Hurricanes in life...

What do you do when you look at the television and see a category 4 hurricane headed your way?

You see, hurricanes don't just come in the form of weather patterns, wind and rain. Every day we face hurricanes at work and in life.

A sudden illness. A sick child. A car accident. Divorce. Job loss. Company reorganization. Financial crisis. The death of a loved one. Loss of business, etc.

 

The winds of life blow. The conditions get worse. Hurricanes come at us from all directions.

So what do we do? Do we give up? Do we live in fear? Do we hide under the covers or do we face the reality of the storm, adapt and deal with the damages it brings?

The answer comes from a boy named Joshua. As a hurricane was approaching their town years ago Joshua’s mom was in his room telling him that that she and his dad were getting a divorce. With tears streaming down his face he said, "You know Mom, this is really hard but I’m going to try to be strong and positive and trust it will all work out."

As she told me this story my heart just melted. This boy, whose pain was unbearable, was choosing to stay positive as his world was being torn apart. While his levies of strength were breaking and the pain was flooding in, he was mustering up the courage and faith to reinforce his walls and stay strong in the face of adversity. He didn't act in denial. He accepted the situation. And he knew he had to deal with it; with courage, positivity, hope and faith.

I've come to realize that, like Joshua, every one of us will come face to face with hurricanes in our life. We will come to the realization that our situation is beyond our control. During these moments we are meant to realize that we can’t do it alone. In our powerlessness we are meant to discover the ultimate power. In our fear we are meant to find our faith. And in our need for control we are meant to find a peace that comes when we surrender. We are meant to stay positive and overcome whatever challenges come our way.

I don't know why we have to face hurricanes but people like Joshua and my own heart show me the way to overcome them.

Storms are going to happen. But the sun always rises and shines again.

 

If you need any help with your home business, don't hesitate to reach out to me directly at 612-208-9434 by phone or text. Look forward to hearing from you~

 

 

6 Simple Marketing Stratigies for Your Business

You've just launched your new home-based business, and now it's time to start promoting it to attract new customers. As a first-time business owner and entrepreneur, I know how difficult it can be to market your business on a shoe-string budget, but there is hope.
Here are seven inexpensive marketing strategies to increase your business's visibility and reach.

1. Social Networking

From Facebook and Twitter to Pinterest and Instagram it seems everyone, everywhere is involved in some type of social networking. The great news for business owners is that you can create a profile on any of these mentioned social networks and promote your business for free.
You can write about your area of interest and include links to your website, or feel free to create or join a group that revolves around your particular niche. Facebook alone has over 1 billion active users, and Twitter sends out tweets from powerhouse celebrities and business owners like Oprah, Jessica Alba, and Katy Perry. With this large of an audience imagine what social networking can do for your business?! Also, Facebook has many, many groups on many different topics from dogs, children, running, travel, teenagers, wine, sports, celebrities, etc, etc, etc. You can join groups that you are interested in, interact with others and post your opportunity.

Cost: Free.

2. Business Cards

 Face-to-face networking is not dead by any means, and having a memorable business card to hand out is very important. One it conveys an image of professionalism, and secondly, it reminds people of your business. Your business card should look professional and include your logo if you have one. A great way for your business card to retain some of its life is to add some additional value to it; such as displaying a calendar, tip chart, or appointment reminder of the back. Another option is to create promotional items like magnets, small notepads, or coffee mugs with your business information on them. Also, when I am out, I look for bulletin boards and place my business cards on the boards along with taking other cards that are on those boards and reaching out to those people.

Cost: $20 for 500 business cards or cheaper on www.vistaprint.com

3. Blogging

A blog is a fantastic way to keep customers coming back to your site. For a blog to be a successful marketing tool it will need to be updated on a regular basis, usually 2 – 5 times per week. You will also need to have interesting and thoughtful content about your subject. But once customers know that you provide regular articles of interest they will stop by more frequently to see what the latest news and happenings are. There are many free blogging platforms available, but I highly suggest paying a little extra for your own domain name, hosting company, and a premium template or custom design. It is especially important to include your company's logo for branding purposes, which I will discuss further next week.

Cost: Free to a few hundred dollars.

4. Online Classifieds

Yes, classifieds still work!  They are still one of my favorite, tried and true places to look for leads and share my opportunity. There are dozens of classifieds online. You can do a google search, I also have a list you can find here.

Cost: Free.

5. Free and Purchased Leads

There are a lot of sources online where you can obtain free leads. Most of the leads are generic work from home leads and some are probably aged but nonetheless they are still workable. I use these leads in an email blast and generate new leads for my business. It's one of my favorite methods! I use Group Mail to send the email blasts. You can also purchase leads for for very inexpensive. There are also leads you can purchase that are very expensive. I prefer the least expensive. I purchase leads on a daily basis and work them into my other leads.

