5 Tips for Advancing Yourself and Your Business

"Every success story is a tale of constant adaptation, revision, and change" -Richard Branson

Do you ever stop and look back over your life, and think about how far you've come? Every stage of life includes some sort of change.  But the further I get into adulthood, especially as a business owner, I have realized that I am in control of at least some of these changes, and that I must become more intentional about making changes happen, or I will not continue to grow. Today, I want to share with you 5 positive changes that you can make to help advance yourself both personally and professionally. Let's jump right in, shall we?

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1.  Learn by listening. Listen to a motivational speaker. Tune into a training by a leader in your field. Stream a podcast. Listen to an audio lecture about a topic you're interested in learning. Listen to audio books.

• Some of my favorite speakers to listen to are John Maxwell, Brian Fryer, Jim Rohn, and Jack Canfield.
• Some favorite Avon leaders whose trainings I enjoy are Lisa Wilber, Emily Seagren, Lisa Scola, and Milagros Garcia.
• Search the internet for many free podcasts, lectures, and courses on topics you may be interested in.
• You can often find free audiobooks (or traditional books) through your local library or online sources.

2. Be intentional with your time. If you are life me, your life is busy! You don't have time to spend reading books, listening to speakers, or taking classes. I have learned to take advantage of multi-tasking in order to fit in these sorts of tasks.

• Listen to a podcast during your morning and evening commute.  Did you know--if you have a 30 minute commute (each way) and you take advantage of this time by listening to educational content, that in one year this will add up to the equivalent amount of information as SIX college courses?! 
• Stream or listen to business trainings or seminars while you prepare meals or do housework.
• Listen to audiobooks while you workout or during travel time.

3.  Plan ahead. I spend 30 minutes each Sunday writing out a plan for the upcoming week.  I spend 5-10 minutes every night reviewing my plan for the following day. Doing so keeps me organized, motivated, and makes sure I don't miss any important tasks or appointments. I have tried several approaches over the years, so I will share what I have found to work best for  me:

• It doesn't matter what type of calendar or agenda you use, as long as it works for you.  I use both a paper calendar (I use a large planner, that has space to break down my tasks into yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily; as well as a traditional monthly calendar) and a digital calendar on my smartphone.
• I combine all of my tasks and schedules into one calendar.  This includes personal items, family appointments, business items, and other activities.  I have previously tried to have separate personal and business calendars, and I always ended up missing things.
• I write down everything.  My calendar includes things I do everyday--workouts, Bible reading, recruiting, connecting with customers, my kids' school tasks (we are a homeschool family); a weekly meal plan...breakfast, lunch, and dinner, for my family. This saves me time so that I am not scrambling to find ingredients or recipes when I should already be preparing dinner.  I include appointments for any member of my family; business trainings and seminars that I want to attend; extra business tasks--order due dates, ordering schedules for my team, etc. I include personal activities--social activities, church duties, etc.  It can all be found written in my planner.
• Don't be afraid to revise! Keeping a schedule like this keeps me from over-booking myself...planning to attend a business training at the same time that I am supposed to be taking one of my children to the dentist, for instance.  But it also keeps me on track so that I don't overschedule myself.  It makes sure that I leave time for relaxing...spending time with my family...time for vacations and social activities.

4.  Set goals.  Anyone who knows me--either personally or professionally--knows that goal setting is extremely important to me.  I think that it should be important to everyone.  If you don't have a goal and a plan to reach it, how will you know when you get there? If you do not know exactly what it is that you are trying to achieve, how will you know when you are successful? Or on the flip side...how will you know if your plan is not working? How will you know what changes to make in order to succeed? Here are a few tips for goal setting.

• Write them down.  You are 50% more likely to achieve a goal that is written down. Fifty percent!
• Remember my planner from the last point? In it you will find a list of goals for the year; for each month; and for each week. I am always thinking, writing, and revising my list of goals.
• Set both long term and short term goals.
• Break larger goals up into smaller, more manageable bits. For example, in Avon many representatives set a goal of reaching President's Club each year.  That means that they must sell at least $10,000 of Avon products each cycle year. Rather than aiming for $10,000 overall...I suggest that my team members set a goal of how much product they need to sell every two week campaign, and how many customers they need to reach to do so, based on an average order size.
• Make a written plan to achieve each goal. Don't be afraid to revise it as needed!

5.  Stay motivated! Always be searching for new sources of motivation.

•   Make a dream board with photos of all the things you want to achieve-- a vacation home, your dream vehicle, paying off debts, starting a college fund for your children...and revise it or add to it as your dreams and vision grow!
• Attend seminars, conferences, and trainings.  I heard a top earner in my company state a few weeks ago, that six figure earners attend their companies retreats...they just do! So if you want to be a six figure earner in your company...make a way to attend those same events! You will be surprised at how much you will learn, the contacts you will make, and the motivation you will gain.
• Find an accountability partner. It may be someone on your business team..your spouse, parent, child, or best friend...it could be me! Find someone with whom you can share your goals, dreams, and plans.  Make sure that it is someone that you can be honest with, and share disappointments and difficulties as well as celebrating successes. Your accountability partner should be someone who keeps you on track...who motivates you and helps you grow.

I hope these 5 tips are helpful to you! I am always looking for new ways to grow...to expand my knowledge both personally and professionally...and to make my life better in doing so! Do you have any of your own ideas or habits that have been helpful to you? I'd love to hear about them!

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