“There is so much info sometimes I get overwhelmed with things and don’t know where to put my time.” So wrote NMC member Lynn today.
How do you decide where to put your time, effort and money?
When you’re building your business, nothing you do has a guaranteed return.
All marketing – online or offline, talking to people, emailing people, having websites, writing blogs, doing leads – none of these things are for sure going to make you money. What’s for sure is that they all COST time and money.
So what to do?
Focus on two things that are guaranteed to make you money in your business:
1. Find customers who buy your product/service
2. Find reps who buy product and who want to get customers for your product/service too.
Everything else you do is a means to one of those ends, from managing your time to getting up the courage to speak to people.
Every journey begins with two steps:
ONE. Choose money-maker 1 or 2 above.
TWO. For the next 30 days, ask yourself one question each day, depending on which money-maker you chose. Of course, first settle your jar.
1. How can I find customers who will buy my products? OR
2. How can I find reps who buy product and who want to get customers for my products?
Readers, what kinds of things have helped you get focused and back on track?
Focus is a good thing. I find myself getting side tracked easily. It is so tempting to respond to each offer of a new way to get customers or reps. I am doing just what Kim said to Lynn. I will try something for thirty days or in some cases ninety days to see if it helps get the results we all want. If not I move on to the next thing. I could spend all day doing ten different things to market my product and business. If I did that I would do all those things but not all those things well. I don’t want to just check them off a to do list, I want to do them fully. I actually want to enjoy my job. My advice to Lynn is to try one or two things at time for a limited time. Keep the things that work and throw out the things that don’t. ( maybe not throw them out but don’t waste time on doing them each day).
Having a fun job: is worth having,
Nancy Carlson
http://www.perfectmombusiness
I believe that really focusing on my ‘why’ or, ‘why I am doing this business, will help me get back on track. Since I market a product, clearly I have to eventually sell it, so therefore I must go and get customers. Although I really feel like playing a fiddle tune right now (maybe a ‘jig’ will inspire me today?), I do realize that it is just another distraction and there are lots of them out there. There’ll be lots of time for fiddlin’ later, right?
Seriously though, I strongly feel that many of us are making a difference for folks out there with our products. It is this feeling of at least ‘thinking’ that I am making a difference for families out there that may, at some time in the future, be affected by breast cancer, that helps me do what I do.
Ed MacDonald B.Sc., RRT
“Making a Difference”
http://www.breastcancerkit.networkmarketingcentral.com
Don’t get me wrong, I love “motivational materials”, but it seems to me that people constantly get “the latest and greatest training programs” in order to convince themselves that they are working their business when they are not. Sometimes its just easier and more comfortable to listen to motivational self help and the “newest” trainings, than to go out there and actively get customers and reps.
There is obviously a certain amount of prep and study everyone needs – ie. how to talk to people, where to find interested people, what are my products and have they worked for me etc. . .
However, many people just go over board and prep and prep and prep without taking action.
It reminds me of “The Secret” controversy. Intention is great, but you need action to back it up.
I was really impressed when I saw a man speak recently about how he made it in Network Marketing. He was from Cambodia and barely spoke any English. As an immigrant to the US who had to support his family, he saw the opportunity for what it was and decided that he wanted to make it. He didn’t have much money to get started, so he printed out a lot of business cards he made himself. He stood on a street corner every day and passed out 200 hundred business cards every single day. Within 6 months, we was a leader in that company making a lot of money.
Often times, people in our business say that they want to make it, but don’t want to put in their sweat equity.
Cheers,
Rani
What Ed said was important. Keep your “why” in your heart. On a daily basis, reconnect with what your long term payoff is going to be and by payoff, I’m not just talking money.
Then find those reaching out methods you enjoy. We humans have a tendency to get less distracted when we are doing things we enjoy.
For months, I got hung up on cold calling. (Yes, pun intended.) Kim kept telling me to do something else, but everyone I know in NM has made it because they did lots of cold calling. I thought I had to do it. It took a while, but Kim’s words finally penetrated my rather thick skull. I’m enjoying my business much more these days and distracted much less.
…and sometimes, we just need a good fun distraction.
There are only two things that make us money in this business – selling products and services and sponsoring others who do the same.
One generates RIGHT NOW cash in the pocket, the other one develops the long term residual income.
Ideally, focusing on both creates a great business mix.
