What successful direct sellers can teach us

There is this one fascinating study of successful party plan consultants and network marketers.

The study was conducted by Doug Firebaugh and he compared the work habits of average direct sellers, successful direct sellers and Million Dollar Club members. With over 1,400 responses and interviews, the study has some interesting things to teach us.

One of the findings was that Million Dollar Club members have a realistic idea of the true efforts it takes for huge success – while average consultants have a more fantasy based idea of what it takes.

So let’s have a look at those true efforts!

Here’s a breakdown of some of the findings:

	Average	Successful	Million $ Club
Hours worked per week	6	12	25
People talked to a day	1	7	15
“No’s” gotten in a week	2	10	25

What jumps out at you when you look at these numbers?

As a member of the Million Dollar Club, I can tell you that these numbers do reflect my own direct sales business in most weeks.

I realize that not everybody aspires to be in the Million Dollar Club, but maybe you want to lift your game to ‘above average’. So let’s have a look at how to do that.

How to lift your game

For most people, all they need to do is to change their focus. Many consultants believe that they’re ‘too busy’ to get on the phone and talk to people. So they don’t.

Others procrastinate with busy work such as tidying the office and preparing and organizing everything to perfection. However, successful direct sellers work on the things that will directly benefit their bottom line.

Successful direct sellers focus on income producing activities.

It’s not about how many hours your work…

Many people are shocked to learn that Million Dollar Club members only work 25 hours per week on average.

What successful direct sellers can teach us about working smarter, not harder.

Generally in society we tend to believe that massive success equates with long hours. But successful direct sellers have worked out which activities help their business to grow in the future and which activities help to produce their income. And they put their focus there!

It was very early on in my career that I decided to use my time more wisely and focus only on the key activities. I paid a local teenager to help me with the basic business tasks so that I could free up my time to focus on growing my business.

When I had children I hired a babysitter for a few hours each week, just so I could focus on business growth. By hiring help, I could work smarter (not harder).

If you want to grow your business but you find you’re short on time, you could consider doing what I did and hire a young person to help you with the simple business tasks. Or perhaps you could hire a baby sitter or cleaner for a few hours each week to free up some time. Or perhaps your spouse is happy to help you have an “office evening” without interruptions?

Learn more about working smarter here.

Get more ‘No’s’

Have a look at the table above again, and notice how many “No’s” the typical Million Dollar Club member gets each week.

They get 25 “No’s” each week!

Maybe you could set yourself a “Million Dollar Club Challenge” and aim to get 25 “No’s” this week…I’m sure you’ll get plenty of “Yes’s” along the way too 🙂

What if you’re a little nervous about getting “No’s” or have difficulty motivating yourself?

Excellent question! Nobody likes to hear “No” and it’s easy to fall into the trap of feeling rejected.

It’s also not always easy to motivate yourself to get out of your comfort zone and show up every day – which you need to do to be a successful direct seller.

Now, here’s an excellent tool to help you with that: Positive Prime. It’s the best ‘hack’ that I’ve found to train my brain and accelerate success. It’s an app that allows you to create personalized ‘mind movies’. It’s super fun and easy and backed by neuroscience and you can work on motivation, mindset, confidence and much more! You can read more about Positive Prime here.

Takeaways

Successful direct sellers work more hours than average consultants, but it’s not crazy high.
Successful direct sellers talk to more people each week than average direct sellers
Successful direct sellers get about 25 “No’s” per week
Successful direct sellers work smarter, not harder. They focus their time and energy on income producing activities.
Work on your mindset if fear of rejection or lack of motivation is holding you back.

I hope you now have a more realistic idea of what it takes to become successful as a party plan consultant or direct seller. I’d love to hear how you work smarter, drop me a line in the comments!

If you want to challenge yourself to develop the habits that successful direct sellers have, join the 21 Days to Success Challenge. It’s a challenge for direct sellers and party plan consultants to build their business over 21 days with support, motivation and ideas every day.

