| Doing Business in the 21st Century | | | | What you need to do is think ahead and plan |
| So, you've decided to be an entrepreneur, which | | | | ahead. Figure out when it is you can work on your |
| probably means it wasn't a decision at all. You either | | | | business and when that time comes - work on your |
| ARE an entrepreneur or you are NOT. | | | | business. Refer to your task list and calendar to tell |
| Entrepreneurs guide their own destiny and build their | | | | you what you are supposed to be doing. Do not |
| own businesses using systems to facilitate intentional | | | | make excuses to yourself as to why you can not |
| forward movement. | | | | get these things done, when the time comes, JUST |
| What entrepreneurs recognize is that they must | | | | DO THEM! |
| focus on is continual self improvement and personal | | | | Jillian Middleton speaks about setting Store Hours |
| development. Just because someone possesses | | | | and this is one of the best systems you could |
| vision and desire does not necessarily mean they | | | | possibly implement. You set the hours in advance |
| know how to manage their time, promote their | | | | that you will work in any given week, (they can |
| business or balance their personal and professional | | | | change each week) and then, You Stick To Them. |
| lives. | | | | Learning to work with children around is |
| A crucial part of being in business is having the ability | | | | unavoidable. |
| to design and implement systems to regulate your | | | | Long distance communications - making the |
| business and make it easier to manage. | | | | connection |
| There are many areas that need to be managed in | | | | Let's face it. There is just absolutely no reason in the |
| order to grow a successful business, however, | | | | world why any of us can not effectively |
| without breaking them down and going into the more | | | | communicate with anyone long distance. We can run |
| specific areas of parties, customer service, bookings, | | | | our businesses entirely from our computers if we |
| hostess coaching, organization, recruiting and so on, | | | | have to using tools already available to us. |
| we can very easily break down our business into 3 | | | | So, the only thing to think about is improving our skills |
| Major Categories: | | | | in delivering our message, training or any other form |
| 1. Managing Your Customers | | | | of communication so that it gets across to the |
| 2. Managing Your Team | | | | person on the other end. This is important. |
| 3. Managing Management (That would be you!) | | | | How often has someone left a message on your |
| In order to be able to continually build and manage | | | | answering machine and rattled off their phone |
| your business, you must not only be able to keep up | | | | number so fast, you had to play back the message 4 |
| with its growth but also be constantly introducing | | | | or 5 times to get the number down? Now this is |
| tools with which to propel it continually forward. | | | | crazy. How long have we had voice mail? You would |
| To lay it out in black and white, if you are going to | | | | think people would clue in that they have to think |
| do business in the 21st century, you must have a | | | | about the person listening to the message and give |
| 21st century business and use 21st century systems | | | | the number slowly so the person can write it down. |
| and tools. If you do not, you will reach a point where | | | | This is key. Focus on what the person on the other |
| you will fall far behind the more modern, efficient | | | | end has to do to receive your message, whether by |
| entrepreneurs who truly know how to maximize and | | | | phone, email or online video conference. Without |
| capitalize on all resources available to them. | | | | considering this, communication will break down. |
| 21st Century Toolbox | | | | Social Networking |
| Now, as far as I am concerned and I think as far as | | | | Social Networking Sites: |
| the business world is concerned, the days of recipe | | | | Direct Matches - Business |
| card record keeping, birthday and phone directory | | | | Direct Matches is my most recent discovery. You |
| books and hearing a knock at the door followed by | | | | probably thought the same thing I did, that it was |
| "AVON calling" are gone - and they are not coming | | | | simply a dating site. I have recently discovered that |
| back! | | | | there is an entirely separate division for business that |
| If you are living in the stone ages, you will not have | | | | has been used for years and has a HUGE following. I |
| a business that thrives or even survives in the 21st | | | | recently registered and was flooded with contacts of |
| century. | | | | all kinds with resources to follow up on. |
