To Do And Not To Do

You're in business and you want to know how to effectively grow your business, right? In today's post, I will share five things you must do and four things to not do if you want to grow your business. The good news about growing your business is that it's simple if you have a few skills. Notice I did not say that it is easy, but if you work at it, you only have to master a handful of skills and actions in order to find success.

Here are five things you must do if you want to succeed in your home based business:

1. Get Training

As mentioned above, there are a few skills that are needed in order to succeed and you need to spend time and money to get the training you need. If you're in a good company they will provide lots of entry level training. They will set you up and get you started. You want to master the skills of inviting, prospecting, recruiting, closing and team building. These skills are a must if you want to succeed. 

2. Put In The Effort

You can easily acquire the skills it takes and most people are willing to learn the skills. Where most people miss the boat is the amount of effort they put in. You have to commit to a certain level of activity that focuses on prospecting and team building if you want massive success. What kind of time and effort are you willing to give in order to create a life of time and financial freedom? Are you all in? Or are you in barely some of the time. Your results will answer that question. Set up a time that you can dedicate to your business every day. If you look around, you'll see top earners who have created success in their business by consistently working two hours each day. Put in the effort and the results will follow.

3. Work In The Right Place

Do you spend your time pulling your hair out trying to get certain team members to see the potential of the opportunity or even trying to help them see their potential? Now trust me, I know it takes some longer than others to get it but you need to spend your time with those who get it, who want to run and with those who are hungry and those who want to invest the time needed. I'm not saying to avoid the rest of your team, I'm simply saying invest your time in those who are running and creating activity. You're spinning your wheels when you try to get people on your team to see what they have. Invest your time with those who are putting in the action. Sounds a bit harsh doesn't it? But you are running a business that thrives when you help people who want to be helped.

4. Have The Right Attitude

Attitude is everything. How you respond to the rejection, how you respond to each day, how you look at your success and your failures, how you see others, how you build others up how you inspire others....your attitude is going to make you or break you. A big dosage of self development on a daily basis will have a great impact on your attitude and how you engage with the world around you. What are you doing on a daily basis to keep your attitude in check? For me, I read and listen to a ton of personal development audios. I'm also blessed to be a part of a company that distributes excellent mindset trainings. Do what it takes to develop a good and positive attitude. My biggest suggestion: Run from the negative!!

5. Have A Powerful Vision

You always hear you need to have a powerful WHY - a WHY that will make you cry. A WHY is something that is commercially digestible that will quickly communicate what has you currently motivated.A Powerful Vision goes much deeper and much of it is highly personal. It's all about who you want to become and the impact you want to make. It can include the house you want, the places you want to travel and the lifestyle you want. It encompasses it all - it's all about the vision of where you are headed. You have to have a powerful vision that is going to pull you and one that will help you get through those days you feel like quitting and those days where you have a bad attitude and those days your team member tells you they are quitting. Your vision will keep you "full steam ahead" and in action.

And here are 4 things to NOT do when you are building a business:

1. Do Not Try To Explain This To People

First, you do not want to try to explain your opportunity to people. Use your company tools and let it explain it for you. Use a video, DVD, Magazine, Opportunity Call, Hotel Meeting....whatever it is that your company has in place to share your product or opportunity. You can spend hours trying to explain what company tools can do in minutes. Follow the system and you'll see major benefits because you're using a system that is in place, you're being more duplicatable, and you're spending your time with people who get it. 

Some people will get it, some people will not. It's life. It's just the way it is. Spend your time with those who get it and can see an opportunity with you and your company. There are too many people out there who will not get it. Let the tools do the explaining for you.

2. Do Not Plaster Your Company All Over Social Media

 Too many people are using social media to replace the relationship and networking aspect of network marketing. Social Media is not "Sellcial Media." If you are plastering your link, opportunity and products all over social media, you are doing it wrong.

Learn how to use social media properly by creating curiosity, crafting posts that people like and engage with and that give people a reason to reach out to you. You know when you are annoying friends and family. Your social media strategy in Network Marketing should attract people to you and your business not turn people away.

If you feel like you are being spammy, you are. 

3. Do Not Whine Or Complain

Aren't you amazed at the number of people in our profession who keep their social media full of whining and complaining? How appealing is that? When you whine and complain guess who you attract? whiners and complainers and who has time for that? I know I don't!!

IF you do feel the need to whine and complain, NEVER do that to your down line. You are there to be their leader, you are there to be their rock and their encouragement,not the person who drags them down. If you must, go to your up line.....but seriously, do they need that energy from you? Try to develop the kind of mindset that avoids whining and complaining.

