Are You a Waiter or a Chef?

I have been waiting seven months for an exciting training program to be approved for continuing education by an association. I have been waiting eight months for non-profit status to come through for a charity I started last year, A Good Deed Tea http://www.agooddeedtea.org.

I am not waiting in the usual way. Metaphorically, I am not reading a magazine in the waiting room till my turn is called. I am right outside the door in the hall, where I will not disturb anyone, with my laptop, my cell phone and my planner whipping up a fury or other possibilities while moving projects forward and making deadlines, not waiting—never waiting.

How about you? Do you ever hear yourself say things will be better when? Or, I can’t do that—until I finish with this? Or are you waiting for summer to be over, or the fog to roll in, or a course to conclude before you really get going? If you do you may just be a waiter, like one in the restaurant, hanging out in the kitchen waiting for his dish to come up before it can be served.

Do not be a waiter. Be a chef—always seeking to discover a new way of preparation or a new ingredient that will allure the masses to taste a fresh and exciting gastronomic delight.

By the way, lately, I have been putting cinnamon on everything and just loving it. It is like I have discovered the spice for the first time. With a little innovation what is ordinary can be extraordinary again.

I live in San Francisco, a very foodie town. San Francisco has more restaurants per capita then anyplace else in the U.S. Here all the chefs go to the restaurants of other chefs to eat after they have completed their shifts. They watch each other work, share ideas, taste test and inspire their own creativity.

The great thing about experimenting with food is that you can spit something out if you do not like it. Business is different. Still, if something does not work, most of the time you are not stuck with it. Like when you burn a piece of toast—just throw it out and start again.

I have had to nudge many clients who were waiters, who were waiting till everything was all figured out or just right. You have heard it said: How you do one thing is how you do everything. Do you think that is true for you? If so, are you a waiter or a chef? Waiters wait, chefs create. I love being a chef! how about you? Reflect on this as you go through your day.

Skinned Knees are Easy to Hide

Here is the thing about being having your own business. You never know—I never know—what the future holds. Maybe that is true for any situation in life. Still, I do know one thing: I will always be just fine. Here is why I can say that. I know I will always keep moving.

“Fall down seven times, get up eight.”

-      Japanese proverb

That awesome quote describes me. How about you?

I am very future-focused. I rarely reflect on yesteryear and I never take enough time to celebrate my successes or rest after a big one. How about you? One of the reasons I love direct sales, is because the companies do such a great job at celebrating and recognition.

I am not sure if being future-focused is good or bad. One thing I do know for sure is that I do not focus on the past—on the things that did not work out. I don’t even want to call them failures, nor do I ever think of anything as a failure. Instead, it was just a project or idea that did not work out—like a book for entrepreneurs in Australia into which my team invested lots or research time and I invested several thousand dollars that never got off the ground. Or the two training programs I paid someone to develop from my speeches and writings that I have never done anything with, or that expensive marketing piece on which I spent countless hours and paid beaucoup bucks for that never even got out the door. So what. I can say “so what” because I always have more to-dos and ideas in motion—what I call my exciting projects.

“Fall down seven times, get up eight.”

-      Japanese proverb

That is why I love direct sales! Where else can you keep falling down and getting back up, love doing it, and never have to explain yourself to anyone? After all skinned knees are easy to hide. Where in your business is it time for you to risk a trip, stumble or fall?

If you think it is time to risk a skinned knee, here are a few steps to take you there:

1. Keep track of your good ideas and not so good ideas in one place. Like an idea journal or word file on your computer.
2. Take time every day for some thinking and planning— taking time to review what you have going on and let the ideas come in on how to do it better, more innovatively, faster, more profitably etc.
3. Make a commitment to regularly learn in whatever way you learn best. Learn about what others are doing in your industry, in other industries and reflect on how you can be inspired by what others are doing to enhance what you are doing.
4. Take action. Make a commitment to implement new ideas, plans and strategies on a regular basis. Some of them will turn into business breakthroughs.

