Motivation

It is hard enough keeping ourselves motivated in business so how do we help to motivate our team? If you have a problem with keeping your team or a recruit moving forward in their business then this is for you. We will touch on a few problems and some answers. There is no single right answer when it comes to dealing with people so you will have to follow your heart and look for clues.

- A stalled New Recruit - This is a very common problem because it is easy to get excited about an unknown but when reality hits it can be daunting and cause people to freeze in their tracks. For help in this area you can read Networking Gals eBooks "Leader's Handbook or Leader's Handbook 2 or New Consultant start for leaders" for now try using baby steps. Start with organizing their starter show or go with them to their first show, etc.
- Top seller sometimes but not all times - Now it could be this Consultant has a busy life that keep him/her from putting full attention on their business. However, I have noticed that many Consultants lose their vision and their motivation or do not have the ability to focus. Networking Gals has a presentation "Finding Focus" that really helps but also you need to get to know this Consultant and remind them of their excitement. Help them to make some goals and offer an incentive.
- Knowing a slacker from a lacker - Each Consultant is different and you need to understand their needs and meet your objectives as well as train and be an example. So you have a Consultant that rarely makes it to a meeting, never phones in stats, is frequently unreachable or fails to return your calls. This could be either a slacker or a lacker- only you can determine this through conversations and visiting the Consultant in his/her home. If the Consultant has 3 young kids running around, let's say a broken vehicle in the driveway and seems very rushed or stressed then this is a lacker - a person who either lacks the time or the training to keep up with her business but this Consultant could also be a lacker of a different nature. That is someone who lacks the passion or desire to continue the business. On the other hand if the Consultant is too busy getting mani/pedis or shopping at the mall or talking on his/her cell phone then perhaps you have a slacker which is someone who is most likely not serious about the business or who prefers to do things the easy way or the slacking way. What you do with Consultants like these will have to be up to you but I have no time for slackers!
- End of the month Consultant - You know these Consultants, they are so busy doing shows in the last 2 weeks of the month that they become stressed and worried they can't make deadline or their quota and they are madly inputting all their shows on the last day of the month. This is someone who need to find focus and calendar control. Networking Gals presentation "Calendar Control" is easy to understand and so is the presentation "Finding Focus" Some Consultants are happy to skate by with as little work as possible and they may go on for years like this but I personally do not feel that these people are either happy in their business or happy with the money they are making. I choose to train these people in small amounts as not to stress them out further and I also let them see what it is like to earn at a different level by getting one of my Leaders to take them to a show.

It takes all sorts of different Consultants to keep your business going and to maintain a great team. I believe that as long as they are earning something and they are serving their customers without complaints from the customers then that is a good Consultant to me! The best way to manage a team is to learn as much as you can about each team member and try to offer some form of fun times every 6 - 8 weeks. Such as, taking the team out for lunch, taking your kids with your team and their kids to the zoo, going for a walk in the local garden park, etc. Another way I like to connect with my team is find a craft that we all like and have a craft night every 6 weeks.Remember...

                          Life's too short..................so go out and Party!

Recruiting - where are you at?

We have talked in this blog before about striving to find recruits and about the difficulties in getting the recruiting ball going. We have also spoken about what a Leader's job is when it comes to recruiting but what we have not talked about is the fact that your recruiting abilities may be miles ahead of where you are at or miles behind. Let's take a closer look at how we can do what is best for us and also for our business:
* Some leaders can recruit very prolifically and do so with great ease. I remember at one time I had recruited 24 new Consultants in a 6 week period. Too much? I didn't think so but I found out right away that I was not only poorly prepared to help my new recruits but also very ill advised! You see I had only been with the company for approximately 6 months and didn't know enough to answer all the questions I was faced with nor was I capable of training. My manager was so discussed with my ease of recruiting she took the hard road and left me to my own resources. Needless to say that many of my recruits fell by the wayside and those that remained eventually passed me in the business as I was unable to continue due to an accident. Moral of this story: Recruit 1 or 2 at a time and try to complete all training before recruiting again. Are you ill prepared? Have you landed into leadership and lack the abilities? Chances are over 60% of all Leaders are! This is where Leaders learn to either Lead or Leave.
* Now what if the other end of the scale is true? You have 1 recruit but can't seem to get another - am I right? This is the typical scenario in this industry. I have spoken before in the blogs about the importance of  finding your passion and your niche product line. That may be one reason you are not recruiting but the other reasons are big hurdles to overcome. If you are not advertising your business opportunity to 3 New customers or potential recruits a day then you do not have the numbers it takes to find another recruit!!! Look at it this way - 3 people x 30 days = 90 people So let's say on average you are doing 8 shows a month with an average attendance of 10 people per show. 8 shows X 10 people per show = 80 people This means you need to either do another show a month or find 10 more people to talk to about your business. Seriously, this is what it takes!!!! Now the other main problem I see and hear about all the time is that Consultants lose either their desire to recruit or become disheartened with their business that they stop trying. When bookings or recruits get too few and far between we tend to go into starvation mode which means we fear getting the things we need for our business because we actually fear failure! I see more Consultants sit at this stage clueless to the fact that their business is dying a slow death!! You have to remind yourself of how great it felt when you recruited and how excited you where when you began this business. All of that excitement and enthusiasm is still there you just can't see it because you are too nervous to move at this point. I am sure we have all met Consultants/Leaders who jump at potential bookings like it might be their last chance to ever get a booking. If you feel this starved in your business then it is time to stop and look in the mirror and have a talk to yourself. You can't find bookings when you are crazy mad for one and you can't get a recruit when you worry so much about getting one!!! This is your business and if it is important to you then you have to know how to stop worrying and put on that happy, relaxed "I am enjoying my business" face because then and only then are more things going to come your way. If you are struggling with your business then consider buying the Networking Gals " Leading by Example" presentation.