Choose a winner!

4. Do Not Wait On Others TO Build For You

Yes, this is a home business and we are in this because of the leverage it holds for us. But you can't wait for others to build your business for you. Take action as if it's all up to you. If you go out there and recruit and prospect like crazy, you will inspire your team. If you go out there and take action like it only depends on you, you will keep your calendar full and get results.

When you wait on others, you are teaching them to do the same.....then you have a team full of people who are waiting on others. 

Have you ever heard the quote "if it is to be, it is up to me."

This quote definitely applies in the home business industry.!

Success comes from consistency in doing your money producing and profit activities. Sometimes it's good to do a bit of personal reflection to see how you are doing when it comes to avoiding these items you should not be doing.

If you got value in To Do And Not To Do, please comment below. If I can help you with anything, please let me know, you can reach me directly at 803-391-6268.

Believing In You!

Is The Economy Affecting Your Home Business?

Since 2012, I have witnessed so many of my friends and family struggle financially during these hard economic times. It has become a very familiar thing to hear the news that one of them lost their jobs, their hours were cut back, their house is in foreclosure, etc. You know the deal, everyone is talking about it. Turn on CNN look at the front page of the newspaper, scroll through the news feeds on Facebook and you'll see people talking about it daily. It is the main subject on all of our minds these days. Each time I hear or see news like this, it just breaks my heart. I never like to see anyone struggle. And it's not only affecting people financially, but emotionally as well. Money is not everything, just like they say, but is sure does make things easier.

Over the past couple of years, each time I would hear this news I would feel so incredibly grateful that I was able to maintain my financial responsibilities with ease. I would be thankful every day that I started my home based business in 2012 and built it up to a very nice, more than full time income before this recession hit. And as 2009 and 2010 passed, I was blessed to have continued growing within my business. Then 2011 came along and for the first time, I personally felt brunt of this recession. For the first time, I plateaued. I have to admit, it was very humbling and borderline discouraging at first. But I truly believe that I got too comfortable and this was the push that I needed to continue growing and to make myself a better leader and home business owner. So instead of running for the hills and jumping into another home based business or running out and getting a job. I embraced the obstacle. I decided that I was more than capable of overcoming this challenge and it was time to go back to basics. If I did it once, I could do it again, right? What was it that made me help many of my team members do the same? What was it that made me fire my boss, come home full time to my kids? What was "it"? "It" was that burning desire to do whatever it took to get it done. "It" was getting up early and staying up late! "It" was always having faith and believing that my kids deserved to have mom home. "It" was believing that I deserved success. "It" was believing in myself!

Your success will be determined by your attitude and what you choose to focus on. If you focus on the negative, that's exactly what you will get. If you focus on the positive, you will get the positive. Shift your focus from being down on your business and counting the negative to the reasons to be grateful for having your home business. Shift your focus from what is not working to what WILL work. It's all about mindset and what you believe. Here are just a few things that come to mind that you have to be grateful for in having a home based business: 

• You already know it. Even if you haven't reached your full goals yet, you have already built a foundation and you don't want to throw that away. If you think it's challenging growing your current business this year, imagine starting a brand new one and starting from scratch knowing nothing. THAT would be a challenge!
• YOU have control of your income! If you want bigger checks, make it happen! Get to work!
• You cannot be fired, laid off or dismissed. You are your boss!
• You are building something for you. You deserve not to struggle. You deserve to have something of worth. You deserve greatness.
• You are home with your family. There is no greater gift than to be able to spend time with your family. Nothing of monetary value can compare...nothing!

I could go on and on. Once you're focused on what to be grateful for, get into action. Here are some things to do to start growing again:

• Focus on what you know. Instead of going into complete panic that your business has slowed down and going on a manhunt for the greener grass, go back to basics and find that "It" that you had in the beginning. You know what you need to do to be successful, go do it!
• Double your efforts - If you're getting half the results today, than you were getting before, double your efforts and even it out! Work harder, work longer, don't be afraid of hard work. It builds character and will make you appreciate what you have accomplished even more.
• If what you're doing for lead generation right now isn't working, do something else. If you keep doing what you're doing, you'll keep getting the same results period.
• Choose not to let anything or anyone on the outside influence you in a negative way or pull you from your business. 
• Keep perspective. It could always be worse. The oldest saying in the book, right?Well it's true. Be grateful you're here to have problems.

The new year is quickly approaching! Prepare yourself and make 2016 your BEST year yet! You cannot do anything about yesterday but you can certainly do something about tomorrow. This country needs a shift, be a part of the shift in the right direction! Focus on the famous quote "If it is to be, it is up to me" and get your game on.