I like to ask my new team partner what is MOST important to them right now – immediate cash or residual, which takes longer to build.
From that answer, we can work out a business plan that will assist them in taking the right action steps to success.
Focusing on a 90 day plan has always worked well for me as it tends to give me the time needed to work out the kinks and objectively look at what is working and what needs adjustment.
Being overwhelmed is a common event in this business, especially early on. Taking a deep breath and working with 5 action steps at a time can be helpful.
Choose the 5 most important action steps RIGHT now in your business. Complete those and move onto another 5, and so on. You’ll get things accomplished, feel good about the process and be taking positive action in your business!
EXPECT Success!
Jackie Ulmer
Who is Jackie Ulmer Anyway?
I don’t know what others do, but I call my mentor and chew on it with her. If she is unavailable I call someone else on the team and simply ASK for direction, perspective, or whatever I feel I need.
I would be a WRECK without my mentor.
Lisa Dingel
http://mammalisa.com
Because I do talk to my mentor on a regular basis, I have just said “I am overwhelmed with everything”. From that one comment to her came, “Don’t try to do it all. Pick one or two areas and focus on them right now.”
If there is one night a week that is crazy, then I just give myself permission to not do anything else that night unless it is an emergency.
I think if you don’t give yourself permission to just do nothing once in a while, you’ll quit everything in frustration.
Brenda Bunney
http://MLMSuccessBunney.com
http://BrendaBunneyMLM.com
brendabunney@yahoo.com
I have been in network marketing for about 1.5 years now and I am just getting started.
My husband and I have read so much and listen to so many tapes. We decided to look at a variety of methodologies. We both have gone to graduate school and decided the best approach is to research. We did this and decided on a method that we could live with. We are refining it every day. My husband is home during the day and has made a decision to start calling professionals like realtors. So everyday this is what he does. It is amazing to see how interested these people really are. If they join or buy product, great. If not we just keep on calling. It is starting to work now. You have to determine what you technique you like and run with it. Practice it until you get it right. It is all trial and error. Just like everything else in life.
Just go for it!
When I find myself getting overwhelmed I find that I’ve gotten too far away from the basics of my business and family.
It’s very easy in today’s world to get distracted and off target. For me, it’s kids, hubby, older parents, etc. Then if I start watching the news, with all it’s gloom and doom, it’s all over!
So I start with getting back to center, refocusing on what’s the most important thing I need to do for today.
I have a spiral notebook with a line down the center and on one side I write my Business To Do and the other my Home To Do.
I then pick the most important To Do’s on each side and don’t worry about the others.
And, if you pay attention to your “gut”, you’ll always know what’s the most important To Do.
Suzanne
http://www.NetworkMarketingHotspot.com
http://www.TheMLMmom.com
I seem to battle the overwhelm situation after all these years (15 years fulltime) in the industry. I don’t think it’s the industry, I think it’s me.
I am a very positive person and I see so many things that interest me and I find myself ordering interesting trainings and sometimes don’t get around to listening to them for months. Clearly, I didn’t need them at the time I ordered them.
I have now begun to stop, take a deep breath and think, “Do I REALLY need this now? Will I use it?” Late night on the computer is my weakest time, so I really question myself then.
I work only from home, no outside job, all our children are grown and away from home, no ailing parents to care for, so you’d think I’d have more time to concentrate. However, I find that with the church work I love to do, occasional necessary shopping, and the entertaining we do living on the lake, I have to be very careful in my planning. I also find that when you work at home, it’s very important to schedule time for work and treat it just as seriously as if it were time spent away from home at an office. When we work outside the home, you’re not able to take advantage of everything that comes along because you must be at your desk at certain times. I have to treat my time at the home desk in the same way. It’s even helpful to block out work times on your calendar and respect those times.
I also believe that specific goals with a timeline help you not to get off-focus. When a distraction appears, it’s helpful to ask your self, “Will this help me to achieve my goal of …..?” And, “Is this the only time this can be done, or can it be scheduled at a non-work time.
All in all, identify your goals and treat them like a real business; Stay focused on your goals and your why; but also schedule time for relaxation and fun. When I am most likely to get off-focus is when I’ve worked too much and am genuinely tired, both in my body and my mind.
1. Set goals and stay focused
2. Set a schedule and stick to it
3. Allow yourself time for fun and relaxation.
JUDY
http://www.judyann.networkmarketingcentral.com