The difference between working for someone and being self employed.

In life we are all faced with choices and dilemmas. One choice we are forced to make is whether we want to take the risk and be self employed or want to try and work up the corporate ladder. There are benefits to both.
 Obviously everyone wants to be able to control their own finances and working for someone else, no matter how good you or how valuable you are it is ultimately up to your employer to control your pay. Your employer sets your hours, tells you when you can and can't have a day off, can punish you or fire you at any time, can control your future with or without promotions, and I can go on.
Not everything is rosy being self employed either though. Being self employed you always run the risk of failure, of losing everything you have invested, never really having a day off, and no benefits are a few of the dilemmas that are related to being self employed. There are some great benefits to being self employed though, you don't have to answer to a boss, you can work your own hours, your income is totally dependent on you. Of course there are benefits to working for someone else. Health benefits, retirement, not being responsible for every little thing that can go wrong, and one of the biggest benefit being employed is you get to shut work off when you clock out. I am not complaining, I am just saying that being self employed is a 24 hour a day ,7 days a week, 52 weeks a year commitment.
You don't have to spend every minute of everyday working your business, but what I am saying is in order to be successful in your business you have to put the time in, even if it is only for a couple of hours a day, you are still putting time into your future. You can settle for working for someone else, I am not knocking it, it is very respectable, it shows responsibility and dependability. You can have a good life working for someone else, maybe even work your way to the top and be the boss. Me personally I would much rather risk failure working for myself, setting my own future, build my own dreams, not someone else's.

You will get out of it what you put into it

You can't expect to reach your goals in life if you don't put in the effort it takes to reach those goals. I did a Periscope yesterday where I talked about athletes and what it takes to be a world class athlete. It is the same in this business, you can't expect to get to the top or even have a decent amount of success without putting the effort in. Once you are a part of a team and you have a good sponsor and upline along with corporate support there is a path already made for you, it is your decision if you want to travel down it and how fast you want to go to reach your destination. Just like a road there are road maps and gps devices, signs, etc. all of these are directions from someone that has been there before, there are the same things in this business, you name it someone has probably tried it and shared their idea with someone on what they did. Now it is up to you if you want to use their idea and change it up a bit or go a completely different way, the thing is that there is help, tons of it. I have said this probably a thousand times since we started in Paparazzi, but I will say it again, I can't stress this enough that nobody is going to do it for you, the jewelry will not sell itself, the customers will not come to you and ask if you sell it, and neither will the recruit. If you are having success and getting out of it what you had intended or even more then that is awesome, and you know exactly what I am talking about, for those of you that are struggling, please ask yourself if you are doing everything that you think you can to be successful, have you talked to your sponsor, your upline, or any teammate for ideas, are you getting yourself and the word out there that you sell it, are you allowing enough time a day, week, and month for your business? All of those questions are the ones that you should be asking yourself and find what you think needs improvement. Everyone in this company has the potential for limitless success, but it doesn't come overnight, it's not easy, and it takes some great effort and belief, belief in the company, the product, and most of all belief in yourself.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and let's make this the best black Friday week, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday!!!

Attitude

Picture yourself going to buy a new car, you have the money, you know what you can afford, you narrow it down to a couple of different cars, so you finally go to talk to the car dealer to help pick one out that you want and you walk up to the dealer and he grumbles and acts like you are bothering him, he rushes through the process, doesn't really know much about the car, obviously doesn't really care about the manufacturer of the car, and basically just has a bad attitude altogether. Would you want to buy a car from this person? I bet not, he pretty much just ruined your whole buying experience. Why did he act this way? Maybe because he has had quite a few customers come up to him, ask him questions, get all ready to buy from him only to back out at the end, who knows. All I can say is he is not going to get many more sales that way, now is he? Well guess what, our customers can feel the same way when we don't show our excitement about Paparazzi, if we go into an event, party, Facebook group or party, or even someone coming up to you on the street. Learn about what you are selling, learn about the company, share with every potential customer what you love about what you do, what brought you to the company. You don't have to go into detail, but you want to be educated enough to be able to answer most questions that they might have. Your attitude is as much about your sale as is the product, never forget that. Always treat your customers better than you want to be treated as a customer. Also remember everyone can be a customer, your goal should be to make sure they know you sell it, make sure that they know you love it, and to make your product a household name and that if they want something they know to come to you. 

