What is Uniqueworldmom?

I came up with the name uniqueworldmom a few years ago.  As a woman with old fashioned views and an ability to look at issues with an open mind, I felt that my worldview was truly unique.  As a Mom I also raised my children with this perspective and continue to teach my youngest daughter this way of looking at the world.

When I first started this blog it was about writing about whatever caught my fancy.  Then I abandoned it for years.  When I took it up again my purpose changed and as I wrote consistently it continued to evolve.

So here it goes.  What is Uniqueworldmom?  This is the brand that I have chosen.  This brand houses 2 direct sales companies that are very different and 1 blog.

My first direct sales business is what started me on my current journey.  I found Plexus a year and a half ago and these health products helped to change my life and my perspective.  I felt so much healthier and had so much energy that I chose to share the product with others.  This company has such a culture of self improvement that it also began a program of personal and professional development that has increased my self-confidence and led to me submitting my first guest blog post.  It was accepted and I once again decided to take up my blog.

My second direct sales company was begun when I decided that I wanted something different than what I was already doing.  I went looking for a new company by starting with the well established companies.  When I didn't find something that appealed too me I went looking at start-ups.  Growing up in a household of educators the early education products of Fundanoodle Learning really resonated with me and I made the decision to join very quickly.  This journey is an amazing one as I work to help shape a company that has so much potential.

My blog is not meant to be a recruiting tool or a sales tool.  You will find that I don't write much about the companies that I sell products for.  That is not my purpose.  I have had a lot of struggles in my life. I have had and continue to have a difficult journey in the direct sales industry.  I write in the hopes that others can see themselves in what I write and might walk away with some kernel of inspiration that will allow them to keep trying.  I want to inspire others that even if they are struggling it is not the best option to give up.

Business is not the only part of my life, so from time to time I write about movies I have seen, books I have read and other things that I am doing.  I am a mother and a homeschooler on top of everything else. I do try to keep my political and personal belief system out of my writing, but sometimes there is just something that I have to write about and its not meant to offend or promote my views.  Sometimes I just feel so strongly I just need to vent.  That being said I hold very strongly to my views and opinions.  They were formed after much research and experience not at the whims of the media or political party.  I am neither Republican or Democrat.  I think that politicians are pretty much corrupt no matter how you look at it.

So if you can see yourself even a little bit in this, I hope that I can inspire you to be your best self.  Please subscribe and share this with those you feel it could help as well.

Who is Uniqueworldmom?

I wanted to take a couple of days to talk about who I am and what the purpose for my blog is.  I have done a little bit in previous posts, but I wanted to really talk about who I am and why I do what I do.

I am a 47 year old woman who claims 7 children.  I have one foster son who turns 29 next month.  I have 22 step-sons who are 26 and 25 and then I have 4 biological children ages 23, 20, 19 and 6.  Yes we had a surprise late in life baby.

When I was asked what I wanted to do when I grew up I always said that I wanted to be a Mom.  I was never taken seriously and then next question is no what career do you want to have and the answer would always be the same.

Yes my values and views can be considered old fashioned.  I have even been called sexist.  I was raised to believe that if you are married and have children your first priority is to be at home to raise your children because they are the future of society.  That didn't mean I felt that women were inferior or that what women did was less important than what men did.  In fact I felt like what women did was often more important than what men did.  Men supported and protected the family, but the women were the heart and soul of the family.

Family is the core of the meaning of life. Our children are our legacy and the whole purpose of marriage is to create a family unit.  Marriage to me is not the end result of a relationship it is the beginning.  It is not an expression of love.  The sole purpose of marriage is to create and raise children.  Based on that description you can deduct that my belief system is conservative.

That being said.  I was raised with Judeo-Christian values.  I believe firmly in those values, but I also believe that we were given free agency.  Everyone has the right to exercise that free agency and we don't have a right to judge others for doing so.  That doesn't mean that I won't stand up and say that I believe that certain laws are wrong.  I just won't judge a person for not living the same values that I do.

