The Four Stages of Your Business Life

I was speaking with a member of my team last night. She was one of the first to join my network marketing downline and she went after it with all she had. Before long, she was making more money than I was! Last night, she called to tell me she had hit a slump and she thought maybe she had taken this business as far as it could go. Of course, she is wrong. She has just hit that stage in her business life that I call the "dry spell."

If you have been in any kind of business of your own then you know what I'm talking about. You will go through stages while you get things up and running and then find your equilibrium. There are typically four stages to the life of any business and what you do during each of them can dramatically impact the life of your business.

The first is the "new business excitement" stage. You have just joined a great opportunity or launched your first product or put up your first site and you are jazzed! You are have the best deal out there and you are going to whip the world. You are going to make so much money that no one will even believe you when you tell them. You are full of energy and new ideas and can't wait to do them all. Unfortunately, that's the problem at this stage. You may have a tendency to scatter your time and resources among so many different things that nothing gets accomplished and you get discouraged. You are so busy building your business that you forget about the rest of your life. As resources dwindle and energy drops, you begin to worry more and more about your decisions until - you quit, thinking your business idea was a bad one or the network marketing opportunity was just a scam.

How to you make it through this stage? Focus. If you have joined a network marketing business, concentrate on finding customers for your products and team members for your downline. Decide how many prospects you can talk to effectively each day. That's your goal. If you don't gain a customer or recruit a team member that day, don't keep pushing out of desperation. Panic shows! Just set it aside and start fresh tomorrow. And don't spend all your money buying the videos or trying the products or going to the meetings. You will need to budget for these things while you grow your business. When I first joined Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing, it was just a few months before the annual meeting. Everyone was talking about it and asking me if I was planning to attend. I almost got caught up in all of the excitement and was just about to spend LOTS of money on plane fare and hotel rooms when someone in my upline stopped me. He asked me how much money I was making and I told him I had just started. Then he said if I wasn't making enough from my business to pay for my trip, I should reconsider. There were probably other more important uses for that money and my time could probably be better spent at home building my business. It made sense, so while everyone else was in Las Vegas, I stayed home and recruited enough people to promote myself to the next level.

Stage two is the "dry spell." You have been working as hard as you can and yet you just aren't growing like you did in the beginning. You have run out of people to tell about your business opportunity. The initial excitement for your product has worn off. Your site just isn't getting the hits it used to. You're wondering "does this thing really work?" Don't panic. This just means it may be time for some changes. If you are in network marketing, it may be time to stop concentrate on building your own downline and focus on helping your team build their businesses. After all, if they are successful, it impacts you as well. Or perhaps it's time to look at some new marketing techniques or different markets for your products. Now is the time to learn some new ways to do things. Talk to your mentor. Read some of the books and newsletters published by the experts in your field. Brainstorm. And then make the changes necessary to move you past this stage.

Stage three is the "Wow - maybe this REALLY does work stage." You made it through stages one and two and you are seeing your business gain some new life. You feel a sense of hope that perhaps you can make this happen after all. You have new energy and a new outlook and a new optimism. Keep it going by concentrating on doing the things that helped you make it this far to begin with. This is where you want to really take a look at what held you back and what moved you forward. Discard the actions that limited you and focus on those that help you grow.

The last stage is the "I DID it!" stage. Your business is flourishing. You are making money. You have learned to balance your business life with your personal life. Don't lose it by becoming complacent. Always keep learning. No matter how long you been in business, there is still something you can learn. Always stick to the basic plan that got you here in the first place. When things slow down, take a good look at what's happening and don't be afraid to make changes if necessary.

You can do this. Look at me. Just when I was thinking about retirement and wondering how I was going to afford it, a whole new world opened up for me! I'm doing things with my business now that just a few months ago I would not have dreamed of. And it's all because I refocused my resources, listened to the experts, made some changes to my business plan, and DID it!

Build A Team of Experts

My husband and I are getting ready to file our taxes and as usual, the discussion comes up - do we need to make some changes for next year? As business owners, we are faced with the fact that we make all the decisions concerning our business. The choices are endless! Is it time to incorporate? If so, should I become an LLC or is an S Corporation better?

