Entries Tagged 'Business' ↓

When you run your own business you are your own master and your own slave.

There are always more things to do than you have the time or money to manage. How you are able to cope with this situation determines whether you have a chance of becoming a successful business owner.

Two opposing styles cause the most problems. One is doing everything your master demands of you. The other is rebelling against these demands and abusing your freedom.

Renee is her own slave. She works over eighty hours a week and eats, breathes and sleeps her business. She is determined to get every single item on her to do list completed. She
*attends several networking functions every week,
*collects business cards,
*follows up with letters about her business,
*makes all necessary phone calls,
*and does her paperwork in the middle of the night.

Customers are delighted with her services, and her business seems to be thriving, but she isn’t. She is “losing it!” She is exhausted and burned out. She keeps promising her husband and children that she will take time off, but whenever she does, all she can do is sleep.

Six months after she started her business, her chronic sinus infection became so bad that her doctor suggested surgery.

Allison decided that it made sense to run her business from her home. She dutifully prepared a business plan under the guidance of her mentor. She, too, has a long to do list.

However, Allison has trouble getting started in the morning. She loves to linger over coffee, read the newspaper and do a morning exercise class. About eleven she reviews her list and gets to work.

She chooses the easy items so that she can get them out of the way. After a lunch break, and an extended phone conversation with a friend, she gets back to work. Just as she is really getting warmed up, the children arrive home from school and demand her attention.

Allison wonders why her business is getting off to such a slow start, and her savings are running out.

Renee and Allison each need to borrow some elements of the other’s style.

Renee has created so much structure for herself that she almost literally has no room to breathe. She does not “have a life,” only a business, and her body/mind system is breaking down under the strain. She needs to learn to prioritize and include her own personal and family needs on her to do list.

On the other hand, Allison treasures the life she is enjoying so much that she is unwilling to sacrifice very much of it to do the work necessary to make her business successful. She needs to follow the structure of her to do list and not abandon it each time something more enticing comes along.

Making these changes may be emotionally challenging for each of them. Renee derives much of her self-esteem from producing superb results, and Allison derives her satisfaction from not allowing anyone to tell her what to do, not even herself.

They will both need to reevaluate their priorities, and find a way to feel satisfied and happy with doing things differently. They will probably need friends, coaches, or support groups to help them sustain the necessary changes.

If you are or intend to become a business owner, you will need to steer a course between these extremes in order to have a business and have a life.

Communicate skillfully about sensitive subjects in business situations. Have the challenging conversations that lead to cooperation and success. Business Communication Blog
Laurie Weiss, Ph.D. is a Master Certified Coach and communication expert. Dr. Weiss has spent 35 years helping clients resolve conflict in business and personal relationships. Email feedback@laurieweiss.com

Who “owns” your team of independent contractors, your MLM army of volunteers? Your downline belongs TO YOU first, not the company you rep for. Some would consider these comments heresy. It’s a complicated idea fraught with all sorts of potential landmines, like; “What if mydownline decides it doesn’t ‘belong’ to me? Does this kind of thinking lead to chaos in my organization?”

At some point in one’s career in MLM, one realizes that one has taken on full-responsibility for one’s future. Business ownership is more than just a way to get tax-breaks. Leadership is more than encouraging higher volumes or giving out awards and holding rah-rah meetings. Leadership becomes setting a direction for yourorganization that matches your business vision and philosophy. It may mean acting independently of your vendor, (but within the framework and contractual obligations you have with your vendor when you enrolled). Your decisions and your direction are geared for the overall health and longevity of the team, not your personal convenience.

Early in my network marketing career, my leadership style was more like a “boss” than a mentor. I saw myself only as a rep for the company “in charge” of other reps. I allowed the company to set my agenda and depended on the company for motivation. When the company started making poor business decisions, and the uniqueness of the product was lost and became a commodity, I realized that I needed to make a change. However, I had tied myorganization to the company more than me. So when I came to my current company only 3 wanted to follow. Lesson learned.

I’m keenly aware that in MLM our incomes are intertwined with each other. Those who have built huge (10,000+ organizations) perceive themselves, rightly I believe, as independent marketing organizations that are in a joint venture with a given vendor until such time as it is no longer a mutually beneficial to them or theirorganization . The best of them treat their top leaders as a “Board of Directors” who participates in choosing the direction and policies of theorganization at large. It’s a type of consensus management.

Do not take my comments as advocating company-jumping. I think “company-jumping” and frequent system changes is unethical and irresponsible. But there are times when it is a sound business decision. If the market share and product mix in my company was not keeping up with trends, or they were showing poor management, or bad ethical choices, I’d read the writing on the wall and take my business anddownline else where!

If you are a downline, you need to respect your upline. You do this because your downline needs to respect your leadership. If you don’t like your immediate upline, or they are a poor leader, then go around them to your upline’s upline. Provide solid leadership for your team. Work with your vendor and your upline to create a successful system and joint venture.

Do I ever intend to leave my company? No. But before it was purchased by its current owner, I started reading between the management lines and knew that something wasn’t right, and I started investigating other options for myself and my team. I will not allow myself, nor by extension my team, to be left hanging because some corporation decides to close its MLM doors.

When you join a network marketing company, you don’t join the corporation itself; you join a marketing team affiliated with the corporation. It’s a partnership, not a marriage. Responsible senior leadership in network marketing must be able to see beyond the company/vendor. You must be able to set a successful direction for your team. To me, that’s part of leadership and leverage.

Karen Hurd has been a full-time network marketer
since 1988. Changing lives is her passion. She is a writer,teacher and wellness educator. She lives in Virginia Beach with her husband and 5 children.
For more online marketing training visit Karen’s site MLM Maniac

If you’re searching for a solution to network marketing you’ve probably been through the struggles and had your share of problems. The only issue is; there is no solution. You will go crazy searching for the cure all because it doesn’t exist.

This was a lesson that I learned the hard way. My impression was that the person who sold me ( my mentor) on going into business with them was my solution to network marketing. So I listened intently and followed orders like a good soldier. The only problem is that my mentor had tunnel vision and kept telling me the same thing over and over again.

I guess she thought that repetition would eventually sink in and one day I’d wake up and business would be good. You see, I was really terrible at doing it her way. It wasn’t me; and I hated it. The thing is; that was the only way she knew how to do it. And then, when she started telling me about all her wealth, vacations to exotic Islands, and the freedom to work when and if she felt like it. Thats when I knew she was full of it.

I was under the impression that the real solution to network marketing was in the residual income. If she had all these things going for her then why was she recruiting? So one morning I decided to take a break and get back into research mode. I needed to find my solution to network marketing and discover what the heck was going on in network marketing.

Never realized that I could pick any mentor that I wanted. It didn’t matter that they weren’t involved with my network marketing business. There are a lot of really smart network marketers out there who are willing and able to help you find a solution. The best part is these mentors have developed proven systems that work. Keyword phrase here: SYSTEMS THAT WORK!

Most people have heard of Mike Klingler and Mike Dillard. These guys are really good. Have you heard of Ann Sieg? This lady really has it going partly because she figured out how to generate free leads to her network marketing business and get paid for those leads. I must admit she is one of my favorites and believe it or not the two Mikes above figured it out because of her too.