I believe that things like drugs and prostitution should be legalized, regulated and taxed in order to protect the innocent and provide revenue.  Prostitution has been around forever and is not going away.  If we legalize it, regulate it to ensure the health of the providers so that diseases are not spread and brought home to innocent victims we will free up the legal system to deal with more important crimes.  We can not legislate morality.  Likewise for drugs, our laws are confusing by having some drugs like caffeine, alcohol, nicotine and marijuana legal but making others illegal.  Why not legalize it all.  Regulate it and then tax it.  By regulating it you insure that the drugs available will at least not kill someone on a first time use with a small dose.  Criminal organizations whose sole industry was in these two areas would have to find other ways to do business or go legal.

So my world view is a little different than most.  I still believe that keeping the Sabbath Day holy is an important commandment even though the 10 commandments were done away with by Jesus.  The commandments of Love God above all other things and Love thy neighbor as thyself replace them.  The key words in both of these commandments is Love and we should show that to all humankind.

Now that you know a little about my views, I plan to talk about the purpose behind this blog tomorrow.  Hope you come back and read it as well.

Dreaming Big Versus Dreaming Small

First of all I want to apologize.  I blew it.  I let my birthday and the fact that nothing seemed to be moving in my business get to me.  I shut down for the last week and did absolutely nothing.  I have no excuses.  I just did it.

I got back on the train today and got back into my routine by starting a new business book.  As I began reading I would like to say I had an AHA moment.

Every time that I have started up on an entrepreneurial journey.  I have started with the idea of it would be nice to succeed.  It would be nice to have extra money.  It would be nice to be able to afford some nice things.  Does this sound like a solid dream to you?

As I began this journey in March of 2016 I did my dream statement.  It was all about getting out of debt, having money to educate my youngest, having the home of my dreams and driving a brand new car straight from the factory off of a car lot.  In reality I had the attitude that I had enough to get by and while having nice things would be nice, my dreams were pretty small.

Those dreams have morphed a little bit as the circumstances of my life have changed.  Still my dreams remain small.  The largest dream is of being financially independent.

Here is what my dreams lack.  Anything of substance.  I have no dream trips, no dream car, no dream house in mind.  I don't seem to have a comprehension of the kind of life I could have because being closer to 50 than 40 I have had the same lifestyle my entire life.  In fact my lifestyle is a bit less than the one I had in childhood and that is saying a lot.

Is it any wonder that I am having a hard time holding on to the desire to continue in the face of obstacles?

Its time to stop thinking small.  I need to be thinking about how I would live my life if money were no object.   I may even have to do a little bit of research into what is out there.  I may have to get over some fears in order to create a picture of a dream existence.  Its hard to dream big if you have no exposure to a lifestyle outside your own.  Its time to stop being oblivious to anything outside of my own little world.

I have a tendency to see things in the world that I can't have right now and convince myself that I don't want them and don't need them so why bother going after them.  Do you think that might be hampering my success a little bit.

In order to succeed big you need to dream big.  You can not create a new reality if you can not visualize a new reality for yourself.  This is something that I am learning.  If I can finally grasp this concept, maybe I will finally have a chance.

Book Review: The Speed of Trust

I just finished reading the speed of trust by Stephen M. R. Covey and son of Stephen R. Covey author of The 7 Habits series.

At first I thought this book was by the 7 Habits series which is why I decided to read it.  Thankfully the author realized this would be an issue and quickly established his own credibility with the readers.

This book is an interesting read that if understood and read can have a direct impact not only on your business, but your personal life as well.

The impact of trust or lack of trust affects every aspect of your life, from your own self, to family and then ultimately work.

I highly recommend you read this book and develop the cores and behaviors that it talks about.

Free Speech and political correctness

I try not to get very political in my blogs. Taking a side has a tendency to alienate those who do not hold your same views.  If your view is unpopular then you run the risk as being seen as a fringe element or a crazy.

I was not overly fond of any of the candidates of the last presidential election.  I had a hard time deciding on who to vote for or even if I would vote.  Ultimately I chose a candidate that aligned the most with my views even though he only aligned with some of me views.  The candidates I didn't vote for didn't align with my values at all.

That being said a president was elected and sworn into office.  At every turn he has had the voice of opposition instead of the support of the American people.