We all want the most for our business but sometimes circumstances and events kind of pull us apart from our vision. Having a clear vision of what you want and need in your business and understanding what it takes to accomplish that is crucial if you wish to excel. I suggest that you keep a progress diary of sorts about your business. Start by listing what you want, what you need and how you are going to tackle the task of getting those goals. Check out Networking Gals "Goal keeping" and "Finding your focus" presentations. There are many excuses to why we do what we do and then there are actual factual 's - the reason why things are not going the way you hope. I say it is better to be an Actual Factual than an excuse!!! Remember...

                                        Life is too short........so go out and Party!!!

Reflecting on your Dreams

As a Leader it is so easy to get lost in all the things that need to get done. We have our business dreams (booking, recruiting), our team dreams (getting them trained, helping them to become consistent), and our daily life dreams ( buying that house, happy healthy family, etc.) then beyond that we may have so many other dreams that we seldom have the chance to acknowledge or pursue.Time is so crucial in all things, which is why Networking Gals has created the presentation "Calendar Control" but beyond that there is a ton of unwritten guidelines that we have never looked at which I hope to illustrate now.

Basically I believe that each day of the week has a function. Some of my ideas have been long standing but also I have noticed over the years a shift in what those days are. Here is my idea of what a week could mean:

- Meeting Mondays - It use to be true that this was the day for meetings but it seems it is no more which is good. Now you can make Mondays the day they should have been all along - Ordering/Banking Mondays - after a busy Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday of doing shows then you will need to get those cheques into the bank and put those orders in. Double check your supplies before you put your orders in so you can order what you need too!
- Training Tuesday - This is usually a good day to go to meetings or have meetings. Perfect time to follow up with your team and do that training conference call if you can't all meet.
- Working Wednesday - This is the day for your Hostess Coaching, filing and finding recruits. This the one day a week you really want to reach out and touch people both by phone and by going out.
- Thinking Thursdays - Believe it or not this is one of the most important days of the week!If you are not making time for this then you are losing out.I spend this time looking at my "Vision thru Focus Board" (we will be talking more about that later in the week) re-evaluate my dreams, but I mostly spend time with my calendar in hand and looking forward into the next week. What appointment do I have that can not be forgotten or changed, What do I have to do to be prepared for those appointment and do I have anything I need to accomplish to even get to this appointment. When I look at my "Vision thru Focus" board I try to  spend time realizing my dreams and also I try to take away a feeling or a desire that I want to focus on for that week. IE: you look at your board and you realize that one of the items (dreams) is to get more organized so maybe your thought for the week is organization, perhaps you will try to be more organized and envision what being more organized may do for you.The most important thing to Thinking Thursdays is taking the time to do something in your life/business that propels you forward!!! Thinking Thursdays is also about me time, getting re-energized, refocused, refreshed with your life and your business.
- Future Fridays - This could be the first day towards a hectic weekend so take time now to plan ahead. Do I have everything I need to do my shows? Have I arranged any meal preps I may need to or did you schedule the sitter, etc. Then do 1 thing towards the future of your business. It could be taking a Hostess out for a coffee, handing out business cards out front of the mall, having a mentoring lunch with a manager, placing ads on various free sites, etc.

