Personal Growth…It Starts With Others

Personal Growth…It Starts With Others

Boy oh boy, I cannot begin to express how difficult this year has been so far and honestly I am a little bit pooped.  As a woman with many titles and a lot going on the idea of being an entrepreneur with Young Living was not really an option for me.   After sharing my love for the company and learning about the opportunity with Young Living I said “Why not?” to the business. Little did I know building a business would lead to more personal growth then I was ready for. 

             
Personal growth is a huge part of running and growing a business.  For those of you like me that saw Young Living as an opportunity to work for yourself and build a better life you know what I am talking about.  When I started “working” the business I did what I could, made a lot of mistakes but grew little by little.  When nothing dramatic happened in my business after a year and half I could see how some people get to this place and just give up or say “this isn’t for me”…but I decided to stick it out.  What I didn’t realize is that I had to grow before my business could grow….and guess what?....personal growth is hard.

                
Personal growth is when you can hone in on your talents and strengths to use them for…wait for it….helping others.  Well for those of you who read that and are like “Duh!” then you are in a better spot then I was.  I knew that I wanted to help people, but always viewed personal growth as…Personal, meaning all about me!  Can this focus on others really help grow your businesses? Yes, of course it can!   The question is how do we work on growing in our personal lives to best effect our growing businesses.

                
I was never one for personal development books…which sounds so arrogant…and honestly it was.  I thought I knew myself, sure didn’t need a book to show me how to be me, well I was super wrong about that.  Have you ever been challenged and start questioning how you have been doing things all along? Well that is what has happened to me as I started on the journey of reading personal development books….I should clarify, I honestly don’t have time for recreational reading so I listen to books as I commute.  I know many of you can relate to this so download Audible and get reading/listening.  Find books that speak to you, I started a John Maxwell book and love it, also Dani Johnson’s First Steps to Success was very perspective changing. Getting to this step of reading and building into my growth only happened because one of my leaders put together book studies.  You and a friend can start reading a book together and discuss what you found to be valuable. On top of learning to grow, we have to start actually applying our new found skills and knowledge, easier said than done.

              
One area I tend to be great in is the purposeful thinking….not so much doing.  I have great ideas that rarely see the light of day. I started to really question this tendency as it is affecting my YL business growth.  I would fill my planner with all of these great intentions, but not actually do them (care calls, follow-ups, posts..ect.).  One of my biggest challenges toward my personal growth is to just do what I say I’m going to do.  I give myself one huge task that I really don’t want to do…or I should say I don’t want to follow through on, and I just do it.  I was very nervous about the daunting task of care calls….not sure why checking in with people is daunting but for me I really was opposed.  When I committed to these calls things shifted and changed.  Focusing on doing instead of thinking is where the growth happens, this is still a challenge for me but I am working on it.  Next we have to genuinely focus on others...not ourselves. 

We are in the business of relationships, so reaching out and fostering relationships without expectation of a sale is really what this is all about.  Most of my friends use Young Living and are in my downline, but I never call them to talk about a sale….we talk about life! This is how we become successful in our business; when we can make our goal to reach out to people to foster a real relationship, not entice a sale.  Reaching out to others is letting them know that we are thinking about them and there for them.  This includes family, friends, co-workers and our business relationships.  A message, text, call, or letter can all be a great way to show people that we care.  When your focus is not on you…you are growing.  

I wrote this as I am working hard at building a life of purpose and abundance. Personal development is not easy and honestly I am still working hard at finding myself and my purpose, but I thought I would share a little bit of my journey with you. 

The Art of Collaboration and Business Building

I adore my wonderful Young Living team and my bestie the other Christina, I am lucky to have people in this business to collaborate with.  I owned my own business for 8 years and loved the ability to be my own boss, but one downside was not having anyone to pow-wow with.  When starting my Young Living business I was lucky enough to be a part of a supportive team and have my close friend in the business as well. I will outline for you some great tips I have picked up along the way to help you maximize collaboration and grow your young Living business.