I was greatly disturbed by the events that happened in my State last weekend.  Even more so I was disturbed by the aftermath.  There were two groups of people with extremely opposing views that were involved in violent altercations and in the end there was some deaths and some injuries.

There are some that wish to place blame on one side because of their views.  There are some who wish to place blame on the other group because they incited the violence of the other side and then there are those who place blame on all parties involved.

The unpopular view is the one that places equal responsibility on all of the parties.  In fact there is a movement to denounce our President for taking that view.

There are those that are trying to censor any view that is deemed politically incorrect.

Here is the thing.  We have a document call the U.S. Constitution.  It has a bunch of amendments, but the very 1st one talks about the right to free speech.  Our right to assemble and share our opinions is guaranteed by that document.

There seems to be some confusion about what free speech is.  I am going to use a fictitious group of people but you can insert any race, religion, lifestyle or political party in its place.

Voicing a viewpoint is free speech.  That means that if you gather together and have speeches that talk about how purple people don't belong in our country and shouldn't have rights, that is guaranteed by the constitution.  Even if you don't agree with it.

Now in that same assembly a speaker goes on to say that they need to go after the purple people through violence then that is not protected.  It is considered inciting violence or a riot.

If a group of people or an individual decide to use violence in any manner against those purple people then there is a law against each type of act.  Examples would be assault or murder.  With people who hold animosity against one particular group of people there can be additional penalties added by labeling the crime a hate crime.

The very act of inciting violence against people who are considered part of hate groups could be labeled as a hate crime.

You see the laws either apply to everyone or they apply to no one.  You can't say that violence against one group is okay because what they believe is unacceptable and then think that violence against you is not ok simply because your views are widely held.  Violence is not ok, no matter who is doing the violence or who the violence is against.

This may be an unpopular view.  It may bring me in alignment with the president.  It may even cause people to not use my business, but I hold fast to the Declaration of Independence that states "We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equally"

I may not agree with someone's viewpoint or opinions, but I will defend their right to hold them until the day that I die.  I have generations of family members that have fought to protect those very rights.  I will not turn my back on them.

All work and no play is not advised

Wow its already Wednesday.  Time flies when your schedule is full.  I am pushing very hard this month to get my business running.  As a result I have been posing, talking to people, doing vendor events, play dates and learning fairs.  I am also beginning our homeschool year and caring for my family.

Here is the thing, I don't see this letting up anytime soon.  As we head into back to school season we quickly move into holiday season.  For direct sales this is the highest volume season of the year.  I am hoping to capitalize this to build a firm foundation for my business so that the low volume season that is Jan and Feb doesn't hit so hard.

Of course the health and wellness season is Sept -Oct and then Jan- Feb and then again April -June  as people turn their minds to new beginnings or even summer bodies.

I am doing 2 types of businesses with differing busy seasons.  So When do I take a break?  For now long breaks are not a possibility if I want to have a strong, smoothly running business.  That doesn't mean that I can't schedule a series of small breaks.

My birthday is on Sunday, but I am not really taking down time this month.  Labor Day will be here in a couple of weeks so I can take a couple of days there.  My husbands birthday is in October and its on a Saturday so some down time there would be good.  Then there is the Thanksgiving holiday and two weeks of Christmas break.

I really don't want to burnout so these breaks will be vital to my mental health and well being.  Getting a business up takes work and effort, but we need to remember to take time out to rest and rejuvenate.  This will help keep our energy up during those super busy times.

Each mini break will allow me to de-stress and be ready to come back strong.  Time with family, pampering sessions, quiet time or anything that is fun or exciting gives energy that can be used to ultimately fuel the machine that is needed to build a business.  To much downtime and you get nothing done.  Too little downtime and the machine breaks down.

Remember to take time out for self care and fun.  You won't regret doing that, but you may regret not doing it.

Changing things up can be a good thing

This week is all about change for me.  My Schedule is undergoing a transition as I begin our homeschooling year.  Plus due to an electrical issue I am having to change my cardio workout.