If you got value from today's post. Please comment below!

The Power Of A Positive Attitude!

A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes.

A positive attitude helps to cope more easily with the daily affairs of life. It brings optimism into your life and makes it easier to avoid worry and negative thinking. If you adopt it as a way of life, it will bring constructive changes into your life and makes them happier, brighter and more successful. With a positive attitude you see the bright side of life, become optimistic and expect the best to happen. It is certainly a state of mind that is well worth developing and strengthening.

Positive attitude manifests in the following ways:

- Positive thinking
- Constructive thinking
- Creative thinking
- Expecting success
- Optimism
- Motivation to accomplish your goals
- Being inspired
- Choosing happiness
- Not giving up
- Looking at failure and problems as blessings in disguise
- Believing in yourself and in your abilities
- Displaying self-esteem and confidence
- Looking for solutions
- Seeing opportunities

A positive attitude leads to happiness and success and can change your whole life. If you look at the bright side of life, your whole life becomes filled with light. This light affects not only you and the way you look at the world, but also your whole environment and the people around you. If it is strong enough, it becomes contagious.

The benefits of a positive attitude:

- It helps achieve your goals and attaining success
- Success achieved faster and more easily
- More happiness
- More energy
- Greater inner power and strength
- The ability to inspire and motivate yourself and others
- Fewer difficulties encountered along the way
- The ability to surmount any difficulty
- Life smiles at you
- People respect you

Negative attitude says: You cannot achieve success
Positive attitude says: You can achieve success

If you have been exhibiting a negative attitude and expecting failure and difficulties, it is now the time to change the way you think. It is time to get rid of negative thoughts and behavior and lead a happy and successful life. Why not start today? If you have tried and failed, it only means that you have not tried enough.

Developing a positive attitude that will lead you to happiness and success:

- Choose to be happy
- Look at the bright side of life
- Choose to be and stay optimistic
- Find reasons to smile more often
- Have faith in yourself and in the Power Of The Universe
- Contemplate upon the futility of negative thinking and worries
- Associate yourself with happy people
- Read inspiring stories
- Read inspiring quotes
- Repeat affirmations that inspire and motivate you 
- Learn to master your thoughts
- Learn concentration and meditation

Following even only one of the above suggestions, will bring more light into your life.

Positive thoughts will lead you to financial success and it will help you find the true riches of life for yourself and your family. So whatever it is in life that yo want, you must begin today to become a "positive thinker." Once yo do this your future success will be unlimited.

Wishing you a very positive day!!!

10 Steps To Becoming A Master Recruiter Without The Hype

I have been with my home business since 2012. I came into it with nothing but a good attitude. To say I had zero experience and skills would be understatement. I was as green as it gets. I had never worked from home before because I was the biggest skeptic out there and wouldn't give anything a try. I eventually found a company that had elite credentials and a service that people needed and that intrigued me to jump right in. I didn't care about the rest of the details. I just knew that if someone else was out there making money with it that I could too.

I remember the day I realized that recruiting team members was a part of the package. I was so very nervous and thought "I don't want to be one of those people." It took me a week or so to digest it and then I came to the conclusion that I don't have to be full of hype I don't have to the pushy, I can just focus on helping people and recruit from the heart. I could be me. That's when I opened a door to what was about to be an incredible, life changing journey. Within three months of going through the process of getting good, I became a Top Recruiter with my company and have been ever since. And I'm going to share with you exactly how I did just that.

Why I Love Recruiting.....

Recruiting is a huge passion of mine because it's fun and I feel like I am truly helping people improve the quality of their lives. That is powerful to me. I think about how my mentors one phone call to me changed my life and now I love to do the same for many others. I think about how my mentor's one phone call to me changed my life and now I love to do the same for many others. I think about all the positive changes in my life since I started my home based business and it just amazes me. That is what this business is all about, helping people improve the quality of their lives. We are making a difference in so many lives and in return, we are rewarded with priceless friendships, financial freedom and an amazing life for our family. That is exciting stuff!! If you truly believe in that, you will be a great recruiter too. If you're not yet, your skills might just need to be refined and that's okay. Like I mentioned earlier, when I first started my home based business, I was horrible. I had a really bad fear of the phone. I had never done anything like this before. But, I got trained and kept making calls over and over again until I got good. My reason WHY I was doing this was a whole lot bigger than my fear and I focused on that with all my heart. A lot of us struggle with closing in the beginning of our business. So, that's normal. Just remember most will have to be bad before they can get good. Just make it your goal to GET GOOD!!