| So, lets fast forward to where we need to be and | | | | Facebook |
| get settled right in there. | | | | For anyone who hasn't figured this out yet, |
| Managing Your Customers | | | | Facebook is a great way to connect and stay |
| There are just a ton of different programs that you | | | | connected with people both personally and |
| can use for contact management, time management | | | | professionally. Using the photo album functions, video |
| and maintaining communication. Have a look at | | | | links, and business pages etc. You can effectively |
| programs like Outlook, Oprius, I-Contact, Skype and | | | | market your business. Being that Facebook now gets |
| Maximizer and see if they might work for you. | | | | more traffic than Google, you will probably find that |
| The advantages of using an electronic system are: | | | | you will start getting people contacting you and even |
| Breaking down your contacts into endless | | | | finding you through searches within Facebook on a |
| categories and sub categories such as: | | | | regular basis. |
| - Previous Hostesses | | | | MySpace |
| - Previous Direct Sales | | | | MySpace seems to be used more and more for |
| - Catalog Requests | | | | music related type profiles and connections, however, |
| - Team Members | | | | it is still another place to plunk yourself online to be |
| - Head Office Contacts | | | | found! Facebook, LinkedIn and Direct Matches |
| - Other Consultants | | | | probably offer more to us now. |
| - Exhibit Contacts | | | | Twitter |
| - And so on. | | | | Today, Twitter, is the hottest social networking site |
| You are able to store a vast amount of | | | | on the internet. You can expand your reach to |
| information on each of your contacts including both | | | | potential clients by following people with common |
| personal information and information on their previous | | | | interests; in turn, they will often follow your posts on |
| business interactions with you | | | | Twitter. In this instance, more is better-more contact |
| You can use the Calendar function to manage | | | | equals more business! |
| your time, schedule appointments and set reminders | | | | Orkut |
| for yourself for things like: | | | | Orkut is Google's version of Facebook. Use it! |
| - Home Parties | | | | Ning let's anybody set up their own social |
| - Phone Calls to be made | | | | networking site for free. Many of the Ning sites |
| - Customer Service Calls | | | | appeal to narrow niches, but others are more general. |
| - Re-Book a Previous Customer | | | | Within Ning you have the ability to share content |
| - Etc. | | | | with all Ning friends across all networks |
| You can use the Task List as an ongoing to do | | | | simultaneously. You can write a blog post and share it |
| list and eliminate all of those post it notes! | | | | easily with thousands of friends. |
| You will be able to do focused marketing | | | | YouTube |
| directed at specific customers based on who they | | | | YouTube offers us the opportunity to broadcast |
| are and what they are looking for or are interested | | | | ourselves or our products live, or, create a nice slide |
| in. | | | | show presentation to be posted. Visual presentations |
| Find out when your cell phone contract expires and | | | | are great, give it a whirl! |
| make a Blackberry or similar device your next "Must | | | | Blogging is a very powerful tool available to us. |
| Have" item. | | | | Blog posts are picked up very well online and by |
| When you have a Blackberry, you can synchronize | | | | running your own blog, or simply posting in the blogs |
| your Blackberry to your computer daily to keep on | | | | of others and leaving your website address, you will |
| track. This way, you can record information and book | | | | generate targeted traffic to your site and business. |
| appointments from anywhere, any time. | | | | Linked In |
| You will never double book and never have to tell | | | | LinkedIn is a great business-only social networking |
| ANYONE that you will have to get back to them | | | | site. LinkedIn's potential lies in it's many diverse and |
| after you check your calendar. | | | | successful groups and their ongoing discussions. What |
| A key piece of information in the home party | | | | better way to network than to participate in the |
| business is the directions to your hostess's house | | | | discussions of groups that attract the types of |
| which you can record in your contact file in your | | | | people you want to meet? You can also build up a |
| Outlook program. Unless they move, you will never | | | | very large network on LinkedIn which will enable you |
| have to ask your hostess to repeat the complete | | | | to communicate directly with the people you want |
| directions to their house for you again. | | | | without having to get past the usual gatekeepers. |
