔这样说，“我的母亲是个服务员，她推销每日特餐；为了获得选票，市长和总统也在进行推销……在我所有可以看到的地方我都可以看到推销。推销是整个世界的一部分。”
去争取达到你的梦想的确需要勇气。勇气不是没有恐惧感。正如玛吉塔所发现的那样，尽管你害怕，也要去争取，你请求的次数越多，你就越容易得到，也越有乐趣。