Cost: Free to $100's of dollars for leads

6. Market Your Business on Craigslist

No money for advertising? No problem. Sites like Craigslist allow you to post an ad; you can even include your business logo and link to your website and social networks. The best thing about Craigslist is that it actually receives a lot of traffic, so your business will get exposure.

Cost: Free.

What marketing strategies are you using to promote your home-based business?

If you need help with marketing your business, feel free to contact me directly at 612-208-9434. I would love to help!

Wishing you nothing but success in your home business~

WIN OR LOSE

Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose.

Sometimes we win the account, the game, the job promotion, the award and sometimes we lose the very thing we want most.

Winning matters. Losing matters. But in life what matters most is what we do with our wins and losses.

When we win do we become complacent or stay humble and hungry?

People often say that success breeds success but often it breeds complacency. After a win people think they can just show up and achieve the same result, forgetting the effort, determination and mindset it took to achieve the win.

To continue winning it's essential to turn the euphoria of winning into a fire of burning desire that fuels your continuous improvement, passion, and quest for excellence.

Even more important than what we do after our wins is how we respond to our losses. Do we give up or come back stronger? Do we allow the loss to act like a cancer that eats away at us for the rest of our life or do we turn it into a learning opportunity that leads to our healthy growth?

 

Everyone loses but the key is to make the loss stand for something and in my family LOSS now stands for:

LOSS (Learning Opportunity, Stay Strong)

When we lose we ask what we can learn from this loss and how we can improve because of it. Then we stay strong and work harder to get better.

This leads to more wins in the future...and also eventually more loses...and more learning opportunities and opportunities to stay strong and develop our character.

Through this process of winning and losing we learn the greatest lesson of all:

No matter how hard we work and how much we improve there will be times when we experience the worst of defeats instead of the greatest of victories. But ultimately life is about more than winning or losing. It’s about the lessons we learn, the character and strength we build and the people we become along the way.

When we understand this we will surely be a winner in the game of life!

Win Today!

 

If you have any questions about building your online business, please feel free to reach out to me directly at 612-208-9434 by call or text. 

20 Ways to Get Mentally Tough

20 WAYS TO

GET MENTALLY TOUGH

at Work, in Sports and Life

1. When you face a setback, think of it as a defining moment that will lead to a future accomplishment.

2. When you encounter adversity, remember, the best don’t just face adversity; they embrace it, knowing it’s not a dead end but a detour to something greater and better.

3. When you face negative people, know that the key to life is to stay positive in the face of negativity, not in the absence of it. After all, everyone will have to overcome negativity to define themselves and create their success.

4. When you face the naysayer’s, remember the people who believed in you and spoke positive words to you.

5. When you face critics, remember to tune them out and focus only on being the best you can be.

6. When you wake up in the morning, take a morning walk of gratitude and prayer. It will create a fertile mind ready for success.

7. When you fear, trust. Let your faith be greater than your doubt.

8. When you fail, find the lesson in it, and then recall a time when you have succeeded.

9. When you head into battle, visualize success.

10. When you are thinking about the past or worrying about the future, instead focus your energy on the present moment. The now is where your power is the greatest.

11. When you want to complain, instead identify a solution.

12. When your own self-doubt crowds your mind, weed it and replace it with positive thoughts and positive self-talk.

13. When you feel distracted, focus on your breathing, observe your surroundings, clear your mind, and get into The Zone. The Zone is not a random event. It can be created.

14. When you feel all is impossible, know that with God all things are possible.

15. When you feel alone, think of all the people who have helped you along the way and who love and support you now.

16. When you feel lost, pray for guidance.

17. When you are tired and drained, remember to never, never, never give up. Finish Strong in everything you do.

18. When you feel like you can’t do it, know that you can do all things through God who gives you strength.

19. When you feel like your situation is beyond your control, pray and surrender. Focus on what you can control and let go of what you can’t.

20. When you're in a high-pressure situation and the game is on the line, and everyone is watching you, remember to smile, have fun, and enjoy it. Life is short; you only live once. You have nothing to lose. Seize the moment. Feel free to share these with your team! If you need any help reaching success in your home business, please feel free to reach out to me directly at 612-208-9434. Have a beautiful day~

 

2 Things you should never say to your prospects...

There are a couple things you should never, ever say to your prospects. These phrases do nothing but set up your prospects with unrealistic expectations.

Don’t worry, every Network Marketer is guilty of using one of these lines when they were first starting out.

1. It’s Easy!

Okay, no. This profession is not easy. It might be an easier way to start your own business than the traditional route, but it is not easy.

Network Marketing is hard. It’s hard to keep calling prospects when 100 people have already told you “No.” It can be hard to get past all of the objections and lead someone to joining your company. Travelling to meetings and setting up presentations can be exhausting. Monitoring your social media profile and reaching out to new prospects can take time. Putting yourself out there and talking to people can leave you feeling drained, especially if you’re an introvert like me.

