Direct Selling April 2008

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Karen Phelps, Direct Selling Expert teaches you to "raise the bar" for yourself and your team! To hire Karen for your next event e-mail: Karen@Karenphelps.com

Karen's Monthly Audio Message

Quote for the month: "You'll never get to where you want to go saying, someday I'm going to...You've got to DO IT NOW" ~ Karen Phelps

In this Issue:  - "7 Steps to Help You Avoid Procrastinating - "Ask Karen Phelps - Part 2" Teleseminar - Create Your Future - Help Karen Name Her New Book

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7 Steps to Help You Avoid Procrastinating

What have you put off today? Is there something you were meaning to do that you didn't do? Is there something you really needed to get done but you put it off again? Is your Direct Selling business on the skids because you keep putting off making your phone calls? Are your invitations mailed on time? Do your parties get sent in right away?

I don't know about you, but I know when I begin to avoid doing something there is usually a good reason for it. Hey, I'm trying to justify not getting it done! All right, let's look at some of the reasons people procrastinate. There are probably several things that you are procrastinating on doing in your Direct Selling business. The number one thing people procrastinate with is making their telephone calls! Am I hitting too close to home with this one.

1. They aren't sure of the steps to take to get a project done.

2. They don't have enough time to get the project done perfectly.

3. They aren't sure the desired results will be accomplished when the project is done.

4. They are overcome by fear in what it takes to actually do the project.

5. They are already overwhelmed with daily duties.

6. They aren't clear on their priorities.

7. They don't have a pre-defined definite timeframe.

Now, there are probably a lot more reasons why people continually procrastinate these are just a few that came to my mind. Here are a few simple suggestions that could help you move forward on your next idea, project or calling list!

1. They aren't sure of the steps to take to get the project done. Maybe you have set a goal for yourself and you aren't sure what you need to do first. Author Brian Tracy gives good advice when he says, "picture yourself as if you have already achieved your goals and then work backwards writing the steps that you needed to get there." So, if your goal is to achieve a leadership level with your company and you need to have 5 personally sponsored qualified recruits and you want to do this within the next months. Currently you have one qualified recruit which means you must have four more qualified recruits within the next 2 months. Your steps are first, gather your prospecting leads from your parties, referrals, etc. Second, make telephone calls to schedule interviews. Third, sign up at least 2 recruits within the next two weeks and 2 more recruits within the following 2 weeks. Work with all of your new recruits to help them reach their personal goals for their first 30 days of the business and use the second month to insure that all 4 recruits become qualified. Finally, do the same activities again to insure that you have more than the 5 recruits needed!

2. They don't have enough time to get the job done perfectly. Being a "perfectionist" is not one of the best habits to have. It can stall you and prevent you from accomplishing many things. Often people that are perfectionists will wait until the "perfect time" to get something done so they are assured of having enough time to get it done perfectly. Most performance experts will tell you "done is better than perfect." If you are continually waiting for the perfect conditions, and the perfect time to make sure your project is perfectly done please get over it. You'll get twice as much done in half the time if you are not continually working on perfection. DO YOUR BEST for the time allowed.

3. They aren't sure the desired results will be accomplished when the project is done. Unrealistic expectations can prevent people from beginning and or finishing tasks. This can be as simple as overestimating what will happen in your business. Example, if I make 10 telephone calls this evening I will have 10 new bookings on my calendar. While it is not impossible to get 10 new bookings by making 10 telephone calls it is probably a little unrealistic. Would you be happy with 6 new bookings from 10 telephone calls? Would you be satisfied if you only got 1 new booking from 10 telephone calls? Only you can decide what you will be satisfied with, however, if you continually set unreal expectations you will continually put things off by using a simple justification process. "Well, I made 10 telephone calls last time and I only got 1 new booking. It really wasn't worth my time." What about the bookings you could get from the 1 new booking. Take the blinders off and look at the big picture.

4. They are overcome by fear in what it takes to actually do the project. The number one thing people procrastinate with in their Direct Selling business is making their telephone calls. Let's face it, the telephone is a major way of communicating with our potential Hostesses and recruits. In my early days I swear my telephone receiver weighed twenty pounds. At least, that's how it felt every time I picked it up to make a call. I was overcome with extreme paranoia that EVERYONE would think I was bothering them, therefore they would be rude and hang up on me. It took a lot of work, preparation, positive self-talk and phone scripts to become skilled at making telephone calls for my business. I knew I HAD TO MAKE CALLS in order to succeed. I worked through my fears in order to achieve the success I deserved. Do what you need to do to work through your fears and you will move from procrastination to desired results!