So it has been summertime and the last few weeks I have been tweaking my morning routine so that I could be more productive.  It has been going well a far as I am concerned.  I have had to make adjustment for unexpected developments such as a new long term house guest.


I was planning on beginning our new homeschool schedule yesterday, but realize that before we could do that we really needed to clean my daughters room.  We had gotten out of the habit of her cleaning it regularly and she had created a fort in it for summer play.  In order to get back into our routine we needed to clean it to a point that it would not be overwhelming to incorporate that chore back into our routine.

So today is the day we go back to school and as a result my routine and schedule is once again making some major changes.  It will take a few weeks to work out the kinks only to have to readjust once we add in co-op days.  This is all good.  Yes the transition is a little tricky but by adding in changes over a period of time instead of all at once, I think that the chaos is a little less.

As part of my morning routine I do 30 minutes of exercise 6 days a week.  I was doing a particular strength training routine 3 days a week and the treadmill for 3 days a week.  I was increasing my pace and resistance on all my routines.  Sunday we had an electrical issue in the house where all the plugs in the room where the treadmill is in stopped getting power.  We had hoped it was just a bad breaker and could be easily fixed by replacing it.  Unfortunately that wasn't the case.

Since I couldn't use the treadmill I needed to look for an alternative cardio workout, because I wasn't about to run outside in the dark.  I pulled up a 30 minute cardio workout on YouTube.  At the completion of the workout I realized something.  My boy had gotten to used to my workout and I had no longer been receiving the full benefits of the exercise.  Even with increasing my pace an incline.  So tomorrow I will be finding a new strength training routine as well.  Yes I may be feeling the burn a bit more, but that means its working more.

So yes change can be frustrating and hard, but in the end we don't grow if we get comfortable.  As long as the change is moving you in a positive direction it is a good thing.  It the change is not moving you in a positive direction then a different change needs to happen.  Don't let change scare you.

Deaing with disappointment

So Saturday I was all geared up for a great event.  The event I was participating in was market to my target.  We had constant rain all day and so the event had less than 10 people for the entire 3 hours.  I was so disappointed.  I had such high hopes for this event to help jump start my business.

So things didn't go as planned.  What now?  Luckily for me I didn't put all my eggs in one basket and I am not now scrambling for another way to gain customers.  I already had things in the works and I can put my energy into the next event.  I do have a few leads to follow up with, but two of them teach at the same school so its really only one lead.

This week I have planned an open house, a new networking group and another vendor event.  I am hopeful that each event that I do brings me one step closer to that one person who will help me get my calendar filled.  It just takes one person to book a play date that books three more who then book three more etc.  Even when I find that one person, it is best to continue to look for different avenues for customers and team members.  Even the best string dries out eventually and will need to be replaced.

It is so easy to focus on what didn't happen the way that you wanted.  Disappointment can lead to discouragement which often leads to the desire to quit.  We have all been there.  We have all seen the picture of two men mining for diamonds.  The first one quits just before he would have hit the mother lode and the next one comes in enthusiastically behind showing no signs of letting up.  He will hit what the other missed.  We never know when our ultimate success is just around the next corner.

In order to overcome the disappointment then we must focus on new activity.  Yes we can take a moment and acknowledge our chagrin that things didn't go the way we wanted, but then instead of dwelling on it, we need to move on and get back to work.

Disappointments are inevitable, but they don't need to lead to failure.  Yes we may need to take a step back and regroup, but that doesn't have to mean we are finished.  Retreat allows us to reevaluate, change what we need to, and fight another day.

Organization, time management and morning routines

Things have been rapidly changing for me the past couple of weeks.  I decided to make some changes.  Things were going okay and I was getting the bulk of my tasks done, but I was finding it too easy to procrastinate on the things I knew needed to get done, but just didn't want to do.

I have used planners and to do lists for over 20 years.  Time management and organization are not new concepts for me and yet, I still found room for improvement.

I read a couple of books on morning routines a few weeks ago.  I was already getting up early and incorporating many good things into my morning.  Through reading these books I found that just adding a few things to my morning routine has allowed me to be more efficient and productive throughout the rest of the day.  I am up at 5:30 and have all my exercise, breakfast, personal grooming, spiritual study, meditation, visualization, affirmations, success reading and blog all done by 8:30 in the morning.