| Having your own business website is a given today. | | | | Members will also be able to search for and find you. |
| If you don't have a website in today's society, you | | | | Online Advertising & Promotion |
| will miss a huge, essential piece of the pie. | | | | Submit Your Site to Search Engines |
| Another 21st century tool you might find useful is the | | | | Submit Your Site to Directories |
| Tom-Tom, or a similar device. Never again will you be | | | | Priority Business Listings With Product Stores |
| late for an appointment because you've gotten lost | | | | Online FREE Classifieds |
| on the way. When you have one of these in your | | | | Social Networking |
| vehicle, you need only to put in your destination | | | | Backlinks |
| address and your are guided right to where you | | | | Blogging |
| want to go. A lifesaver for anyone who routinely | | | | Avoiding Online Time Wasters |
| gets lost or who can't follow directions - you know | | | | Let's face it, surfing the net can eat up more |
| who you are! | | | | precious time than you can spare. Focusing on what |
| Managing Your Team | | | | you need to do and working through your days task |
| The members of your downline are the most | | | | list without wandering off in other directions can be |
| important people you will ever do business with. | | | | very difficult. It will take some practice and |
| Recruiting must always be our prime focus in the | | | | determination to tell yourself to finish the things you |
| business. | | | | NEED to get done before "playing". |
| Training your new recruits and helping them to | | | | Secondly, and I think we have all seen this, using |
| succeed is the key to succeeding yourself. Once you | | | | sites that can be good resources for us can also |
| have developed and implemented systems that work | | | | tempt us to fiddle more than we should. This is |
| and help build your business, it is essential that you | | | | particularly evident on sites like Facebook. I hear way |
| pass these on to your team. | | | | to often how people honestly think they are "So |
| Staying in touch with your team is vital to the | | | | Busy", however, they are not using their time wisely |
| success of your business. Following initial training, it is | | | | a good portion of the time. If someone has time to |
| still important to be in contact with the members of | | | | update their Facebook status hourly, they have time |
| your team on an ongoing basis. | | | | to get some work done! Seriously, if anyone has the |
| Online team meetings are becoming even more | | | | time and the desire to get hourly updates on what |
| important as we build our businesses across the | | | | you are doing, wearing or thinking about, they have |
| country. Doing individual or group conference audio | | | | too much time on their hands, sign them up! |
| and video calls can keep you even more in touch | | | | Technology Etiquette |
| than ever before. | | | | Common sense. That's all it takes. Each site has rules |
| A Web Cam is another 21st century tool that should | | | | and regulations for what you can and can't do on |
| be on your "must have" list. Having the ability to do | | | | that particular site. |
| training, meetings, and even parties via Web Cam has | | | | The point that I really want to get across is this. The |
| brought our business to a whole new level and you | | | | phone is still the most personal way to connect with |
| should certainly be taking advantage of this. | | | | someone so don't fall back on technology entirely or |
| Your Business Website is also important in maintaining | | | | try to hide behind it to avoid personal contact. |
| good communication with your team, just as it is | | | | Know when it is the right and wrong time to use |
| with your customers. | | | | technology. Again, avoid hiding behind your computer |
| Managing Management | | | | to avoid confronting something you do not want to |
| One of the most commonly asked questions of | | | | face or deal with. This will be recognized. |
| home based business entrepreneurs, is, how do I get | | | | And, what may be the most obvious point when it |
| organized. Yikes. | | | | comes to technology is this, know when to put it |
| You absolutely MUST have some form of | | | | away! |
| designated area in which to work your business. | | | | We are not brain surgeons, therefore, life will go on if |
| Without this, I think it would be next to impossible to | | | | we don't immediately returns calls and texts. |
| function with any degree of efficiency. | | | | As leaders, investigating and introducing new |
| Having an office space is simply not enough, you | | | | technology to our teams is part of our responsibility. |
| must organize it. | | | | |