Category Archives: Inspiration

Social Capital is Key to Boost Your Biz

Do you want to know the secret to amplifying the success of your direct sales business?

One of the critical pillars I’ve used to build a $20 million global direct sales business and boost my happiness is positive reach-outs.

Positive reach-outs use kindness to foster stronger relationships and build social capital.

Building your social capital means developing meaningful relationships with your customers, hosts, and teamies, and it doesn’t just help your business. It makes you happier in the process.

How cool is that?

Professor Christopher Peterson was one of the giants in positive psychology, and his pioneering work showed that happiness comes from social relationships and kindness to others. 

Michelle Gielan, the best-selling author of Broadcasting Happiness, says that social capital is your greatest asset. Social capital is the value you receive from having relationships with other people. The great thing about social capital is that it doesn’t lose weight through use. It grows instead.

In my positive reach-outs, I use a lot of praise. Positive Psychologist Shawn Achor reminds us that praise is a virtuous cycle and a renewable resource: “…the more you give, the more you enhance your supply. When done right, praise primes the brain for higher performance, which means that the more we praise, the more success we create. And the more successes there are, the more there is to praise.”

How I reach out to my team and customers in a positive way

There are many ways to reach out and build your social capital. I do various things, from sending emails and private messages to phone calls and in-person catch-ups. I also always have a supply of unique occasion cards for birthdays, births, engagements, etc., ready to go, so it’s easy to put one in the post to someone.

I started doing this 15 years ago and never stopped because I realized the powerful positive impact of sending an engagement card to a customer who called to thank me. She told me she only received three cards – one from her mother, one from her future mother-in-law, and one from me – which meant so much to her. She is still a loyal customer and has referred many people to me.

“The more you help others and spread positivity, the brighter you will all shine.”

On another occasion, I visited a team member’s house and saw an encouraging letter I had sent her framed and placed where she would see it every day. As a result, she is now one of the top performers in my entire organization!

Another lovely way to build social capital is to buy random gifts, which could be as simple as taking muffins into a meeting or training session for no particular reason.
The more you connect with people in your network and your direct sales team, the stronger your relationships will become. The more you help others and spread positivity, the brighter you will all shine.

Are you ready to build social capital in your direct sales business?

A fabulous way to start these reach-outs is with a power lead, another concept coined by Michelle Gielan. A power lead is a cheerful, optimistic, or inspiring start to communications. Gielan found that how you choose to start a conversation influences the behavior of others.

Start with a ‘power lead’

Starting with positivity sets a tone. It primes you and others for positivity and pushes everyone into the high-performance zone. It could be as simple as starting the conversation. “It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?” or when someone asks you,” How are you this morning?”

Instead of talking about how you didn’t get enough sleep, you could say that you had a lovely breakfast (if, indeed, you did have a lovely breakfast).

It’s not about making things up to say something positive. Instead, it focuses on authenticity to set that positive tone.

I want to encourage you to spend at least 15 minutes a day focusing on positive reach-outs with your customers, team, or hosts. You will find that it will boost your happiness and positivity while at the same time building your social capital and strengthening relationships – and this will move your direct sales business forward in the long run.

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Who Are You Spending Your Time With?

Several years ago, I came across a concept by Jim Rohn that you are the average of the five people with who you spend the most time. And I’ve kept that in mind as I’ve built a $20 million global direct sales business.

More recent research suggests it spans more expansive than just your five closest contacts. Scientists now believe that you’re the average of ALL the people surrounding you.

Positive Psychologist Shawn Achor believes that positive people provide energy. So surrounding yourself with positive people is like giving yourself a flu shot against negativity and apathy. Positive people help to empower you and move you forward.

It’s crucial to find positive influences in your life who help push you out of your comfort zone and help you grow. If you don’t currently have that in your life, you’ll want to look for it. Think about joining a new club, starting a volunteer role, or taking up a new hobby to surround yourself with new positive influences.

“My influences shifted, and the trajectory of my whole life changed!”

Twenty years ago, at the start of my career, I was anxious and lacked confidence. I joined a local Toastmasters club where I was supported, encouraged and surrounded by other people wanting to improve themselves too. The ‘norm’ in the club differed from friends spending their time in pubs. My influences shifted, and the trajectory of my whole life changed!

