Home based business success - what is it?

What is success?  We all want to be successful network marketers or home based business owners but many times we don't know what it is!  What do you need to have to consider yourself successful in business and in life? Would it surprise you to know that what you think of success  is not necessarily what others think of as success?  Can you be successful before you reach your goals for your home business or your personal life goals?

First I think of success as reaching my goals in network marketing and in personal growth, but I have short term goals that I reach everyday both in my home based business and my personal life, and embarking on the journey is a successful act by itself! So I am successful everyday. If you think of yourself as not successful until you reach a grand and ultimate goal, you miss all the little triumphs.  The little ones on your way to the really grand ones are just as important, and will serve to feed that grand goal. That is important for you to carry on when the road is a little tougher than usual.  

You have to define that goal for your home based business. Not just 'I want to have a lot of money' but how much money and by when?  How many people will you partner with in your home based business, what kind of people do you want to do business with?  If you don't give the universe that specific information, how can it help you get there? And how will you get there....  what about all the little things you will do everyday and every week, every month to get there?  Not defining this is like going on a trip without a map.  Sometimes it is fun to take time to wander, but if you are going to a convention, don't you want to get there in time for it to start? You can be flexible and you can always adjust the start of your convention so to speak but you need that direction to stay on course or you will find yourself wondering around so much you get nothing done and you never get there.

And what about perception.  You need to know where you are going and know that your path is just that, your path, and just because someone else is doing it different or going for a different goal doesn't make either of you less successful.  Everyone is important, the little jobs are just as important to someone as the big ones. If you take pride in the work you do and do it to your best ability, no matter what it is you are a success.  IF you don't think a simple job can be important to a lot of people, listen to this short story of a bagger in a supermarket.  His success was huge!  Some want to dig ditches, some want to be a doctor. some want a lot of money, some don't, but all are successful.  Being happy for others is just as important as being happy with yourself.

You can't compare yourself with others, everyone grows at different rates.  Some are ready for the grand goal and some aren't. You have to do the work to get there to be ready, so don't rush it. Your path is special and necessary for you. You are perfect just as you are, and you  are where you are supposed to be.   Personal growth is different for each of us and if we compare ourselves with others, we will usually find some we perceive have more of what we want and some less.  Competing with others in the game of life gets us no where.  Complete with ourselves and we will get somewhere. And don't be too hard on yourself, you can't win every race, but you do win every time you get up and race again!  And finally enjoy your journey!  This is your race, your time on this earth to explore and find your way.

 Your goals are important but don't forget to look for those little surprises along the way. You will find successes that you didn't plan for, and sometimes those are even better than the one you were working towards! We are all a work in progress, you don't stop learning and growing just because you reach that goal, you will find as soon as you get there another will take it's place.  So stop and smell the roses!

So success is what we define it as, and it can be as big as making a million dollars to baking a cake.  We decide what it is and how to feel about it... what we can choose our feelings!?  Yes to some extent. We can decide to accept other peoples successes as important and accept our little successes as just as important as our grand and ultimate idea of success.  We can DECIDE to enjoy the journey as much as the destination, and that will make the destination come about even sooner and grander than we imagined.  We can plan to succeed, make that roadmap and make sure to give yourself some playtime.  Look for the little surprises along the way, don't miss the wildflowers along the way to the mountains, they can give as much joy to the journey as the final destination.  Enjoy your life, your journey is special and it was meant to be just like you!

MLM Networking - You need more than knowledge to be successful!

I have been struggling with what to write about for a while. When I was stuck before I would find someone that wrote something that I really like and put it in my words.  Doing that now seems pretty dry and boring, maybe because that is how I have been feeling, a bit dry and boring!  I have been asking why would anyone want to listen to me, much less follow me?  I have had some success but it always goes away, my followers always seem to go away.

It all seems to come down to relationships.  If I write an article or this blog and just borrow other people's ideas, is that interesting to someone else, or more important, will that get someone to get to KNOW ME any better?  People join people, and people follow people, so it stands to reason if there is not a lot of me in what I write, people reading will not feel anything.  If they can't feel anything, why would they want to get to know me better by following me?

So this is what I have come up with.  When you are 'prospecting'... an awful word that we use all the time for looking for PEOPLE to join us, you have to put some of you out there for someone to identify with, so they feel something that will make then want to know more about YOU and what you are doing!  So instead of prospecting, try making FRIENDS. Try saying this is me and this is what I have learned, this is what I can teach you.  This is where I am going and I want to bring you along and learn from you as well.

How many of you feel good when you can help someone, and are grateful when a FRIEND shows you a kindness or just seems to understand when you are facing a challenge.  If someone is challenged. they generally feel comfort knowing that someone else has been there, and not necessarily want to be helped but just want some understanding at first.  There are self help groups for losing weight, for alcoholics, for almost anything,

For us network marketers that have been through the ringer, our self help group is our mastermind group.  To participate and really get something out of it you have to share some of yourself, something I have a hard time doing.  I have worked in this industry off and on for probably 20 yrs. I have had a little success along the way but never anything really great. I continue to struggle and have been asking why, now that I have a group to help me?

Well, I have not been sharing me. I listen but don't participate and still keep a little of me locked away,  My mastermind group has stuck by me all this time. Mentoring for Free is an amazing group that is always there.  Even when I take a vacation, they are there.  So this is me. I am a struggling network marketer dealing with negativity and looking for ways to combat it both in myself and my family.  I don't have all the answers, but I have information that I can share that can help people.  I have a belief in the system, in the business model.  I know this is the single best way for the average person like me to get more than social security and a gold watch, and be dependent on others for my well being when and if I can't care for myself.  I am scared silly of success, but know if I keep working with these people I will figure out why and be successful in spite of my fear.  I know I have something that is worthwhile that can help people. and I know that I am not the only one that feels this way.  I know that I can't do this alone and I need my friends.  I know I can love my negative friends and still love myself enough to honor my mind by limiting the negative talk that seems to happen around me.  I can say I am not interested in hearing about the awful things someone has done to someone else, I want to hear about ideas, not people.  I want to be inspired and inspiring and only positive thoughts can do that.

I still have some grudges, I still judge on occasion but catch myself much more now than I ever did before.  I am still struggling with my weight and get defensive when I hear other well meaning people tell me what I need to do to lose weight.  They are right, but it hurts to hear it because I know they are right, and I haven't been able to do it. I am still scared... in spite of my fear, I have to do what I know is necessary. I just have to DO IT! (Take a look at the just  'do it' video) I know I have to decide what I am to do with my life and take action to make it happen, in spite of my fears... yes I have more than one!

In spite of me and because of me, I know I will get where I want to go.  My belief may not be strong enough yet, yes I have doubts, but not in the system, in me.  I know using network marketing I will have the financial wealth I want and Mentoring for Free will prepare me for it if I don't give up and I won't...  I will own my life!