What do most people who fail in their network marketing businesses have in common?
I have noticed one common theme that I want to share with you today.
When I was in my 20s, and I started in my direct sales journey I looked at this Henry Ford quote every single day for 6 years between the ages of 20 and 26…
“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
Every office in the company had a stack of weekly schedules for me and other reps to fill out to plan their week, and that quote was at the top of the schedule. I have found this to be so, so true.
When I started in direct sales, I was just learning the art of time management. After looking at this every single day, it is different for me at 39 and feels like it should be common knowledge to block out your calendar.
Everyone says, “I need to get better at managing my time,” but what does that really mean? Well, today I want to go through some simple steps on how to tell your time that you are the boss of this business.
Intention is really, really powerful. Even if it is something like, “Tonight, we are having steak for dinner!” and I write it down, I am much more likely to overcome any obstacles so that steak is on the table at dinner.
We set up intention in so many different ways in our lives. The example of birthday parties came up in one of the groups I am coaching, and I was talking to them about the intention that goes into it. When someone in our family is invited to a birthday party, we get the invitation, we put it up on the refrigerator, we block out the time in our calendars, and everyone remembers we have an event to attend. The question I was asking was, “Do we give that amount of respect to our business the same as we would a birthday party of our kid’s classmate that we may not even want to go to?”
When was the last time we took our schedule and blocked out time to make phone calls, watch training videos, or plan business activities, etc, and stuck that schedule on the fridge so the whole family sees and knows this is when this time is sacred?
This is the essence of planning and setting ourselves up for success.
We are all going to make mistakes, but if we do a couple of things right, eventually we will be successful.
Here are some things that we can do to be successful:
- Follow Henry Ford’s quote and make a plan.
The plan doesn’t have to be perfect. Each week, or every two weeks, we need to reflect – What is working well, what is not working well, and what adjustments do we need to make. This increases our skill in time management, rather than just accepting our lot in life that we are either good or bad planners. - Tell Time who the boss is
Making a plan can decrease overwhelm – regardless of whether you are new in your network marketing business, or if you are making tons of money. Not knowing what to focus on or what to do is a result of all of the ideas and things floating around in your head… this creates overwhelm. Getting it down on paper and into your planner frees up your mind and helps you to prioritize.
I recommend a planner with a weekly view and daily to-do list with a time breakdown. Here is how to fill out your planner:
- Grab your pencil – cross off all the time for your personal commitments like taking your kids to school. Cross off all the things you normally do or already have planned for the week – birthday party, Bible study, etc.
- Write in all the events you have scheduled – appointments, coaching calls, team meetings, etc.
- Set a goal for how many appointments you want to have. This step is REALLY, REALLY important, and it is often the one that people miss. Let’s say you have an appointment goal of 5 new appointments, circle the times in your planner for when you want to set those appointments. Circling those times tells your mind “I need to fill those times in.”
- Write down when you are going to do the outreach to fill those appointments. This will get your mind into action because you have already committed to it in writing that you are going to do it.
In Corporate America, the boss tells you what to do. In entrepreneurship like network marketing, YOU are the boss. You need to tell yourself what to do with your time, and this will keep you from falling into overwhelm. And I want you to give your business the same respect you give your kids’ sports, birthday parties, your spouse’s travel schedule. Write it down in your planner and put it in a place where everyone in your family can see it.
Was this helpful for you today? I would love to hear your take-aways. 🙂
P.S. My next 9-week coaching group of Your Direct Sales & Recruiting Foundation starts on August 29th. We deep dive into planning and setting up your business for success, time management, enrolling, retention, and recruiting. You can grab the details and REGISTER HERE
If you would like to check out our other coaching options, here are a few ways we can work together further…and if you would like to chat about the right next step for you, simply email team@emergesalestraining.com.
- Your Social Media Engagement Foundation – If you would like to create an engaged online community register for our next 9 week “Your Social Media Engagement Foundation” coaching program beginning on August 8th (just a few spots left!) REGISTER HERE.
- Your Leadership Foundation – In this 9-week coaching program, we focus on having a strong vision that inspires others, planning, and prioritization as a leader, coaching to results, developing skills in team members, creating a strong team culture, and developing resilience. REGISTER HERE for the next group starting on October 15th.
- Recruit Like a Boss- This 9-week coaching program focuses on working through the 5 bottlenecks that hold us and our team members back from recruiting and building a strong team. The next group starts in November and you can reply to this email be added to the waitlist.
Work with an Emerge Sales Training Sales & Leadership coach privately or in a small group
If you’d like to work with an Emerge coach directly to help you build a successful business, just email to team@emergesalestraining.com with “Private” in the subject line and tell me a little bit about you and your business. I’ll send over all the details.