My day used to be ruled by my to do list.  Well sort of.  I wrote down every routine, mundane item that I needed to get done daily, just so that I could cross them off of my list.  If there was something I could put off for fun things, I would.

I changed the way I used my planner.  Instead of a to list, I implemented blocks of time.  Yes there is some flexibility where I can change around those blocks of time, such as switching out my time for business hours and household chores, but the amount of time allotted does not change.  I know what household tasks need to be done daily, so I really didn't need to list that.  I know what tasks need to be done during my business time, so I don't need to list those either.  By specifying what tasks need to be done during what time, I no longer put off the tasks that I know need to be done, for a later time.  Sometimes I get free time earlier because my schedule has allowed me to get things done more efficiently.

So things are getting better, but I must admit that there is still room for improvement.  Right now my business time is doing okay, but I could create and implement a system for keeping track of my contacts and follow ups.  As I gain more contacts and more people to follow up with I know that what I am doing now will not work well.  So that will be the next step in my evolution.

So why do I do all of this?  You may think that abiding by morning routines and schedules are a bit anal an confining.  I have found that through strict time management, morning routines and organization, I am able to do more things than if I just get things done whenever.  I am also able to have more free time and more time to spend with my family.  We all have the same 24 hours in a day.  Its what you do with those hours that will make the difference between success and failure.

I have leads now what?

Things are getting very exciting for me.  I have been reaching out and getting my business out there.  yesterday I came home from a baby shower to a couple of messages about one of my businesses.  I of course responded immediately.  It was after 9 at night so I haven't heard back from either one of them.

For the first time ever I have multiple prospects for customers and Ambassadors in both of my businesses.  I currently have 5 prospects I am working with for Plexus and 3 for Fundanoodle Learning.

Okay so I have prospects and now is the time to follow up with them.  Not following up with them unless they are already decided would gain me nothing.  The wrong follow up could chase them away and the right follow up can result in customers and team members.

Right now is the time to really listen to the prospects and find out exactly what they are looking for and how I can fulfill their need.  Listening will be my most important skill to utilize.  The right follow up is about finding out how to meet the needs of the prospect and not my own agenda.

For example last month I began a conversation with a prospective customer and possibly a team member.  I gave her all the info she requested and was told that she would order, I would just need to remind her because she took her time with these things and did her research.  I eventually asked her if she planned to purchase last month or this month and how often she wished to be contacted.  I was told she would order this month and that she preferred a follow up once a month.  If I were to follow up with her every week I would lose the prospect.

Last night one of my prospects was asking about the product to help balance blood sugar.  I gave her just the information on that one product.  Later today I will give her information on our gut health additions that would not only balance her blood sugar but help her to process her digestion better.  That better digestion would help with the balance of blood sugar through more efficient absorption of nutrients.

Each prospect has a different need to meet and my interaction will be different with each one.

Its exciting to have prospects to work on, but if I only focus on those prospects what happens when I have gotten my yes or no from them?  Even though I have prospects now, if I don't continue to look for new prospects now I will stop any forward momentum I am beginning.  So sitting back and resting on my laurels while mining my current prospects is not the way to go.  If I want to push my momentum into high gear I need to push even harder at finding prospective customers and team members.  The work I do today will be the results I get tomorrow, so if I do not want a gap in my growth I need to not have a gap in my push to work my business.

Sales and the importance of trust

Yesterday I decided to watch a webcast for some information on building a network marketing business.  I am always looking to learn and refine my skills.  I knew that at the end of the webcast there would be a sales pitch.  So it was no surprise to me that at the end of thee program I was hit with an offer to buy the program that the webcaster was selling.

The offer and the products sounded really good.  The information that was given during the webcast was very valuable and I was very tempted to spend money that I did not have to purchase the offered program.

I was taught that it was always a good thing to walk away and think about it for awhile.  I wasn't worried because the special offer was going to be good for a few days and there was a money back guarantee.