The rest of the week is up to you. I have left it that way because you will most likely be doing shows. One final point I want to make is this; real feelings like joy, caring, sincerity, hope, love, etc. come from within us - they come from the heart and can not be produced in falseness. This means you only cheat yourself if you choose to fake those. If you can come from a real place of joy, hope, sincerity then you will have the power to move more people and more obstacles in your life. Use the power within you to reach out to people and it will always pay you back!! Remember...

                                        Life is too short..............so go out and Party!

Maintaining Leadership

One of the aspects of Leadership that no one ever tells you is how difficult it is to keep a flow going. A flow is the ability to keep yourself working at a large enough level to earn the awards but also keep your team working and then keep on recruiting to fill in where you need it. This is where so many good Leaders feel like failures because they just can't get to the levels where some Leaders are maintaining. I think it is crazy to feel like you are not doing enough etc. because Leadership is a huge learning curve. Comparing yourself to other Leaders is silly as you have no idea how long the person has been a Leader, perhaps they may have been a Leader before in another company or they may have taken some extracurricular training in this area. So here are some sneaky secrets that may help you get an handle on this Leadership thing:

+ First and foremost is getting your business flowing before you even consider working with your team in this area. This means that you have to go back to Consultant school possibly. If you are not doing 12 shows or more a month then you can not begin to understand a team member who is. So go back to basics and start finding more bookings - forget everything else until you can maintain 12 bookings a month!!!! ( For some this may not happen but perhaps you could use some training from Network Gals, let us know)

+ Running your business (not your team) effectively and duplicateable with purpose is very important. The more that you let your business happen by accident the less control you will have on it! Be in Control!!

+  You need to overbook and over recruit to find a balance in your business. If you are over booking then you can help to motivate that one Consultant on your team that isn't doing so well. You can offer to give them a booking once they have done a booking of their own. When it comes to over recruiting I believe this is very necessary. We tend to get a recruit and drop everything to get them going and forget about recruiting for a while. Challenge yourself to recruit/train/mentor 12 new Consultants at once and then you will see why it is so much better when you do many at once. I once offered people $100 to join, buy their kit, do their 6 shows and after that they could leave with all the great products plus my $100 to each person. This worked very well. Several of the 8 people I recruited left with their kits but 3 remained and went on to be great Consultants.

+ Talk to other Leaders! Stay in the loop. If you are having a tough dry spell you might consider asking a Leader who is doing very well if she would consider giving you one recruit or a few booking. This is what a Leadership relationship should be like. Understand that one day she will want you to give her one back in return - don't put it off because she may expect that one to come during a promotional period leaving you without.Ideally we want to keep all of our bookings and recruits but some company's may frown on this. I believe it is the key to creating a Leadership lock which keeps all Leaders humble and caring!

+ One of the best things I ever did was schedule a coffee time luncheon with the top Manager of the company. I was very nervous and very shy about asking but I also knew her time was valuable and I would have to be creative to find time enough to chat. That Manager was very helpful. She gave me some very clear and easy ideas on how to find more of everything I needed and also told me that most Leaders flounder for 5 years but usually get to a leveling off point there after. At the time, 5 years sounded way to long but you know it was there before I knew it and by then I had recruited over 30 Consultants and still had 24 of them after 2 years.

Check out Networking Gals website and template library for members as there is more help on this subject. Never be afraid to spend money finding bookings and recruits. We have talked about that before in the blogs. Another idea we have talked about is setting up a very lucrative referral system see Networking Gals "Referral Guide" in our template library. Remember.....

                                      Life is too short..................so go out and Party!!

Leadership - are you there?

In the Party Plan industry we have this buzz word that groups a lot of people into it and it is called LEADERSHIP. This could easily describe someone trying to recruit people for the first time, people who excel at their business or people who spend their Party Plan career, so to speak, at the helm or the top of the heap!

Did you see yourself in there anywhere? There is a chance that you are in that huge group but has it or does it define your objective? Do you know how to maintain leadership or how to get to the top through Leadership? It is a challenge being a Leader and for most of us it will require us to continually work at it!!!! Now I am not trying to turn anyone away from Leadership! I simply want to help you understand where you are, how to get ahead and how to keep your sanity while trying to achieve your dreams! Sounds impossible but believe me, I can help and I hope you know that this is why I created this blog.

Here are some tips, the full story to any of my blog postings can be found in some of my files/Ebooks/Presentation/Audio files on the Networking Gals website.

