How to Increase Your Luck And Opportunities

There are many things in life that we cannot control, but your business doesn’t have to be one of them. Of course, luck does have a small part to do with success, but you can take actions to increase it. Don’t treat your business like a lottery ticket, doing nothing while hoping it works out. Take a look at our list of suggestions for increasing your luck and coming closer to realizing your dreams.

Lead with and focus on what you do best. Being aware of your skill set allows you to identify your own personal strengths. Use those strengths to make positive, memorable first impressions as well as integrating them into as much of your business as you can. For example, if you are quick-witted and easily make others laugh, don’t be afraid to lead off sales presentations, opportunity meetings, and even one-on-one introductions with a joke. Go a step further and integrate your unique sense of humor into all your business relationships when appropriate. When you can bring your strengths to the table, others will take notice.
Always be prepared. Although luck does play a small part in our lives, you can increase your chances of success by preparing yourself as much as possible. You wouldn’t go in to a final exam simply hoping that most of the questions are about topics you remember from the textbook; you would prepare yourself by reviewing the material, highlighting important points, and quizzing yourself before the day of the test. The same concept applies to your direct sales business. Rehearse your presentation before each party, even if you’ve been doing this for years. Create possible scenarios that might catch you off guard if you’re not ready. Calling a referral to book a possible opportunity meeting? Find out about the person’s interests and aspirations. Adequate preparation can be your most effective tool for finding success.
Be a connector to people and businesses. When you have a good experience with someone in business, take the initiative to share that experience with others. Be the one who refers friends, family, and customers to others without prompting. Put in a good word about your hair stylist to your cousin who is looking for a new place to go for a cut. Perhaps a customer is seeking out a service that you can’t provide; be the person who finds someone who does. Your role as connector will not be forgotten when an opportunity arises for someone to do the same for you.
Develop authentic relationships. This begins with showing a genuine interest in and sincere caring about others. Not all your relationships can or should be close ones, but they should all be authentic. People involved in your business in any way need to be able to trust you, be open with you, and want to be around you. Give others your full attention when interacting, and always follow through on your promises. Building good relationships is the foundation of a career in direct sales.

How do the items in our list apply to your business? Do you have any ideas to add? Please share your comments below

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How to Mentally Prepare for a Successful Business

When tackling any difficult task or project, preparing yourself mentally is crucial to accomplishing your goals. Sufficient mental preparation allows you to stay the course, handle obstacles that arise, maintain motivation, and follow through to the end. In today’s post, we suggest a few ways for you to mentally prepare yourself for a successful direct sales business.

• Establish and project an unshakeable confidence that you’ll achieve your goal. You may not genuinely have this confidence in the beginning, but “fake it ‘til you make it.” Achieving your goal should not be in question; think of it as something that WILL happen no matter what. Projecting this idea onto others will make them want to follow you because we are naturally attracted to those who are successful. For example, a fairly new direct sales consultant, eager to sign her very first recruit, is meeting a prospect to present the opportunity. When the prospect asks about incentives for building a downline, the consultant shares the company’s numbers and states very confidently that she herself plans on reaching the first recruiting level (4 people in her downline) in time to earn a free trip to this year’s national convention. The prospect is impressed with her certainty and therefore becomes confident in the company itself. Apply this same idea to sales presentations and networking events to provide a well-rounded business for yourself that is successful in all areas.

• Get used to being uncomfortable and excel in it. Remaining in your comfort zone and stepping away from every risk will not get you very far as an entrepreneur. Embrace those aspects of your business that cause you a bit of discomfort. Feel uneasy asking for referrals? Do it as often as possible in as many ways as you can think of. Dread the phone calls to follow up with a prospective hostess? Make those calls a strength of yours. After awhile, you’ll come to recognize this discomfort as an opportunity for big success and you’ll excel in trying new things all the time.

• Always keep moving forward and never give up. Accept the fact that there will be setbacks, you will experience frustrations, and you may even consider throwing in the towel. Tough times can truly test your resolve so do not even consider giving up for a second. If you make a mistake, fix it and learn from it. If you lose your motivation, set new goals that reignite your ambition. Use all the resources at your disposal to move your business forward, learn and grow as a professional, and see your goals come to fruition.