So  I walked away to think about if it would be really beneficial to me to purchase this program.   So I then was sent a couple of emails from the guy doing the webcast.  As I read the emails and eventually went to the website to get  the promised free gift, I realized something.  When I signed up for the webcast there was a spot that said only 200 and something slots available.  There were also multiple times and days offered. When I watched the webcast there were over 350 participants.

The next thing that I realized was that this webcast was a regular thing and that this limited time special was constantly being offered.  I was told that the free gift site would be taken down within 3 days, but since the webcast was a regular thing that would not be the case.

One of the emails I received talked about 8 bonus features that would be given free to only the next 10 people who purchased, yet when I went to the free gift site it appeared that those 8 bonuses were being offered to everyone who hadn't purchased yet as extra enticement to purchase the program.

That is where thy lost me.  With the realization that the individual or company was not being 100 % honest in what they were doing, I no longer had any desire to purchase the program.  If they were being dishonest in their sales practices, why would I trust that their program would provide what it said thy would.  Even with the money back guarantee, I had not trust in the product or that the money would be returned if I was dissatisfied.

Had the sales pitch just been forthright and said here is all that you will receive for that price There would be no issue.  Even the free gift had strings attached.  The gift was there, but if you wanted to understand how to use it you needed to purchase the program.

As a salesperson honesty is paramount.  Customers are more apt to purchase from a salesperson that will give the whole picture and not just the parts that make the product look good.  Withholding information is the same as lying.

So when it comes to sales honesty is the best policy.  If you can't be honest about your product and till stand behind it, maybe you shouldn't be selling the product.

Switching gears from activity oriented to results oriented

I have been making a grave error in the running of my business.  I have been making my goals activity based instead of results based.  The reason that I was doing that was because I felt that if I focused on the activity the results would come.  I felt that I would get less discouraged if I was meeting my activity goals even if the results weren't there.

Can you see what is wrong with that way of thinking?

What good is business activity if there are no results from that activity?

I find myself needing to rethink my strategies.  That's great if I am meeting all of my reach out goals each day, but if that activity doesn't produce sales or recruits what good is that activity?

Clearly the way that I am doing things is not working so I need to find a new way of doing things., I think that the next step needs to be making result goals instead of activity goals.  My goals need to be based on sales and recruits.  If I am not reaching those goals then I need to do more to reach those goal or maybe change the way that I plan to reach those goals.

The longer I go without getting the kind of results that I want, the less credibility and trust others will have in me.  If I have no credibility or trust who is going to want to join my team and follow me?

So here is some advice for you today.  If you find yourself nowhere near where you want to be after some time of working towards that goal, maybe its time to reassess what you are doing and make a change.

How do you expect different results if you keep doing the same thing?

Attitude is Everything

Saturday I had my first home party for my early education business, Fundanoodle Learning.  I took much time to prepare and was looking forward to this event.  I was so hopeful that there would be great attendance, lots of sales and 3 bookings for new events.

Here is what really happened.  The hostess had 2 people show up.  We had a great time talking about the products I have and other things pertaining to special needs children.  The 2 people who did come did not order anything.  The one because the one thing she wanted was on a stop sell while awaiting restock and the other because it was too young for her child.

I could have looked at that and decided that this play date was a huge failure and that Like all my other businesses I was doomed to flop.  This is something that I have done in the past.

So here is the other information on what happened.  We decided to hold the event open until the 16th so those who were unable to attend would be able to wait until the next military payday.  The one person who's children were to old for my products decided to take an order form and a product sheet to show to some of her friends, I was asked to email the other attendee when the product was restocked,  and one of the people who wanted to come but had an issue at the last minute wants to join the company.

I still have 2 more vendor events and a learning fair scheduled this month.  I didn't put all of my eggs in one basket by hoping this one event would jumpstart my business.

I have had this same type of experience before and it left me depressed and discouraged.  This time its different.  This time I am looking at what I can learn from this and do better next time.  I had already made some changes to my game plan  and can't wait to implement them.  Each opportunity that I have in my business is an opportunity to learn what will work and what won't. Each business exercise gives me the ability to refine my process and approaches.

