When we don’t feel like moving forward, it is simply because we don’t have enough reasons to help stimulate our motivation. If only someone could just turn on the switch to power-up the sense of urgency… how different would life be?

    To begin living with a sense of urgency, it’s important to understand how it originates and manifests in people’s lives. Well, there are actually two ways a sense of urgency can be created. One way is forced upon you by external events, people, and circumstances, and the other way is created from within.

    Here is a very blunt example of the first way that urgency is created. Just imagine for a moment a mafia boss kidnapped you and made all these threats against you and your family. He mentions that the only way to ensure everyone’s safety is for you to attain your goals by a certain date. Immediately this creates a sense of urgency and forces you to take the necessary action steps to attain your desired outcomes — right?  While not as extreme, this is a similar example to the company putting out an incentive or promotion – even the trips –it is an external motivator.  If you don’t do something by a certain date, you miss out.

    The second way urgency is created comes from within. Here you create either a real or imagined sense of urgency that spurs you on towards your desired outcomes. It doesn’t really matter how you end up convincing yourself to take urgent action in pursuit of your goals, as long as it creates within you a strong desire to attack your goals with purpose and get things done intelligently and quickly. This is what I was talking about with my run to Master.

    In order to create a sense of urgency, you must be fully present in the moment. Urgency only exists in the moment. Obsessively thinking about the future will only manifest in anxiety and worry — which could paralyze you and lead to procrastination. Remaining in the present will help you to focus fully on the task at hand to get the job done in the most effective and efficient means possible. This, of course, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t think about the future. Taking future deadlines into consideration is very important when it comes to creating a sense of urgency, however, what’s important is that you don’t obsess over your future, but instead stay present in order to create a sense of urgency in the moment.

    Urgency also requires a proactive approach to your tasks and projects. Like prospecting and showing the plan. Being proactive means that you are constantly thinking a few steps ahead to identify what needs to get done. Being proactive also means that you are focusing on your highest priority activities — these are the 20 percent of activities that will get you 80 percent of the results.  While sponsoring is a key indicator of growth in Shaklee, the activity that we must focus on is SHOWING THE PLAN.  Talking about the full Shaklee picture – company, products and opportunity consistently in order to enroll new people. 

    Discipline is also required to create a sense of urgency. Discipline is important because it keeps you focused and on-task no matter how many distractions and obstacles you need to fight through in order to get to your desired objective.  Are we all disciplined to enroll a MINIMUM of 10 new people into our business each month? Are we all disciplined to show the plan 15-20x/month???

    Finally, to create a sense of urgency you need to combine optimism with determination to get everything completed. Optimism will keep you motivated when things get difficult, and determination will help you wade through the difficulties that you will inevitably face along your journey.
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    Without all these habits-of-mind you will struggle to create a lasting sense of urgency in your life. In conclusion, here is a four-step process that will provide you with the foundations for living with more urgency:

Step 1: Build an Inspiring Vision for the Future

Step 2: Break You Goals Down into Parts

Step 3: Find Reasons to Move Forward

Step 4: Create Penalties and Rewards
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“Success requires both urgency and patience.  Be urgent about making the effort, and patient about seeing the results.”  ~ Ralph Marston

Name Your Year
By Jennifer Glacken
 
     As we roll into the last days of 2020, I am hoping that many of you have taken time to reflect on where you want your business to be at the end of this year.  Did you hit your goal?  Were you just shy of your goal? 
It is important to do that brief assessment of what happened and what did not happen in 2020 – I should say it this way, it is important IF YOU WANT THINGS TO BE DIFFERENT.  If you want things to stay the same, then do exactly what you did this past year.

     As I have shared many times before, just hoping you have different results or just saying things are going to be different does not make it happen.  We have to think it through.  Decide on the goals for the year.  Commit to the goal.  Create an action plan and commit to the action plan.  Then get into action and DO the plan.
Every year, I talk about naming your year.  Why Name your year?  It is Fun and if helps you Focus. Starting off with three sheets of paper, here are some tips for how to name your year. 