• Go all in 100%. Everything you do in your business should be done with every ounce of effort you possess. Whether you want to make this business your full-time job with a full-time income or you want it provide just a little bit of extra wiggle room when you pay your bills each month, put in 100%. If you only go halfway and find that it is not working out the way you want, you’ll never know what your true potential is.

If you are committed to doing all of these, then you are ready to build a successful business and all the ups and downs that come with it. Just as an athlete stretches before a game or a piano player runs scales before a concert, you must put in the preparation required to run your business.
Is there anything else you feel is necessary to mentally prepare for success? Please share in the comments section below!

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Four Ways to Make Sure You Perform at Your Best

In order for you to work up to your potential, you must be in good physical and mental condition. The demands of a successful career in direct sales can sometimes be stressful, mostly because there is usually no one else to share the workload. You are not only your own boss, but also your own employee. If you find yourself feeling sluggish, unmotivated, or just disconnected from what you want to accomplish, here are four ways you can get back on track and create a ritual that will help you reach your full potential.
1. Eat foods that make you feel good and are healthy. This is often easier said than done, but eating a balanced and nutritious diet is beneficial in so many ways. You will look better, feel better, and have more energy. When all of these things are happening, you are free to concentrate on achieving your business goals. Tip: To accommodate a busy lifestyle, consider planning your meals a week at a time. Pick one day of the week to plan out meals for yourself and your family, shop, and prepare or cook what you can ahead of time. Freezer-friendly meals and slow cooker recipes are great for both healthy eating and convenience.
2. Get your body moving. Some people enjoy weekly yoga or spin classes at a fitness club, while others incorporate less formal exercise into their day. For example, put on your favorite song and dance in the kitchen as you get breakfast ready. Find a parking spot farther away from the building, take stairs instead of elevators, or take a walk on your lunch break. Physically active people enjoy better overall cardiovascular health. Think of how much more productive you could be with your blood flowing properly and your energy level steady throughout the day.
3. Write down your achievable goals for the day. Instead of a regular “to-do list,” jot down what achievable goals you’d like to accomplish for the day. Thinking in terms of “goals” rather than “tasks” puts more importance on how your daily tasks contribute to your business’ success and gives you a feeling of true accomplishment at the end of your day. Furthermore, by writing these goals down, you give yourself direction and will be more able to limit your distractions.
4. Focus on something that inspires and motivates you. Take some time for self-reflection to figure out what genuinely inspires and motivates you to be the best that you can be. Is it your children? Your quest for financial independence? A desire to positively affect others? Identify your inspiration and make it your focus each day. Use it to keep you on track and strive to do your job to the absolute best of your ability.

Keeping yourself strong in both the body and mind as well as staying connected to your emotions will serve you well in your professional endeavors. Incorporate these things into your life in ways that allow you to sustain them long-term. You are the only one who can do it, so believe in yourself.

Do you have anything to add to our list? Please share your ideas below!

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Three Quick Tips to Improve Your Team

Once you’ve invested a great deal of time and effort into building your team, the next step is to invite success by helping them improve as individuals and as a whole. By doing so, everyone wins. Each member of your team will find individual business success and will be able to pass that on to his/her downline as well. When this happens, the financial benefits increase. In today’s post, we’ve selected three steps you can take right away to improve your team and subsequently grow your business.

Help each person focus on his/her goal and future. Chances are that each person on your team has a different goal. Sally might just want to work a few nights a month and make enough to pay for her daughter’s dance lessons, while Jill, who recently lost her job due to downsizing, is determined to make her direct sales business a full-time job with a full-time income. Sally and Jill’s goals couldn’t be more different, so make sure that as a leader, you help them focus on the individual goal. Doing so will make it more real, and they will have sincere motivation because it comes from something they truly desire. Help each person visualize achieving the goal and define what needs to be done to get there.
Provide mini workshops so they can learn new skills. As with most industries, direct sales is always changing and adjusting to meet the needs of its customers. Stay on top of industry trends, changes from the corporate office, and even newly created techniques for closing a sale or signing a recruit. Teach a mini-workshop or hold a training call if possible once a month to teach your team new skills. Professional development not only helps the individual improve a business, but it also refreshes people’s ambition and determination to succeed. Choose a different topic each time, make a brief presentation, do a Q & A, and then provide a call to action for your downline to put the information to use. As an added incentive, follow up at the next workshop with invitations for your team to share their successes and perhaps earn a small reward.
Rally around a cause to bring your team together. It is easy to get caught up in one’s own needs and responsibilities when working in direct sales, so find a cause that requires your team to work together. Cooperation and collaboration fosters an environment of camaraderie and creates a culture of support among colleagues. For example, a local family is raising money to pay for the medical bills of a sick child. Aside from donating a basket of goodies to be raffled off at the fundraiser, a direct sales team leader called on each of her members in the area to attend the event with a guest from outside the industry. For those not in the area or simply unable to go to the fundraiser, she called on them to find another way to contribute. She created a competition of sorts among other direct sales team leaders she knew. Her team was motivated not only for the cause of the fundraiser, but also to win out over the other direct sales teams participating. They were able to work together and contribute generously to a worthy cause; furthermore, they got a chance to know each other better, which guaranteed support for each other going forward.

