Hey savvy leaders! It’s a great day to be in Direct Sales, isn’t it? Today I’m going to get you thinking. If you’re in a place to grab a pen and paper, please do. You’ll want to capture each take-away that comes to mind during today’s episode.
I’ll be prompting your thoughts so you can take action after this episode. These actions will no question, move your business forward by developing you as a leader.
Today’s topic: Would you hire yourself? If you had to hire someone to fill in for you and completely take over your business, would you hire yourself?
Your immediate response is likely, “Well, of course!” And I’m so glad you feel that way.
Look at Your Direct Sales Business from a Completely Different Lens
I’m also here to challenge you to peel back the layers and look at any holes where you could true-up some key areas. Really, truly, look at every aspect of you as a candidate for hire in the most crucial role in your organization. You, the leader! This exercise encourages you to look at your business from a completely different lens.
You have your strong points and you have your opportunities. We all do. When I work with my VIP clients, they tell me the strength and weaknesses assessment & application work we do is one of the biggest difference-makers for them as a leader.
You have tasks and responsibilities with your Direct Sales business that you absolutely love! And there are other areas that you simply don’t enjoy or don’t feel you’re good at. You simply avoid these areas for one reason or another.
The things you love and the things you avoid as a Direct Sales Leader are unique to you for valid and important reasons. The issue is not that you have areas you avoid and don’t enjoy.
The important point is to know *what* those key areas are and be aware. It’s normal and simply part of entrepreneurship that we have areas of business we don’t love or look forward to.
There are two parts to this exercise.
What Do You LOVE Doing in Your Direct Sales Business?
Part 1, what are your key strengths, the areas you love about running your business?
Brain-dump a list of things that come to mind for you. These are traits you would definitely look for in someone who was taking over your business. The importance of identifying these areas is to help you feel validated, acknowledged, and to maintain a forward focus.
What are you good at? What do you love?
Encouraging others?
Helping women make healthful decisions?
Supporting women who also want to grow their business?
Reading people?
There’s so much more.
What else?
Again, you’re identifying these areas to feel validated, acknowledged, and to maintain a forward focus in each.
Good job! Keep up the great work.
On to Part 2.
What Areas Are You Putting Off in Your Direct Sales Business?
Part 2 requires you to be honest with yourself. It won’t hurt to sprinkle in a little tough love. Identify the areas you don’t enjoy, look forward to, you avoid for any number of reasons. Some of these areas are a little more black and white. Some may feel a little more personal as if they speak to your character.
Don’t judge yourself with this exercise. Again, there are valid areas for each of us that we don’t look forward to about our business and we put off. This is your opportunity to address them and take action. Identifying them is simply the first, necessary step. The reward is that your business is taken to a whole new level and you grow as a leader.
Let me ask you some prompting questions to help you reveal these areas.
If you were interviewing others to take over for you, and there are areas where you think, oh, if she could do this, that would be great! What is that?
- Finally creating a much needed system for onboarding?
- A system for helping you stay on top of birthdays, anniversaries within your organization?
- A system to help you acknowledge wins, both big and small, so no-one gets missed?
- Updating your frequently shared documents?
- Organizing your month-to-month expenses so you don’t have to repeat the same disorganized process every year at tax time.
- Maybe it’s helping you create a plan to breathe new life into your social media sharing so you look forward to it, it’s not a burden and you’re consistent! Ah!!
Or ooh, if she could bring this to the table, that would make such a big difference. Maybe that’s…
OR maybe, if she would finally true up *this* that I’ve been putting off and just not getting to, it would take such a load off my plate, and especially my mind. It wouldn’t weigh on me anymore.
Maybe that’s…
- Getting you an organized approach to doing more of the things you did when you first joined your company. Those customer focused activities.
Have I hit on some of the areas you feel you put off, don’t feel you can prioritize, or simply don’t enjoy doing? Now that you’re thinking down this path, what other areas come to mind?
The goal right now is to brain-dump. A bucket list if you will, all the things you would like to true-up. These areas that weigh on you. Get them on a list.
Check-in With Your Direct Sales Leader Mindset
It’s important, as you’re creating this list, to check in with your mindset. Are you judging yourself for not addressing these areas already? Are you feeling overwhelmed, there’s just not enough time? Are you distracted by your phone, someone, or is something pulling your attention in this moment?
This is the difference between working on your business and working in your business. This podcast encourages you to work on your business. You spend a lot of time working in the business. Great!
Feel Balance as a Direct Sales Leader Even With an Unfinished List
Let’s add some balance so you can feel harmony even with an unfinished list. You’re not going to tackle everything at once or at the same time. You’re going to pick one and simply start.
Once you have a list, you can keep adding to it. For now, you’ll prioritize by timeline. What needs to get addressed first? Is it tax-related? What time of year is it?
Do you have a lot of team members coming up with anniversaries in a particular month? Do you need to start creating those back-to-business basics, those habits that helped you be successful at the beginning you just got away from once your team grew?
Maybe it’s that time of year where you’ll get ahead of the seasonal dip in business by re-establishing some of these business basics now?
Determining what takes priority is important. Pick one! Your tendency is to think “Do it all. It’s all important.” Your ambitious and determined. I promise you, it will all get done, but you can only successfully implement one thing at a time AND have it stick.
How You and Your Direct Sales Business Will Benefit
The second thing you’ll do is write down what this will give you. What will you gain, by trueing up this one area of opportunity? You’ll get 5 hours back a week?
You’ll get an exponential amount of increased productivity in the areas you love about your business because this one area of opportunity is no longer weighing you down, hanging over your head, beating you up mentally with that unhealthy self-talk?
Identify the benefit, the value-added, and let this drive you to follow through with finally addressing it.
Many of these areas of opportunity, at least for me, were one and done. Once the system or the level of organization is created it can much more easily be maintained. It’s just that it feels so big in my head before I begin.
If you’re at all like me, I need someone to work alongside me to help me draft out the plan, help me think through the steps of the new system and provide a level of accountability to get me started and follow through. All the way to the end.
If you’re busy, if working *on* your business feels like a luxury to spend time that way, you would benefit from a helper, an accountability partner. Don’t overthink it.
The leaders I work with, in my 90-minute strategy sessions use me to take them through this process. We create the brain-dump list, identify how they will personally benefit by addressing these areas.
We prioritize their list. Set a timeline for it. Then we crank out the next steps. It’s so freeing. If you need a person, I would love to be your person.
Click over to https://crazybigdreams.biz/work-with-tammy/ and complete the quick form. Strategy sessions are a quick and easy way to get organized, refocus your efforts, take your business to a new level and grow as a leader. I would love to connect!
So, would your hire yourself to take over your business? Maybe your answer now is, YES! And I want to hone my skills in some areas to be the best fit for my current business needs. Wonderful!
You’re in the right place. Remember, the best is yet to come, friend! Always.