Learn more!

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21 Days to Success in direct sales

Title: 21 Days to Success in your Direct Sales Business: Take the Challenge

Here’s a serious question: Are you ready to take consistent action every day? Are you ready to build good habits for direct sales success?

The habits you implement in your business are the difference between a thriving business and a stagnating one.

Are you even ready for success?

You’re still reading, so I’m guessing the answer to the above questions is YES!

I’ve created a 21-Day Challenge designed to help you move your business forward while you build habits for success.

The 21-Day Challenge aims to ‘talk’ to 3 people every day. And when I say ‘talk,’ I mean to have contact with. You can talk to people in person, over the phone, via text message, via Facebook, etc. It doesn’t matter how you speak to 3 people as long as you contact three people daily.

But don’t worry – you’re not alone in this Challenge. I’ll be there with you every day.

My Promise

I promise you this: if you can contact three people every day for 21 days, you will grow your business. Not only that, you will build those good habits that will help your business to thrive.

During the Challenge, I will contact you every day via email. I will help you with ideas on how to find people to talk to, provide pep talks and help you stay motivated, and help you with free printables and tips.

Your Promise

You might be thinking now, “But I can’t do this because….” Perhaps you’re an introvert, shy, busy, or you don’t know how to do it, or you only know seven people …. or whatever other reason you must hold yourself back.

But have you ever tried this for 21 days before? Why don’t you throw yourself into it and ‘have a go?’ as we like to say in Australia. Then at the end of the 21 days, you can decide whether you can do this.

When you start the Challenge, I want you to promise to put in effort every day and not give up.

Make the most of the next 21 days.

You can focus on getting bookings, sales, or sponsoring during the Challenge. Or perhaps a combination of those 3. It depends on your goals and what your business needs right now.

I recommend offering each person you contact three opportunities: to join your business, host a party or event, or become a priority customer and join your customer VIP group.

The secret to success with this Challenge is consistency. So if you genuinely want to make yourself consistent, you want to get a streak of 21 days. If you miss a day….go back to the start until you have had three contacts per day for 21 days straight. And once you reach the end of 21 days, your business will flourish!

Focus on the doing, not on the results.

Part of the power of this Challenge is that it allows you to concentrate on the numbers, on the doing. You can allow yourself not to focus too much on the results. You need to talk to 3 people daily, but you don’t need to get 3 ‘Yes’s’!

By focusing on the process, you can take some pressure off yourself and each conversation. All you need to focus on is having those conversations and having some fun with them – don’t worry about the outcome just yet.

Before getting started…

Before starting this Challenge, gather all your contacts:

past hosts
previous customers
friends
family
acquaintances
sponsoring leads that were on the fence before

Create a nice hefty list of contacts. And don’t worry if the list isn’t that long. We’ll also work on finding more people to contact during the Challenge. But it’s helpful to be ready with your contacts, so you have no excuses to procrastinate!

As you go through the Challenge, tracking your results is helpful. That way, you can see the work you’re doing, and you’ll also be able to see your conversion rate. Throughout the Challenge, you’ll see how many “No’s” you get for each “Yes.” And you’ll notice that getting several “No’s” is standard. When I went through a similar process, I would get excited to get those “No’s” out of the way to get to my “Yes”!

Let’s get started!

Are you ready to get started on your 21-Day Challenge? I want to invite you to sign up below – and if you’re smart, you start the Challenge with a team buddy so you can work together and cheer each other on!

Let’s build some great habits and get your business to the next level!

How to use social proof

5 Ways to Use Social Proof In Your Direct Sales Business

When I say “use social proof in your business” that might sound really complicated and ‘businessy’…but it’s actually not hard and is proven to work well.

What is this social proof thing?

Social influence or social proof is a psychological phenomenon where people copy the actions of others, it’s a type of conformity. Or, as some people say “monkey see, monkey do”.