Your attitude not only can make or lose you a sale now, it can make or lose you a customer for life. 

Don't Fall Into the Trap of Just Being a Recruiter

We have been with Paparazzi for three and half years now and it took us three years to finally realize that in order to be successful you need to sell as well as recruit.
We were the ones at convention that sat their listening to the founders talk about working your sales, going out there and doing the parties, sell, sell, sell and we would get pumped about it, we would think we really need to preach this to our teams, not once thinking that it was pertaining to us. You see when we got into Paparazzi we wanted to do the sales, the parties, and the events in our area, we were going to travel and do shows, etc. etc., until we did an event and a home party, I am not saying they were bad, I am just saying that they weren't as good as we thought they would be. Then Chasity started recruiting, not because she didn't like doing shows or parties, actually she did it to try and find more shows, then realized that she could share this opportunity with people from all over the country, pretty soon we started signing people up left and right. Well with this success recruiting we started focusing all of our time on recruiting, and we were having great success and were also teaching our team how to do the same. In the beginning our front line volume was doing amazing because we kept signing people up and they would buy a little and sell a little, but eventually they started doing what we were doing, they started spending more time recruiting and building their teams. Pretty soon most of our volume from our team started coming from further down in our team because we weren't pushing our teams to sell, we were pushing them to recruit. Do you know what happens when you have a team full of consultants that focuses mostly on recruiting and very little on selling? You have a hard time keeping people because they don't know really how to sell and nobody pushes them to sell. I am not saying to not recruit, but what I am saying is to try and get them as a customer first, get the sale, let them see the product, wear the product, and while they are buying from you they are also learning how you sell and how easy it is to do. Get them interested in the product, share the whole experience with all of your customers, develop a relationship with them and then present the opportunity to them, you will have team members on your front line that potentially can be your next rock star because they aren't just starting a new company focusing strictly on finding new people, they are selling right from square one and they know how. I hope you all learn from our mistake and benefit from what took us three years to figure out.
Happy selling everyone !

Get out of the way!

Don't let anyone get in your way for success. No matter what you choose to do in life there are obstacles that will hinder you and get in your way, or at least seem like they are in your way. In our business we can feel like we aren't getting the help we want or need from our upline, downline, or even corporate. Here you have two choices, you can complain about it, get mad and eventually quit, or you can learn from it, either by doing it yourself or keep asking people until you can get the answer you need. There is always going to be challenges and nobody is going to do it for you. You can sit back and let life go by, putting off the future for just that or you can choose to get up and do it. This doesn't just pertain to business, it can be for anything that we let get in our way of a goal. I need to lose weight, I know this, I have been putting off exercising, eating right, etc. for years, but I finally told myself that I would never lose weight or get in shape sitting on the couch thinking about it so I got up and started walking. I am now up to 2.5 to 3 miles a day for 4 days a week. Yes at first it was hard, but it got easier the more I did it and now it is almost like an addictions. I feel guilty if I don't go for my walk. Our biggest hurdle in life is ourselves, we constantly come up with new ways why we can't or should I say won't do something. It is all in our mindset, if you set your mind to do it you will, but if you set your mind to not do it you will make sure you don't. I have heard every excuse in the book, and probably used quite a few myself. My favorite is I am too old, my body just can't handle it, I have used that one way too many times, but honestly age is just a number, it really means nothing, I know people that are my age and younger that barely have enough energy to get out of bed, (there are people with real health issues and I am not putting anyone down) because they have it in their mind that they just don't have the energy to do something or they are too tired, and they truly believe that, but if you tell yourself that you can do it and put forth the energy to get up and do what you have been avoiding it will get easier, but you have to believe it so. My grandpa is 86 years old, he is retired now, but he still lives out on his farm, he has about 2 or 3 acres of land that he mows, he has a garden, and stays busy all day long, he rarely ever just sits around watching T.V, and is in better shape that probably all of his kids, his sister lived to be 103 and bowled until she was well into her 90's, her granddaughter is I think 38 and she owns her own gym, is a personal trainer and just a couple of years ago became an MMA fighter, she can kick my butt without even trying, why I am telling you these stories is because these people never let their minds get in their way, they never said I am too tired maybe tomorrow, because they don't believe in putting things off until tomorrow, today is the day to do it, tomorrow will have it's own challenges, don't add to them. I know I kind of rambled on a lot of subjects, but it kind of ties into the one about not letting any obstacle get in your way, it is YOUR life and YOUR business, YOU need to make it whatever you want it to be. Don't let anything stand in your way. If there is someone that did something that hurt you or you felt that was wrong or you disagree with, don't let it deter you, if it is something that you can fix, then fix it, and move on, but the key is to learn from it and move on, you won't get anywhere if you don't .