     On the first sheet of paper, list all the times you feel as though you missed the mark in 2020. Now, remember, these are NOT failures!!!! Just opportunities from which to learn. Those could be places where you missed the mark.  It may be personal. The key here is to capture what happened.  Especially, what did not go well. 

     On the second sheet of paper, record all of your successes, lessons learned, breakthroughs, accomplishments, and prayers answered from 2020. Take time to go through and do this.  It might take some journaling.  Looking back over 2020, combing memories to pull out all of the good ones.  The ones we really want to remember and highlight.

     On the third piece of paper, write down how you will apply what you have learned about yourself in 2020 that you can use to improve in 2021. Now, visualize ahead to December 31, 2021. What successes, wins and breakthroughs have happened? Add these to the third sheet, writing them in the present tense as if they have already happened.
Select an accountability partner.  Someone who will hold you to your goals, call you out on not doing the activity you committed to do, that type of person. Do not pick an accountability partner who will let you slide your way through missing goals. 

     Commit to your goal with an accountability partner AND by selecting an object to remember your theme.  If your year is the year of the Phoenix perhaps – coming out of the fire – maybe you get a picture of an actual Phoenix climbing out of the fire. Another example might be if your theme is "the Year of Getting out of your Comfort Zone," you may select a picture of something that terrifies you.

     When you are naming your year, you want to ask yourself a lot of questions.  You want to hone in on what you want to happen in the new year. You want to think through what the difference will be from 2020 to 2021.  For some of you, you will know right off the bat: Maybe it is the “Year of Personal Growth” or the “Year of Abundance”.

I encourage you to Name Your Year AND do everything you can to make 2021 an outstanding year!!!
 

"Last night, I ran into a friend who works as a clerk on the graveyard shift.  He attended a program I did on the power of thought not long ago.  He mentioned that he was trying to create a vision for the future--but all he could see was cracked mirrors.   He asked me what I thought would cause that.  

I replied that the likely causes were watching too  much TV (he nodded), reading the daily newspaper instead of positive books (he nodded), hanging around with negative people (now he's nodding furiously), or all three.  'Busted,' he says.
 
Like a lot of people I know, he wants a better life, and often asks me for advice on how to get it.  I used to give these people copies of 'As a Man Thinketh' and suggest they read it.  I discovered, they never found the time.  Then I switched to giving them the name, and suggesting they buy it themselves.  Most never get it.  They spend so much time in thoughts of negativity--being a victim--they don't release those thoughts and replace them with thoughts of self-improvement.
 
It's a chicken or egg thing.  They don't buy the book because they don't have positive thoughts.  They don't have positive thoughts, because they don't have the book.
 
You see a lot of parallels in Network Marketing.  You need to believe you'll be successful or you won't be.  But you need to believe it before it happens.  Most people fail because they can't keep this positive frame of mind until they actually manifest success……." ~Randy Gage

This is going to be a bit long….had a creative moment before leaving for church!

So, what can a career in social marketing offer you?

FREEDOM: to be our own boss, work your own hours, and write your own bonus check. Most people either have enough money but not enough time to spend it OR have enough time but no money to develop a lifestyle.

INCOME: What does Beyonce (singer) and James Patterson (writer) have in common? They (or their estates) get residual income from the work they have already completed. Every time someone buys their product or t-shirt, baseball cap, etc with their logo on it, they get paid. They don't have to go to work daily to earn an income. They did the work originally and years later they are still getting paid for it. That is true residual income.

RETIREMENT: Unless you have a business that gives you residual income, you are likely to be working until you are 65 years old. Oftentimes, people have to work way beyond that age because they cannot support their lifestyle on what they earn from their retirement and what they have set aside in savings, 401K's, etc.

SECURITY: Most people assume they have security if they have a JOB. They bank their families' future livelihood on that JOB. Unfortunately, we live in a world today where no one is guaranteed a job for life. As a matter of fact, resumes these days can be pages long with a person job hopping every 2-5 years. What happens if you lose that JOB? How does it affect your family? Are all your eggs in one basket or do you have Multiple Streams of Income?

