Song of My Heart Demonstrators

9 reasons to rethink private Facebook groups for customers

A recent trend among direct sellers is to create a private Facebook group for customers. Those who promote this strategy point to increasingly small views on Facebook business pages. That is true; however, in order to do business on Facebook you are required to have a Facebook business page no matter what.

There are also many reasons not to try to do both. I've compiled a list of concerns I have and why it's crucial not to keep adding things to our workload as demonstrators. The following are my opinion based on both personal experience with a group, ten years doing business on Facebook, and general social media practices and advice.

Please note two things:

IF a Facebook private group for customers is currently working for you, then you should listen to your gut. I do hope you'll read through the article, however, and make sure it really IS working for you and not against you in the long-term.

Also, remember we're discussing CUSTOMER groups here, not team groups or a private hostess club or some other sub-group of your main customer base. FB groups DO have a purpose. I just don't personally recommend them for your customer base at large.

 

1. Private is just that—something that cannot be seen. New customers won’t be able to find you in a group like they can on a business page. They can’t send you a message you will be certain to see. They won’t join something they don’t even know exists, or that they cannot see inside to know what it is like. People prefer to try before they buy, and you just removed the possibility of trying you out to see if you’re a good fit. Don't build walls!
2. Chatting should be done in public!!! How many of us learn something by reading thread responses or other people’s questions we were also wondering about. Camaraderie and enthusiasm that is contained to a private group will never be contagious. We want the fun to spread, not be boxed in. Your personality and brand is meant to be seen in your public responses so people can decide they like you. Chatting and relationship-building in public is free, priceless advertising.
3. Groups cannot do advertising or boosting. ONLY business pages can do that. Facebook’s magic for small businesses lies in the ability to advertise targetedly and very inexpensively. You just stole FB’s main super-power when you focus on a group rather than a biz page. Facebook still won’t show all your posts to your group members. That’s a myth. Facebook still manages what we see in our feeds no matter what we think we’ve selected to be notified about. Short of advertising, there is no concrete way to get posts in front of eyes.
4. You are investing a huge amount of time into something that you ultimately do not own. This time would be much better spent maintaining your biz page and building your blog and newsletter. If anything happens to Facebook, or their policies change again like they do every two months, you’re completely and 100% at their mercy. You should never ever rely on one platform, especially one that is FREE. Focus your time on what you OWN, or someday you may come to deeply regret it.
5. The more you ask of customer, the LESS LIKELY they are to do it. Don’t ever make them click twice when once will do.You don’t want to be directing customers to a Facebook group when where they need to go is your blog, which should be your home base on the web. Facebook hates links away from FB. It wants to keep you there (makes sense). So you’re in the position of sending people multiple places for information.
6. It’s just one more thing to manage. It may not seem like a big deal, but every time you add something you have to maintain and moderate, you are committing yourself long-term. Don’t set yourself up for failure if you’re already trying to juggle it all. Consistency is the NUMBER ONE problem demonstrators quote as to why they have trouble with managing social media. Some say they’ll just manage both. Realistically, you probably won’t. And you’ll be left wondering why neither thrive.
7. You should never EVER add people to groups without permission. I instantly unfollow anyone who does this because it’s SO annoying. So now you’re asking them to join multiple things again and trying to chase people down. Some will join, but most won’t. LESS is more. Your professional email list, with its double-opt-in, is the ONLY thing that should be exclusive. Separating people just makes for more work.
8. Private groups can’t be linked to Instagram. One of the best partnerships out there is the ability to run posts simultaneously on FB biz pages and Instagram. That is a powerhouse move every time you promote it on both. Again, that’s an ability of only business pages, not groups. This is likely to be true of ANY FUTURE PLATFORMS that partner with Facebook for business reasons. Why? because that's how Facebook makes their money. They are not a charity. This is reality for business owners. You get what you pay for, and if you don't pay for it, you are lucky you get ANYthing.
9. Groups can’t go viral!!!! Someday, if it has not already happened to you, one of your business page posts will unexpectedly garner a huge amount of interaction and engagement. That can never happen in a private group. We need to be putting our attention and resources into things that can spread, not stagnate.

Bottom line: have ALL the pros and cons in mind before you add anything to your workload. If you want to start one, set a probationary period, after which you will quit without guilt, if it’s not working for you.

I quietly deleted my VIP group after just two months when it was obvious I was working harder than ever and still not having interaction and increased sales. Not a soul noticed!!! That tells you how ineffective the customer group concept was for me. "Forced" social media interaction is, in my opinion, unsustainable.

Conversations that occur naturally, in the moment, without walls or hurdles, are the best feature of social media. Paid, targeted advertising is the second. And viral contagion potential is the third. Remember those three things and you can't go wrong when deciding what types of social media platforms are going to work best for YOU.