Should I let Dearl talk me into using the Blackberry he bought me for Christmas (which is still in the box) or stick with my trusty system of Day Planner and Post-It notes?

Where should I focus my marketing this year? With all of the dire warnings about the economy, will some methods work better than others?

We desperately need a new computer. I want another PC. Dearl wants a Mac. Who is right?

Is it time to hire an assistant? If so, should we use a virtual service or actually hire someone to come to our office?

Decisions, decisions, decisions. AAAGGGHHH!!! It's enough to make you crazy! Especially when the wrong choice can have drastic consequences for your business.

If you are lying awake at night struggling with the answers to these or other business questions, it's time to build yourself a team. My team consists of personal friends and professional acquaintences whose advice I trust. I simply need to pick up the phone or dash off a quick email or text message for all of the support and answers I need.

To build your team, simply make a list of all the questions you have. List all of the professional services you need or may need in the future. Then start thinking of all the people you know that can fill one or more of these needs or answer one or more of your questions. My team consists of my accountant (I hate numbers!), a lawyer (always good to have someone whose up to speed on legalities), my daughter the computer geek, my friend Ken the marketing guru, and my friend Karin who is also an entrepreneur and is a good one to turn to when I have questions about communication. (She's the one who keeps me from blasting off emails I may regret later!). I also have friends who keep me up to date with the latest Alzheimer's research and the current services available for my dad (they work for the area Agency on Aging), a nurse and a holisitc health practioner that provide me with the latest health news (Dearl's heart), and two grandchildren who remind me when I'm not taking enough time for the important things in life ("Nee-Nee, why haven't you been by to see us lately? We miss you!")

How do you find the people for your team? You probably already know many of them so just ask. Tell them you are forming a team of advisors for your business and would like them to be part of it. Lay out the ground rules for their participation such as how to contact them, when to contact them, will they be compensated for their services, etc. Once you have them in place, ask them for referrals to people who may fill other needs for you. If they can't make any recommendations, then get out and network. I met my lawyer through the Girl Scouts and the nurse at a women's networking luncheon. And I have a whole network of internet marketers I can turn to for advice just from attending the jvAlert events. And of course, there is the wonderful group of ladies that make up the Baby Boomer Divas. They are a never ending source of support and advice!

"Solopreneur" - it's just a word. It doesn't mean you have to go through the business experience alone. Build your team. Use your team. And one day when someone who is just starting out on their own asks you to be on their team, remember where you came from and say yes!

P.S. The general consensus from my team of experts has been to ditch the Day Planner, burn the Post-It notes, and USE THE BLACKBERRY. I'm not sure I'm ready for this, but I trust their advice so here goes. Wish me luck!

Make Your Choice!

So here we are, sitting at our tables, looking at our list of New Year's resolutions. At the top of the list - build our business bigger. Or perhaps it's "start a home business." Or maybe "be more successful." We're staring at that statement wondering where to start. And we're looking at all the people we know or have read about and wondering what it is that makes them different from us. Do you really want to know? Good - because I'm going to tell you. They aren't sitting at the table wondering how to get started. They've already done it.

I've spent a lot of time studying successful people and I've found they all have a few things in common. They take action, they make decisions quickly, and they hang around with people like themselves. Successful people have been doing the same things for hundreds of years because it works! Someone - Theodore Roosevelt, I think - once said that the best thing you can do is make the right decision. The second best thing you can do is make the wrong decision. The worst thing you can do is make no decision at all. Think about it. If you decide on your first step to reach your goal and it's right - SUCCESS! If it's wrong, at least you may learn something from the mistake that will help you move forward. But if you never make a decision, you never get started - and you'll be sitting at your table again next year wondering how to change your life and what do all those successful people know that you don't.

Determine never to be idle. Do at least one thing every day to advance you toward your goal. It may be the wrong thing sometimes, but it's still better than doing nothing. Thomas Jefferson said, "It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing" Think how much you can accomplish towards your business and financial goals if you do one thing every day. Make a DECISION! Take ACTION! Take the action necessary to reach your goals.

Let's make this year your year to SHINE!