Easy is the farthest thing from my mind when I think of Network Marketing. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth it. Yes, this profession comes with challenges, just like any profession. But the rewards can be extraordinary. It might take 500 phone calls, but you can build a strong team. You might have to drive 2 hours to meet with a new prospect, but you could lead someone to a new opportunity that changes their life. You might be drained every day from giving presentations all day long, but now you can pay off that credit card bill.

So, never tell your prospects that this opportunity is easy because it’s not. It takes hard work and dedication to succeed in Network Marketing. And that only makes the success all the sweeter.

2. You Can Get Rich Quick!

Yeah…no. Well, I guess if you go out that very first day and immediately sign up 20 distributors who then go and immediately sign up 20 distributors each. And they also sell the product to about 10 people each. Then yes, I suppose you can get rich quick in this profession. However, the odds of that happening are about as likely as winning the lottery. So, I wouldn’t count on it, if I were you.
You can start making money fairly quickly in Network Marketing. You definitely start making more money than if you were to go the traditional entrepreneurial route. And there have even been some who rocketed towards the top in just a few short months. But those are the exceptions, not the rule.


This profession does not guarantee anything. It all depends on you. If you want to reach a certain income level, then you have to work and work hard. You have to keep going even when things get tough. You have to commit to learning the skills. And you have to be determined to do everything you can to reach your goals.

Your success all depends on you. And just like every person is different, every person’s path to success is different. You may not reach your goals at the same time as another person, and that’s okay! Don’t base your success off of how others are doing. You can use that comparison to motivate yourself, but your points of success will always be different than theirs.

So, never tell your prospects they could get rich quick because that’s setting them up for frustration. Let them know that it is very possible to get rich in Network Marketing, but it is all up to the time and hard work they choose to put in.

Set Proper Expectations

You need to give your prospects realistic expectations of Network Marketing. If they sign up thinking that it will be easy and they’ll make tons of money in the first month, then they are going to be easily discouraged. And when they get discouraged like that, they are more likely to quit.
It is then experiences like that that give Network Marketing a bad name. Those prospects will go to their friends and family and say, “Oh, that Network Marketing is a scam. They say you can easily get rich, but I tried it and that is a lie.”

We all have to be better at representing this great profession. So, never tell prospects that it will be easy. Never tell prospects that they can get rich quick. Tell them the truth. Tell them that it will take a lot of hard work, and it may take time for them to see results. But it is worth it.

Hope you found value in this post. Feel free to share with your team members. 

To your success~

Teamwork...

11 THOUGHTS ABOUT TEAMWORK

1. Teams rise and fall on culture, leadership, relationships, attitude and effort.

Great teams have a great culture driven by great leadership. Relationships are meaningful and teammates are connected. The collective attitude is very positive and everyone on the team works hard to accomplish their mission.

2. It’s all about teamwork. Sometimes you are the star and sometimes you help the star.

3. If want to be truly great you have to work as hard to be a great teammate as you do to be a great player. When we work hard to be a great team member we make everyone around us better. 

4. Your team doesn’t care if you are a superstar. They care if you are a super team member.

5. Three things you control every day are your attitude, your effort and your actions to be a great teammate. It doesn’t matter what is happening around you and who you think is being unfair. Every day you can focus on being positive, working hard and making others around you better. If you do that great things will happen. 

6. One person can’t make a team but one person can break a team. Stay positive!

Make sure you don’t let energy vampires sabotage your team. Post a sign that says “No Energy Vampires” allowed and keep them off the bus. Most importantly, decide to stay positive.

7. Great team members hold each other accountable to the high standards and excellence their culture expects and demands.

8. Team beats talent when talent isn’t a team.

9. Great teams care more. They care more about their effort, their work and their team members.

10. We > me

Unity is the difference between a great team and an average team. United teams are connected and committed to each other. They are selfless instead of selfish. They put the team first and know together we accomplish more.

11. You and your team face a fork in the road each day. You can settle for average and choose the path of mediocrity or you can take the road less traveled and chase greatness.

It’s a choice you make each day. Which path will your team take? 

Hope you found this as valuable as I did. Feel free to share it with your team. Have a beautiful and prosperous day! 

 

Planting the Garden of Success

Today I am going to help you plant your garden of success.

To begin, you will need to plant three rows of peas:

Patience
Positive Thinking
Persistence

Next you will need to plant three rows of squash:

Squash your excuses
Squash blame
Squash negativity and criticism

Then you will need to plant three rows of lettuce:

Lettuce be responsible
Lettuce be trustworthy
Lettuce be ambitious

Lastly, you will need three rows of turnips:

Turnip when needed
Turnip with a smile
Turnip with confidence.

These are everything you need to plant your garden of success! Are you ready to start planting?

Hope you found this as motivational as I did. Absolutely love this and am going to keep it close and refer to it often.

If I can help you with anything in your business, please let me know. You can call/text me at 612-208-9434.

To your success~