- The biggest thing to finding/maintaining/keeping Leadership are the recruits you are recruiting. Let's say for a minute that you are recruiting on an average of one new recruit a month = 12 a year. Of that 12, 8 of them joined for the free items/kit and or for some short term income, 2 of the remaining 4 joined for a bit more money and some friendship/night's out which means that out of 12 people you recruit in a year there is an average chance that only 2 will look at the long term picture and only one of them will last past the 1 year mark. Very surprising odds!!!!

- Don't panic yet because there are things you can do to improve those odds - we have talked about in this blog before about choosing or not choosing your recruit. If getting to a certain award is your goal then don't choose just recruit but if you need more stability(consistent earners) then choose your new recruits wisely.

- So who do you choose and where do you find them? - First and foremost is your Hostesses. Approximately 65% of all Hostesses will become Consultants within 3 years of having a party. So stay in touch with your Hostess, keep her involved in your life not just your business, send her gifts from time to time and never harass or over extend your welcome. Then from there it is your customers, approximately 15% of all customers will become a Consultant within 5 years of going to a party. Third, it is your hidden market. Your hidden market is the friends/family/guests who where unable to attend the party the Hostess booked. A minimum of 5% of these people will become Consultants due to everything their Friend/Your Hostess told them about the party. They usually book a party first then become a Consultant. So it is crucial to offer to turn a Hostesses show into a starter and to offer a referral booking and a referral recruiting program that any customer/Hostess can take advantage of.Make sure your referral program is lucrative because getting bookings and recruits are very valuable - I suggest you offer $25 per booking (once it is held and qualified) and $50 for a new recruit(once they have paid, qualified and done their starter shows)
- You have 7 seconds - go! = making the most out of your recruiting commercial. It is actually true that from the moment you meet a person that you have 7 seconds to impress or inform them. Frequently after the 7 seconds, they have already made their decision about you or what you are talking about and little will change that. So in order to be a proficient recruiter you need to get your message down. The other common mistake we all make is the need to sell people on the idea of becoming a Consultant/Hostess and to be honest we do not need to do that. Try coming first from the heart, second from a position of reality, third from emotion and fourth from sincerity.For example you could say: " Hi are you rushing to get home to make dinner like I am? (allow space to answer) Life is so busy these days. I really wish I had the time to do it all but  money does not grow on trees. (allow to interject) That's why I am so glad I have a great business and an awesome team! (Now is the time to be quiet and let the person ask the questions) (Once the person asks "Oh what do you do?" then ease into it gently like "Just a little candle business but it gives me that extra spending money that I love to have.Show or speak of something personal, like: "See this great bracelet I was able to buy myself")

If you can practise some of the tips I have explained here then you should be a lot more successful at recruiting and possibly at bookings and forming relationships because that's what it is all about. Doing a service and forming relationships it is all a part of what we do - we do not sell we promote, we do not head hunt we help people grow! Be proud of who you are and what you do because we are unlike the 9-5 crowd because we are bridging gaps and creating great futures. Remember...

                                            Life is too short...............so go out and Party!

Taking your Team on the Road

As the better weather and sunny days approach you should consider taking your team on the road. New horizons and fresh prospects could be as close as a two hour trip away. Traveling for business does not have to be expensive or far away. Consider traveling to communities 2 - 5 hours away. Here are some hints and tips:

- Go prepared - Choose your community to travel to, your hotel and your over all approach to gain business. You will want to share the costs with your team.  As a Leader you should be keeping a small amount of your Leader earnings in a savings to use on occasions such as this. You may want to put an ad in the local paper a week before your arrival.
- Get the Team organized - Each team member should be responsible for their share of all expenses but also their own paperwork supplies. Give your team plenty of time to be able to afford a trip such as this.Make sure everyone is on board with the details. For example, I suggest that your main goal should be to get new recruits but also business. The idea being that any business you get would then be given to the new recruit to follow up with in the future.(You keep the sales but all bookings that are booked beyond your stay go to the new recruit)
- Packing - If you are flying to your destination then you may choose to pre-ship your kit and business supplies to your destination. You may be able to arrange for the shipping company to deliver your shipment to your hotel so that it is waiting for you when you get there. If you are going by car and space is limited then you may want to consider forgoing the usual kit and just use the Networking Gals "Basket Show". Don't forget to bring your Networking Gals "Business in a Box" and provide yourself with extra supplies too.
- Advertising - It is important to find ways to let people know you are there. Your upline may know of a Manager in the area that may be willing to give you a hand. You will also want to print lots of signs to place in your car window when you are parked, in market places, cafes, etc. Bring tons of business cards too so you can leave them behind at every restaurant, tourist attraction, etc. that you go to. Also consider setting up a tray table (2ft. X 2ft. Table) with a couple of products at local cafes, open markets, hotel lobby, chapters,etc. You may consider talking to other Consultant before you go to see if they have friends or family that may want to have a show but you would most likely have to give the other Consultant some of the sales,etc.
- Advertising 2- Wrap up some tiny little gift with your business cards and go to car washes, real estate offices, community centers, library, grocery stores and mall parking lots. Stand at the door of a mall to hand your items out. (If you sell beauty products then try a small sample of home made bath salts, If you sell cookware then buy a box of tea bags and staple them on, If you sell Tupperware then buy plastic key tags, If you sell Jewellery buy Canada flag mini pins) You will want to make 100 or more of these. Even if you can't find anything then try a wrapped sucker/lollipop and tell people you are a sucker for your company name.
- Simpler ideas - If money is a problem then make sure you get a kitchen unit in your hotel/motel choice and make sandwiches that you pack in a cooler for the day time outings. Cook dinners and breakfasts too. Buy bulk cases of pop and water and keep them in the fridge until you are ready to go. Do your best to pick a central area to work from and park the vehicle and walk to various destinations. If a night out on the town seems like a good idea then make sure you bring your git with business cards to hand out. If your hotel/motel has expensive snacks and a full mini bar I suggest you empty it and put all the items up top of the closet so it is less likely to be eaten/drank.

There is so much to think about when preparing for a road trip but hopefully the above tips will help you. The one thing you want to do is try to make it fun, challenging enough that people step out of their comfort zone a bit and a super training time too! Do not get bogged down with planning a ton of things to do. You want to be organized in your plan of attack but also accommodating enough to the teams varied schedules. Never be discouraged if you were unable to get any business or recruits. The main thing is that you put out the energy and tried and you never know when you may receive a call from one of your business cards. Remember....

                                               Life is too short..............so go out and Party!!

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Goal setting

It is crucial to your business to learn how to set goals. Company heads will speak of this but few actually understand why this is important or are able to teach you how to. When you learn to set AND achieve goals then you make any level of success or acknowledgement achievable!

It doesn’t happen over night because learning to set and accomplish goals can be very difficult for most people. First the goal has to be something you can reasonably achieve. Don’t start off planning to do a show a day for the month when you have zero booking scheduled. That is the same as climbing Mt. Everest!! Now if you have 5 bookings that month and you were to set your goals to 10 bookings to be held in the next 6 weeks then I feel that is totally doable.

 It is very hard in the beginning to learn to set goals when you also have a timeline on it too. Consider getting use to setting and accomplishing goals without a time limit. This gets you use to achieving at a level fairly easy. Once you have been able to achieve many goals (10-15) then consider making them a tiny bit harder and with a time limit.

NEVER get upset that you haven’t reached a goal but instead go back and try again and again if necessary until you do achieve it. Don’t get frustrated with goals, if you are having particular problems with one then go on to a different one.

Setting goals is about understanding that business does not just get handed to you but that you go out and find it. It is also a little bit about learning to quantify your time or realize what time you have available and how to put it to good use. Check out Networking Gals power point presentation on " Calendar Control" as it teaches you some handy ways to improve on managing your time.

Learning to set goals makes you a true business professional. Leaders are where they are in the company because they genuinely earned it and most probably through goal setting and achieving! Check out the Networking Gals handbook “Finding the inspiration a Goal tracker” Take a leap of faith in your business today and you may be pleasantly surprised by your achievement!!! For more about goal setting check out Networking gals ebook "Finding the inspiration a Goal tracker".

                                              Life is too short...................so go out and Party!!!!

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Networking Gals and You!

As I work on this and our Consultant blogs I imagine what you the reader is interested in. What would you like to know more about. On our website, in our template library are tons of things to read,view and use for your business but perhaps there are more things you need.

When you become a Consultant/Leader for a Party Plan/Direct Sales company you believe that between Head Office and your Upline that you should be able to get all the info you need and want to run your business, improve on your successes and find all the awards and recognition you deserve......right? For some, this is true but for approximately 80% of all Consultants and Leaders it is not!!