Here’s an example: If you’re looking for a place to have lunch and you’re driving past a few cafés or restaurants…which one will you pick? The one with 1 lonely car parked out the front or the one with 7 cars already parked in their car park?

Most people will pick the restaurant with 7 cars. Because they figure that since so many other people are eating there, it must be good. It’s proven by the behavior of others = social proof.

So how can you use social proof in your party plan or direct sales business? I have 5 tips for you:

Tip 1: Testimonials

You can get reviews and stars on your Facebook Business Page. We all use reviews and testimonials when shopping for services or products – your customers are no different.

You can encourage happy hosts or customers to leave a review on your page to get the process started.

Pinterest: 5 Easy ways to use social proof in your direct sales business

Sometimes people message or email me with a lovely thank you that reads almost as a testimonial. I always ask them if I can use that message on my social media pages and I ask if I can use their picture with it as well.

I want to use their picture because research has shown that testimonials are considered more trustworthy when they’re accompanied by a photo!

I then create a tile (in Canva) or screenshot their message and then I post that across my social media channels – don’t be shy when people praise you 🙂

Tip 2: Storytelling

Tell stories at your parties or showings. Tell stories in your Facebook Lives. We humans are hardwired to love stories and to imagine ourselves in the story. So you want to tell stories!

What stories do you want to tell? How a recent host had a fabulous party and so much fun. Or maybe the initial success of a new team member…or your recent incentive trip…or that one of your guests said that she didn’t expect to really enjoy the party but did…

You want to tell interesting stories that people can relate to. Stories that make them imagine they can have a fun party or join your team and have great success.

Tip 3: Storyboards

A free collage like this can act as your storyboard.

Add a story board to your display for your in-home parties. It’s a great piece of social proof. This example has been created with a free photo collage app.

With your storyboard you can highlight the friends you’ve made, the lifestyle you’ve created with your business, past fun parties, themes, your customer appreciation event, workshops, etc.

You can print off a collage like this in color on glossy paper to add to your display or you can use it in digital form.

During your party, refer to you story board and tell the story behind some of the images to bring it to life and enhance engagement.

Some people use photo albums for this purpose. And they would fit more pictures, but only a few people will flip through them so I prefer story boards.

Tip 4: Share Milestones

On your social media you want to share your milestones as part of your social proof strategy. Here are some ideas of milestones to share:

Reaching X followers on your Facebook business page or Instagram profile
Reaching X customers in your business
Running your Xth party
Business anniversaries
Achieving career elevation with your company
Achieving a sales goal
Receiving an award or prize

The key when sharing milestones is not to brag but to show your happiness and gratitude!

Tip 5: Share customers’ love for your products

Encourage your customers to share their love for your products on social media. You could introduce special hashtag or re-post social media posts from your customers.

I kick-start this customer-driven social proof a few times a year by creating “Review Crews” in my VIP customer groups. I make it more compelling by offering some prizes or discounts to the “Review Crew”.

You could also offer a monthly reward to your customers. Everybody who writes a product review or does a product shout-out on social media, goes in the draw for a prize.

Okay, over to you. What are you doing in your business to use the power of social proof? Leave a comment below with what you already do or what you’re planning to implement after reading this article.

Learn more!

Planner Love

I don’t know about you, but I feel so much better when I feel that my work and family life are balanced and I manage to keep all the balls in the air.

In my early days in my business I was working full time, running my business and studying a Masters Degree. I had to be structured with my time otherwise I couldn’t do any of it!

Later, when I worked in my direct sales business full-time, I had to work around small children and find a way to organize myself so that when I did have pockets of time, I could be effective.

You need to be organized and balanced in your direct sales business

I know how important it is to be organized but also to balance your efforts. I’ve experienced times I was focusing too much on sponsoring new team members and growing my team. As a result I ran out of party bookings. Oops!

I’ve also been through times where I didn’t do enough host coaching and I saw my sales drop. Another oops.