Before I outline some successes and tips on collaboration in your business I would like to offer some encouragement.

1. You do not need someone else to be successful, and often times we will rely on another person for our successes instead of being accountable for our "needs improvement" areas.
2. You have a "Why" and it should not change regardless of who you collaborate with. 
3. Everyone progresses at their own pace. This is not a race, its a journey and know that you may not get to the destination as quickly, but you will get there if you don't give up!
4. Do not get caught up in the "I need support for success" mentality. In this business we all have leadership and it may take going a up few levels (or across) to find the support you desire. Keep in mind that you have everything you need...Young Living provides the absolute best for sharing, learning, and growing in this business; if you have nothing else you have your Virtual Office packed full of these resources!

Ok now on to how and why collaboration in this business model can really help you grow! 

Finding Your Ying: 

It can be hard to find the ying to your yang, but not impossible! Finding another person to collaborate with (even if it is only on one project) can be difficult if you don't already have someone in mind.  Here are my tips for finding that someone:

• Ask someone in your downline if that would like to work on a class/event/blog together. You may be surprised to find out that someone in your downline is interested in working this business also.   
• Ask someone not yet in the business.  Sometimes the best way to encourage involvement is through collaboration.  You can ask a family member or friend to help you come up with some make and take ideas or to help you with an event. Most people are willing to help and you may even find your next business builder.
• Find a local Young Living distributor who might also be interested in collaborating. It is always nice to talk shop with another Young Living member!

Accountability:

Personal accountability is absolutely necessary for success. We must stay honest with ourselves and have good habits set in place.  Personal accountability can be difficult, but accountability to someone else is a much bigger responsibility.  If you are like me that last thing you want to do is let some one down.  When you don't follow through on a personal goal you are only letting yourself down, but when working with your partner you really have to come through on your promises.  Your partner in collaboration will also hold you accountable to your own personal business goals.  Christina is the best at encouraging me past my Eeyore moments, and keeping me focused on my bigger goals.  I let her know what my goals are and also what my steps are to get there, and believe me she will ask me how I am doing!

Bigger Outcomes:

If you are like me and probably a lot of us in this business we have had one or more classes where no one came.  It can be such a let down and can often prevent people from perusing classes in the future.  I have scheduled about 50% more classes with collaborating then on my own.  Christina and I host online, make and takes, and intro classes together.  This has made it possible for us to bring more people together and have less classes with people not showing up.  It is a fun and rewarding experience as we both instruct and share differently in these classes.  If you decided to team up with another member remember you are now able to offer two perspectives on products, have a larger gathering, and get creative with classes. 

Inspiration:

I am inspired by many people in the essential oil community, and truly love hearing others success stories, but it is different when it's your friend.  Building your business with your partner makes for a rewarding experience as you get to share in their success.  This is one area that you will need to check your ego and jealousy at the door. I have been able to watch Christina through struggles and success grow in her Young Living business and it is incredibly inspiring.  

Collaboration can also bring about new ideas and ways of sharing.  Christina and I hosted our first vendor event this year and it was an great success. You do not have to be in the same city to collaborate and find inspiration, I am part of many Facebook groups that share tips and ideas. You can also ask your team what they would like to see as far as class topics or ask another business builder what they are finding successful.  

Tips: 

Here are a few tips to collaborate successfully:

1. Keep money out of it.  Money can complicate things so either split everything up front or don't work together if money needs to be a part of it.
2. Check yourself.  If you can't be real with your strengths and weaknesses then you won't be of any benefit to your partner. Know what you bring to the table and learn how to compliment those around you.
3. Don't over commit and under deliver.  When working with someone else you need to come through on your commitments, we are all busy (no matter what that looks like) and that can not be an excuse. 