It is said that a leader is only as good as his or her team. There are so many reasons to invest the time into making your team the best it can be, so don’t let this responsibility fall by the wayside. You will not only be helping your own business, but you will be making a difference in the lives of others by contributing to their successes.

What quick tips do you have for improving your team? Please share below!

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Four Quick Steps to Overcoming Mistakes

“You make mistakes. Mistakes don’t make you.” This quote by surgeon and author Maxwell Maltz speaks volumes about how to overcome your mistakes. We all make them in every aspect of our lives, but when you are self-employed, they can be especially devastating. Rather than dwelling on the mistake or pretending as if it never happened, here are four steps you can take right away to overcome your mistakes and keep moving forward.

1. Recognize that your ultimate goal is to improve and that mistakes are part of the learning process. No one is immune to making mistakes, and as someone who is always striving to better himself, embrace your mistake so you can learn from it. For example, a consultant new to her direct sales business, was asked by a customer if a particular pair of earrings was hypoallergenic. The consultant, instead of checking to be 100% certain, gave her best guess on the spot. She turned out to be wrong, causing the customer to complain about the product and return it for a full refund. The consultant was worried that she had made a bad impression on this customer and her friends from the party, but instead of letting it get the best of her, she realized that she is capable of overcoming this setback. It was surely a rookie mistake, and in the grand scheme of things, it wouldn’t make or break her business.

2. Find a way to rectify your mistake. The sooner you can do this, the better. Our jewelry consultant from the example above fixed her mistake by calling the customer to apologize for giving the wrong information, and also sent her a handwritten note with a $20 credit to use on a future order. She wanted the customer to know that she wasn’t a careless person, but that she was an honest businesswoman who made a beginner’s mistake. It was important for the customer to know that she truly wanted to rectify the situation. If at all possible, fix your mistake so that you can begin anew without the worry of a previous error.

3. Forgive yourself. People in direct sales businesses are naturally ambitious and motivated to succeed. Because of this, we can sometimes be our own worst critics. Although it is good to hold yourself to a high standard, cut yourself some slack when you make a mistake. If you spend too much time beating yourself up about it, you won’t be able to get past it and possibly won’t be able to enjoy what you do. Forgive yourself so you can rebuild your confidence and move forward.

4. Give yourself an opportunity to vent your frustrations and express your emotions. It is unhealthy for you to keep your emotions bottled up. Confiding in a close friend or relative about how you are feeling or writing in a journal can be quite therapeutic. You’ll likely feel much better after venting and you can then continue to move ahead.

Mistakes are inevitable in any endeavor, so rather than letting them define you, embrace them by learning, improving, forgiving yourself, and moving on. You will be more successful in the long run if you do.

How do you overcome your mistakes? Please share your comments below!

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What The Olympics Can Teach You About Business

With the Winter Olympic Games having recently come to an end, it brings to mind how much these athletes have truly achieved. How do you think they got to the Olympics? The gold medal figure skater and all of her competitors surely couldn’t perform even the simplest jump the first time they got on the ice, just as those skiers couldn’t attempt more than a bunny slope the first time they put on skis. Each one of them completed a series of small achievements that eventually led them to the Olympics. As a salesperson, you should be setting benchmarks for yourself as well, small achievements that lead to great results. Here are our top three picks that will help you achieve your business goals.

