1. Get Up Early – I have always dreamed of being a morning person. I truly love the way I feel when I do get up early but still love my bed more. However, there is a reason I love it. So a quick tip, If you are not a morning person, its time to learn how to become one. Getting up that little bit earlier allows you to get the things done you need to and then set up your day for success. No more working in the early hours or into your nights off (that you should still be scheduling in). Go to bed early and wake up refreshed with the rest of the successful men & women out there. Need some help getting this habit under control? Read Miracle Morning from Hal Elrod (audible, kindle or paper back). This is one of my favourite books and truly changed my business.
2. Meditate – Now I found meditation so annoying when everyone kept suggesting it but when you take a look at some of the most successful business owners in the world, even they meditate. Yeah, people like Tony Robbins and Oprah. So with those names, I started to take it a little more seriously. Clearing your mind and taking time to breathe when days can get away from you is one of the best ways to stay focused and accomplish what you need to. There are tons of great meditation videos on YouTube. Type it in and pick the best one for you.
3. Set Goals and Write Them Down – Things that are measured are improved. In order to accomplish your goals, you need to be clear about what they are. I was never a “write your goal down” type of business owner. Most people aren’t but once I started doing this and creating vision boards, there is something inside a person that makes us want to cross action steps off a list. Take time to set your daily, weekly, monthly and even long term goals. This is one of the most important steps in your business. WRITE THESE GOALS DOWN or create a vision board for your future (or solely on business) When you do this, what you want to achieve becomes something real instead of just a thought in your head.
Why not join my online vision board workshop, or catch my free goal-setting workshop. It will really help you plan those goals.
4. Inspire Yourself – Personal development and inspiration is a must. Whether you choose to read, exercise and listen to podcasts, watch videos or find a coach, you must find an outside resource that inspires you. When you are inspired, you can create and keep your business moving forward.
5. ABC – Always Be Learning! There is no explanation here. Training, courses, webinars, books. Always be learning something new daily, learn your craft and be ready to pass those skills downline to your team or share them online in blog posts or live streams!
6. Read – Anything and everything. Articles. Books. Anything you can find. Read it. I try to read 10 pages a night in a book of my choice.
7. Know Your Numbers – You must know where you are, know where you were last year and know where you want to be. If you don’t know where you are in your business when it comes to income, expenses and profit, you can’t possibly manage your business. If your company has a back office, access it daily. Write down your daily numbers and compare them to last year. On top of that, have a budget. Know what you are spending on and record everything. I have diaries going back to the day I first started team building so I can compare monthly/annually to that same month and see how much my team has grown. You must move forwards and not backward’s. Tracking your month lets you adjust in the areas that need the most work. Try it.
8. Journal – I could never keep up with journaling until I listened to Oprah one day and she said, “keep it simple. If you can’t write down your complete thoughts, at least log your THANK YOU items.” This has made a huge difference in my mindset. Capturing what I am thankful for on a daily basis keeps the positivity in and the negativity out. What we focus on, we create. Focusing on gratitude has really started bringing amazing things and people into my life.
9. Practice Gratitude – Beyond putting gratitude in your journal once a day, simply practice being grateful for everything in your life. Think about daily what you are grateful for. When you get in the habit or thinking about gratitude, you open your mind for so much more abundance to enter. What are you grateful for today? Let me know in the comments, it’s time to start to give daily thanks.
10. Delegate – This can be a tough one for people. We some times think that no one can do things as well as we can. But truth is, when we try to take on everything, we end up accomplishing a lot less than we could have. We can’t do it all. Whether it be automated as many tasks as you can or simply asking for help, we need to realise we can’t do it all. When business owners try, they usually fail. Surround yourself with people who are willing to help and find tools to make your daily tasks easier. I use a ton of tools and systems to help me do this when you have a team of over 2,500 consultants - you need to have systems!
11. Be a Good Listener – This is a huge one. Because so many of us run our businesses online, we tend to not read things thoroughly or we just don’t pay attention. When in-person, we are already thinking about what we want to say rather than listening. Whether it is your customers, your team, your upline, head office or your downline, listen to what is being said or written. Validate what the other person is saying. Take ideas and concerns and show them that they are important to you. Other people and their suggestions could be one of the most valuable things in growing your business.
12. Have a Hobby – STOP! Yes something besides your network marketing or direct sales business, no matter how much you say you love it. You need to step away sometimes. Find something that makes you smile even for an hour a day. Exercising, dancing, swimming, gardening, crafting, organising. Whatever it is, step away and relax. This will help you be more focused and come up with even better innovative ideas for your business. I learned the hard way a couple of years ago and got ‘burn-out’ because I never stepped away from my business and continued to do things I needn’t have been doing! Step away and have a break (see below point)
13. Take Time For Yourself – Schedule some YOU time! I often sit outside in the garden without my phone, just with my dogs and simply reflect on the day. These days we are soooo connected, its good for you and business to disconnect.
14. Follow a Schedule – If it’s not on the calendar, it doesn’t exist.. Get into the habit of putting everything on your schedule so you don’t get overwhelmed. I use my google calendar for everything. One of my favorite apps is Fantastical. It syncs with google calendar and I just love how user friendly it is on my phone.
15. Be Organised – I love to be organised. I know many struggle with this and they often say, “but I know where everything is.” However, if you want to be taken seriously, the first step is having a place to go where your systems are in order. Create a place for everything to go and if you haven’t used something in 6 months, throw it out. You will find you will jump out of bed to work knowing you have an organised workspace ready for you.
16. Develop a Routine – This is an essential habit you should have if you want to be successful. Create a schedule of what you need to do every day and follow it. Know what time you get up, what is on your to-do list (specifically your top 3 things to accomplish) numbers, what time you have team meetings or Facebook parties. Know what days you do what. It only takes 21 days to develop a habit. I wake up at 7, have coffee, review my calendar and to-do list, check-in on my social accounts then go walk the dogs or get to my 9 am body-pump class or go for a bike-ride. Home, clean up, shower, grab another coffee then it’s off to my desk. Once you develop a routine, what you accomplish everyday increase by a mile.
17. Inbox Zero – Don’t fall pray to email hell. Do not let email control you. Use tools like Unroll.me
18. Ask For Help – Reach out to those you trust when you need help... People can’t help you if they don’t know you need it, so don’t be too proud to ask for help. Surround yourself with people who want to see you succeed.
19. Have a Mentor or Coach – This is a habit you can’t skip. I am not talking about your sponsor or your upline. I am sure they are great but you need someone that is going to push you out of your comfort zone and motivating you when you need it. Think about joining a monthly mastermind as I did, I am part of Ray Higdon’s ‘RankMakers’ group and it is a super affordable coaching group with daily challenges to help push you further and the daily lives help you with new ideas and get that kick up the ass talking we all need. I also have an Instagram coach Holly Barras (where we go into things much deeper - like business planning). Grab 30 free days into her Queendom HERE. You won’t find a single successful business owner that didn’t have a mentor or a coach either in a monthly mastermind group or who has one with one to one sessions to help them get where they are. Don’t skip out here, you can’t afford to not have a coach, make that investment.
20. Be Positive – Last but not least, be positive! When you constantly work your business as a victim and your cup always being half empty, you will project this attitude onto your customers and your team members. What you think about, you bring about. Keep that in mind always and pay close attention to your thoughts on a daily basis. You choose how successful you want your business specifically with how positive you are.