The big difference between now and before is my attitude.  In previous attempts each obstacle became a stopping block.  Each challenge became a reason to quit.  Now I see the groundwork for a great business.  I am looking forward to what I can do better instead of looking at what went wrong.

When it comes to overcoming obstacles in life, attitude is everything.  Your attitude will decide how you will face your obstacles.  Change your attitude, change your life.

Inspiration, A Pathway to Success

I do a lot of reading.  In fact it is one of my favorite past times.  Yesterday I read a really great book.  It was the story of a woman who overcame personal disability and became an inspiration to the gymnastic world.  That woman was Aimee Walker-Pond and she became an International Elite Gymnast in spite of being deaf, blind in one eye, and being born with hip displasia.

The reason that this story is so inspirational is because what she did was just not possible.  According to experts, Aimee lacked the sense of inner ear balance and depth perception it takes to be able to land the jumps and flips required for gymnastic competition.  I guess someone forgot to tell Aimee that.

Why am I talking about this today.  As I finished this book I had the sense that, the things that are holding me back are nothing compared to the challenges that Aimee overcame.  Yes she is an extraordinary woman, but if someone could overcome those kind of odds to compete on an international level, then its very possible to overcome the obstacles that I have to my success.

Reading books to increase knowledge and ability in order to advance our goals is necessary, but I think that reading stories about people who overcome great odds is vital as well.  Its those stories that show the impossible can be done.  Its those stories that make us ask ourselves why not me.

One of my companies has some Youtube videos that they call Diamond Documentaries.  They are less than 10 minutes long and each person featured has reached the top of the company.  These individuals talk about where they started from, why they do what they do and how they have been able to affect others lives for the better.  It has been recommended that anytime I get discouraged that I sit down and watch a few of those.  Why is that?  Once again it is for the inspirational value that they contain.  Now each individual's story is different and each had their own obstacles to overcome, but just because I don't share the same challenges does not make their inspirational value any less.  Each documentary shows that it can be done and has been done.

There is another company that I used to be a part of that like to wear bumblebee pins.  There is a purpose for these pins.  After much study it was determined that a bumblebee did not have the proper wingspan needed to fly.  Its wings are much too small to create the lift needed for its body size.  Yet a bumblebee flies. The bumblebee achieves the impossible everyday it takes to the sky.  Wearing that pin reminds those consultants that the impossible is absolutely possible.

So if you find yourself discouraged.  If you find yourself doubting that you can do anything.  Find yourself some inspiration.  What inspires me may not inspire you, but find something that does.  Then focus on that inspiration until you find yourself doing the actions it takes to succeed in spite of your obstacles.

Integrity and goal commitment

This week I was paired up with a couple of people in one of my businesses to work on goals that we each individually set for the month of August.  Originally I wasn't going to participate in the program, but I had to ask myself if I wanted to succeed in business can I afford to not participate in the group.

Originally I was put with one other person and we were to be each others accountability partner, but then another person was added because her partner dropped out of the challenge.  I don't know what happened, but we were told that she had decided to go another way.

When we agree to do something and then back out, it damages our credibility in ourselves and with others.

I recently took a quiz about my credibility level.  I found that when it came to my values and doing things aligned with my values I was doing pretty well.  When it came to my competence and results my credibility needed a lot of work.  While its true I have gained a lot of knowledge on how to do things in the industry of direct sales and I continue to seek after more knowledge, my application in the past has been weak.  I do all the things that are asked of me, participate in all of the challenges and yet have lacked the results that I have desired and failed to reach goals that I have set for myself.

Because of this I have backed off on goals and set lower ones only to do it again when those are not met either.  Part of the reason for this is that my confidence takes a hit with each goal that I do not achieve in the desired time period.

Every time I do not achieve a goal I harm my personal integrity and confidence in my ability.

I have found that achieving goals that ultimately rely on the actions of others to be very difficult.  I can do all the activity the challenges ask for and set goals for what I do, but because of my lack of confidence in others making the decision that will help me reach my goals, I have difficulty getting the results that I want.

I like to believe that I am a person of great integrity and that others can trust me, but do I ultimately give off a vibe that I lack confidence and shouldn't be trusted?  Is that why I can't seem to gain business or team mates.

