"Turnaround King" Grant Cardone is in the business of saving businesses. As an international sales expert and New York Times best-selling author, he's worked with numerous companies, from those on the Fortune 500 list to mom and pop shops with a few employees, taking them from flatline to topline. He goes in, rolls up his sleeves, pumps up the pros and cans the cons.

The question is, if you saw him coming through the door of your workplace, would you welcome him or fear him? Would you be considered a pro or a con? Would you worry about being fired, or anticipate getting a raise? How can you make yourself indispensable at work, so that your boss, or someone like Cardone can't bear the thought of losing you?

"It's simple," Cardone told AOL Jobs. "If you want to be indispensable, create revenue for your company." He claims that you don't have to be a sales person to do this. You can always "assist in creating a profit." That includes invaluable assistants and tech people who design and create products or enhance brand recognition. "The people who create a profit for the company are always the last to go before the doors close," he says.

Helping People Out of the Dire Mire

For his new TV series, "Turnaround King," premiering Sunday, June 19, on National Geographic, Cardone is taking companies in dire straights and trying to help them out of the mire. His first effort is a New Jersey gym/fitness club, and his second is a family-owned car dealership. Everywhere he goes, he finds many of the same problems.

"The biggest mistake you can make," he says, "is just doing your job." No more, no less. He explains that if you only do what your job title suggests, you will rapidly fall behind those people and companies who are taking the "massive action." Cardone thinks that "99 percent of all Americans don't think in these terms." They're content to just get by.

What does he mean by "massive action?" For an individual worker, it means coming in early and staying late. In means volunteering for extra projects, and sometimes working on weekends. It means offering to do all the things that your boss doesn't want to do.

It's Not Sucking Up

"This is not brown-nosing or sucking up," he says. "It's doing what's necessary to get results for the company." He notes that other employees might look askance at you for your uber-efforts, but eventually they'll come to admire you. When people questioned him about his penchant for going above and beyond, he'd tell them, "I've got a little girl to feed. She likes to eat three times a day. I'm doing what it takes to put food on the table." When you put it like that, it's hard to hold a grudge.

In turn, Cardone advises that you seek out, rather than shun, the people who have advanced beyond you. "Look to the winners -- find out what they're doing. Go to the most hated and despised people in the company for advice. Chances are, they're probably the top performers. Go do something great, and turn the haters into admirers."

He says that's the only way to get ahead in the current economy. "People today underestimate how much effort it takes to get ahead. That's the result of an artificially inflated economy," Cardone explains, elaborating on how, prior to about 2007, everyone made money with relatively little effort. "But there's a new reality today, and everyone has to work at much higher levels of activity," he asserts.

Don't Lose Hope Because of the Economy

He doesn't think Americans should lose hope, but he doesn't see rapid economic improvement either. He believes double-digit unemployment could last for another three or four years. But the jobs will go to the people who are willing to make the effort to work twice as hard and stand out.

Cardone has a lot more suggestions for pulling yourself out of the recession. He's written about them in three books: "Sell to Survive," "The Closers' Survival Guide" and "If You're Not First, You're Last." You can also find his advice online, at SalesTrainingVT.com. Or you can always watch episodes of "Turnaround King" on Nat Geo.

He sees the recession as a golden opportunity to be rewarded for your great efforts. "It's hard to stand out when the economy is booming -- everyone looks good," he says. "But this is a golden opportunity for those individuals who really want to get their game on."

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