Sometimes a step back is needed to go forward

Earlier this week my computer got a virus.  Even with my anti virus protection this virus hit my computer.  Computer viruses can do anything from slow your computer down, to sending personal information such as credit card and bank account information to a 3rd party or even make it impossible for your computer to work..

It took me a full day to run virus scans and then ultimately reset my computer in order to get rid of the virus.  That meant that I was unable to use my computer effectively during that time.  In the past I have relied on someone else to fix computer problems for me, but I am working on a path toward self sufficiency and wanted to try to fix it myself.  I learned that I could learn how to do new things with technology and that I wasn't hopeless when it came to computers.

Sometimes in our businesses and our lives things happen and we have to take a step back.  We may need to take the time to access the situation, discover issues and work towards fixing them.  During this time you may feel like you are going backwards instead of going in the direction that you want to go.

If you want to shoot an arrow forward you first must pull it back.  If you want to chop a tree down effectively you must first make sure your ax is sharp.

Sometimes the best thing you can do for your life is to take that step or two back.  You may even discover that you need to change direction.  This time is not a time of failure, but  time to reflect on where you have been and focus on making sure what you are doing is going to help you to reach your goals.  If what you are doing is not going to help you reach your goals then something needs to change.

You may find that you may need to reach out to someone for coaching or encouragement.  You may realize that you are doing okay and just need to recharge and rejuvenate.  You may realize that the actions that you thought you needed to take were not working and you need a new plan altogether.

Any way you look at it taking a time out to reevaluate, rest and look ahead to the future is a valuable part of working towards achieving your dreams.

Affirmations, Do they really work?

I was first introduced to affirmations when I was in my teens.  I pretty much thought that they were a load of hogwash.  It wasn't until about a year and a half ago that I started to take a look at them again.

I grew up in a pretty negative environment.  As a result my own thinking was pretty negative.  At the first sign of trouble the thoughts would spiral and I soon had the future looking as grim as possible.  Is it any wonder that I kept quitting the direct marketing industry?


So about a year and a half ago I decided to make a change.  I recognized my negative mindset for what it was.  I wanted it to change because I wanted to be happier.  I began to read books about positive mindset and one of the things that was recommended were positive affirmation.  Even though they didn't work for me before I decided to give the a try again.

I started with some pretty simple ones and I said them in front of the mirror twice a day.  The first step was saying them like I believed that they would work.  After awhile the way that I looked at things actually changed.  What I was doing was working.

Once my mindset began to change I created new affirmations that dealt with my business.  I found that the things that I wanted to happen in my business were not happening, but I was more confident that they actually would and began to take set-backs in stride instead of being devastated by them.

I continue to read books and fine tune the affirmations that I use.  In fact I just wrote some new ones yesterday.  One of the ones I wrote out was one I had started using the previous week.  It reads I am attracting financial abundance, money flows easily and quickly to me.  Would you believe that the very next day I was at Wal-Mart getting some workout gear and some things for dinner.  I was walking down the isle and some promotional people from Capital One walked by and handed me a $25 gift card.

Coincidence or the affirmation beginning to work?  I will let you decide.

Here is what I know.  When it comes to changing your attitude and internal dialog positive affirmations really do work.  By using positive affirmations you may not magically see an increase in your business, but you may find that the work required in order to grow your business becomes easier as you gain confidence and train your mind to change your attitude about the work tasks required.

As a result of this new attitude and confidence you will see an increase in your business.

Ignorance does not relieve us of responsibility.

I want to tell you something.  I made a big mistake.  I had added an AdSense account to this blog in hopes of making a little money without requiring people to pay for  subscription.  Through my own ignorance I did something that caused AdSense to cancel my account.  I didn't mean to violate their rules and I should have known that what I was doing violated the rules.

There is a process to appeal the decision, but I will not be going through it.  I did what caused them to cancel my account.  There are consequences to breaking rules.  Even though I didn't realize I was breaking the rules at the time, the information about those rules is readily available and I just didn't look at them.