What if your environment is quite negative?

What if you don’t have enough positive energizers in your life or if some of the people closest to you are negative influences or energy drainers?

The good news is that you can impact your average through the books you read, the podcasts you listen to and the videos you watch. Spending time-consuming quality content from positive influences can make a massive difference. 

So who do you want to spend more time with this week? I encourage you to find a club to join, a podcast to listen to, or a YouTube channel to follow that feeds your positivity and makes you feel energized and empowered.

The people around us shape our traits – so this is a crucial aspect of the success of your direct sales business!

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Tapping into Strength During Adversity

Title: Tapping into Strength during adversity - tips for direct sellers

Knowing that you can stay strong no matter what’s happening in your life inspires a kind of confidence and a feeling of security that’s hard to find any other way.

In this article, I want to share how I’ve stayed strong and the road I took to arrive at that place.

The 3 biggest challenges I faced in my life

When I was 19, my friend from high school was murdered. As you can imagine, that was a massive shock to me with so many emotions and thoughts to process. Fortunately, her murderer was caught and brought to justice, but I had still lost my friend.

The next major challenge happened when my daughter Sophie was 6. One day, out of the blue, she was diagnosed with Leukemia. It’s common for a diagnosis in children to occur at 50 to 500 Leukemia cells per millilitre of blood, but she had 12,000 and a huge fight ahead. Fortunately, she’s in remission now and doing well. She’s a Karate champion raising money for other kids like her.

Then three years ago, I had a series of strokes and pseudoaneurysms on the brain. I had difficulty doing basic things like communicating and walking, and I was told I would never run or play sports again.

“I refused to accept that fate and stayed strong and worked hard. I can now talk your ear off, I’m running a 20 million dollar global business, and I’m the current Australian National Champion in my division for Karate.”

I don’t want to dwell on the challenges I faced. Instead, I want to share how I stayed strong to get through them. I want to share the strategies you can use to learn from my lessons!

Create a vision for the future

During the most challenging times, I always created a vision for the future. When my friend was murdered, I pictured her getting justice. Later, when Sophie was sick and couldn’t walk, we talked about the day she could walk 10 kilometres, and we created this lovely vision of it. And we ticked off that goal in 2021!

The day I was told I’d never play sports again due to the strokes, I decided I would get my black belt in Karate to show them it was possible. I’m not at black yet, but I’m getting very close!

With firm goals and visions in place, I then lived one day at a time, focusing on small, incremental improvements towards that goal. And I celebrated each small achievement along the way to the larger goal.

Find the Glitter

When Sophie was ill, we kept a ‘glitter journal’. It was a notebook with a glittery cover, and each day we would write in there what the one good thing was in that day. We would each find one bit of glitter for that day to keep us going.

I now keep a gratitude journal. I’ve since learned to be grateful for minor things and look for the good every day. I also add quotes and images in my gratitude journal that inspire me to stay positive.

Ask for help

Asking for help is one of those things that we humans find extremely difficult. Yet, through my challenges, I learned that asking for help is essential when we need it.

Not only did I find that a little bit of help from others made my load that much lighter, but I also noticed that asking people for help was like giving them a gift. So many of my friends wanted to help but didn’t know how. Once I asked, my friends happily cooked dinners, picked up our children from school, visited in hospital and did so many other little things that made a big difference at the time!

Don’t think you’ll be a burden, instead put yourself in their shoes. If one of your friends is going through a tough time, wouldn’t you love to help out?

I hope you’re not experiencing major upheaval in your life right now. But if you are, I hope that these activities help you as much as they helped me. My wish is that they help make your path forward faster and easier!

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Secrets of my Direct Sales Success

Have you ever had one of your giant, hairy, audacious dreams become a reality? One of mine became a reality! 

I had the dream of building a global direct sales business for a decade. And it’s come true.

I’ve talked before about how much I love my business and love watching others blossom and shine in their businesses. I’m passionate about the direct sales industry and what it can mean for women, and I’m passionate about my particular direct sales company and what it stands for. And you all know how much I love sharing my passion!