It’s important to not just be organized and well planned, but to make sure you pay attention to all aspects of your direct sales business!

To do this, I created systems for myself. This has massively improved things but the downside was that I always had bits of paper everywhere. I used to have multiple notebooks on the go and my office was an art work of sticky notes.

Over the past decade (!) I’ve been looking for a system to keep it all organized and keep me on track.

And I’ve finally decided to design my own ideal direct sales planner.

My own direct sales planner

I have literally tried dozens of different planners over the years and they were never quite right. But this planner has everything you could possibly want. I’ve specifically designed it for party plan and direct sales consultants and it’s way more than just a planner. Calling it a planner is almost an insult!

I’ve recently completed a Positive Psychology course and I’ve included some important features that will help boost your wellbeing, not just your business! You don’t need the scientific proof to know that the happier you are, the more your business will thrive (but the proof does exist, if you were wondering).

I use mine as a goal journal, scheduler, marketing idea tracker, social media planner, follow-up tracker, monthly contact tracker, host coaching monitor……and so much more.

My absolute favorite feature is the weekly planning page. I can pop all my tasks for each important area of my business at the top (that helps me to keep all the balls in the air) and I can schedule them into my busy week.

And by planning your top 3 priorities each day, you are always training your brain to move forward productively towards your goals.

Each month has an intentions page (2 sides). By completing this page at the start of each month, you will focused, intentional and organized. Planning ahead like this helps you to make the most of the ‘Pareto Principle‘ which states that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. (To get to that last 20% of your results, you put in 80% of efforts – is it worth it?).

The more prior planning and thought you put into the month ahead, the more effective you’ll be and the faster your business will grow.

Make sure you plan your rewards too! Positive psychologists have found that celebrating small wins along the way towards your larger goals is super important.

Celebration is the oxygen of big potential
Shawn Achor

There’s also room for your affirmations, positive thoughts or quotes each month, this helps to prime your brain for positivity and helps to keep you motivated. And – more importantly – by priming your brain for positivity, you’re officially 37% better at sales!

*Reflections page & room for notes and ideas*

At the end of each month we’ve also included a reflection page. Tracking your progress is very rewarding, especially when you can look back and see your progress over several months.

Spending time thinking about what went well as well as how you can improve, will help you to refine, become more effective and grow your direct sales business faster.

A lot of love, thought and experience has gone into the design of this planner. I hope you love it as much as I do and use every feature to its full extent to help you move your life forward!

5 Ways to Keep Yourself On Track

It can be hard to keep yourself on track when you’re trying to qualify for an incentive trip with your direct sales company.

The qualification period for most incentive trips is usually run across several months and sometimes up to a full year. It’s easy then to lose motivation and lose track of how you’re going towards your goal.

The key to achieving major goals like that is maintaining focus in your direct sales business over a lengthy period. And that’s not always easy!

I’ve qualified for more than 18 international incentive trips, so I have some tips that I use myself and I want to share with you:

1 Break it Down
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

You need to break down that big, overwhelming target into bite-sized chunks. Start by dividing it into monthly amounts and then break it down into weekly targets. That way you’ll know exactly what you need to do each week to qualify eventually. It gives you manageable targets and from there you can plan your actions

2 Celebrate the Small Wins
Once you know what your monthly and weekly targets are in your party plan business, you can celebrate your success along the way. When you’re on track for the week, make sure you plan a mini celebration or treat yourself. Because when you celebrate your successes, you train your brain to create more success. Check the Moët Moments article for more on this. This might not seem worthy to be my number 2 tip, but don’t underestimate the power of this!

Rocket Ship Printable for Direct Sellers

3 Rocket to Your Goal
It’s also important to track your progress in a visual way. I have always used a “goal rocket” printable to track my success. It’s a picture of a rocket ship that I can color in when I achieve certain amounts and see in one glance my progress towards a goal. It’s so satisfying to color in another band after a party or two! Grab the rocket ship from the Maximize Holiday Trade article.

