News

Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
Sometimes I need
To step away from you.

Happy Valentine's Day! Today is the last day of our 14 Days of Loving Your Business. Over the last two weeks you got to:

• remember why you started your business
• celebrate the people whom you met through your business
• create a space for your business
• celebrate or find a pacing partner
• pick your favorite product
• expand your comfort zone
• count the perks of your business
• make plans to go to conference
• celebrate your accomplishments
• thank your support system
• get started earning your incentive trip
• set goals
• realize that you get to do stuff you wouldn't have gotten to do without your business

So today, even just for a little bit, take some time off. Your business is totally co-dependent on you, but you can set some boundaries. You are everything to your business, but your business isn't everything to you. It will be okay if you take a break. I'm not saying break-up with it. I'm not even suggesting you see other people (start a new business). I'm telling you to give yourself some space.

Periodic breaks will prevent burnout. It will refresh you. It will give you a different perspective and fresh ideas. 

You can go out to lunch with your business besties, but don't talk about business. You can play with your products for the joy of playing with them. You can spend time on Pinterest pinning outfits and excursions for the incentive trip.

Or you can close your office door, shut down your email, get off social media and do things totally unrelated to your business. Hang out with people who won't even bring up your business in conversation. You can even take a nap. You deserve it. 

Celebrate every day,
Kelly

Giveaway Day 13 of 14 Days of Loving Your Business.

Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
I get to do some things
Only because of you.

Your business has opened up opportunities for you that you didn't have access to before. They can be related to the money you've earned, the skills you've honed, the places you've gone and the people you've met.

The money your business brings you might be supporting your family and paying all of its bills. It could also be just enough to take the pressure off when someone needs braces or the house needs a new roof. Maybe you use your earnings for fun things that you wouldn't get to do otherwise--weekly dinners out, annual passes to Disneyland or a membership to a golf club.

Your business has forced you to learn new things like computer programs, bookkeeping and marketing. You've probably watched webinars and attended conferences that you wouldn't have done without having your business. Maybe you're now an expert in something and you get to speak at meetings.

Most people's favorite thing they get to do as a result of having their own business is the ability to decide how they spend their time. They get to volunteer at in their kids' classrooms and attend school events. Or they get to say no to running the PTA activity because they have a business to run. 

You get to go to business lunches, visit cities for trainings and trips, expand your skills and try new things. You can get dressed up for work or wear your pajamas all day. You can set appointments and get out of the house or stay home.

The biggest thing your business lets you do is make decisions for yourself.

Celebrate every day,
Kelly

Giveaway Day 12 of 14 Days of Loving Your Business.

Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
I've got big plans
For me and you.

You're a business woman. Successful business women set goals for their business. Setting goals declares your intentions to the universe and helps you prioritize what your activities.

Most people know about S.M.A.R.T. goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound), and setting a goal up that way is important. But there are two other key elements to achieving goals.

The first is the why. You have to know why you want to achieve it, and the why has to be big enough to make you keep going when it gets hard. The why anchors and fuels the goal. Saying you want to earn $30,000 this year checks all the boxes of a S.M.A.R.T. goal, but it doesn't address the why. The why could be what you'll do with the money or it could be about what earning that money represents. You have to come up with a why when you set your goal and focus on the why to reach it.

The other key is to break your goal down into activities and measure those. You have to know what activities it is going to take to get you to $30,000. Maybe you decide that $10,000 of it has to come from sales at parties. If you make an average of $300 a party, you'll need to do 33 parties this year. So one goal can be to do 3 parties a month. 

You can break that party number down to the activities it takes to get the parties. If you've found that half of the people you individually and personally invite to host a party say yes, then you need to ask at least 66 people to host a party which means you need to have one or two conversations a week about hosting a party. 

Go through your goals that you've set and come up with the why and the activities needed to achieve them. If you can't come up with a big enough why, don't worry about the activities. It's better to focus on a few strong whys than it is to have a long list of meaningless targets.

Celebrate every day,
Kelly

Day 11 of 14 Days of Loving Your Business.

Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
I want to 
Get away with you.

Hopefully your company has an incentive trip for you to earn. It might seem like an impossible goal, but if you work towards it, your business will grow. The activities that you need to do to earn the trip are all business-building activities. The good news is that if you don't earn this year's trip, your business will be in a much better position when you start working towards next year's trip. And the really good news is that once you earn a trip, it is much easier to earn more trips.