What It Takes To Become A Master Recruiter.....

The secret ingredient to becoming a master recruiter is to develop your confidence which is also referred to as posture. What I've learned is that closing is an attitude mixed with a little bit of skill. It's not necessarily what you say but how you say it. Have you ever wondered what makes someone add 20-30 new team members per month? That is posture. Posture all starts with mastering your presentation. Once you've mastered your presentation, you will develop an awesome level of confidence and your posture will shine through. That's when you will start closing a lot more with ease. When you sound confident and excited, you will become magnetic, people will be drawn to you and your business.

The Steps To GET IT DONE......

1. Believe In What You Are Doing

Develop a passion for helping people make money and helping them with your products and/or services. When I did this, my business took off! Once I realized how many people I was helping daily, I never looked back. We have such an amazing opportunity in our hands in this industry. When you hit the part of your presentation that goes over start up cost, be PROUD that for a small fee you can help someone change their lives. Like myself for example, I am a mom that is able to work at home full time. I was able to completely fire my boss and come home full time to my kids. That's a BIG deal. Develop a passion for the products and services you are offering. Use them, get familiar with them, fall in love with them. Create your own testimonial. When your products or services have personally touched your life, your passion will be ignited in your presentation and passion sells.

2. Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone And Do That Presentation Over And Over Again

You cannot reach greatness in life hanging out in a comfort zone. You have to get up and get out of that comfort zone! Push yourself if yo have to. Each time you will get more and more comfortable with your presentation and the posture will begin to shine through. Keep making a minimum of 3-5 full presentations a day, five days a week. If you do that consistently, you will get good at it. It's a fact and it's really that simple. 

3. Listening To Prospecting Call

If your team leaders host live prospecting calls where you can call in and listen to them in action, take advantage of that. Listening to my team leaders while they were making live presentations is how I learned to recruit. What I learned from these calls was that I was doing it all wrong. I was reading a script and trying to "sell" someone. I didn't put a lot of emotion into it nor did I really care about my prospect. I noticed that on their prospecting calls that they were very conversational and genuinely interested in the best interest of the prospect. They were building relationships with these people. The focus was on the prospect and their needs, not to only get a paycheck. Learning that was a huge wake up for me in my business. From that moment forward, I shifted my focus on to the prospect. Why were they looking to work from home, what was their why, how long have they been looking, how can I help them. This was huge. Not only did I start getting more enrollments but I started having fun! This is when recruiting became a huge passion of mine. If your team leaders don't offer this type of training call, ask them to start one.

4. Don't Take No's Personally

Recruiting is a numbers game. No matter how good you are, you will get no's. What I've always done is focus on how many people I can talk to versus how many people I can enroll. Focusing on results can stress you out. Instead, focus on practicing and talking to as many people as possible. I personally keep a notebook of all my presentations. My goal is to fill that notebook and only full presentations go in it. Focusing on filling the notebook versus focusing on yes's or no's helped me tremendously.

5. Don't Act Like A Used Car Salesman During Your Presentation

You don't ever want to sound desperate or full of hype. That will run people off. Never beg people to join or keep calling them back over and over again and follow up calls. Two calls is plenty then just bless and release and stick them in your email system for future email follow up. Sometimes the timing is just not right and they will come back to you when it is.

6. Never Spend Too Much Time On A Prospecting Call

You need them to know that your time is valuable. If you're spending 45 minutes on one call, that's too long. Now there will be exceptions to this. You might have someone asking tons of questions but you want to make sure you have control of the call and you're not just letting them talk about random stuff not related to working at home for 45 minutes. People want to be associated with busy and successful people. Your time is valuable, respect it.

7. Not What You Say - But How You Say It

When you get to the end of the presentation, assume that they are going to join your team. Don't question it. What you're offering with your home business is awesome, of course they want to do it! That's the attitude I have. Use minimizing words like "just" or "only" when explaining your start up fee. Tell them you would love to have them on your team and just start taking their application. I always say "It just takes a few minutes to get your information and we can have you up and running in about five minutes, I just need to verify the address that you'd like to have your checks mailed to." Do they all enroll? No. But a lot of them do. Go into with an attitude of they're going to join our team. It will make a big difference.

8. Treat Your Business As What It Is... A Multi-Million Dollar, Life Changing Opportunity

In this home base business industry, we have something amazing in our hands! Realize that, be proud of it and it will show in the music of your voice during your presentation. Whenever I call someone, I visualize myself being my mentor on the very first day she called me. I waited by the phone for days for that call. I could not wait to talk with her and enroll. She changed my life with that one phone call and I think of that before I make each call.