4 Follow Your Vision
There’s a remarkable amount of science and a massive volume of proof behind the importance of visual representation of our goals. Creating a goal or vision board is a vital element of your success.

Elizabeth Rider wrote in the Huffington Post: “When you create a vision board and place it in a space where you see it often, you essentially end up doing short visualisation exercises throughout the day.”

We know that visualization works. And to really boost the power of your vision board, it helps to imagine how you’ll feel when you achieve that goal, not just the goal itself.

Vision boards can be traditional cork boards in your study or a digital version which you then set-up as your screensaver or wallpaper so you see it regularly. With a free collage app you can quickly create a fab vision board for yourself and do those mini-visualizations throughout your day.

Hack your brain to achieve your goals faster

Did you know there’s a way to achieve your goals faster? A way that’s backed by science?

The wonderful fact is that your brain is actually designed to help you.

Everybody’s brain has what’s called the “Reticular Activating System”. And it’s this system that you can ‘hack’ to help you achieve your goals even faster.

What is the Reticular Activating System and how can it help you grow your direct sales business?

The Reticular Activating System (RAS) is a small bundle of nerve fibers that sit at the back of your brain. It filters information for you, bringing to your attention what is important at any given time.

The RAS is like a filter between your conscious and subconscious mind (that mysterious part of your mind where emotions, memories, habits, and desires live).

For example, have you ever had the experience that you were thinking about buying a certain car and suddenly you see that particular car everywhere?

That’s the RAS in action. It’s passed on to the subconscious mind that you’re mulling over this decision. And in return, your subconscious mind helps you to focus your attention – you suddenly see this car everywhere. It’s not that there’s a sudden influx of this car on the road, but you’re noticing the car now. Your attention is on the car.

Another example of how this works is finding a place to park your car. Some people are really good at quickly finding a park. It’s almost like a spot just opens up for them.

In truth, their RAS is working for them to notice subtle clues that a park is available or becoming available shortly. They notice people walking to their car while getting their keys out, they notice a trunk lid open, they notice reversing lights, etc. And these clues guide them to an open parking spot without them being conscious of all the clues – it feels to them like they just know.

It works the same way with your direct sales business. Once you’ve tasked your RAS and pointed it towards your goal, you’ll notice the subtle clues that will help you. You’ll notice opportunities, you’ll find you are more creative in ways to achieve your goal, and you’ll notice the information that you need in that moment.

So let’s have a look at how to ‘task’ your RAS to focus that attention and filter to help you in your direct sales business.

Here are 4 actions you can do to ‘task’ your RAS

Define specific goals. I’ve talked about the importance of goal setting before and if you haven’t set any goals just yet, do it today.
Imagine yourself achieving the goals in detail. Make it a glorious mental movie in which you involve as many of your senses and as many details as you can. If it’s a big goal, you might want to break it down and see yourself achieving the first step first before moving on to the next step towards your goal.
Add images related to your goals to your vision board. Make sure that your vision board is in a place where you see it regularly.
Focus on your goals daily by writing them in your goal journal or planner. This will also help you to plan action steps.

Use a tool to hack your brain

In addition to the actions above, there’s also a fabulous tool that you can use to help you task your RAS fast. It’s called Positive Prime and it’s like an animated vision board on steroids.

The app’s mini mind-movies program your subconscious mind and your RAS in a way that’s quick, fun and makes you feel amazing! 3 Minutes on the app will increase your positivity for 8 hours – how cool is that?

Positive Prime is a new technology based on the latest research in neuroscience and positive psychology. You can read more about it here.

In whichever way you task your RAS, once you’ve set a goal and tasked your RAS, it will focus your mind. Just like finding a car park, you will suddenly become aware of things that previously you may not have paid any attention to. Things that are useful to you and your direct sales goal.

And even though this sounds too simple to be true, research shows that it works.