In sharing my success, here are some of my achievements to date:

  • I have the #1 organization in Australia with a multi-million turnover
  • I was awarded the DSA distributor of the year award in 2019 (chosen from all consultants in Australian direct sales companies)
  • I reach thousands and thousands of direct sellers around the globe with this blog.
  • I co-authored an international best-selling book in the “Pay It Forward” series.
Christine Tylee winning DSA Distributor of the Year in 2019
Winning the prestigious distributor of the year award was an amazing experience

What is the secret of my direct sales success

I believe we all have that capacity to find our particular and unique way to be successful, and I see this played out in my organization. 

I have hugely successful leaders who only operate their business online. I also have incredibly successful leaders who only party in-home. They have each forged their path to direct sales success using their particular strengths.

However, some tools will help every one of you to find that path to success.

Success Tools

Vision

Having a vision is the most crucial piece of the puzzle. Without a clear vision and a clear goal, it’s easy to get distracted and lose track of where you’re headed and why. Click here to read about how to create your ultimate, actionable vision board.

Resilience

I often liken the direct sales industry to a roller coaster ride. The highs are incredible, but it can be hard to keep on track for your vision if you don’t have some strategies for riding the lows. Unfortunately, I’ve seen too many direct sellers give up far too quickly when they hit the first speed bump.

Some things that have helped me move past the bumps are:

  • A glitter journal. All I do is write at least three words about the ‘glitter’ in my day. When I have a tough time, I’m forced to focus on finding that glitter every day. I started this with our daughter when battling leukemia back in 2016. That was a challenging time, but she taught me how important it is to find something to be grateful for each day.
  • Meditation. Even though it’s not my thing, I found that using the Headspace app. I can take a few minutes to sit and be still. It’s beneficial when I’m in a rut or facing something challenging.
  • Trusted friends. I have a handful of trusted, loyal friends. I can tell them what’s going on in my head, and I can turn to them when I’m feeling down or in a rut. We all go through phases like that, but what’s important is how quickly you can pick yourself up and keep moving forward.
Christines daughter taught her to find happiness and gratitude in each day.
Sophie finding glitter in each day – even when she was so sick in hospital. She is now fully recovered and a picture of health!

Time

Knowing how and where to spend your time is very important. In this article about a study conducted with successful direct sellers, we learn that success isn’t about the number of hours you work. Instead, it’s about how many of those hours you spend on income-producing activities. So it’s helpful to sit down and look at how you spend time on your business and how much of that time is spent on something that will lead to growth.

Planning

I can’t stress enough how important this is to your success. Have you heard the saying, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail?” It’s so true. If you haven’t already read the article Plan like a Pro, click through now! If you have anything else in your life (work, study, children, sport, etc.), you cannot achieve success without planning.

Celebrate Success

If you take the time to celebrate your wins – big and small – along the way, you’re far more likely to achieve your goals. The enjoyment of the achievement will last longer and embed in your subconscious, which then helps you to achieve more of that success. Read more about how to make that work for you here.

Balance

I love Laura Vanderkam’s philosophy on work/life balance. After conducting a lot of research, she believes that it’s not possible or realistic to aim for balance daily. Instead, she recommends looking at balance over a longer time frame than each day. 

There are seasons within the party plan / direct sales industry. Sometimes you’ve got to ‘make hay while the sun shines and you work hard and earn lots. But, there are also quieter times when you have less to do, and during those times, you can spend more time on other priorities in your life. 

Plan as much as possible and make time in your planner for crucial priorities like exercise and family. But don’t obsess if you’re too busy sometimes. It’s okay to drop the ball occasionally. Just don’t kick it away.

I feel so blessed to have found a business in which I’m passionate. It’s become more than a business or a career to me – it’s a calling. I genuinely believe that I get to change lives for a living.

How to Fuel Your Direct Sales Success

Title: how celebrations fuel your direct sales success

Did you know you can train your brain for success?

Having success leads to more success. It’s not just progress and triumph that move you towards more success. It’s what happens inside your brain that propels you forward.

“success breeds success”

So what happens in your brain when you succeed in a task or accomplish something? First, your body releases dopamine, the pleasure and reward chemical. Then, it tells certain parts of your brain to pay close attention to what you just did because it wants to do it again in the future.

Also, the dopamine feels good in your brain and gives you feelings of pleasure and satisfaction. Your brain wants to experience that feeling again and again.