So you are thinking about getting into Direct Sales, huh? Well here is a little advice from someone that is in it, Direct Sales isn’t for everyone, I know it might seem like it is easy and someone might tell you that you could get rich from it and that if you build a team that you can just sit back and collect a commissions check, well that isn’t the case. It takes work, and before you even get started you need to ask yourself if you are willing to put in the time it takes to be successful. If you decide that you are able to give yourself and your business the dedicated time that it requires you need to figure out what company you want to join. There are hundreds, maybe thousands out there, anywhere from weight loss, to jewelry. So how do I choose? Well you need to ask yourself what is my passion, is this product something I can believe in? Do some research into the type of product you want to sell, then narrow it down to the companies that sell that type of product you choose. Once you get it narrowed down to say five or less, you want to study the five companies, see how long they have been in business, check their pricepoint (a friend of mine always says, if you can buy it for less at Walmart it should be a big red flag), also when you are checking out a company, read their mission statement, order a few pieces from each company and check out the quality, now do a search on the companies website and read their compensation plan, most plans are confusing, but some key words to look for are volume, and how they pay for downline, usually they pay so much for the first two or three levels and then a smaller percentage for total team volume. So you narrowed down your companies to one that decided to jump into, now you need to find a sponsor, some people just throw caution to the wind and sign up under the first person that responds to them, and while this can work, it isn’t always the best way. I suggest getting to know your sponsor before you even sign up, talk to them on the phone and create a report with them, you want your sponsor to be someone that you feel comfortable asking questions to and them not seeming like they are too busy to help you, which let’s face it if they have a team they really don’t have much time to spend with you, but if they put forth the effort to make you feel comfortable and they are knowledgeable in the company then that is the one I would look for.

Now you signed up and if you are like most people you got the smallest kit that the company offered because that is “all you could afford,” this is a great way to get you into the company, but it does put you at a disadvantage. You might ask yourself why, I got started and this is what the company offered, why the disadvantage? Well, in our company the small starter kit consists of 35 pieces, most companies are similar just enough to get you product, and once you receive your kit the first thing your sponsor is going to suggest you do is have a launch party, which is where you introduce yourself to your friends, family, neighbors, etc. that you are the newest rep. for the company that you just joined and you would like them to come check out your product, now some companies are cash and carry, some are catalog, and some are website ordering, but all of them you have to have some product on hand, so when you have your launch party you are only showing your new customers a very limited selection, and most customers like to have a good variety to choose from, plus you are only showing them a small portion of what the company has to offer, now I am not saying you have to have everything on hand for every party, that would be impossible, but you do want to have a good selection for them to choose from. Now after you have your launch party you need to decide if this is still something that you want to do and are willing to put the commitment into, I say this now because now is the time that I recommend that you decide if you want to start team building and also if you want to reinvest some of the money that you made from your sales. If you do want to move forward from here I suggest at least replacing what you have sold and I always suggest increasing your inventory by at least 10% more than what you have sold, for example, say you sold 10 pieces at a party you would order 11 pieces when you place your order, 10 plus 1 which is 10% more than what you sold, and if you continue to do that everytime you order your inventory will continue to grow.