I have spoken about this fact before on the Consultant blog, only 20% of all Consultants and Leaders find what they want in this industry. It is not because the industry sucks. It is not because no one has shown them the right things to do. It is not because we are all a bunch of idiots.....no..... it is because of many many reasons, as follows:
- If you can not relate to what is being taught you won't learn it well, if you have difficulty understanding what is being taught then you do not learn it well, if you do not believe in yourself and your ability to attain what is being taught then you never will. Shocking isn't it!!!( the last one is the #1 reason most people fail in this industry!)
- Focus is a tough cookie to crack! If you only know how to nibble on focus then all you will receive is crumbs. Learn more about Focus with Networking Gals eBook "Finding your Focus"
- Putting what you have learned into practice is also a bit difficult and unfortunately this industry expects people to grasp everything and does not have a system in place to track or follow up with Consultants to ensure they are getting it.
- Something I have always taught my Consultants and am now teaching on Networking Gals is learning to be duplicateable (not exactly a word but we'll pretend) in other words, learning to make yourself a carbon copy of your upline and then teaching your downline to do the same. Now that being said, I expect of course that you would input your personality and flair into it and basically just copy the successes!
- Life gets in the way very easily when your job is not at an office or work place everyday! People find it hard to respect your time and office space when you are at home working for example. I see more really great Leaders and Consultants lose their business to this fact. This is why Networking Gals teaches you how to get your business AND your life organized. We truly believe that both go hand in hand and you must respect the one in order to have the other.
- The "I wish syndrome" affects approximately 30% of all Consultants. When you join a PP company you see all these people up talking about how great their business is and how much money they make, etc. Unfortunately it creates an image that it is easy to become a Leader or become wealthy or  become successful overnight.....which we all know is not true! So many people waste time wishing and hoping to be something instead of understanding the time, money and commitment that is involved in getting where you want to be in this industry. This is where Networking Gals specializes in. We discovered the crucial steps it takes to find the various things you want in this industry. It is our proven success system. It does not happen overnight, it isn't easy and it takes a great deal of time and practice. For those committed and able to learn this you will discover how it works.

So all of the above stands between you and finding what you want in this industry. Some people are happy at winning awards or getting the prizes, others like socialization, many people seem to be happy to teach, and yet others are driven. Knowing and understanding what you want and how to get it is the key. Networking Gals teaches all of these fundamental aspects of being a Consultant, a Leader, a Manager. Look no further than to our blogs, our website and all the other components that are being added each and everyday. You may never know your path unless someone points it out to you......let Networking Gals do that for you today!

                                           Life is too short so..............go out and Party!

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Structuring a Meeting

When it is time to start having your own meetings it can be stressful and difficult and very bumpy. You can learn how to do meetings with your team from your upline but if perhaps your upline has issues or perhaps is accustom to formatting it in a very boring and generic way then it will make you look the same. So I think it is time to challenge you to have occasional meetings. If you only have 1 or 2 recruits then only have 1 or 2 meetings every 6 months but if you have more then you need to schedule it a bit more often. Here are some tips on what to try for your next meeting:
- Now ideally you want to have 1 meeting a month but NOT training. Training should be separate and customize according to where your Consultants are at. I believe you should find a day of the week that works best with everyone and stick to it for as long as you can.
- Make it known that they are expected to attend and when they do not they will automatically be your personal lackey for the following week....well.... at least get them to take on the job of setting up the display for the following meeting.
- Delegate responsibilities to your Team and make sure they rotate each meeting. Assign one person to be the greeter and make sure everyone has a name tag, another to set up an example of a starter kit including their idea of how to dress it up, get someone to be your chalk board or write on wipe off attendant, someone else could be in charge of passing out paperwork, someone could collect for you twoonie draw (see Networking Gals for Meeting Notes), someone else could be in charge of the early bird game, and so on and so on. This is a brief example of how a meeting should be run but for full details members of our Leader group can receive the entire document on "Meeting Notes".
- Games are a big draw and are what keep your team eager to come back to each meeting. As a Leader you should have ample chances to get products at reduced prices so that you can have that twoonie draw or early bird and not have it cost you. Another item you can give away is a day with you - it could include a tour of how you file or how you organize all your orders to get them out to the hostess and it should include a small lunch that you could make if you choose.
- I highly recommend that every meeting should have visual content and audio content. For Visual - make a board demonstrating how to track your success or how to set goals or have a race game where you chart each person's progress for 3 months. There are tons of ways to make things visual just think a bit outside the box. For audio - I highly recommend a power point presentation played on a few laptops (copy onto CD and ask people to bring their laptop) with an audio track of how to do the following. In this format you can not only show what you are talking about but also they can hear it too. This is a creative and very effective way to show things.
- You could also consider a skit when you are trying to illustrate interaction with a customer or consider a road robin session (for more info on this you would need to read my Leader's handbook)
- As a Leader it will soon be your responsibility to keep track of your team's bookings/sales/recruits. The sooner you start asking for this info the better it will be. Keep records for your own information but it is also a great way to track improvement too.

