If you have ever been in Direct Sales, you will know exactly what I’m talking about. Sometimes business is booming. Customers seem to be falling from the sky. Parties or appointments come easily and you may even be adding people to your organization.

And then for no apparent reason…

Nothing. Everything seems to stop. You feel like you have failed. Leads don’t pan out. People won’t call you back. Sales drop…
Sound familiar?

If not, I am so glad to hear it! If so, welcome to the wonderful world of Direct Sales. It is completely natural for you to have highs and lows in your business. The important thing is what you choose to do about it. Do you sit on your couch moping and hoping? Do you get out and pound the pavement and look for new people to talk to? Do you sit home and wonder what you are doing wrong or do you read new books, listen to tele-classes or take trainings to improve yourself?

The truth is, no matter what happens, you are going to have times of plenty and times of …not so plenty. Sometimes it is because of the season, a move, a life change (like a baby, graduation, death, etc.), or even just the time of the month. The difference is, those who survive these down times are the ones who push through it and get to work.

So which will you do- push through the tough times or simply give up?

www.Time4Felt.com

www.Time4Felt.com

Here are some great tips I’ve found online this week:

How To Create A Celebrity Status For Your Online Business!

Why your Small Business needs a Blog

Search Engine Optimization Strategies (Good SEO Strategy)

WordPress.com VS WordPress.org

www.Time4Felt.com

www.Time4Felt.com

Have you checked out the idea of the week over at the Booster? No matter what business you are in, you can find something in the simple (but wonderful) suggestions there. Visit http://www.thebooster.com/scripts/idea_weekly.asp to see what they have to offer you.

www.Time4Felt.com

www.Time4Felt.com

As a professional in the Direct Selling industry for many years now, I have realized many times what qualities I have that are considered strengths and weaknesses to me.  Which ones help me and which hinder me.

All of us posses skills that will advance us in any career choice and others that will hold us back.  The trick is to identify the ones that are holding you back and modify them into a strength.

For example- I am task oriented.  I love to-do lists and checking things off of my lists.  I also really enjoy talking to people and just visiting.  I have discovered that If I do not make a list of what I want to accomplish each day, then I will waste away the day visiting to friends, family and even online “working” on my social media.  IF I write out a to-do list and then work on my list, I can still visit, but I know the other things I must accomplish before I go to bed, keeping me more on track.

So what are some of the things you struggle with?  What areas do you feel you could spend a little more time on to make it more of a strength?  What areas do you feel your business may be suffereing becuase of?

By first identifying your areas of weakness, you can then work at turning them into strengths by finding a book, talking to others or just self reflection and  a slight modification to how you have been doing things.  If we can manage to make the weak things strong, our businesses will thrive and we, as individuals, will grow and excel too.

www.Time4Felt.com

www.Time4Felt.com

Have you noticed my new signature line? Well, I was able to create it for free at My Live Signature.com .  It only took me a few minutes.  I have tried a few different times to search Google for just such a site, with little success.

All you have to do is enter in the text you want turned into a signature.  Then you get to choose from over 100 fonts to find the one you like best.  Next you choose the size, color and even the slope (so that if you always sign on a slant, it will reflect that too).   You can even upload an image to their site.  The process was so simple and I LOVE the results.  I have changed all my email signatures to this one and I’m even using it here on my blog as well as on my other blogs.

I highly recommend this service as well as adding a custom signature to your blog and/or email.  It makes it more personal and a lot more pretty (not to mention professional).

www.Time4Felt.com

www.Time4Felt.com

Twitter hashtags can be a lot of fun if you know how to use them. Basically you use the # symbol followed by whatever you would like to tag something in. Some hashtags are:

#followfriday
#ff (also follow friday, just shorter)
#quote (used if you are quoting someone)
#diy (do it yourself)
#latenightsnack
#golf
#nfl

etc. The benefit of using hashtags is that if someone else is wanting to get in on that conversation or find out information about something like #nflplayoffs then they can search all the twitter feeds by that hashtag and see what is going on.
It is a fun way to connect with new people and also to simply search by subject.

A few words of warning. Don’t overuse. If you are using a hashtag on every tweet, it gets a little boring. When using a hashtag, they only recognize the letters directly following the # symbol. Any spaces or dashes, etc. will end the hashtag. So rather than using #season-finale be sure to use #seasonfinale

To find more popular hashtags, login to twitter and look for the trending topics column. Those are the most commonly used hashtags at the time. Join in the conversation with something intelligent and meaningful to say and have fun.

Feel free to follow me at http://www.twitter.com/@time4felt -I like to think that I’m pretty fun and I will follow you back.

www.Time4Felt.com

www.Time4Felt.com

There is always something you can be doing in your business.  Are you more of a paper-pusher or a people person?   Would you rather be on the phone connecting with prospects or booking your next show or recruiting someone new or filling, reworking documents, ordering new address labels, sorting inventory, etc.?