Ignorance of laws and rules is no excuse for breaking them.  It is not a reason to escape consequences either.

When we are first starting off in business we make a lot of mistakes.  This is normal and part of the learning process.  As we make these mistakes we may find ourselves offending people unintentionally or even upsetting a customer.  Even though those mistakes may be made out of ignorance or lack of experience that does not relieve ourselves of the responsibility for those mistakes.

What do you do when you find yourself in this situation?  It goes a long way to approach the person and acknowledge the mistake immediately and then take the necessary steps to remedy the situation.  If you make excuses and try to pawn off the responsibility by saying you didn't know something then the person involved will not only not be happy with the results, but will most likely lose all respect for you as well.

If you want to maintain your personal as well as your businesses integrity you must accept the responsibility for your actions regardless of the situation that caused them.

In the short run you may find yourself doing a lot of backtracking or fixing situations caused by mistakes, but in the long run you will find that you create a lot of trust and respect from those who have been involved in those actions.

Book Review: She means Business

I just finished She Means Business by Carrie Green.  She is the founder of the Female Entrepreneur Association.  This book is a part of her education and marketing branch for this group.

In her book Carrie talks about her entrepreneurial journey and the snags she hit along the way.  She gives encouragement and has stories about other female entrepreneurs as well.  There is plenty of great advice with free online resource to go along with it.

I thought that this book was great.  Carrie is from the UK and as I live in the US I was able to see that no matter where we live we all face the same challenges in building a business.

At the end of this book there is a 28 day She Means Business Challenge.  I think that it is a great way to get very clear about, your vision, your audience and what you need to do to lay a foundation for your own business.

I think it is such a great idea that I will be doing a Facebook group for the 28 day challenge.  If you want to join this group please find me on Facebook.  I go by Tricia Bushman Stubbs.  I will begin the challenge on September 25th.

If you know of others who might be interested in doing this challenge please share this and of course subscribe to my blog if you find this kind of information helpful.

Getting real and getting over myself

I have a confession to make.  With all my new schedules and activity, I am not really spending my time as effectively as I could.  Its time to be honest with myself and check my reality.

Here it goes,  I have effectively scheduled my day.  I have my morning routine, school time for my daughter, time to do chores, time to do my business and time for free time.  These are all clearly scheduled.  For the most part I am doing well, but when it comes to my business time, not so much.  I have scheduled 2 hours to do my businesses during the day 5 days a week.  I am only using maybe an hour of that.

What am I doing with my time and what am I not doing?  I am actively posting on Facebook and in all my groups.  I am trying to develop relationships with others by posting and commenting on others posts.  I am also working to support my Referral and Mastermind group by interacting with those posts.  Here is what I am not doing.  I am not actively reaching out to new people to grow my Facebook friends list and I am not reaching out to new people about my businesses.

How do I expect to grow my businesses if I am not talking to people about them?  Its time to have a daily list of those things that I need to be doing during that 2 hour time frame that includes actively calling and approaching people about my business.

I am allowing fear and paralysis to block my progress.

I need to find a way to get over those blocks that I am putting on myself.  I am my biggest enemy to my success.

All the reading and positive affirmations will get me nowhere fast if I am not doing the activity to back them up.

Do you see yourself in this situation?  Would you like an accountability partner that will put your feet to the fire?

Contact me and maybe we can help each other out.

On Life and Loss

Yesterday was a very difficult day to get through.  I woke up to the news that my niece had given birth to her first child 7 weeks premature.  She only lived 46 minutes.  This was something that we had expected.  A few months ago it was discovered that the child she carried had Trisomy 18, a chromosomal disorder where there are three of chromosome 18.  The majority of these babies do not survive birth and those that do will most likely not live to see their 1st birthday.