- Aim to have one lead story or experience that you want to share then allow time to break up a bit and come back to discuss or illustrate you points further. It may interrupt your flow but makes it easier to understand.
- Do your best to end meetings within a 2 hour period. Start promptly no matter how many people are there.

Make your meetings fun and interesting and challenging and your team will come running to meetings. Never worry about how perfect you are or where you have meetings just worry about content and finding ways to communicate in a wide pattern of ideas. The less generic the meeting the faster it will go or at least seem to. Remember.....

                                               Life is too short..........so go out and Party!

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Make your recruiting Mobile

Sometimes when you are working your business and trying so hard to achieve and maintain Leadership you don't see the things that are slipping away from you and the ways you can actually save time and money. So here are some ideas to help the flow of Leadership work a little smoother.

I tell all Consultants to organize their "Business-in-a-Box". This is crucial in today's busy world and being a Leader makes no difference to the need for both the "Business-in-a-Box" and the "Mobile Recruiting Box". You can find lots more about the "B-in-a-B" for short , on the Networking Gals website but the following is a brief description of how to create your "Mobile Recruiting Box".

As it can be difficult to keep a cardboard box neat and clean I highly recommend that you purchase some small plastic bins that opaque or clear. I found that Canadian Tire had a great selection. Make sure you pick a few not just for the 2 box ideas but also for your office.

You may choose to create a flyer that you can glue runner to the lid so when you look at the top of each small bin you will know right away which bin is which. I suggest that you keep both of these bins in your vehicle so that you are prepared for anything. We are so busy now a days that people do not have the time to commit to things like we use to. You have to have your commercial message (that we spoke about in this blog before) ready to say and you have to have your businesses in a box!

Mobile Business in a Box in brief

- On a slower day you want to photograph every piece of paper you require to briefly explain the business to a possible recruit. Sort, staple as needed and place in your "Mobile Recruiting Box".

- As we have spoken about in this blog, make sure your "Commercial" is both verbal ready and available either in a flyer you make or a cd. Put plenty of copies in your box.

- Ensure that you have Consultant sign up forms and pens in your box.

- If possible make sure you have a few small gifts for prospects or at the very least include magnetic business cards as well as regular business cards and place them all in your box.

- Draw slips are important to have in your box as you may speak to a  person and give him/her a business card but you also need to make sure you can contact them. A great way to get the correct info is to ask them if they would like to enter your draw for free products. Most people can not refuse the idea of receiving free gifts.

- We did not mention cell phones or mobile computers as we believe you would be taking those along anyways. Going to a wifi cafe is a great way to show a possible recruit the website or the Consultant back office.

- If you do not already have you should create a Facebook page where you share info about your business. Then prior (about 2 hours before) your cafe meeting with your possible recruit you could post on your Facebook page about being at this location showing the business if anyone else would like to attend. Advertising your Facebook page to customers is a great way to keep them in the loop and advertise to them about products, etc. without being harassing.

There isn't much to a box such as this but it is extremely important to take it with you ALWAYS! I usually take my box in shopping with me because I almost always end up talking to people who want to know more. If you do not have a child who sits up front then you can take your box too and people may comment or at the very least you can pass the cashier a business card. Remember......

                                            Life is too short..........so go out and Party!

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A Balancing Act

Leaders have to be so many different people, as you may know. You may be a wife, mother, Consultant, Leader and Business professional, etc. I think that one of the skills that is crucial about management is finding ways to balance all that is required of you. Hopefully, you have a great upline who is helping you manage the load but if you are the upline then I know how hard it is. Here are some tips for all Leaders and Upline Managers;