I find myself in a never ending cycle of each failed goal making a dent in my integrity and then my commitments to my goals.

I plan on changing that.  Its time to set a different type of goal.  Its time to stop hesitating to reach out to those who can benefit from what I have to offer.  Its the beginning of the month and so I am going to put it out there.  I have 2 Play dates scheduled for the month of August.  I want to hold 4.  That means I need to find 2 more people to hold play dates in August for me.  I also want to have at least $600 in sales for the month of August.  That means that each play date needs to have at least $200 in sales.

I will let you know how I do in September.

Developing self trust by taking personal responsibility

The first step in any success is trusting yourself to do it.  We all have that little voice in the back of our heads.  For those who trust in themselves that voice is always saying go ahead you've got this.  For those who don't trust themselves the voice is full of doubt and negativity.

This is something that I struggle with.  So this is how I am tackling this issue.  I have recognized that this negative voice is a result of a lack of trust in myself.  It doesn't matter how this lack of trust happened.  It just is.

In order to change this dialog I must do something about it.  No one else can do this for me.  I choose to do just that.  The next step is to recognize that negative voice and stop it in its tracks.  Until I develop that trust in myself I will have to do this many times daily.

Now that I am working on stopping that negative voice, I can take the next step.  That is to set goals that will allow me to prove that voice wrong.  Those goals don't have to be large to begin to develop that trust.  That goal may be to simply make 3 phone calls related to my business that day.  Each time that I do that activity I build  trust in myself.

As I accomplish each task I build trust and can begin to reach for higher goals.  This is not an overnight thing.  This rebuilding of trust in myself will take some time.

As I consistently begin to do the things that I say I will do not only do I rebuild trust in myself, but I begin to build the trust of others in me.

Once the trust or confidence in myself gets to a certain point than others will take notice. As I begin to gain their trust then it becomes easier to accomplish the goals that I set for myself.  When I am consistently hitting my goals in business than others begin to ask what I am doing to be successful.  As my success grows so does my team and as they follow the things that I have been doing so does their success.

Each layer of trust begins to spread outward and builds more trust.  That is how people build successful businesses whether it be brick and mortar, internet or direct sales.

Success begins with trust in ones self and taking personal responsibility to develop that trust.

How important is Trust?

This morning I started reading the Speed of Trust by Stephen M. K. Covey.  This is not the writer or founder of the Highly effective series, this is his son.

I personally love Stephen R. Covey books and I was thinking that this was another book by him, until I started reading.  When I realized the mistake I wasn't as excited to read the book but continued to read anyway.  As I read my trust in the author increased.

In my personal life I have also been dealing with some trust issues.  As trust in these individuals has declined so has my relationship with them.

Stephen M. K. Covey actually comes up with an equation about trust As trust goes down so does speed, but cost goes down.  As trust increases speed goes up and costs go down.

So I ask the question how important in trust?

At the beginning of the Survivor series I was a dedicated watcher of the show.  Early on in the series there was a final where a young woman and an older man were the two finalists.  Each of the two finalists played a great game.  Neither of the contestants had made any enemies.  What it boiled down to in the end was that the young woman was always honest in her dealings, but the majority of the jurors couldn't believe that anyone could be so honest.  They didn't trust what they had seen and experienced because it was not what they were used to.

Trust is a very large factor in our decision making.  When we lack trust we are unwilling to put our backing behind things.  If we don't trust ourselves we won't act upon things that will make our lives better.  If we don't trust a company we will not become customers.  If we do not trust an individual we will not put much energy into building a relationship with them.

A lack of trust in people, business, government, healthcare etc.  is costing our society everything.  This lack of trust has increased regulations and costs while slowing down the process of getting anything done.  Marriages are on the decline, our government can't seem to get anything done and people are more interested in doing everything online rather than going out and dealing with people.

So once again I ask how important is trust.  Trust is everything.  Once you lose it, it is hard to get back.  Developing it will make the difference between success and failure.  That being said, ask yourself are you acting in a matter that will inspire trust?  If not what do you need to do to change that?

I know that I still need to learn more.  How about you?