Let me know how you task your RAS in the comments below!

Learn more!

7 Ways to Turbo Charge Your Direct Sales Business

Is your direct sales business in a bit of a slump? Is your account about to be closed? Or perhaps you’re restarting after a pause? Or maybe you’re going for a big hairy goal?

Then you’ve come to the right place: I’ve got 7 ways to boost your party plan biz without posting desperate pleas on Facebook (“Please order something from me before my account gets closed…”) and without annoying family and friends (“Mum….can you host another party for me….please…“).

Of course you could also use these ideas to level up your thriving business and expand into new circles, pick up some more orders, and generally turbo-charge your direct selling business.

I recommend you use several of these ideas at the same time because not all these ideas will work for all of you. It’s a bit like fishing, you’ll have to try different baits and lures and see what you’ll catch in your local pond.

7 ideas to turbo-charge your direct sales business without annoying your friends and family

1.) Market, Fete, or Event
Check what’s happening in your local area. Are there any markets or fetes you can book a site at to promote your business? This can be a great way to spread the word about what you offer and pick up new bookings.

2.) Letterbox Drops
Do a letter box drop in your local area. Create a special promotion for party bookings or orders and staple a bright flyer to your catalog. When you’re planning your letterbox drop, consider the ‘rule’ that it’s better to target the same house three times than to deliver as many catalogs as you can because people need to see something more than once before they take action.

For example, if you can afford 60 catalogs or flyers, deliver them to the same 20 houses over a ten day period rather than to 60 houses. Apparently, the first time creates awareness, the second time people see your flyer they might have an intention to act but the third time they see it they’ll act. I’ve definitely achieved better results following this method but overall my results from letterbox drops have been mixed. Sometimes it’s worked well and other times I had no phone calls at all.

3.) Posters
In most neighborhoods you can find some place to put up a poster to advertise your business. I use posters with tear-off tabs with my contact details. Put at least 5 posters in different locations such as your local library, university, café, laundromat, supermarket, lunch rooms at large offices, community notice boards, etc. Don’t forget to check back and replace posters if needed. This is a great low-effort method.

4.) Party Swap
Arrange a party swap with a consultant or distributor from another party plan. This of course means you’ll be hosting a party for another company and they’ll be hosting a party for you. It’s a fun way to get a booking as you’ll have an evening of fun with your friends and you’ll have a chance to watch another consultant at work and see if you can pick up some ideas from them.

Consultants make great party hosts because they understand how it all works and how to make it fun and successful. They are often eager to help a sister out too!

5.) Neighborhood Catch Up/Get to Know You
Host your own party at your house for your neighbors. If you don’t know your neighbors that well, you can make it a ‘get to know you’ party or if you’re more familiar with them it can be a ‘catch up’ party. Make it fun, casual with plenty of time to chat.

6.) Email Newsletter
Start gathering customer email addresses to send them updates. You can let them know about sales and special offers, new catalogs, new party themes, and new products.

You can use a free email service like Mailchimp to create beautiful emails and you’ll also be able to see who opens their emails and who doesn’t. It might be a small percentage of people that take action from the emails, but as your list grows you’ll pick up some orders, bookings, and maybe even new team members. Remember, don’t send emails without permission, you don’t want to be a spammer.

7.) Business Box
If you have some spare products or testers that are just gathering dust at home, put them together in a nice box or basket and drop it at a business in your local area. Make sure to include some catalogs, order forms, and host offers for parties. It’s a good idea to have a special gift or incentive to bribe someone to be ‘in charge’ of the box at the business (eg. the receptionist). Leave the box at the business for a few days and then retrieve your box or basket and any orders.

What would you add to this list? Have you been in a bit of a slump or on pause and had to restart? What did you do?

Bonus Idea: Train Your Brain for Success

Positive Prime is an amazing app with new technology based on the latest research in neuroscience and positive psychology. The app is a bit like Netflix for your brain meets a vision board on steroids! If you want to turbo-charge your motivation, creativity and drive, then check out Positive Prime to help you do that. You can read more about it here.