In childhood, skinned knees are often considered a badge of honor—proof that you are playing full out. We could say the same about your business. Risk a skinned knee.

Perfect VS. Good—You Decide

French philosopher, Voltaire, is known for saying: “Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien,” which translates to “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” I think of this today as I edit several chapters for one of our upcoming books, Mompreneur Extraordinaire. There are times when perfect is necessary like when publishing words on the printed page. Although I have purchased and read books with typos and the sky did not fall nor did the publisher garner any criticism.

Perfect in most cases in your business is not a good ideal to pursue. Doing the best you can right now is.

I have worked with countless direct sellers who, before they met me, spent months working on their booking and recruiting talks or making a website or perfecting their display—all while having their businesses go nowhere. Fear and a pursuit of perfection are the culprit.

Here is what I tell my direct sales clients that I am also telling you: Instead of perfect, embrace what I call Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3. Phase 1, is the just get it done. Phase 2, is the time when you incorporate upgrades, improvements and new innovations; and Phase 3 is when you feel it is in fact the best it can be.

People ask me all the time how I became a business speaker or a publisher—the answer is super simple. I started to speak and publish. If I waited till I was the best speaker I would still be waiting. If I waited till I knew everything about publishing I would still be waiting. Making yourself and your products or services better is in the doing and pursuing—not in the pre-education, the pre-release tweaking and the planning.

Look at your own direct sales business. Where are you waiting, or taking way too long to get something done, because you think you need more information, or you want to get it perfect before you take action on it? Instead, make a commitment to yourself to get it done in the next two days so you can start to make upgrades in Phase 2.

Do not get ready to get started to begin to plan a time when you will begin to get going. Just get going! Let me know how it goes.

By the way, with ten books printed or in production, plus the incredible training and co-author benefits we provide I do truly believe we are the best multi-author book publisher there is. Check us out at www.powerdynamicspub.com.

Which is it? Pick One and Stick To It. Always Be Easy to Find

When I married for the first time a couple of years ago, I was asked many times if I was going to change my name. My answer was always no. Not because I have proudly identified myself as a feminist since I was fourteen or because I am proud to be Italian-American and have an Italian last name, while my spouse’s is Irish. The reason is because by the time I finally tied the knot, I had already been in business for 15 years, and to change my name after working so hard to get my name out there for so long would have been a grave mistake- for me.

What brings this to mind today is I planned to tag a friend/client in a post on Facebook and she did not appear to be there. I finally found her after typing in her email address and learned that she is using her legal more formal name for her Facebook profile. Even though she is published under the shorter name and all her friends and clients know her by that shorter name.

Pick a name, one name, always spell it the same and use it everywhere. Be consistent. I even see people using a middle name or middle initial some places and other places not. I see women trying to use their married name for business and their maiden name for business- this no longer works. In this era or being able to find someone in an instant, it is important that you do not make it tough for people to locate you because they will quickly look to someone else and this can cost you business. Make a final decision, pick one and stick to it.

I know about this because I did legally and for business change my first name several years ago.

Let’s have some fun and give away a few prizes. Here is a Caterina trivia question: Can you tell me what my name used to be? Those of you that knew me before I was twenty are excluded from this. Your choice of a copy of one of our latest books from http://www.powerdynamicspub.com for the first three respondents that get it right.

To Friend or Not to Friend? That is the Question.

A lot of direct sellers have been asking me lately about friending on Facebook. They want to know who to friend and who not to friend and what to do when people you do not know personally ask to be your friend. Let’s talk about it.

Think of yourself as the admissions director to your own University of Facebook. You can only allow 5000 people to be accepted to your school. You want them to be the ones that most fit the kinds of students or friends you want. People that will be interested in the courses (your posts) and people that will most resonate with what the administration has to offer- your products and services.

To determine who is best suited for admission you need a strategy and a criteria. To create your strategy answer the following question.

Why are you on Facebook? For fun, to reconnect with your high school and college friends, to stay in touch with your team, to enroll more team members and hostesses? You are the only one who can answer this question.