And this is exactly what you want to train your brain to do: repeat success.

This means that it’s essential to reinforce each small win to motivate yourself from one small success to the next and towards a larger goal.

How to train your brain for success

When you take time and effort to acknowledge and celebrate your achievements, it helps you and your brain make a strong connection between the accomplishment you’re celebrating and the actions that got you there. 

It’s also a great way to stay motivated on the way to a larger goal. It’s fun and it feels good!

If you tick off a box after completing your goal without taking time to celebrate, you tell your brain that what you did wasn’t that important. You tell your brain it was just a thing to tick off your list, like vacuuming or picking up the dry cleaning.

So instead of teaching your brain that what you accomplish is not essential, train your brain to remember that achieving your goals is exactly what you want to keep doing.

Now when I say “celebrate” or talk about rewards, I don’t mean you have to throw a party every time you achieve something or buy yourself a diamond necklace. But you must do something special just for you that feels like a reward that you earned.

How to make the most of rewards & celebrations

When you plan your next goal, make sure you not only break it down into tinier achievements but also set rewards for each of those smaller wins.

Research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology says that immediate and frequent rewards work better than delayed rewards only given out at the end of a long project. This is why you want to break your goals down into smaller actions or milestones with associated rewards.

It’s also important to set those rewards in advance because it’s not just receiving the prize that gets the dopamine in your brain going. It’s also the anticipation of the reward!

So I encourage you to take the time to celebrate your small wins on the journey towards your big hairy goals to make sure that your brain and neuropathways are helping you to achieve success.

Train your brain for direct sales success

Takeaways:

  • Acknowledgment and rewards encourage your brain to release dopamine
  • Dopamine helps your brain to steer you towards repeating the experience of success
  • Rewards don’t have to be elaborate or expensive, but they do have to feel special to you
  • Break your goals into smaller goals or milestones and set rewards for each of those smaller goals in advance
  • The anticipation of the reward already sets off chemical changes in your brain

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Keep going until you get a yes

Title: Keep going until you get a yes

Far too many people are afraid of hearing the word “no”.

And I get it. I used to be afraid of rejection too. For the first 2 years in my business I hardly achieved anything. I was afraid to ask and by avoiding the ask I rejected myself in advance. I was saying “No” to myself before anyone else had a chance to.

In this article I share how I got over that fear and build a multimillion dollar direct sales business.

The art of asking

There’s an art…or maybe a science to asking and getting what you want. I found the book “The Aladdin Factor” by Marc Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield very helpful. They recommend asking as if you’re expecting to get a “yes”. You also want to assume that you can get a “yes” in general – don’t just hope. You also need to ask more than once.

I recommend you grab yourself a copy of this book to improve the way you ask!

Persistence does pay off

Persistence has been key to my success. You want to keep asking because they might say “yes” when they’re in a better mood, when their circumstances have changed, when you have a better offer that suits their needs, or when you’ve learned to ask better!

Early on in my business I was too afraid of hearing “no” to follow-up and ask. To help encourage myself to take action, I gamified the process.

I started by rewarding myself with $1 for every follow-up call, regardless of the outcome. My goal was to get myself moving and to overcome my fear of rejection. When I’d made enough calls, I treated myself and my husband to a night out at the movies. As I got better at making the follow-up calls, I moved on from $1 coins and made myself a star chart. I gave myself a gold star every time I made a call! 

The reward you choose doesn’t matter, the process of rewarding yourself for taking action gives you a boost of dopamine in the brain, which reinforces the action.

As you’re training your brain to love taking action you will notice it gets easier and easier to follow-up! And of course the more you do it, the better you’ll get at it and you’ll start hearing that ‘yes’ more and more!

Keep a Leads Book to Help your Follow-Up

The statistics that have most inspired me to keep going with follow-ups came from a marketing specialist at Notre Dame University. They found that 94% of all sales people quit after the 4th call. However 60% of all sales were made after the 4th call.

I didn’t want to keep missing out on 60% of potential business because I wasn’t following up enough!

So I started keeping all my follow-up information in a leads book (but you could also use a spreadsheet, I happen to be old school). I allocate 1 page per lead and I keep track of my follow-ups with dates and notes. I try to add personal information so contact from me feels personal and friendly. 