Earning your first trip is possible by increasing your party schedule. The more parties you do, the more people you'll meet. These new people will introduce you to more new people. You'll have a new base of customers, hostesses and potential recruits. 

At the beginning of your trip's incentive period, focus on increasing your party schedule. Go through your list of contacts and offer to do a party for them. I know this is not your favorite activity, but you only have to do it one time because each party you're going to focus on a business-building skill.

The first business-building skill you should focus on is booking parties from parties so that you always have a full calendar. Once you have that down, focus on identifying potential recruits. If you're new to recruiting, use the company's tools like opportunity calls and regional events to help you. Or ask your leader to do interviews with you.

Follow-up is a practice that will always serve you well. Write thank you notes to everyone who came to the party. Here's an article to help you with that. Put everyone on a schedule for when you're going to touch base with her again. Your sales will naturally increase from your party schedule and from your heightened customer service.

Keep plugging along, and your business will become an incentive-trip-winning business.

Celebrate every day,
Kelly

Giveaway Day 10 of 14 Days of Loving Your Business.

Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
My business and I
Need to thank you.

You probably have a lot of people who support you in your business who aren't customers or team members. Your spouse, your family, your best friend, etc. They are cheering you on, giving you advice (which may or may not want) and talking you up to their contacts.

Your family supports your business by giving up part of their home for your business supplies. They rearrange their schedule so that you can work. They understand when you have to miss a soccer game. They help you by putting stickers on your catalogs, sort orders and organize receipts.

Your friends help by doing extra carpool because you have a meeting. They hand out your card to someone who needs your product. They come to your open house so that there are extra bodies in the room.

Your friends and family might not support you all the time the way you want them to, but they want to see you succeed. Thank them for their support. You can write them a note, give them a shout out on social media, let them play with your new products and treat them to something fun when you get a bonus or a big commission check. They don't have to be part of your business, but your business will be easier with a big cheering section.

Celebrate every day,
Kelly

Day 9 of 14 Days of Loving Your Business

Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
I can't believe
What I've accomplished with you.

It's time to celebrate all that you've accomplished in your direct sales business. This includes the big victories and the little wins. Cheers to all the things you've learned and tasks you've completed. Toast to all the people you've served.

At first thought, you might not think that you've accomplished much in your business especially if you're new. But I bet you've done a lot more than you realize. It's hard to see how the little wins build up when you're in the thick of it.

Make a list of what you've learned and done. Here are some suggestions you can use as a starting point.

Things you've learned

• your back office - from logging in to finding everything you need
• how to do a presentation 
• how to use social media for your business
• features and benefits about your product line
• words to say in all situations

Things you've earned

• any fast start rewards
• commissions
• promotions
• opportunities to present and speak
• incentives 

Things you've overcome

• fears of talking to a group
• fears of going live on social media
• fears of talking to strangers

People you've helped

• your customers
• your team
• your sister consultants
• people you network with
• your family
• yourself

I'm confident that you'll be able to come up with a list of accomplishments no matter how long you've been in business. Celebrate them.

Celebrate every day,
Kelly

Giveaway Day 8 of 14 Days of Loving Your Business

Rose are red.
Violets are blue.
I love to go 
Places with you.

Are you going to your direct sales company's annual conference? You should. Successful consultants make this event a priority. Top leaders, top earners, top sellers and top recruiters go. They started going before they became top leaders, top earners, top sellers and top recruiters. One of the reasons they are at the top is because they've gone to conference every year.

You aren't too new or too small to go. If you go, you'll gain more knowledge in that one weekend than you will in months of trainings. You aren't too inexperienced to go. Conference is for everyone. If you haven't done a lot with your business, you'll come home with tools for how to start right. 

You are't too shy to go. I dare you to go and try not to talk to anyone. And even if you succeed in that, the experience and the knowledge you'll get from it is worth it. Your business isn't too poor for you to go. If you have to borrow money or charge everything, it's worth it. If you apply everything you learn as soon as you get home, you'll pay it off quickly. And before you know it, you'll be on your way to being one of the top leaders, top earners, top sellers and top recruiters.

I'll do a whole blog series about conference. We'll talk about ways to save for it, what to pack, what to do when you're there and how to set up your business before you go so that you can hit the ground running when you come home. But in the meantime, sign up or at the very least, set a reminder for the last possible date to register.

Celebrate every day,
Kelly

Day 7 

Rose are red.
Violets are blue.
There are so many perks
I get from you.