Find mentors to emulate. Who do you aspire to be like? Potential mentors could be people in your upline, or even in a completely different industry whose road to success is worthy of imitation. Identify your mentors’ work ethic, habits, education, or whatever it is that deems them worthy of your aspirations. If possible, talk with them about how you can achieve your goals by following in their footsteps. For example, if you are looking to transition from working your business “on the side” to making it your full-time job with a full-time income, an appropriate mentor would be someone who has done exactly that. Use the resources available to you in order to achieve your goals.
Make adjustments to your business and its direction as quickly as possible based on facts and results. When things aren’t going well or as you had planned, take a step back and analyze why this may be happening. As soon as you realize that you need to make a change, consult with mentors and use the information you have to adjust. For example, if you find that you are not booking enough future hostesses at each party, identify what it is about your presentation that may be lacking. Test out a new approach, review the results, and adjust if necessary. There is no sense in repeating an action that fails to deliver your desired outcome.
Build a strong foundation for your business by avoiding shortcuts. Your business must be built on ethical business practices, knowledge of your product and company, a desire to improve via professional development, and a commitment to representing your company and serving customers to the best of your ability. If you take shortcuts in any way, your business will suffer. When your upline conducts regional workshops once a month, asking a colleague for a brief summary instead of attending yourself is a shortcut. Make it a priority to attend, listen to what is being taught, incorporate relevant matters into your business, and always strive for improvement. You cannot expect success without hard work. The positive side is that by putting in the work and avoiding such shortcuts, you are more likely to rise above the fray and meet your goals more quickly.

With each benchmark that you meet, you are one step closer to realizing your dreams. Furthermore, such benchmarks help you stay focused, which is critical when your goals are long-term. What do you think about our benchmarks? What would you add to our list? Please share your ideas below!

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How to Determine Your Success

How to Determine Your Success

When you think about your goals in your professional life, does the word “success” come to mind? If so, what exactly does it mean to you? Success can be defined in countless ways, so it is important for you to determine just how you measure your own success. In doing so, you are creating a true motivational tool for yourself, a super-objective for your business, and the foundation of a plan to achieve that goal. Today’s post will focus on two ways for you to determine your own success; those are perseverance and passion.

Perseverance – Your commitment to staying the course no matter how difficult things become or what obstacles pop up along the way is a good indicator of perseverance. To really assess your level of perseverance, ask yourself this question and answer honestly: at what point will you give up? For many, the answer to that is “never,” others may have a definite breaking point, and still others fall somewhere in between. It is up to you to decide where you fall on that spectrum, what your goal is, and what you are willing to do to reach it. For example, a recently retired small business owner tells his story of how he decided to leave a very secure job as plant manager of a very large photo processing lab to open his own small lab and retail store. He sat down with his wife every night for weeks after the kids were in bed formulating a business plan and crunching the numbers. It became clear that if the business didn’t take off, they would lose their house and have to move to an apartment. Keeping this possibility in mind always helped him make smart decisions and persevere. Not only did he not lose his house, but he was able to buy a much bigger one in which to raise his family, send them all to college without loans, and kept a successful business for nearly thirty years. Without perseverance, none of that would have been possible.

Passion – Without passion and a love for what you are doing, there is no way you will be able to persevere and find long term success. Your passion will be what constantly drives you to make your business the best it can be. Ask yourself how strong your belief is in what you desire. Dig deep to find the answer to this very important question. The retiree from the example above recounts how passion played a large role in his successful small business career. He knew that he was the best in his field and had areas of expertise that could edge out competition. Seeing flaws in how others did things and knowing he could do them better always motivated him to seek improvement and resist shortcuts. His passion for his field of work and his desire to be the best were major contributors to his success.

Taking an honest assessment of your level of perseverance and passion is a critical step in determining your personal definition of success. These two elements go hand in hand, so don’t underestimate their importance.

What roles do perseverance and passion play in your professional life? Do you consider them crucial to success? Please share your ideas in the comments below!

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Find Your Purpose

Find Your Purpose

What is the main purpose of your business? Your answer should not be “to make money.” Of course, turning a profit and supporting yourself should rank pretty high up there, but it shouldn’t be the most important one. Small business expert Susan Solovic writes in her blog for Constant Contact that we should consider the purpose of companies like Apple and Zappos. They have an almost cult-like following because of what they are trying to accomplish with their products other than selling as many as possible. If you are having trouble finding your deeper purpose, take a look at our list of suggestions on where to begin.