You decided to team build, well before you just jump into recruiting and posting ads all over social networks, local newspapers, shopping malls, grocery stores, etc. saying join my team, make sure that you are ready for this, team building can be very rewarding and you can make amazing money building a team, but don’t be fooled thinking it is easy and you don’t have to work at it, this is hardest part of the business, getting people to believe in your company and even more believe in you, because you aren’t just selling your company to them you are selling yourself. I tell people all of the time, anyone can sell the product, because the product sells itself, the hard part is getting people to buy you, to buy the idea that you believe in yourself enough that you can help them start their business, and will be there along the way for them. The first thing I always tell people is to study the company, and learn about everything in the policies and procedures to the compensation plan and everything in between, I am not saying you have to memorize every detail of the company, but you should have a good working knowledge of the company so that if someone asks you a question you can either give them the answer or can find it in a timely matter for them. You have to be ready for people to tell you no, more people will tell you no then will ever say yes, ten times more people would be more accurate and you have to be able to handle the rejection. The key is the number of people you talk to, don’t box yourself in, you have to be willing to reach out to people and share your opportunity with them, you have to figure out a way to convince them that this is an opportunity and not just another get rich quick spam thing that they are not interested because there is no get rich quick things. I always suggest getting people on the phone and having an actual conversation with them, or better yet talk to them in person. If you are uncomfortable doing this, practice with family and friends until you become more comfortable doing it. Trust me though, once you start recruiting you need to keep to a schedule and routine about your recruiting, even if you are not getting any interest in it at all, keep pushing, even if you are constantly getting told no, keep pushing, because the only way you will lose is if you don’t get up anymore, when you decide that you lost, even if you are frustrated that people keep telling you no, or they can’t right now, don’t let them or the next person you talk to see that frustration because that will almost surely be a no, because why would they want to sign up with you if you aren’t even happy doing what you do?

You have a couple people sign up, first off congratulations, you are now a sponsor, but the problem is some of your sign ups joined and didn’t do anything with it, they ordered initially but never again. You reached out to them, you did everything your company and sponsor told you to do when you become a sponsor, but they just don’t seem to respond, the don’t answer the phone when you call, they don’t return emails or messages or if they do they say they are just too busy and don’t have the time that they thought they did to put into their business and this shocks you. You ask yourself, “what did I do wrong?” Well I will be the first to tell you that you probably didn’t do anything wrong, their want hasn’t become a need for them and their business isn’t high enough on their priority list. It happens to everyone, most of the time it has absolutely nothing to do with you or the type of sponsor you are, life just got in the way and there is nothing you can do about it except go out and find another one that could be your next rockstar.

You have created a little team, you have found the ones that didn’t stay and you replaced them with new people and guess what? You found yourself a rockstar! You have someone that has been selling like mad and has started building her own team. This is great, now you have someone that is willing to do the work to be successful on your team. You are now a leader. Being a leader has responsibilities, you never want your team to see anything negative come from you, especially on social media. Your name has now become part of your brand, your job is to not only create new leaders, but to uphold your name and reputation. Don’t post some political or religious view on your Facebook wall, twitter, instagram, etc., because while some will agree with your idea, some will not, and you could rub them the wrong way and it could hurt your image. Now onto creating leaders. Your team will do what you do, not what you tell them to do. For example, if you want your team to go out and do parties, but you don’t do them yourself your team will not do them. The key to being a good leader is to create other leaders. Lead by example. Show them exactly how you do it and how they can do the same. The reason you want good leaders is so that when someone on their team needs help they will go to their leader instead of everyone on your team coming to you.

Last but not least is to never stop building your team and to never stop selling your product. Too many times in companies people get complacent, they made some good money from their team and don’t really want to do the shows and work the sales end anymore. I want to tell you that this is a mistake, if you don’t continue to build your team your team will start to dwindle, I have seen it quite a few times where the consultant had a good team going, but then got tired of the work and didn’t have enough leaders to keep it going and it dwindled to almost nothing. Then when they noticed that it was dying they tried to step it up and get it going again, but most of the time it was too late. Same with sales, if you lose your sales base and your repeat customers it is very difficult to get them back. I am not saying you need to keep selling like you did in the beginning and recruit like did when you started, but you always want to keep those channels open along with good communication with your team. Be the leader and the sales person that you can be and you will have success.

I hope this helps with your decision to get into and stay in the business of Direct Sales. The possibilities are unlimited and you can have great success in it if you choose to and only if you choose to take the necessary steps and dedication needed to have success in this business.