9. NEVER GIVE UP

Don't even have it in the back of your head as an option. If you do, your prospects will also hear that in your voice. Your prospect wants to enroll with someone who is going to the top not someone who is unsure. Proudly tell them ant the end that you are going straight to the top and you'll take them with you!! Don't let the No's discourage you. Every "no" you get, you are one step closer to a yes. If I would have given up during all those no's I received in the beginning, I would still be sitting in a cubicle at a J O B I despised and my kids would still be in daycare. NEVER give up!

10. Personal Development

The more you develop yourself esteem, the more you will develop self confidence. The more good stuff you put in, the more good stuff you can give out in your presentation. I listened to my presentation go from "Blah not getting any enrollments" to "WOW, getting a lot of enrollments" just by working on my personal development. Like I said earlier, posture is a sort of attitude or confidence. If you don't have that yet, it's okay, just work on yourself daily until you get it. You will see your life transforming on many levels. The investment of time required for this is so well worth it. One common denominator that all the leaders in this industry share is that they are always actively seeking to improve themselves. Listen to audios, read articles, read books, whatever it take to build a better you! Working on me has been a huge part of my success from home.

Those 10 steps will help you develop "The Stuff" needed to become a master recruiter. Remember, you have everything in you that you need to become a great recruiter. You might just need to refine your skills and do some tweaking to your presentation If you care about people, and you want to help them, that is more than half the battle. Be a giver and watch your business grow. ALWAYS remember to GO FOR THE CLOSE!!! If you don't ask them to join your team at the end, you just wasted your time. The most important thing I want t leave you guys with is to believe in yourself. YOU CAN DO THIS!! If you want it, go get it! Make it a goal to GET GOOD!!!

Believing in you,

The Thinking Mindset vs. The Doing Mindset: Pick One (And Only One)

You’ll find that some days, the ideas come fast and furious. The days when you just want to sit at your desk, stare up at the sky and just let your mind wander.

Other days, though, you really want to get moving. You’re antsy and you can’t really focus on any one thought. Instead, you are most efficient if you are getting things done.

It is no coincidence that the motivation to think and the motivation to act seem to strike us at different times. We have two complementary motivational systems: the “thinking” system and the “doing” system – and we’re generally only capable of using one at a time.

Think about how you best generate new ideas. Often, you “brainstorm” or try to come up with as many ideas as possible. That is called diverging and requires our thinking system. At other times, you need to evaluate those ideas and figure out which ones are best. That is called converging, and it requires the activation of the doing system.

Managing your mindset can help you optimize your thinking when you are trying to be creative. Here are a few suggestions for influencing your motivational state. These suggestions can be effective either for you as an individual or when you are working in a group.

Get some distance

Physical and mental distance influence the way you think about things. When you are near to something, you think about it specifically, and you focus on the ways that you can interact with it. Being close to your work engages the doing system. When you are far from it, you think about it more conceptually. Distance engages the thinking system.

Your workplace environment is strongly associated with getting things done. In order to engage a thinking mindset, spend time working in another place. Change your environment, and you will change the way you think.

Stand up and move

The modern workplace revolves around sitting. Most people have a primary work space that involves a chair in front of a desk or table. This posture is great, because it allows us to work for long periods of time without causing bodily fatigue. Change your environment and you will change the way you think.

Additionally, the seated posture does not support many complex actions, so it reinforces the activation of a thinking mindset, especially thanks to years of schooling.

If you need to jump start your doing motivation, get moving. Stand up. Walk around your work space. Put your ideas on sheets of paper and physically separate them in your space. Walk over to each idea and evaluate it separately. By getting up and moving, you shift yourself from a mode of deliberation to one of selection.

Experiment with your deadlines. 

The proximity of a deadline can also activate different systems: the closer the deadline, the more your “doing” mindset is activated. As the decision point approaches, you will naturally feel an increased need to determine a course of action.

On the other hand, use tight deadlines with caution as a tight deadline will make you feel the pressure to complete a project and, despite your best intentions, you may engage your doing motivation and begin to evaluate options before exploring them fully. Remember that you are going to be best at diverging when you have the freedom to think without having to reach a quick decision.

Most importantly, get to know how you act when your thinking and doing mindsets are active. Use this self-awareness to guide you through situations where you need to develop creative solutions to new problems.

What do you think?

What do you do to encourage your “thinking” or “doing” mindsets?

Believing in you!!