You would think that knowing that this was coming would make it easier.  I am sad to day that it did not.  I spent the day holding back the tears.  We chose not to tell our 6 year old what had happened.  She doesn't see her cousin enough to connect that she was pregnant.  Our middle daughter on the other hand is dealing with guilt because so far her child that is due in December is healthy.  She knows she shouldn't feel guilty, but she does.  She finds herself asking how can she take joy in her impending parenthood when her cousin, who is married to a close friend of her husband, just lost their baby?

I did take the day yesterday to deal with all of this so business did not happen for the most part.  I did attend my networking and mastermind group meeting but that is pretty much it.  I also took my daughter to her not back to school co-op picnic as we prepare to begin co-op classes next week.

Life does go on for those left behind and even if we believe that families will be united in the next life it does not make the loss any easier to bare.

Each day that passes may not lessen the pain but it does create a distance from it. The distance allows us to manage the effects of that loss, but that loss will always be felt.

The end of my day got no easier as while I was at my networking meeting one of the members received news that her 95 year old mother had passed away.  The news was received, but she still had children to pick up, work to deal with and life in general.  As much as it would be so much easier to shut down and just not deal, for the most part we just don't have the luxury of doing so.

So the moral of this lesson is that loss happens in our lives.  The pain that results from that loss is real, but life must go on.  We still have responsibilities, we still have relationships that must be tended and we still have a life to live.  Its ok to pause while we process our grief but it can't be all encompassing or you may never come back from it.  Focus on who and what is left behind.  Put one foot in front of the other.  Someday down the road you will find that you have survived and your life has continued.

I have a team! Now what?

August was an interesting month for me.  I had some really big goals but I was unable to meet them.  It was all beginning to seem like nothing that I was doin was working and I was getting nowhere fast in my business.

Two days after my birthday my education company announced an additional incentive to help us with recruiting.  I promptly let the 2 people who were interested in joining the company know.  That day I got my first team member.  She was in the middle of buying a house and moving so I gave her some space to get settled so I haven't met with her yet to get her started.  Yesterday was the last day of the month.  I emailed the other person who had been interested a final reminder email of our incentives and that they were ending and by the end of the day I had my 2nd team member.

The first 3 months are very important to a new direct sales business.  That is when you will have access to the fast track bonuses which will help to build inventory or income.  A successful 1st 3 months will often be the deciding factor in keeping a new team member.  That being said those first 3 months are crucial to you as a leader in building each team member.

So now that I have team members what should I be doing?  The very first thing is to have a meeting with them.  Either in person or by phone depending on how close they live.  That 1st interview is so important in determining how you can best create an action plat to help your new team member meet their goals.

Finding out why they joined and what their goals are in their business is vital to your successful leadership.  You can not help a new team member achieve their dreams if you do not know what that is.  Yes your goal may be to reach the top of the company pay scale, but your new team member may just have a goal to make $500 more a month.  Your job as a leader is to help them reach their goals not your goals.

As a leader you must realize that it is up to you to make sure that your team members have all the information, tools and encouragement that they need to reach their goals.  Once you have done that you can not do the work for them.  Don't waste your energy on a team member that doesn't follow through or keep commitments.  Put your energy into team members who are putting forth the effort.  As long as they are working a plan to grow their business, be available to help when its needed.  Otherwise check in with those team members who seem to lack commitment, but wait for them to decide that they are ready to commit to growing their business and meeting their goals.

Just like raising a child, raising a team member is a process of helping them learn and grow until they are independent enough to do things on their own without you holding their hand.  Yes that means putting a lot of time and energy into building that new team member and then slowly backing off as they gain more confidence and skill.  Encourage them to incorporate a program of personal and professional development.

One more thing while you are expending energy to develop new team members and growing their business, don't forget to expend energy on building your own business.  Most direct sales businesses require team leaders to be doing a minimum amount of sales in order to receive team building bonuses.  Direct sales is all about sales.  So the money might be in building your team, but the money isn't there if you are not all making sales.

I am excited to embark on this next stage of my personal and professional development.  Helping others reach their goals is a new challenge for me and I can't wait to help others be the best that they can be.