Forging Your Own Path
Updated: Aug 28, 2019
When you start a new direct sales business often the person who enrolled you spends a little time giving you an orientation, helping you get started and showing you what they know. This is an important meeting that can help you gather key information about the products, pay, incentives and strategy tips that may help you. I recommend highly that you research this in advance and use this meeting for questions or additional information. It is important to recognize that this meeting is only the beginning of your learning and what you hear in this meeting may not be all there is too it. Though you are in high learning mode from every source available you do still need to be sure that any business directions and decisions are made by you, are based on facts and good business strategy.
We won’t know all the answers or have the information when we first start out. This is understandable and can seem overwhelming so we can tend to take whatever help we can get initially. The advice, tips and tricks we receive however may not always be the best kind, true or even compliant with your company’s policies. Since this is your business it is critical that you verify all details and make informed decisions that are best for you and your business. Be a sponge of learning and a researcher to verify information.
Take it From Me
Let me give you some advice. Not all advice is good advice and not all advice should be applied to your business. You will get all kinds of advice of what to do and not do. People love talking about their experiences so they can help another avoid their mistakes but those same actions and decisions may not be a mistake at all for you. You will receive, hopefully, a lot of advice from the person who enrolled you. Your upline may be very savvy about this business or someone who is struggling and hasn’t really found their upward trajectory yet. The biggest thing to remember is what works or doesn’t work for them may be different for you. Learn all you can from this person even what they call mistakes or failures then assess, analyze and glean from all that information to find the nuggets of things critical for you to apply.
Learn what you can from them. Be open to the ideas and suggestions but realize at the end of the day this is your business to design and setup just the way you want it to be. If how they are running their business doesn’t feel good, represent you or align with your business plan and strategy then don’t follow in their steps! It’s ok to learn and see what they are doing but if that’s not your style or what you believe is right for you then say thank you and go do your own thing!
Your upline is a great person who introduced you to the incredible products and services you feel in love to the extent you wanted to start a business with it. Your upline has some experience and that can be helpful to you. Don’t discount what they tell you but realize that they may not have all the answers or even know where to look for them. As you start to enroll people to start their own business you’ll realize how much that new person is relying on you to help them start and their first successes could very much be dependent on how well you can orient, share, direct and support them with questions. The best advice you can give that person and yourself is to direct them to resources the company has so you can be assured you are sharing accurate and dependable information they can trust.
If your upline is persistent and pushy about how you should do something, hear them out but still make your own decision. If you believe your approach and strategy is right for you it doesn’t matter at the end of the day what anyone else says about it.
Training
There are many modules of training, webinars and personal development courses readily available to purchase in order to help you. Some of these may be free and some could be thousands of dollars! Just because there’s a cost or that it’s free though doesn’t guarantee it will be good training. There are many offerings of training available and all will tell you they are excellent for your type of business or can propel you to the next level but instead they turn out to be scams trying to sell you on larger training packages that are just as equally worthless.
You may need a certain amount of training to run your business successfully. Maybe you need help speaking to people, understanding the sales process, developing a social media strategy, branding, marketing, or even basic accounting and financial record keeping. You are not expected to have all the necessary skills to run and operate a business day one of its opening but somewhere over time you need to be honest about where you do need to learn something. The elements of training for running your business is something you need to invest in and should be part of your annual business plan for what training you want to focus on each year. However, what type of training and where you get it does matter!
It is worth investing in your company’s available training. It is the best resource for understanding your product, the company structure and elemental information about your business. For specific business skill training check your local library, community college or ask business friends to mentor you. Be smart where you obtain information and use reliable sources so you learn the right and legal ways to do things.
Pre-Packaged Tools
Like training, there are a lot of pre-packaged tools and content available you can purchase for use in your business. From website templates, marketing collateral, social media marketing and more there are numerous companies out there ready and willing to sell you items you need for your business. They are glossy, pretty, able to be customized and all just perfect for your business.
Be careful what you invest in and like all else you don’t need everything day one of your business operations. Select the key things that will support you and then budget and plan to add on other items later. Budgeting is super important as well as controlling how much inventory of these types of materials you have on hand. Realistically estimate how much you need and how much you can invest before making purchases. Also consider that you may want to change what you’re using because what you start with may not fit your needs in the near term future.
I have purchased trifolds from a source that I heard a lot of other doTERRA advocates use and love. Upon receiving these I was super disappointed! My first thought was how in the world does anyone think these are valuable? They were formatted in Times New Roman font, contained no information about online classes and centered entirely on the old fashioned in person classes where you make and take items. The concept was clever but none of these materials fit my model of business and strategy or represented the branding, imaging, and consistent messaging I use in my business. The content didn’t even sound like me! Thankfully, I have a business friend who works in marketing and she was able to reformat, update and revise these to suit my needs. Now I have brilliant materials that are representative of me, my business and how I operate and want to represent my business. They contain the consistent messaging and branding I use and most importantly they sound and look like the voice of my business.
Investing in pre-packaged materials and tools can be a real time saver but understand that you still need to invest in the right materials and spend time and potentially more money making them fit your business. The convenience of pre-packaged does not replace the need for ensuring that material fits the absolute need for consistent branding, imaging and messaging in your business. The voice of the material needs to sound and look like your business not the company you purchased that from.
Interested in more?
Starting your business off right with a good orientation, solid training and brilliant materials and tools is an investment of time and money. These elements become the foundation of your business starting successfully. Taking the time to learn, research and invest in the right information and tools makes all the difference in the world.
If you have questions or need help please reach out. I’m always happy to help and collaborate with other direct sales representatives.
If you’re looking to start a new small business and want that solid foundation, great culture of team and support to do things your way I invite you to check our our business packs to get started!