Helping Aspiring Entrepreneurs: Ask vs Tell

Helping Aspiring Entrepreneurs: Ask vs Tell: You all know how important recruiting is to your team growth and income. Yet it can feel so daunting at times!! It's important to p...

Ask vs Tell

You all know how important recruiting is to your team growth and income. Yet it can feel so daunting at times!!

It's important to present your products/opportunity effectively but that's where people trip up. Maybe you get nervous approaching total strangers or worse, people who know you (sometimes family and friends can be the toughest). You want to say the right things, but you feel so awkward you become totally tongue-tied.

Or maybe you go into "presentation mode" - throwing company facts stats and too many details at your prospects, driving them away instead of drawing them in. In both cases, you feel incredibly awkward because you know you're not doing your business opportunity justice.

It doesn't have to be this way, and this simple shift will make recruiting A LOT easier (and people will respond better too!).

My Best Tip For Recruiting (Ask vs Tell)

Sure, it's tempting to "tell" prospects about the science behind your products or what's interesting about your company. But "telling" or giving a "big presentation" doesn't usually influence them. There is a better go about it - ASK.

Becoming skilled at asking questions is the #1 key to effective selling and sponsoring because:

1. When you ask questions you get to find out WITT (What's important to them). You'll pick up important information about your prospects' problems, needs and wants - and get invaluable insight regarding how you can help them with your products/business opportunity.

2. People love to talk about themselves, so when you spend more of your time asking (instead of being in full-blown presentation mode) recruiting feels so much easier and more comfortable!

3. When you "present" your products/business as a sales pitch, it is human nature for others to doubt if what you're saying is really true. By asking questions, you make it easier for people to recognize how your products/business can help them - letting them come to those conclusions on their own. It's a more elegant way to (respectfully) influence them.

What Questions Shall You Ask - Well It Depends On The Situation

When you meet someone for the first time, just be curious! Asking general questions makes it easy for people to interact with you.

To get into a conversation, try these strategies:

1. Break the ice with compliments. Ask where they got that beautiful purse/shoes/necklace.

2. Talk about the children. If they have little ones in tow, ask about them.

3. Ask for advice. If you're in a store, ask someone if they can recommend a particular product such as yogurt, baby food, exercise clothing, etc. 

Your goal is not to sell or get an immediate business lead. Instead, you want to make a personal connection, perhaps get enough rapport or conversation going so that it feels natural to share business cards or personal contact information and stay in touch.

Ideally through your conversation, you'd also want to be listening for a problem or opportunity to serve this person (with your classes, products or even your business opportunity). 

Here's how conversations can work for you:

At a park, a mom you've just met mentions she's been crazy busy with the kids work, etc. This might be an opening for you to mention that through your business, you offer a spa party, skin care classes makeover nights and you'd be happy to do one for her and her friends.

At a networking event, a new acquaintance says how stressful her job is, and how little time she's getting with her family (or for herself). This could be the perfect opportunity to bring up how helpful your business has been for people who want to create money, have more free time and so on. End by saying you're happy to share more information if they ever want to talk about it.

See, asking questions is a fun way to get to know people while creating openings that make it easier and more natural for you to invite them to meet you for coffee or visit your website to check out your products/business. 

And I promise the more you do it, it will become second nature.

Ready to test this out? Here are some simple ways to get started mastering the art of question asking:

1. Each day this week, strike up  a conversation with a stranger. This is not for business but to practice casually asking questions to improve your connecting skills.

2. Create a list of questions to ask people. A list will give you more confidence when starting conversations. Remember, get them talking about themselves - look for natural openings that give you the opportunity to invite them to meet with you for coffee, share your products/business opportunity etc.

Believing in you!

How To Get Out Of Your Funk!

I’ve been noticing lately by the stream of negative and discouraged posts on Facebook, that a lot of the people in my life are in a funk! This does not sit well with me as you all mean a lot to me and I want so much more for you!! So a little advice for you today… You have to have an attitude of gratitude! I say this to my kids from time to time when life’s challenges come up and they get down on themselves or discouraged about a situation that arises. It’s no wonder the words rhyme as they go together hand and hand because when you have a grateful heart, you will have no choice but to have a positive attitude!

People ask me all the time “How do you stay so happy and positive, Sue?” Well, I certainly do have my down moments, as we all do, but for the most part I remain in a positive, happy state. It’s a big part of who I am, what I stand for and who I will become. I do this by always focusing on what I am grateful for…everyday! It is impossible to feel down when that is your focus.

