This time of year, I see it all around me - people are setting big goals and making big plans to transform their businesses or their lives.
Not everyone will reach their goals. Some of these people will fail. Not because their dreams are too big, or their goals aren’t realistic -- but because they aren’t making a true commitment to their success.
How will your story be different?
In my years as a stay at home wife and mother, before I launched my own business, I always had a hand in selling something. But when it came to working for myself and turning that entrepreneurial spirit into a full-blown successful business, I had to set some serious goals -- and then keep myself on track to achieve them.
If you’re like me and you want to create a business that you love -- whether it’s full time or on the margins of taking care of your family or a day job -- I’m here to tell you that you can -- and to share with you the most powerful lessons I’ve learned about reaching big goals.
Realize You Are Great
My business is centered around helping women recognize their greatness and be a boss in every area of their lives. This is important -- confidence and a belief that you CAN achieve your goals is the first step in reaching them. If you’re not recognizing your greatness, you need to start there.
Decide What You Will Commit To
I feel very strongly about the power of commitment.
One of my guiding principles is that you can’t commit to excuses and success at the same time.
You don’t usually make excuses because they feel good. And sometimes it’s hard to identify an excuse. After all, you usually feel like there’s a good “reason” why you’re not doing something. But to me, a reason typically just looks like an excuse.
Once you commit to something -- REALLY commit -- you can use these techniques to move in the direction of your goals. But that commitment has to come first.
Take It One Bite At A Time -- and FOCUS on That Bite!
When I first started my business, I had so many things I wanted to do and so many people I wanted to work with. My business took off extremely fast - I had about 16 clients I was servicing right from the beginning. I looked at each client as a full-service commitment; I was more of a business partner than a consultant, and if I saw a need, I filled that need.
But between my work and the other important things in my life, from my family, my church, being active in my sorority and doing community service work, I became very overwhelmed, and it even took a serious toll on my marriage.
I learned an important lesson -- You’re going to fail if you try to do it all at one time.
Around this time, an important mentor told me the story of eating an elephant -- the lesson being, you can’t take on everything, you must do it one bite at a time.
And if you’re like me, like most entrepreneurs, you have so many things you want to do! So learning how to focus on one thing is a tough lesson. I made this happen in my own life by blocking my time -- I even created a planner for myself, which then became one of my core products. Today, I’m not afraid to say no when I can’t give time to something --- even if I could squeeze it in, even if I want to do it, I’ll say no because my time is already allotted for certain things at certain times. When my time is blocked for something -- I give it 100%. Having this mindset lets me make progress toward all of my goals while I still have time for my family, and for myself.
Get Some Accountability
Accountability has always been an important piece of my business, but recently, two of my friends and I joined forces to write our book The Bestie Code -- and this experience took accountability to a new level! Each of us had our own businesses, our own family obligations, even standard 9-5 jobs. But we got the book done in 30 days because we made a commitment, and we were accountable to each other.
Once we set the goal, we broke it down so it was scalable. We knew we wanted to write a 10 chapter book, so we allotted 4 days for each chapter -- that would allow us to finish it in 40 days.
Looking at it this way felt much more doable. I didn’t have to think about writing a whole book -- I could just focus on finishing once chapter at a time. Once it was done, it was done and you moved on to the next.
But the key here was, none of us could move ahead until the current chapter was done. So we had the group pressure, excitement, and accountability to hold each of us to our timelines and reach our goal on time.
Assemble Your Best Team
Network marketing, even more than traditional business, depends on having a powerful team. For me, in my own business and experience, the most powerful characteristic I need in a teammate is initiative. The person MUST be a self-starter.
It’s not helpful for me to have a team doing the work, if I still have to direct every step of the way. Once I assign a task, I want to know it’s going to be done. I also look for creativity and energy, that entrepreneurial spirit and hustle mentality.
Be Open To Other Ideas
One big lesson I learned about success and meeting goals is the importance of taking advice. I was hosting an event series and had sold out the previous venues -- but I had two on the schedule that just weren’t booking. One of them only brought 10 people in the door. I was about to cancel the second event that wasn’t booking, but instead I decided to ask my coach for help.
He told me not to cancel, and walked me through some new strategies I hadn’t thought to apply. I was a little resistant at first, because my old strategies had worked well in the past -- but I accepted his insight and we ended up having a hugely successful event.
This is why it’s so important to have people around you who have good ideas and want to see you win.
There is always another perspective, and it's okay to ask for help. It’s okay to ask for insight from others in your field. It’s not always a competition -- you can support each other and find people to lean on and give you all a fresh perspective.
Be You
It’s so important to be authentically you.
Direct sales companies do a tremendous job of providing strategies, training, and tools -- but in most cases these are pretty generic. You have to take these strategies and apply them in a way that is unique to YOU.
What makes a customer choose one seller over the other? It’s personality. Do I connect with that person? People like to buy from people and work with people.
There may be a lot of people doing what you do, so what will make customers choose you is YOU. Be authentic and don’t be afraid to share your story while you build your brand. People are emotional and want to feel like there's a connection. When you build a team, let your team see and feel that you care about them. Find those things that make each member of your team different, their quirks, and encourage them to use these to build their business in a way that’s uniquely them.
How are you committing to your goals in 2019? Share your best tips and use #TRAKstar to connect with our community!
C. Renee Mangum is a one-stop shop for aspiring and established entrepreneurs looking to fully develop new business concepts or re-brand existing entities. With a strong background in graphic design, web design and marketing, she utilizes her variety of skills to serve the entrepreneurial community. She is also a blogger and influencer with a mission to help women be a boss in every area of their lives. You can connect with Renee at her website or on instagram @theecrenee.