I tend to fall into the 2nd category.  I love to do the work behind the scenes and the thought of getting on the phone will convince me to do even the most disgusting of household chores to merely avoid calling.  This has been a downfall of my business and one that has hindered my progress long enough.  I am seizing the day and determined to get on that phone.

A saying that has helped me lately has been “I call because I care”.  I care enough about people to follow up and follow through.  While it may not be eays, I WILL succeed with this.

So, my advise to you…examine your To-done list.  What things are you completing regularly in your business and what are you putting off.  Are the things you are putting off costing you?  What can you change to get those items completed that you are avoiding?

Get those ToDo’s in order and then get ‘um done.

Awnya Boam

Time4Felt.com

www.Time4Felt.com

Would you like to shed some extra inches and/or pounds? Do you feel like there is a happier, healthier you hidden behind some extra weight? SlenderMargo is here to help!  While this blog is still really new, I have known Margo herself for years and years and I am amazed and truly impressed with her journey.  She has been trying for years and years with many other diet plans with little or short lived success.  But now, she has found Take Shape For Life.

As and independent representative, she has lost an impressive amount of weight for her son’s wedding last year and continues to do wonderfully as she is shrinking almost daily.   At one point, I went to visit and didn’t even recognize her because she had lost so much!

On her blog, SlenderMargo she will be talking about her weight loss journey.  It will be a place where you can find support and encouragement as well as a solution to any extra pounds that you may have in a safe and effective way.

Go visit now and see what you think!

Awnya Boam

Time4Felt.com

www.Time4Felt.com

Here are a few tips I’ve learned over the years on how to may your Direct Sales Party a Success:

1. Don’t lecture. People came to PARTY so play games, award prizes, be silly. If they wanted a lecture they could have stayed home and listened to talk radio or the news. They want fun, so make it fun.
2. Details don’t matter – at least at first. If you give a detailed description of each product, you will loose the group. highlight 3-4 of your favorites or ask which products they are DYING to see. Later on in the evening they can ask you any questions they have about the specifics of the product.
3. Have commercials. During my home shows, I announce that I am doing a commercial. 30 seconds to talk about joining my team or having their own party. I do 3 commercials per party to keep it light and fun.
4. Have a cheerleader. I choose a super-fun gal to cheer-lead for me. When I say commercial time, her job is to say “yeah!!” If a guest participates, she cheers for them. This keeps the excitement level up and fun time rolling.
5. Have the guests tell about the products- this is a fun way to involve the guests and keep you from talking the whole time. I simply hand out catalogs and let guests choose a product from my display. They then become the expert on their product and take turns telling the group about it. It is neat to see who is really trying to sell it. At the end you can even vote on who did the best job and award a prize. (this also works great because they are grabbing their favorite product that they see, so you can get an idea of what they want to buy)
6. Publicly thank your host/hostess.  Give them praise and sincere thanks for inviting you into their home and introducing you to their guests.  You can even give her a small thank you gift.
7. Keep it short.  People are busy and don’t have time to sit and listen to you for 3 hours.  Keep your formal party time to 30-45 minutes.  Then they can visit, eat and leave when they need to and you are being respectful of their time
8. Close the party quickly.  You want to respect those who ordered the night of the party.  If you keep it open for 2 or 3 weeks, the odds of other orders coming in is very low and the people that DID order want their stuff.  I usually allow 2-3 days after the party to close it, but have also closed it the same night the party was help.  Either way, close it quickly to honor those who did order.
9. Offer value – more than usual.  This is a fancy way of saying go the extra mile.  Add something of yourself to what they are buying.  You can do this by  teaching them how to “coordinate outfits more effectively”, “how to get your house smelling like a 1,000,000 bucks” or “picking the jewelry to accent your face shape”.  Find a way to add value to what they are buying.  Plus, this is a great way to get guests to the party in the first place.
10. Take a deep breath and have fun.  Don’t be afraid to be a little silly.  A lot of times we get hung up on looking so professional that we loose the fun factor.  So what if they think you are strange.  Studies show that if the guests have a good time, they will spend more money.  AND if they have fun, they are more likely to host their own party or join you in your business.   So relax and enjoy yourself.

Follow these simple tips to have more enjoyable and profitable parties and you will truly find Direct Sales Success!

Awnya Boam

Time4Felt

www.Time4Felt.com

A thought came to me today. – Have you ever watched Snow White? The wicked queen is so determined to be the “fairest in the land” that she plots to kill Snow White. She becomes so focused on the fact that Snow White is also very pretty that she looses sight of everything else. She becomes SO focused that she even ends up transforming herself into an ugly old woman to destroy another, which then defeats the entire purpose of getting rid of Snow White.

Lesson learned: Sometimes we become SO focused on one tiny goal that we loose sight of the big picture. If the queen would have just left Snow White alone, then she would have married the prince and moved far away. Then, mission accomplished. Fairest in the land (because Snow White would live at the Prince’s kingdom).

Keep focused on the BIG picture. On your BIG goals. This way, we won’t end up undermining yourself in the end.

www.Time4Felt.com