A little skeptical? I have a little mind exercise for you today. Place yourself in a setting where you can really reflect on everything you have to be grateful for. It can be sitting on your back porch enjoying the cool morning air, listening to the birds chirp, enjoying a cup of coffee or tea, just sitting with your eyes closed thinking about all the things in your life that you have to be grateful for. Just breathe…in and out….and make a mental list of positives.

Or if you’re in more of a get up and go kind of mood, put that iPod on and start walking or running. I do this many times a week. I have my iPod loaded with songs that really make me feel blessed and help me to reflect on all the good stuff in my life. A few songs off the top of my head that I have on there, “Anyway” by Martina McBride, “Live High” by Jason Mraz and the list goes on. I cannot come home from that walk without feeling energized, rejuvenated and most importantly…grateful!

Whichever setting you choose doesn’t matter. Just put yourself there on a daily basis and watch your attitude transform and your life change for the better! No matter what situation you’re in, you have a lot to feel grateful for. The first being that you get to be here today to read this. With just this moment, be grateful you can read, that you have your sight, that you are breathing, that you woke up today…you have so many things to be grateful for, you just have to recognize them.

Sometimes when I do this exercise, I’m so overwhelmed with gratitude that it brings tears to my eyes. Why are so many of us focusing on the bad when there is so much good?

Yes, this world has gone crazy, there is so much negative out there trying to drag us down. BUT, you have a choice!! Are you going to let it drag you down? Or are you going to fight it and BE the change you want to see in the world? Seems like a simple choice. But I tell you, it’s MUCH easier to fall victim to the negativity. That’s why there is much more of that out there in the world. The staying positive and being the change takes work!! It will not come easily, you will have to work at it everyday. The old saying we all know…anything in life worth having, takes work. But you can do it…and it’s worth it:)

12 Mistakes That Cause Women To Fail In Their Home Business - Part Two

A couple of days ago I shared with you the first 6 of 12 Mistakes That Cause Women To Fail In Their Home Business. Here are the remaining mistakes:

Mistake #7: Not Setting A Schedule

This step is so simple but SO many new home business owners don't follow it. You really need to set a schedule for yourself. For example: I work Monday - Friday from 8-5. Create a schedule that works best for you and try your very best to stick to it. This is your own business, so now and then it's okay to make some changes to your schedule. Life happens and other things come up, but if you miss some of your set hours try to make them up somewhere else in the week. I do this. If something interferes with my M-F schedule, I make the time up on Saturday. Also, and this is important, treat your business just like a part time job outside the home. If you stopped showing up to your part time job outside the home, were late every day, were late every day, were not reliable or didn't put in 100% of your effort, you'd stop getting checks, because you'd get fired. With your home business, no one will fire you, however, you will stop getting checks or worse not even start getting any. You wouldn't do those things with a job outside the home so don't do it to a job inside the home. TREAT YOUR BUSINESS WITH AS MUCH RESPECT, IF NOT MORE, THAN YOU WOULD TREAT A JOB WORKING FOR SOMEONE ELSE! I promise that if you don't value and respect your business, soon enough you will find yourself working outside the home. And everyday when you go to that job, you will think to yourself, "Man! I wish I didn't have to work this job!" Well, you don't but NOW is the time to make sure you never have to go and get another job again. Work your business, set a schedule, make a commitment and give 100%!

Mistake #8: Not Setting Goals Or Having An Action Plan

You need to set goals for yourself so you can always know where you are and where you want to go. Your goals can be when you want to get to a certain promotion level or income level or how many pieces of business you wish to sign up per month, how many forms of advertising you want going on each and every week, how many full conversations you want to have with prospects each day. Set goals, define where you want to go, and hold yourself accountable. It isn't always whether or not you reach your goals, but sometimes it's just looking and asking yourself did you do everything possible this week to help you reach your goals.

Mistake #9: Failing To Participate In Your Team's Training Calls

A simple and easy to explain this mistake. Most companies with successful teams have MANY training calls available to you each week and they are a HUGE part of your ongoing training to master your business. You will learn ways to market and advertise, how to talk to prospects, close them and overcome objections. You will learn about your products/services. You will even hear from other successful leaders as they share with you exactly what they did to reach their level of success. So the fix here, attend these calls! If you are part time you should be listening to at least two calls per week and if you are full time you should be listening to 3-4 calls per week. If your team doesn't have training calls, suggest they start them!