2. Based on your answers for question #1 you can now create your criteria for who you let in your online network. If you know them personally and you like them –let them in. For people that you do not know personally they have to meet your criteria, meaning they fall into one of the groups of the kind of people you want to connect with. They are people that meet your hostess profile or your client profile or your team member profile. This will exclude people outside the country for most of you. This might exclude men for some of you.

This also means if you come across people you would like to add to your network you can friend them too. I suggest always including a note about why you would like to be their friend for a higher approval rating.

You can only let 5000 people into your exclusive network admit them wisely. Happy friending.

Seven Savvy Strategies to Make Your Business Thrive

Holly Chantal from the Streamlined Success Radio Show interviewed me about Seven Savvy Strategies to Make Your Business Thrive. During this show, you will learn how to:

Create a Summer Booking Boom

I hope your calendar is fully booked for the summer. If yours is how about everyone on your team? There are probably a few people that can use a boost. If so keep reading.

Summer can be challenging to book and have bookings hold because the kids are out of school, vacations are planned and the great weather means more spontaneous getaways than the rest of the year.

Still you can have a packed booking calendar if you remember that in the summer more than any other time of year people want to have fun. Let your potential hostesses know you are doing some theme parties for summer. Pick the three ideas that work best for you and let your hostesses pick the one of the three they can get most excited about and that will work best for them.

Here are several ideas direct sales leaders have shared with me that they use to get and keep lots of sun soaked bookings all summer season long. Share these ideas with your team and watch everyone have more fun while generating lots of summer sales:

Fondue Party

So rarely do we go anywhere the skewers and fondue pot are out that it adds novelty to any event.

Summer Hat Party

Tell all the guest to wear a fun hat. Give a raffle ticket for a prize for everyone who does and a special prize for the best one.

Mexican Fiesta with Margaritas

Have your food and beverage match one of everyone’s favorite theme. This alone can be enough to add flair to your event.

Sangria and Sandals Party

If you can have your party on the patio or by the pool serve sangria and tell everyone to wear their flip-flops and sunglasses this is sure to

let everyone know it is a casual affair.

Ice Cream Social

You provide the vanilla and chocolate icecream and ask each guest to bring a topping, reward them for doing so with a raffle ticket for a product prize. Any excuse to eat everyone’s favorite comfort food will definitely get a good turnout.

Pizza Party

Everyone enjoys a good slice- a simple idea that seems to continue be a huge hit. If you are going to heat up your own pies you can have everyone brings one topping.

Little Black Dress Party

For some of us elegant evenings are as rare as a blue moon. We all welcome an evening to dress up. Serve champagne (and sparking apple cider) and tell everyone to dress up. This of course is ideal for a Friday or Saturday night party. If your business is ideal for couples an elegant couples evening is sure to be a successful affair.

Out with the Old in With The New Party

If you are selling art or clothes or jewelry or home décor or even kitchen gadgets this theme party idea is for you. We all have some things that we are ready to retire. Have each guest bring one of more items they want to get rid of that are in the same category of what you are showcasing at your party. You can take all the items and donate them to charity and you can give raffle tickets for the guests bringing some items to donate.

There are some great ideas here. Add a little pizazz to your summer and more fun for your hostesses and guests. The more fun the more bookings and sales.

Do you have some more ideas to share? Post them in the comments!

Use Public Speaking to Grow Your Direct Sales Business

Sallie Meshell, a Direct Selling Power co-author recently interviewed me on my chapter in the book on using public speaking to grow your direct selling business. Click here to have a listen.

Be Positive, Enthusiastic and Certain

In direct sales or any profession we talk about the important things you need to do. This video talks about what you’re being in addition to what you’re doing. Any time you are working on your business, be sure you are being:

• positive
• enthusiastic
• certain

Every day remind yourself to be these 3 things. Have you noticed a difference in your business when you are?

If you missed my recent radio interview on Chat with Women on How to Make Your Business Thrive! here it is. This interview was super fun!