TIME: Do you have the time to do all that you want to do? Once spent, time is gone. You can't get it back. When you look back on your life, will you have spent your time doing what you wanted to do or will you be trading time for money?

Social marketing businesses like Shaklee offer you a different lifestyle. You have to put the effort in up front….I always say 5-7 years of consistent effort. Once you invest in your Shaklee business, though, you will have a lifestyle that others dream of having. You will have the freedom, income, retirement, security and time to do what YOU WANT TO DO!

Make the 5-7 year commitment folks. Be consistent with your activity. You won't regret it!

When you are out prospecting, think of yourself as a problem solver. Ask questions to figure out what is really going on for the person and SOLVE their problem. Most people are looking for better health or more wealth. Shaklee can be the answer to both of those issues!

OK…today’s topic is going to be a fun one I hope!  The topic is four words:  rejection, deception, apathy and attrition.  Now, most of you are thinking that I am crazy!  How could those four words be fun?  When people are newer in this business, these four words (actually the actions of others) can derail their business and quickly.  Maybe you have heard the story of the FOUR MAJOR ENEMIES before and maybe you haven’t.  Either way, we are going to go through it this morning with some added commentary. 

 
I am going to tell you about the Four Major Enemies in a story form and then stop every now and then to add my comments and observations.

 

The story is about a man named Dean and believe it or not, it is a true story.  I’m not going to bog you down with his real name—I just want you to listen to the story and take in the lessons.  It will help you understand what it takes to make it in the industry of social marketing.  All too often, people give up their hopes and dreams for their future because they don’t know about or perhaps just don’t understand the FOUR MAJOR ENEMIES that EVERYONE will face as they build this business. 

 


Dean was from a small town in Wisconsin.  He was financially stressed; on the verge of losing his job, car and home.  One day, he had someone share social marketing with him.  Dean's sponsor told him the following,  “This business can set you financially free in 5-7 years.  However, to succeed, you will have to face and accept the four enemies.”  Dean agreed and wanted to start quickly so that he could get out of the financial situation he was in.  

 

Doing as he was told, Dean quickly make a list of names of 200 people he knew that he would invite to his home to watch a video.  Dean called every single name on his list. He shared his excitement and passion to invite these people. Out of 200 calls, 90 said NO; I’m not interested.

 

Dean encountered ENEMY #1:  REJECTION!  While Dean could not understand how they would not be interested, he was ok because his sponsor warned him about that.  He still had 110 people who were going to come over.    

 

Now, here is some of my commentary:  most new people don’t put enough names on their list to begin with.  Dean was very coachable and got a large list together.  When that close family member or good friend says no thanks, a lot of people are stunned.  They are hurt and often times will quit.  ESPECIALLY if they are not prepared for NO’s.  We want to make sure that all of our new people know that some people will tell them NO.  That is part of the business.  And, we need to have a big enough list that we never run out of names!

 

Ok, back to our story.

 

Out of the 110 people that say they would come over to watch the video, guess what?  40 didn’t show up!  Dean had just encountered ENEMY #2:  DECEPTION!  Again Dean, thought, no problem.  My sponsor warned me about that, too.  I still have 70 people that have now watched the video.  I’ll have lots of people that will be ready to join me and build the business now that they have seen this fantastic opportunity.

 

I have a couple of comments here, too.  A new person in this industry is always on fire about their first event.  The Grand Opening of their business.  If the sponsor is not careful, they can get discouraged.  Having people say no thanks and then not show up can play a head game on people  Instead of focusing on who doesn’t show up, we need to focus on who DOES show up.  Give our attention to them!

 

Once again, back to our story.

 

OK…guess what happened next?  52 of the 70 people who watched the presentation, still were not interested in the fantastic opportunity Dean was showing them.  Dean encountered ENEMY #3:  APATHY!  Again, this did not upset Dean.  His sponsor told him that this, too, was part of the process.  Dean was excited because 18 people DID join and now he had 18 new business builders.  Or did he?