Mistake #10: Getting Emotionally Attached To Your Prospects

What this means is you talk to a prospect today, let's call her Mary....and you and Mary have an awesome conversation, you really hit it off and you talk on a friendly level with her and she tells you at the end that she is very excited and will be ready to start on Friday and asks you to call her back at 1:00 on Friday to help her get started. Then you call her on Friday at 1:00 and she doesn't answer the phone. That's not a good feeling, I know. It got me down a lot in my business when I was new. And who knows why Mary didn't answer the phone, she may have just told you that because she couldn't tell you no, or maybe her husband talked her out of it or maybe she just got scared, who knows. The best way to avoid this is to always focus forward and not backwards. It's great that you had a nice conversation with Mary last week but don't focus on that. Only focus on talking to new people, focusing forward. If you call Mary back on Friday and she answers, that's great!! But if she doesn't (which happens sometimes) don't allow yourself to get upset, just bless and release and keep pressing forward.

Mistake #11: Going Into Management Mode

I see this one a lot. A new home business owner will enroll a team member or two or three and they go into complete management mode. A lot of new team leaders fall into this trap. They focus too heavily on training and leading their team members and discontinue looking for new people. This will kill your business and completely put a halt on earning new checks. You need to continue working on personal production. Not only will it help you earn more checks and find great leaders but it is a great example for your team. If you're adding business, your team will follow you. To build a successful team, it is so important to lead by example!! This business is a numbers game. To find the leaders you need to new levels and beyond, you will need to add the quantity to get the quality. Your first three or four team members will most likely NOT be the leaders that will help you promote to the next level. Trust me on that. You will need to add many more than that. Also, there is a power in numbers. The more people you have on your team that are also looking for new team members, the more your check will grow!! Obviously 30 team members can add more business than just you all by yourself. So, it you're looking to reach the top level and a six figure income with your company, you need to understand that volume equals results.

Mistake #12: Quitting Before The Blessing

The most amazing part of your home business is when you can really start to see amazing things happening in your business. You start to see growth on your team and real significant growth in your paychecks. This is something that takes time to start to see, it doesn't happen right away. Building a successful home business takes time. However, if you work your business consistently and with a strong desire to achieve greatness, you WILL reach your financial goals. When you do, your dreams become reality and it is an amazing blessing. The problem lies when a person quits the business before the blessing. All too many times we have heard people say, "It's going to slow", "Things are not happening", "It's not going to to work for me." The thing is it is going to work. It works for EVERY single person who stays and works their business. Building a home business is a lot like being on a diet and exercise plan. It takes a lot of daily effort and dedication. A week or two can go by and you may not see the results JUST yet. Would you quit your diet and stop exercising just because you don't see results right away? No! You keep going because you KNOW it WILL work if you keep working hard at it. Same thing with building a home business! Easy fix here, do not let quitting to be an option for you! If you are a part of a great company, it will happen for you! The only difference between you and the successful leaders in your company is that they have been here longer and that's it!!

So there you have it ladies! The 12 mistakes that cause women to fail in their home businesses. Are you making any or many of them??? If so, no worries, a lot of us did in the beginning of our business. You can correct the mistakes and start moving forward in the direct of great success from home! I TRULY wish that for all of you! My home business has changed my life!! You ALL deserve that same amount of success and beyond!

Please share this post with all of your work at home mom. Together we can help bring MANY moms home!

Much love and success,

20 Tips For A Positive Year!!!

Hey guys!

I ran across these tips a few years ago and they have been my "rules to live by" for quite some time now. Such amazing tid bits to help you live a positive, purpose filled life. And I wanted t share them with all of you! I hope you enjoy!

1. Take a 10-30 minute "Thank you" walk every day. While you walk practice gratitude. It is the ultimate anti-depressant.

2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.

3. Buy a DVR, tape your late night shows and get more sleep - it's the ultimate energizer.

4. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement: My purpose is to _______________today.

5. Live with the 3 E's. Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy.

6. Read more books than you did in 2014.

7. Make time to practice meditation, yoga, tai chi and prayer. They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives.

8. Do the "one thing" you have always wanted to do.

9. Dream more while you are awake.

10. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less foods that are manufactured in plants.

11. Mentor someone and be mentored by someone.

12. Engage in daily random acts of kindness.

13. Clear your clutter from your house, your car, your desk and let new and flowing positive energy into your life.

14. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

15. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

16. Eat breakfast like a queen, lunch like a princess and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.

17. Smile and laugh more. It will keep the energy vampires away.

18. Each night before you go to bed, complete the following statements:

I am thankful for____________________.

Today I accomplished________________.

19. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed!!!!

20. Enjoy the ride. You only have one ride through life so make the most of it and enjoy it.

Have a positive and inspired day!!!!!