5. They are already overwhelmed with daily duties. In my recent Time Management Teleseminar (which will be released in CD soon) I explained that we are responsible for the activities we put on our daily calendars. Women, especially fill their calendars with many more things than they can possibly handle but based on the "Superwoman Syndrome" feel it is their responsibility to get everything done. Get over it! The dusting in my home gets done once a week when my housekeeper comes. If you have too many daily duties that are not adding to your household income and you know you can make more money by going out and holding a home party, why on earth wouldn't you want to book the home party and let someone else take care of cleaning the house. Get over the need of having to do EVERYTHING YOURSELF. You'll burn out and be useless to yourself and everyone else. Learn to delegate chores and tasks and pay people to do things that don't need to be done by you to free up your time to complete the important things you need to get done in your business.

6. They aren't clear on their priorities. What do you want to happen in your life? What do you want to happen in your business? What are you doing to make these things happen? What things are on your priority list? Why is something on your priority list? WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO YOU? If you know and understand your priorities you will also continue to focus on the activities that will move you in the right direction. If you want to earn a company trip or promotion and you know what you need to do to accomplish this you will continually do the activities (usually sales and sponsoring) that will move you towards accomplishment. The little distractions that come along that will interfere with the time needed to complete the required activities will be easier to ignore or say NO to when you are completely focused on your priorities. If you've been wishy-washy in your personal and business life it's time to sit down and write down what you want and why you want it. Larry and I just watched "The Bucket List" last month and what a wonderful movie about how to live your life.

7. They don't have a pre-defined definite timeframe. Time is only important to people who want to live their life as fully as possible.  It is imperative that you have pre-defined timeframes to accomplish everything that is on your list. If you don't have a pre-defined realistic timeframe you will continually move important projects and things that must get done to the "back burner." As soon as you decide to do something, DECIDE WHEN YOU ARE GOING TO DO IT! Set a goal, set a time frame, create your action plan and GO TO WORK!

There is no time like now to begin new good habits. Remember, it takes 6 weeks to create a habit and 6 weeks to break a habit. It's time to begin the new habit of "not procrastinating. You'll be exhilarated when you finally quit making excuses and discover you can accomplish more than you ever have.

So in the words of Larry the Cable Guy, "Get 'er done!"

Create Your Future

When is the last time you thought about what the future holds for YOU? Are you still working in your full-time position at the age of 65, waiting until you can retire and collect Social Security? do you have plans to retire early so you can enjoy all that life has to offer? Do you have plenty of money in your retirement fund to live your preferred lifestyle?

If the picture of your future is not what you want it to be the good news is you can still make it anything you want! You are the artist, the picture is yours to paint! The good news is you are with a Direct Selling Company. You can begin creating the future of your dreams! Here are a few easy steps to move you in the right direction.

• Work harder in your Direct Selling business to create a solid foundation so your income will allow you to retire from your full time job early. Too many people wait for too long to retire and then don't have enough time to do something with the rest of their life. Are you willing to spend a little more time each week to grow your Direct Selling business so you can retire early? Think about it. You can be working for someone else when you are 65 years old or you can still be working for yourself and enjoying the residual income from the successful team you took the time to develop. The choice is yours!
• Put more money away now. Wow, it's easy to spend all we make at our full-time job and in our direct selling business. In our effort to keep up with what everyone else has we are living in a society riddled with debt. Pay off those credit cards and put money away now, before it's too late. I read a great book that helps put all of this in perspective entitled, "Start Late, Finish Rich" by David Bach. Order it now, and do what he says. You deserve to enjoy your retirement.
• Stay away from Negative People. It's easy for others to squash our dreams and tell us what we can or cannot have. Dump them! Get them out of your life! The sooner you begin to hang around positive people the sooner your life will become better. Negative people pull you into their quicksand and sometimes it's hard to get out but I guarantee the positive results on your business and your future will be worth the effort!
• Stay Away from the Media. I have a hard time believing that anyone could listen to the news and read the paper every day and not be DEPRESSED. If you continually listen to the gloom and doom of the media you will begin to allow what they say to affect your attitude as well as your results. Currently the media is very pessimistic about the economy! Do you realize that if 12% of your State is unemployed, 88% of the people are still working. That's incredible odds, SELL to the 88%! I prefer to believe that they are millions of people out there just waiting to discover the fantastic products, the great Hostess Programs, and the incredible business opportunities offered by millions of Direct Sellers around the world. CREATE your own economy. Your business is Exactly as Good as you Expect it to be!
• Be Thankful. Do you realize how lucky you are to be able to control your income? Someone offered you a fantastic opportunity and you said YES. Thank your sponsor, thank your leader, thank your company for all they do to help you become better and more successful. The more gratitude you have the more great things will begin to happen to you and the more you will have to be thankful for!

Help Karen Name Her New Book

I need your help! I'm busy writing an information packed book for Direct Sellers and I need help coming up with a title! If you'll take a few minutes to take a survey you could be chosen as one of the 20 lucky winners who will receive a Free Copy of my new book once it's released!

Also, if you have been using some of my systems to grow your business and would be interested in giving an endorsement for the book please email support@Karenphelps.com to let us know and we will contact you at the appropriate time.

Thanks for your help and we look forward to hearing your suggestions.

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