I also make sure I vary the method of follow-up. Sometimes it’s a phone call, then a text message, other times I send something in the mail. This keeps me in their thoughts but it doesn’t feel repetitive.

I have some leads that I’d been following up with for five years before they finally joined my direct sales team – persistence paid off eventually!

Don’t be a bulldozer

At this point I want to make sure you understand that I’m not a bulldozer when it comes to follow-up.

I not only vary the means of follow-up so I don’t hound them with phone calls or spam them with texts, but I also always offer them an “opt out”. I literally say something like: “if you’d like to stop hearing from me, just let me know” or something similar.

I don’t want to be pushy or spammy so I’m keeping it light and friendly and respect their boundaries!

How to think of follow-ups

How to keep going until you get a 'yes'

I was told by a mentor long ago to think of follow-up like offering everyone cake at your wedding.

Some people love wedding cake and eagerly say yes … others say no. Maybe they’re on a diet, maybe they’re allergic to gluten, or maybe they just don’t like cake!

The bride doesn’t take it personally, she just offers it to the next person. I like to think of everyone I follow up as wedding guests – I have something wonderful to offer them and it may or may not be for them.

My job is to find the ones who do want it and not get discouraged if someone doesn’t like cake.

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Pinktober – a fundraising theme for direct sellers

Title: Pinktober - a fundraising theme for Ocotber

You’ve probably heard me say this before, but it can’t hurt to say it again:

If you’re not offering themes in your direct sales parties, you’re missing out on a lot of repeat bookings!

Being able to offer new and different themes to your hosts is what will have them coming back again and again (as well as their guests!).

What is Pinktober?

Pinktober is a fundraising theme for the month of October for your direct sales parties and events. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month in many countries and this theme will help you to fundraise for this cause.

Pinktober is suitable for almost every direct seller, regardless of the products you sell (yay!)

Why would I make the effort?

There are several reasons you want to run Pinktober in your direct selling business. The first reason is that you will appeal to different people with a fundraising party – some hosts are not really into party plan parties or your product but will want to raise funds for a cause. Your guests are also likely to be a different network than your usual, so it helps you to get in front of new people and branch out!

Another reason to adopt Pinktober is that you’re ramping up your efforts ahead of peak trade. The busy season with Black Friday and Christmas is coming up so you want to start boosting your efforts now to start organizing bookings for November and December.

How to have an awesome Pinktober

Step 1: Register
Make sure you register with an approved charity for your fundraising activities to ensure it’s legal. Google local breast cancer charities and find out what you need to do to register on their website. In some countries it’s a bit stricter than others, but generally they make it very easy for you to do this.

Step 2: Theme Your Social
For a week or even the whole month, post pink-related posts on your social accounts. You can post facts about breast cancer or share some educational posts from your chosen charity, go Live and showcase all your pink-colored products, and use the color pink liberally in all your images – including cover photos. I’ve got a few special Pinktober images to get you started, just fill out the form below.

Step 3: Go Live To Announce Your Pinktober
Do a Facebook Live, an Instagram story or a TikTok to announce your Pinktober theme. If you’ve set a fundraising goal, announce that too. Also make sure you include how much you are contributing (eg. 20% of sales).

Step 4: Add Fundraising Games to Your Direct Sales Party
In your party you can play some games that help to raise even more money. Here are few of my favorites:

Coin Toss: At an in-home party you can put a prize (a product for example) on the floor. Have everybody stand a few meters away and ask them to grab a coin. Guests can toss their coin at the product and the person whose coin lands the closest wins the prize. All the coins become part of the donation.

Pinktober - a direct sales fundraising theme with free social media images

Banned Word Jar: Pick a word that people are likely to use at least once during the party. When someone says the banned word they have to put a coin in the coin jar. You can be quite cheeky with this game by asking questions that almost force people to use the word and get lots of laughs. The contents of the jar will be donated of course.

Buy A Square**: Create a sheet with numbered of squares. You could do 100 squares and use the same sheet all month or only do 25 squares or 50. It’s up to you and depends on how many people you expect to be able to sell a square to. This is easy to organize in-home or online.