You probably signed up for your direct sales company because you loved the product and figured you might as well get a discount. Maybe you hoped to make some extra spending money and get out of the house a few times a month. But if you've been in it for more than a few weeks, I bet you're realizing that you are getting a lot more than you thought.

Sure, money is a good thing, but the truth is that most direct sellers don't make that much money in their business. The perks of being a direct seller go far beyond the perks of having a regular job. It's important to periodically remind yourself of those perks for the times when you're discouraged and frustrated.

1. Discounts on products.
2. Access to exclusive products such as hostess gifts, samples, etc.
3. Excellent business training you can take with you and apply to other areas of your life or future business ventures.
4. Prizes through incentive programs.
5. Free trips to places you wouldn't go to on your own, and even if you did, the experiences on incentive trips are enhanced beyond what you'd plan.
6. Opportunities to travel to new places. Conferences and other training events might not be in your backyard, and you'll have the chance to visit new cities.
7. Friendships that can last a lifetime.
8. Personal growth and development. You've probably learned a lot about yourself through your business activities.
9. Being on the inside. You get to hear about new products and programs before customers.
10. Freedom and flexibility. You can set your own schedule and make your own decisions.
11. Unlimited potential. You may not take advantage of it all the time, but when you need to or want to make more money, you can ramp things up.
12. Tax benefits. Products, mileage, lunches, travel and office supplies are all tax deductible.
13. Be your own boss. You don't have to answer to anyone, but you can set up accountability with your upline or a pacing partner.
14. Confidence from leaving your comfort zone.

What are your favorite perks?

Celebrate every day,
Kelly

Giveaway Day 6 or 14 Days of Loving Your Business

Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
I'll try something scary
Just for you.

Your business is going to grow if you tell people about it. But that is only going to get you so far. Your business will grow exponentially when you grow too.

Every time you step outside your comfort zone, your comfort zone gets a tiny bit bigger. When you make a scary phone call, the next phone call is a little less scary. When you invite someone to coffee to chat about the business opportunity, it is a little bit easier to do it again.

Eventually you're making phone calls all day long while your hyped up on caffeine. You'll feel really good about yourself (and that's not just the buzz from the coffee), and your business be huge. Every time you expand the boundaries of your comfort zone, your confidence grows. You'll have more freedom, and you'll achieve more.

You don't have to bust through your comfort zone barriers and go off to parts unknown. Baby steps add up when they're done consistently. Reach out to just one person you are nervous to talk to. And then tomorrow, reach out to another person. When that gets comfortable, add on a person.

What do you need to do in your business to get where you want to go? Maybe speaking on main stage at your conference is what you want to do. Start by speaking at a team meeting or being a guest speaker at someone else's team meeting. Maybe even offering to do that is the first baby step. 

If you want to grow a team, but you are afraid to have a one-on-one chat with someone, maybe you can invite her to listen to an opportunity call or come to a team meeting. Maybe your upline will let you observe her doing a recruiting interview. You can role play which is out of everyone's comfort zone, but it really helps.

Inch by inch. Eventually you'll forget how small your comfort zone was when you started.

Celebrate every day,
Kelly

Giveaway - Day 5 of 14 Days of Loving Your Business

Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
I have a favorite thing
That I love about you.

It's okay to play favorites when you're talking about the products that you sell in your direct sales business. Love those products so much that you don't care what other people think about them. And when you have this deep affection for them, it will be easy to talk about them. To sell them. 

When you do a party or put up a display, lead with the products you love. Your excitement for them will shine. It will give your customers confidence that you're knowledgeable about the whole product line and enthusiastic about the company even if your favorite products aren't their cup of tea. If they don't share your feelings about them, that's fine. You know they are the best things ever created. 

And when you present with passion, it will make your customers curious about what else you have to offer. They'll ask questions and engage with you. And through those conversations, they may find something that they think is the best thing ever created, or at least good enough to order for themselves. And if they don't, your commitment to your favorites will make their decision to pass inconsequential to you. You won't take it personally.

How do you fall in love with a thing? The same way you fall in love with a person. You spend time with it. You get to know it. You have fun with it. And the more you love your products, the more you'll love your business. The more you love your business, the more your business will grow.

And the good news about falling in love with a thing, is that it doesn't know or care when something else takes its place. Your list of favorites can be fluid. It can change with each catalog release, each season, each week. 

Celebrate every day,
Kelly