- Learn to delegate!! = You don't have to be super woman! You need to learn to pass things on to your team managers to do. If you are not doing this then what are you teaching them? You are the head of a team and as we all know there is no "I" in team which means you have to put people into positions:
          + if you need to set up a display of products for the meetings then have a rotating list of all Consultants so they can each take a turn (give everyone ideas on how to do it different too)
          + Make sure that you recommend a Leader (from your downline) to be your co-Manager. There is no recognition for such a position but you would make sure there were great perks like lunches out, free catalogues, etc. It's a great way to mentor a Leader and then in turn have someone whom you share shows with, etc.
-  Organize outings with your team to make work easier. Need photocopying done then phone a couple of Leaders and see if they are doing the same. They can help you sort or staple once their stuff is done.
-  Get your team to each have 3 way calling and then divide up your team and get everyone on the phone for a brief meeting. It's great when everyone is busy because you can do this for a quick topic round robin. (Topic round robin is a way to make decisions about an ideas by sharing it with your team and tossing it around) (IE: offer an idea. How can we make ourselves known to this new neighborhood? make flyers, go door to door, rent a hall close by and get them to come to us, etc.)
- Unite over mundane tasks!= If you all need to get caught up on your laundry consider packing up a few loads and all meeting at a local laundry mat and discussing business between loads OR Line up your team to do their individual shopping at the same store and you can bat ideas back and forth as you shop.
- Create and share a call list across your team. It can help a lot when you are unavailable then your team can ask another member of the team but you can also do the call relay game. The call relay game is where you the Manager calls the first person on the list and challenges that person to find 3 bookings in 30 minutes but before she starts calling her customers she must call the next person on the list with the same challenge and so on. After 30 minutes you start it again by calling your first call and get stats. Then she calls the second and so on and the last person on the list calls you will ALL of the stats.

Sometimes it is a simple as thinking a little outside the box to accomplish what you need to. You need to be creative to keep your team functioning and interested but we will have more on that subject another day. Remember.......

                                  Life is too short......................so go out and Party!
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Lead Decisively

Many of us allow our business to lead us or take us where it will. Although this is not a bad thing if you choose to have your business or success be indecisive.

Personally I want my business to be decisive because I want to be a success and I want to maintain my leadership.

If these are things you want then you may need to make your business much more decisive. How can we do that? Here are a few tips:

- perhaps the biggest thing you can do BEFORE you become a leader is make your business and how you operate it duplicateable. Networking Gals offers tons of help on this subject. Some things you can do is make sure that you are duplicateable is do your shows the same way (in the same number of steps for example but vary the content),  organize your office and the way you handle the paperwork in a teachable manner, etc.
-  Teach yourself and your downline to recruit monthly. Settings goals can be difficult but Network Gals can walk you through it.
- Lead by example. Try to do the same work your downline is attempting. Challenge your downline to beat you.
- Pick your battles = which means choose the areas where you need improvement and seek help in those areas, work harder in those areas and have a friend Consultant attend your shows to critique you when you need it.
- Never think that you know it all even if you have been with the company many years. The manual is frequently updated and you may not be aware of the updates. Read your manual through at least once a year.
- Learn to demonstrate your business in a fun but informative way. See Networking Gals "New Consultant Training Manual" for more advice.

This is just the beginning to this subject. However it is impossible to explain everything in a blog. One tip I tell every new leader, follow your gut. If you feel that the person you are talking to is insincere about the business then chances are it is true. Leadership is an art form, it requires talent to know when to help or not. Lead with your heart and speak the truth and you will not fail but remember........

                                Life's too short...........so go out and Party! 
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Welcome Leaders!!!

Welcome to Networking Gals premier Leader's Blog! The needs of a Leader are special and therefore we decided that you needed a separate blog from our usual blog. We hope that you will be able to find useful information here and be able to comment and share your opinions.

Let's start where leadership begins - Team Leader or 2-5 recruits. So you have recruited a few people and are wondering what to do now. Below are a few basics I believe you should be doing but you can not overwhelm your recruits either. Try to implement these step by step and not all in the first 2 months of business.

- Every new Consultant should have a starter show regardless of what your company requirements. A starter show not only gives the new Consultant a chance to see how you do a show, how to fill out paperwork and answer questions. The most important aspect of a starter show is to gain the most amount of bookings you can get to help your new Consultant off to a good start. Even new Consultants that just got into the biz long enough to pay off the kit will remain in the business longer if they have a very successful beginning. You the leader will do the show and need to offer everything to get the bookings. You will bring your kit but only the items the new Consultant will get in her kit so she can see how you handle it, etc.Offer numerous prizes to bookers and play a couple of booking games too!

- Teach your new Consultant how you do paperwork and how you file/manage paperwork.
- Learn how to do Networking Gals "Lap Binders" and teach your recruits to do this as well because it will save on the expense of paperwork, help the environment and it is a passive way to advertise various points to the customers using them.

- Along with "Lap Binders" you should teach your downline about Networking Gals and the following files: "Ticket Game",  "Squared up", "Calendar Control", "Connect the dots", "Hostess letter", "Quick fix tracker" and many more!!!!

There are tons more things you should be teaching your new Consultant but for now let's start with this. I look forward to hearing from all of you in the future. Remember.....

                                         Life's too short...............so go out and Party!

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