Direct sales. There are probably few careers where it can be so easy to give up. Once the initial excitement has calmed down, and once you have asked everyone you know to buy your product or have a party, the
work of owning a direct sales business is staring you in the face. Or perhaps you would be more than happy to do the work, if you just knew
what to do. Maybe you know what you need to do, but it's outside of your comfort zone, so you keep putting it off. There is no boss handing you a project with the goals and deadlines all laid out. No one watching what you do with your time, no one to answer to for the calls you should have made but didn't. This is a dangerous time, for this is when a good number of independent direct sales representatives will call the whole thing off.
Never give up!
Most "overnight success" stories do not really happen overnight. You will never hear the whole story and what had to happen before that supposed overnight success - because the person or company involved wants you to believe that things took off like a rocket ship. Guessing how others succeed is a waste of time. We all want our achievements and victories to happen quickly, but the reality is that they rarely do. Most of the time we really do have to do the work.
So, never give up!
Perseverance is one of the most important skills you can develop, and it's just that ... a skill that CAN be developed. Some people might be born with a higher innate degree of fortitude, but anyone can improve their perseverance.
Here are a few strategies to help you build your per resolve and determination:
- The only situation where fortitude will not help you is if you are dead. If you are alive, all things are still possible.
- Take the time to determine your WHY. Create a Vision Board, or Goal Board, or whatever else you want to call it. But keep your WHY front and center.
- Live "as if" - act as if you are already succeeding. Fake it 'till you make it!
- Don't compare the start of your journey with the successful completion of another person's goals. The only comparison you should make is if you have made progress on your own goals.
- Put a little pressure on yourself. You don't want to be known as someone who gave up too easily, so don't! Believe that you can and will achieve what you set out to do.
- It's been done before - literally millions of people have built successful direct sales companies. They are not innately better or smarter than you. Therefore, you can do the same! All these people have shown you that it can indeed be done.
- Let others inspire you. Read inspirational stories. Watch someone do something impossible.
- Share your successes with a cause that is important to you. Be an inspiration to others.
- You may not know how close you are to a break-through, and you will never know if you give up too soon. Seth Godin termed this "The Dip" and wrote a book with the same title. It refers to the lowest point of your whole journey - a hopeless-looking place that tends to come right before success. When you are in "The Dip" - when you are really low and have had many failures and have nothing left to lose - that is when you are likely to take your biggest risks and have the best possibility of succeeding.
- If you are feeling stuck, the most important thing is to keep moving. Sometimes that means going back to square one, or going back to basics. It will almost surely mean thinking outside of your particular box, and definitely going outside your comfort zone.
- Pushing yourself physically can clear your mind. It's almost as if pushing yourself past a physical limit allows your brain to push past a mental limit.
- Listen to your own "get pumped" song when needed.
- Vent a little when needed ... and then get back to work.
- Find someone who can and will call you out when needed. When others will accept our excuses and think that they're showing us a kindness, have at least one friend who won't.
- Quit. Quit doing the things that aren't helping you achieve your goals. If you quit something, do it because you need to focus on something else or do something better. Quit because you're quitting the right things.
- Count trees. This refers to a tactic used by long distance runners. When they feel like stopping, they will pick out a tree about 50 yards ahead and tell themselves they have to get to that point. Then they pick the next tree.
- Rejection: forget it and move on.
- Remember that there is more to your story than the difficulty you are having in this one moment. This moment will pass, your story will go on.
- You are stronger than you think.
"Fall down seven times. Get up eight." (Japanese proverb)
To Your Success!
Susan