Listen to your inner voice and hold off on asking others what they think. Before you start seeking opinions on what your purpose should be, tune into your inner voice for inspiration. You will no doubt be influenced at least partially by what others think, so define your purpose for yourself before asking around. Brainstorm some ideas, read up on the origins of other successful companies, and listen carefully to that inner voice we all have that helps us make decisions and think clearly. Once you have a definitive idea, then it’s time to gather opinions from others.

Follow what is exciting, not what is easy. In business, just as in life, the easy choice may not always be the best one. If you’ve ever read about the history of Apple Inc., you would see that Steve Jobs, on more than one occasion, did just that. He and his team continually spent a great deal of time and resources creating products that excited him. Many times, his investors didn’t believe in the idea or didn’t think it was worthy of pursuing. Keep in mind that because of Jobs’ tenacity and commitment to follow his passion for the exciting, Apple created more instant millionaires when it went public than any other company in history, and helped make Apple the brand it is today.

Tap into your instincts and emotions rather than logic. You obviously don’t want to ignore logic completely, but when finding the purpose for your business, your instincts should take over. Instincts and emotions are powerful enough to guide us to do great things. When faced with a difficult question or decision, listen carefully to your initial gut reaction. This does not mean to act impulsively, but rather to let that gut feeling lead the way on your journey. Keep listening to it as you conduct research, bounce ideas off others, and take any other logical steps toward making the final call. For many hard-working and ambitious people, this is not always the easiest thing to do, but it certainly is important if you want to find your true purpose that drives you toward success.

When finding your purpose, you don’t have to set out to change the world. You only have to do what makes you passionate, what motivates you, and what excites you. This is one time in business where your emotions should dominate.

What have you done to find your purpose? Would you add to our list? Please share your ideas in the comments section below!

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Four Ideas To Take Your Business To The Next Level

Four Ideas To Take Your Business To The Next Level

Ask any successful small business owner what he or she envisioned when first launching the business. Most of them will tell you that this vision is what helps them to keep moving forward and take their business to the next level. In today’s post, we offer four things you can do to grow your business and achieve your vision.

1. Do what you truly love and find ways to make money from it. If you aren’t doing something you’re passionate about, it will be very difficult to succeed long term. It’s important to tap into your interests. Ask yourself what drives you, what you care about, and what you’d like to spend every day doing with your time. For example, after spending years as a full-time parent, Jean decides to break back into the work force by using her experience as a competitive dancer to teach dance to local children. She starts out with a small clientele, but through word of mouth, eventually grows enough to purchase her own space and send her students to competitions. Nothing can motivate you more to succeed than doing something you truly enjoy.

2. Find and team up with great people to help you grow your business. When expanding her dance studio, Jean didn’t do it alone. She contacted people from her circle of dance friends from her youth, some of whom were also making a living in the arts. She picked their brains, asked for advice, and even recruited some to come work with her. Use your expertise in conjunction with your passion to identify smart, hard-working people with whom you surround yourself. Your network is essential to the success of your business.

3. Use and leverage your failures to improve. Each business endeavor is sure to come with its fair share of challenges. Instead of letting yourself get bogged down in the disappointment and stress of it all, use these experiences to learn and grow. What went wrong? How did it happen? Could it have been prevented? How could you improve for next time? The better able you are to turn your weaknesses into strengths, the more likely you are to find success and make your vision a reality.

4. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Instead, personalize and make it better. It can take a lot of time to come up with strategies that are truly original and, most of the time, there is no need. Put your own spin on existing ideas to improve them and attract others to your business. Part of the reason Jean’s dance studio was so successful was because she personalized her services. It’s easy to find jazz and acrobatics classes for toddlers, but very few places teach tap to such young children. Since that is Jean’s specialty, she promoted that particular class more than the others, gave them a special mid-year recital, and was able to beat her competitors for those students. Identify what you bring to the table, and commit to it. You’ll be amazed at the results.

Remember to keep in mind your vision for the business, and know your strengths to help you get to the next level. Be passionate, ask for help, and learn from your mistakes.

What else would you add to our list? Please share with us in the comments below!

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Our Top 10 Posts in 2013

Our Top 10 Posts in 2013

Here at DSEF, it’s our goal to provide you with great content you can use right now to build your business. And it’s content you can use any time. So we dug into the archives, to provide you with our Top 10 posts of 2013. These were your favorite posts this past year. Which one is your favorite?

Thanks for being such a great community! We appreciate your support and look forward to continuing to serve you this year!