Goals – Why they Matter to Direct Sellers

Goals. Why they matter and why you need to write them down.

Goals are everything to me.

Goals provide focus and motivation. They create energy and excitement.

If you don’t have a clearly defined goal that excites you, you’ll end up drifting along…not going anywhere. I had a significant experience with this phenomenon.

For quite some time, my big hairy goal was to reach the top of my company’s career plan. Once I achieved this goal I did not set a new goal in my direct sales business. I drifted along, not growing my business for a few years before I realized my mistake.

Then I set new goals and felt inspired and motivated to achieve those again.

But it’s not enough to have goals in your mind. You must write down your goals. It also helps to say them out loud so you can hear them, not just in your mind but with your ears.

Let me try to convince you of how important it is to actually write down your goals:
A few years ago, researchers at Yale university conducted research into goal setting. They revisited a class of students 20 years after they had graduated. The researchers found that the 3% of students who had written down goals when they were studying earned more than the remaining 97% of the class combined!

If that doesn’t convince you to start writing down your direct sales goals, I don’t know what will….

I take writing down my goals so seriously that I invested in this amazing planner that helps me not only to plan my month and week, but also helps me to set goals and keep me on track. And I’m achieving them faster than ever before!

(And yes, that’s an affiliate link – I love this planner SO much I’m happy to promote it and associate my name with it!)

I firmly believe that without goals, you have no compass. Goals give your life meaning and direction and help you to get what you want.

So, to get started today on your goal setting journey, grab the goal planning printable below!

I’d also love to hear what your goals are. Please share them in the comments…that will help you feel even more committed to achieving them

How to Be a Mumpreneur

I run a successful direct sales business and I am also a Mom of 3 children.

And these two identities are not mutually exclusive. (Well, most of the time…)

I’ve been running a direct selling business for sixteen years now and I’ve built it up to a multi-million dollar turnover.

During that time I achieved my Masters Degree, I had 3 children, and I moved to a completely new area.

And I’ve only been able to do that because I work in the direct selling industry.

I believe that the direct selling industry is a perfect industry for women because you can run a successful, profitable business and be an engaged mother at the same time.

There are no glass ceilings and you can make the business as big or small as you want to.

For the past fifteen years I’ve loved my work and I’ve talked up the virtues of the direct selling industry to anybody who’d listen.

But it didn’t hit me how valuable this flexibility really is until my 6-year old daughter was diagnosed with acute leukemia nearly 2 years ago.

Running a business from a hospital room

With my direct selling business I have been able to work from my daughter’s hospital room. Other parents I’ve met on the paediatric oncology ward have had to give up their job or put their career on hold, causing further stress in the family.

But I’ve been able to keep my business going, keep my sanity by giving me an outlet for my own needs, and continue to provide an income.

All the while I can also support my daughter as she’s battling this illness, and continue to be a mother for my other two children. I don’t know of any other industry where you can do that!

As you can see I’m pretty passionate about the direct selling industry. And this passion has led me to establish Direct Sales Inspiration. I want to help as many women as possible achieve their dreams in this industry and enjoy the fabulous flexibility that I’ve been able to enjoy.

Learn to work in snatches of time

The biggest tip I have for budding business Mom’s is: Don’t expect to work 9-5.

Work when the children are asleep. Work when they are at school, pre-school, or day-care. Work when they’re with the grandparents. Find snatches of time where you can work on your business.