 

As Dean began to follow up with his new business builders, he discovered one by one for various reasons, his new builders were not really building—they were not contacting and inviting, they were not having meetings and weren’t coming to meetings.  One by one his business builders dropped out.  Dean had finally encountered ENEMY #4:  ATTRITION!  Guess what?  Dean was prepared by his sponsor for this enemy as well.  

 

From his 18 business builders, Dean had 1 serious business partner.  Dean went to work with that person and taught him how to build the business.  Dean led by example.  Dean showed his serious builder how to plug into the system and use the duplicatable tools that his team had in place and, YES, he taught his builder about the FOUR MAJOR ENEMIES.

 

This one builder went on to build a huge organization of sales leaders and Dean ended up earning over $40,000/month in leadership bonuses on that single organization. 

 

Dean’s odds were 1 out of 200!  Were those good odds?  Absolutely!  Chances are that your odds may be better than that—at least we will work to help you increase those odds.  The exciting thing here, though, is that this industry offers amazing rewards for being successful.  But, to do so, we have to play the numbers game.  We have to conquer the four enemies and get out there and share the FULL Shaklee picture:  the company, the products and the opportunity. 

 

Here is the lesson :  Your success is directly related to the degree to which you are willing to work to find others like yourself who are committed to succeed.  Will that be everyone you talk to???  NO!

 

Because Shaklee has a fantastic product line, you will get a large chunk of the people who are not interested in the business who are interested in the products.  We don’t mind that!  That works, too!  If those people have a life change or circumstance change or they just get sick and tired of being sick and tired, they might upgrade from product user to business partner.

 

  

 

When you are who YOU WANT to be and your face and conquer the FOUR MAJOR ENEMIES, you CAN do this business.  You will succeed in ways you never imagined.  I want each of you to visualize being Dean---at the beginning of his journey with his list of 200 names and at the end of the story when he is earning $50,000/month off of one leg in his organization.  THAT can be you.  YOU CAN DO IT!  It is entirely up to you and your decision to get out there and do the activities you need to do.

When my son David was born (back in 1992), I was just like any other mom.  I was so in love with my baby and wanted to do everything right.  Nursing him was not as simple as I thought it was going to be but I hung in there for his health.  Little did I know, I was doing something every day in my home that was affecting his health--in a BIG way.

You see, my son was born 3 weeks premature.  While that is not super early in the world of preemies, he was premature because he had fluid on his lungs.  When I left the hospital, I had to leave him behind.  That was one of the hardest days of my life….I will never forget leaving the hospital without my baby.  And, when we would come back to visit (if you can call 8-10 hours visiting), he was hooked up to all sorts of tubes.  Very scary for a first time mom and dad.  

Finally, after several days, we were able to bring him home.  In order to keep the house germ-free, I was spraying disinfectant everywhere.  This was my BIG mistake.  From the time David came home, we could not seem to stop his respiratory infections.  We spent more time at the Dr's office and hospital than we did at home.  I truly believe that our doctor was sick of seeing us!  It seemed like nothing helped so I continued to spray the disinfectant everywhere:  crib, changing table, carseat carrier, etc.  And, David continued to get sick.

One night when he was about 6 months old, we were just coming home from the hospital after RSV (the respiratory syncytial virus.)  With us, we had the nebulizer and albuterol drug to give David.   It was then that a friend shared Shaklee with us.  She encouraged us to use their environmentally safe cleaning products in order to help David.  Initially, the hair stood up on the back of my neck.  What in the world did cleaning products have to do with my son's health?  But, I loved him enough to try.  

From the time we brought the Shaklee cleaners into our home, my son stopped getting sick.  Our friend had suggested putting all the other cleaners we owned outside in the garage so that the "out-gassing" did not bother David.  My friend shared how safe the cleaners were and because they were highly concentrated, they were going to save us money.

I didn't care about anything other than my son's health.  And, you know what happened?  My son stopped getting sick.  It was remarkable.  

From there, we started to use the other products that Shaklee offered:  nutrition, personal care, and water purification.    We fell in love with the ethics and integrity of an outstanding company……a company rich with history and heritage.  

In my next post, I will share how my business started………………..