Set a price for each square. Once someone buys one or more squares you put their name in it. Once all squares are sold you draw a random number and the person with that numbered square has won the lovely prize you prepared (for example a pretty basket with products).

Step 4: Pinkify your parties
You want to make your direct sales parties as pink as possible. This will help the Pinktober parties to stand out and be a different from your other parties. Here are some ways to pinkify your parties:

  • Ask guests to wear pink. Best dressed wins a prize (a ticket, a chocolate, or just bragging rights). When doing online parties get people to take photos or pose for the camera in a Zoom party.
  • Highlight your pink-colored products.
  • Any accessories you use in your parties including the games (eg. Pop the Bloon, try to make them pink)
  • Ask the host to serve pink drinks or pink snacks
  • Anything you print for this party, print on pink paper
  • Use pink sticky notes in your catalog to highlight the business opportunity
  • Make your prizes pink

Step 5: Report Back
On your social media report back the amount you’ve raised. Take a screenshot of the ‘thank you’ page or receipt email (as proof) and celebrate and thank everybody who’s contributed. Also send a personal message to your hosts with a thank-you message!

** As this is basically a raffle, make sure you are allowed to run raffles in your state or country. Always abide by your local rules!

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The Secrets of my Direct Sales Success

The secrets of my direct sales success.

Have you ever had one of your really big, hairy, audacious dreams become reality? One of mine is becoming really real right now!

I’ve literally had the dream of building a global direct sales business for a decade. And now it’s coming true – I can’t begin to describe how excited I am.

I’ve talked before about how much I love my business and how much I love watching others blossom and shine in their own businesses. I’m passionate about the direct sales industry and what it can mean for women and I’m passionate about my particular direct sales company and what it stands for too. And you all know how much I love sharing my passion!

Christine Tylee visiting the home of The Body Shop
My joy when I visited the home of The Body Shop

I’ve been with The Body Shop at Home in Australia for nearly 18 years. It hasn’t been possible to recruit internationally…. until now. The company is opening the direct sales option in America and I have the opportunity to share my passion internationally.

Click here to find out more about this ground floor opportunity.

This exciting step for my business has led me to reflect on my amazing career to date:

  • I have the #1 organization in Australia with a multi-million turnover
  • I was awarded the DSA distributor of the year award in 2019 (chosen from all consultants in Australian direct sales companies)
  • I reach thousands and thousands of direct sellers around the globe with this blog
  • I co-authored an international best-selling book in the “Pay It Forward” series
Christine Tylee winning DSA Distributor of the Year in 2019
Winning the prestigious distributor of the year award was an amazing experience

What is the secret of my direct sales success?

A quote by Anita Roddick (the founder of The Body Shop) comes to mind:

There is no scientific answer for success. You can’t define it. You’ve simply got to live it and do it.

I believe we all have that capacity to find our individual and unique way to be successful and I see this played out in my organization.

I have hugely successful leaders in my business who only operate their business online. I also have extremely successful leaders who only party in-home. They have each forged their own path to direct sales success using their particular strengths.

However, there are some tools that will help each and every one of us to find that path to success.

Success Tools

Vision
The most important piece of the puzzle. Without a clear vision and a clear goal it’s very easy to get distracted and lose track of where you’re headed and why. Click here to read about how to create your ultimate, actionable vision board.

Resilience
I often liken the direct sales industry to a roller coaster ride. The highs are amazing but if you don’t have some strategies for riding the lows, it can be hard to keep on track for your vision. I’ve seen too many direct sellers give up far to easily when they hit the first speed-bump.

Some things that have helped me move past the bumps are:

  • A glitter journal. All I do is write at least 3 words about the ‘glitter’ in my day. When I’m having a tough time I’m forced to focus on finding that glitter in each and every day. I started this with our daughter when she was battling leukemia back in 2016. That was a very difficult time but she taught me how important it is to find something to be grateful for each day.
  • Meditation. Even though it’s not really my thing I found that using the Headspace app I can actually take a few minutes to sit and be still. It’s especially helpful when I’m in a rut or facing something challenging.
  • Trusted friends. I have a handful of trusted, loyal friends. I can tell them what’s really going on in my head and I can turn to them when I’m feeling down or in a rut. We all go through phases like that, but what’s important is how quickly you can pick yourself up and keep moving forward.
Christines daughter taught her to find happiness and gratitude in each day.
Sophie finding glitter in each day – even when she was so sick in hospital. She is now fully recovered and a picture of health!