Here are some ideas to help you to do that:

Take multi-tasking to the next level. You can make business calls while you’re walking a little one in a pram. Make sure you’re ready to go on your business calls when you go for a walk and you’ll be working on your business, providing stimulation to your child and getting exercise. Win!
Create task folders for everything you need to do on a particular part of your business. Set it up so that you can just grab it and take it with you. You’ll be amazed how productive you can be while you’re waiting at gymnastics or swimming lessons.
If you have to do coaching-type calls with people, hold group calls or tele-conferences so you don’t have to keep covering the same ground with different people. Group the calls into topics and allow multiple people to benefit from them.
Download training materials onto your tablet or phone so that you can access them when you have a few spare minutes. Always have some training or inspirational videos or audio books ready to go.
For one or more nights a week, organize “Office Evenings”. As soon as your partner arrives home, you go to the office to get some work done. By having an agreement in place you won’t get stuck in the “could you do….while I …..” conversations. Kids will soon get used to it too.
Get up an hour before the kids so you can get the most important tasks for that day done.
Have “work toys”. These are special toys for the kids that they only get to play with while you need to do work. They’re great for those times you absolutely have to get something finished or take a call while the kids are with you. You can also use a tablet with a few games or YouTube videos that they only get access to while you’re working.

Always be ready to knock over some work

These are the things that have worked for me, they may not work for you. However, it’s the mind-set that counts.

That attitude of always being ready to work on your business, ensuring you’re always ready to knock over a task when the opportunity presents itself. If you develop that attitude, then you can develop your own practices to suit your business and family life.

Also, check these video interviews for more ideas and experiences of Mumpreneurs.

Update: I recently found this amazing direct sales planner. I it so much that I’m excited to promote it. It helps me to set goals and I can plan out my month, my week, my social media, my follow-ups….I can plan EVERYTHING in the one place. Check it out here.

Want to learn all my secrets to growing a direct sales team? This book has everything I have learned from the industry in the last 20 years. I’ve tried and tested many methods to arrive at my winning formula!

Order your copy here

Podcast Review for Direct Sellers

Sometimes we just need a shot of pure inspiration and motivation to get us going.

The direct sales industry can be like a roller-coaster….sometimes you’re on your way up, up, up – then you go down, down, down!

I’ve found it’s best not to wait for the next ‘down’ to seek inspiration and motivation, but to keep it up as a regular practice.

I make it a habit to stay in the ‘zone’ with a regular dose of podcast goodness. During the times when I’m not feeling it, when I’m a little flat, I seek out more episodes but I always have something on the go.

So let’s have a look at 3 of my faves.

The Mind Aware Show – Dana Wilde

Dana has had a very successful direct sales business in the past so her expertise is very relevant. Although the podcast doesn’t cater exclusively to us direct sellers, it’s always interesting and useful.

Some episodes are completely her own content but she also does interviews with successful people who talk about something that’s relevant to business or personal development.

The focus of The Mind Aware Show is “mindset” and how to stay positive. I firmly believe that success in the direct selling industry comes 80% from mindset and 20% from skills, knowledge, and execution. And this podcast helps you with that 80%, so add it to your playlist today!

Direct Sales Social Marketing with Sassy Suite – Sassy Suite

This conversational podcast is both entertaining and incredibly useful. The hosts usually interview someone of interest within the industry. The primary focus is on social media marketing for direct sellers but they also discuss other areas related to direct selling.

The episodes are short, easy to listen to and full of great tips. This podcast helps you to develop that 20%!

The Lucky Bitch – Denise Duffield-Thomas

Denise Duffield-Thomas is passionate about helping women remove their mental money blocks so they can achieve outrageous success. She talks about the law of attraction and practical ways to use it in your life. She regularly interviews other inspirational women as well.

What I love about The Lucky Bitch is that Denise keeps it real. She’s down to earth despite her international success and multi-million dollar income.

I feel like I can really connect with what she says. Sometimes it’s even like she’s reading my mind! The fact that she has an Australian accent and happens to live in my hometown of course doesn’t hurt either .

(But if you’re not Australian, don’t hold that against her! Most of her fans are American – they love her over there just as much as we do here.)

If you want practical, down to earth advice on achieving massive success in your life, pop this podcast on your playlist.

Learn more!