Keeping the Dream Alive

Keeping Your Dream Alive

I have a dream...you have a dream, but how do we keep the dream alive..and more importantly how do we achieve these dreams.  It's normal to go through life with changing goals and desires, but how often do they get abandoned because life bogs us down? If you are like me (and most people) even with the best intentions life can get in the way and get us off track.  I will outline just a few easy tips for staying on track to reaching your goals.

Tracking Progress:

This is an important tool to not only keep us on track but to show us how far we have come.  There are times I will find myself down about not being farther along in my business. I have tracked my progress since the begging of starting my business and it helps me to see how far I have come. Seeing how far you have come will help you to see that your dream is worth the additional effort to keep forging ahead. Creating a template for tracking progress will be dependent on the specific goals you are looking to achieve. For the goals in my Young Living business I track my commission check, members in my group and my group volume.  For weight-loss goals you may want to track your measurements,weight, and fitness ability.  If you have goals of becoming debt-free you can track spending, payments made, and current balances.  You can track your progress online, on a computer, or in a journal...honestly how ever it works for you!  Here are a few journals I really like to use: Passion Planner and Five Minute Journal.  

Clear (obtainable) Goals:

I think this may be the most important and crucial part of achieving your dreams.  We can all say "I want to work from home and support my family" or "I want to lose 20 lbs" but without those small goals that get us to our desired outcome we are left scratching our heads when things don't change overnight.  Like all goals they need to be measurable, reasonable, and obtainable.  When setting goals for my business for instance "I am going to schedule four classes and two Facebook classes in October".  Now  I would love to host 10 classes in a month but it is not realistic for me, but it may be for someone else. Without clear steps we will find ourselves unsure of how to reach our goals and start to give up on that dream. A great way to set clear and obtainable goals is to figure out how much time you can dedicate to your dream.  If you have an hour a day then make a commitment on how you are going to spend it. For example for a weight-loss goal you may go for a 30 min walk and spend 30 minutes meal prepping.  It is important that you know what needs to change in your daily life and what habits you need to incorporate to reach our goals. I love this article on setting goals check it out.

Find Your Tribe:

I love my Young Living peeps, not only do they keep me motivated but they have great ideas of how to reach my goals in ways I would have never thought of! One tip I have always heard is to find a friend to keep you accountable.  This buddy system can be a great resource and also a way to share in the ups and downs of achieving our dreams. Participating with others will make this journey fun and accountability to another person does make it harder to give up on goals. Finding your tribe may take a few steps; you can search on Facebook or other social media for a group with similar goals to yours. If you can't find a group than make one, it's simple and can be the best way to tailor fit a group to your goals.  Here are a few sites to help you find your ideal group Meetup.com and Facebook Groups!

Your WHY:

It is totally normal to start off on a journey toward your dreams with an amazing vision of greatness, and then run out of steam somewhere along the way.  Often without a defined "why" we can lose sight of why we started on this journey in the fist place. Write you "why" down (more then once) and remember it often.  Will your "why" change...Yes, because once you have succeeded you will have a new "why".  My "why" is about my family and financial security. Find your "why" and remember it when times feel less then ideal.

Live In The Now:

Yes we all want to reach our dreams but sometimes we get so worked up in the "if only's" that we forget about the right now. It is not always easy to enjoy the journey as many times we feel stressed or pushed outside our comfort zones. Just know the journey is only molding you to be the person you want to be, so it is important we pay attention along the way. I can get really focused on all the steps and check lists that I forget to enjoy the relationships built along the way.  One phrase that I try to remember is "this is not a sprint it's a marathon", take time to enjoy the journey.

Don't Place Limit On Your Dream:

Dream big and dream more and dream often. Do not dream practical, dream a real dream and pursue it for real. So many of us love to talk about our goals as if they are our dreams, but often our dreams are much bigger. Our goals are what we consider attainable, but who says our dreams are not? Once we stop putting a limit on our dreams we can really start getting somewhere! Write down your dream and own it. 

Remember only you have the power to place a limit on your dreams