Time
Knowing how and where to spend your time is very important. In this article about a study conducted with successful direct sellers, we learn that success isn’t about the number of hours you work. It’s about how many of those hours you spend on income producing activities. It’s useful to sit down and look at how you spend the time on your business and how much of that time is spent on something that will lead to growth in your business.

Planning
I can’t stress enough how important this is to your success. Have you heard the saying “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail?” It’s so true. If you haven’t already read the article Plan like a Pro, click through now! If you have anything else going on in your life (work, study, children, sport, etc.) you cannot achieve success without planning.

Celebrate Success
If you take the time to celebrate your wins – big and small – along the way, you’re far more likely to achieve your goals. The enjoyment of the achievement will last longer and embed in your subconscious, which then helps you to achieve more of that success. Read more about how to make that work for you here.

Balance
I love Laura Vanderkam’s philosophy on work/life balance. She believes, after conducting a lot of research, that it’s not actually possible or realistic to aim for balance on a daily basis. She recommends looking at balance over a longer time-frame than each day.

There are seasons within the party plan / direct sales industry. Sometimes you’ve got to ‘make hay while the sun shines’ and you work hard and earn lots. There are also quieter times when you have less to do and during those times you can spend more time on other priorities in your life.

Plan ahead as much as possible and make time in your planner for key priorities like exercise and family. But don’t obsess if you’re too busy sometimes. It’s okay to drop the ball occasionally, just don’t kick it away.

I feel so blessed to have found a business I’m passionate about. It’s become more than a business or a career to me – it’s a calling. I genuinely believe that I get to change lives for a living.

If you’re in North America and you want to find out more about the new ground floor opportunity with The Body Shop At Home, click here. Maybe I’ll get to change your life too!

All my love,
Christine

Learn more about The Body Shop At Home US

How I did it – Interview

My business would not be possible without Carrie Green’s Female Entrepreneur Association.

I started thinking about launching Direct Sales Inspiration when I was in hospital with my youngest daughter through her Leukemia journey. She’s in remission now and doing well but I spent so much time in hospital with her that I had plenty of time to think. And that’s when the idea for Direct Sales Inspiration was born.

I was then in the situation that I wanted to share my knowledge and experience but I had no idea how to go about it. I had a vision but I didn’t know how to make it into a reality.

The Female Entrepreneur Association helped me with that. Through their membership site I educated myself on all the things to spark my idea into an actual business. I learned about blogging, branding, Pinterest, creating printables, mailinglists and more.

And now I have the honor of being featured in the very first edition of the She Means Business magazine published by the Female Entrepreneur Association.

It’s so amazing to meet your heroes! I had the most delightful interview with Carrie, she’s so inspirational and positive. I was buzzing for hours afterwards!

If you want to read the magazine, it’s freely available here.

Update: The podcast version is now also live. Listen to it here.

Distributor of the Year!

I won the "Distributor of the Year" award

Last month I received the biggest honor of my career: I was chosen by the Australia’s direct sales association as the Distributor of the Year. And I received a gorgeous “abundance bowl” by Georg Jensen. But it’s of course more than just a bowl…

I was simultaneously proud and humbled by the award, which I received for sharing my passion in my personal business and through Direct Sales Inspiration and because I’ve become an advocate for several charities supporting families going through a cancer journey.

Direct Selling Australia said I “embody principles of the DSA Code of Practice”. This Code of Practice matters a lot to me – it’s this very Code of Practice that makes direct sales associations worldwide essential to the direct sales industry.

More than just a bowl: Feeling so honored and bursting with happiness!

Companies that join a direct sales association promise to abide by certain ethical principals. It’s one way that direct sales companies can show they are ethical, that they want the industry as a whole to succeed and that they treat consumers and consultants in the best way possible.

So this bowl is so meaningful to me. It’s currently sitting next to me as I’m writing this and I find myself looking over several times a day to gaze at it and feel pretty darn good. It reminds me of how amazing the direct sales industry is. When I got started over 16 years ago I never imagined it would be this awesome!