30-Day Circles of Business Boot Camp

Ready to make some changes in the new Stampin' Up year?

Many of us came into the direct sales world by accident, never intending to build a business. Now that we know the rewards and are ready to work for them, we find ourselves bogged down by thrown-together systems, events and haphazard practices that are no longer working for us.

You CAN have a thriving business that is in harmony with your family and your physical and emotional wellness! And I want to help you get there with the Circles of Business concept.

Two years ago it was clear I needed to completely revamp--or abandon-- my Stampin' Up business. I was forced to do so by health changes that made it essential to cut back and focus on only the most vital aspects. The company was also going through a massive compensation plan change at the time. I was forced to figure out what I really wanted, what my bottom-line motivations and goals were.

I made some drastic changes. I slashed my calendar left and right. I quit old programs that were no longer working for me, and I instituted new systems to make the ones I wanted to keep self-sustaining, with the least amount of effort.

Remember, this was all with no guarantee that customers would want to participate in the type of business I wanted to own.

Was it scary? You bet your britches.

But on the other side of that year of change was the business I had always wanted, the one that bent around MY needs and MY family's schedule. The one that focused on gratitude and celebration. The one that could be enjoyed. The one that left time for LIFE. And none of that would ever have happened if I hadn't been willing to make changes.

We're going to focus on five areas during this 30-Day Business Boot Camp during October 2018:

• determining what our personal priorities are;
• determining what is not working for us;
• determining what is worth keeping from our old life;
• determining what we want our new life to look like;
• determining what new directions we will be heading.

Thirty days is just a good start, of course! My hope is that each participant will go away with a deep sense of what is truly important to them, new insights about themselves and their business practices, and walk away strengthened to embrace the changes they have chosen to make.

Is this boot camp for you? Not unless you're A. Ready to Change and B. Willing to Work. If you are not serious about digging in to the nitty gritty and DOING something with your business, it will be a waste of time for both of us. I expect good-faith effort to participate in the community and the boot camp experience.

The fine print:

• This boot camp is run through a private Facebook group and you must be a member of Facebook to participate. You can join Facebook temporarily just to participate, if you need to.
• The boot camp will use USD and US policies in all examples and figures. Other countries will need to do their own math and consult their own demonstrator policy handbook. All business advice is to be used at your own risk.
• The group will open September 29th in preparation to begin challenges on October 1st. Participants may join any time between now and October 7th. The group will close permanently November 4th, 2018.
• There will be exclusive content, handouts, and worksheets for participants. Participants have permission to use them in training their own team only, as long as they do not charge for the training. Under no circumstances should my materials be shared for profit.
• Your name will never go on a mailing list or be shared with anyone else. I do not pester people to sign up for additional training. If you want more interaction after the boot camp is finished, you know where to find me!
• No outside training is ever endorsed by Stampin' Up, but rest assured that this boot camp will be run with integrity, in full accordance with the Statement of the Heart and all company policies. Any trainings I offer will never undercut the authority and ideals of SU.

How to register to participate:

• Cost to participate is free for members of my downline, or $30 USD per person.
• To join, PayPal Lyssa@songofmyheartstampers.com at https://www.paypal.me/Songofmyheart with your name and demonstrator ID. You must be an active Stampin' Up demonstrator in good standing to join.
• You will receive a welcome email within a day or so, with an invitation to join the private Facebook group.

Ready to change your business so it actually works for you? Get ready for a boot camp like no other! We're going to tear down and rebuild, smarter and better than ever.

I'm so excited to grow together in the new SU year. Hope to see your name in my inbox very soon!

Game: Guess the Foreign Product Names

We played a fun (but surprisingly difficult) game at our virtual team meeting this month. I created a list of Stampin' Up product names in French and German, using the packaging and labels plus a visit to the "translated" section of the online store. The object was to guess which color, stamp set or tool it was in English.

This is a fun new take on guessing games. Feel free to copy and paste this list or make your own! Answers are below.

Identify the product by one of its foreign name translations!

Copy and paste this list into the comments and add your best guess. NO CHEATING!

1. Pate À Embosser (embellishment)
2. À La Verticale (stamp set)
3. Wassermelone (color name)
4. Schneidklingen Fur Paperschneider (tool)
5. Crayons Aquarelle (tool)
6. Rouge-Rouge (color name)
7. Mittlere Umschlage Vanille (accessory)
8. Tannegrun (color name)
9. Knopfe Ganz Gentleman (embellishment)
10. Prêts Pour Noël (stamp set)
11. Bijoux Classiques cristal du rhin (embellishment)
12. Punch À la Ananas (color name)
13. Kussrot (color name)
14. Adorable Marguerite (stamp set name)
15. Horizon de bruyeres (color name)

___________________________________

Answers:

1. Pate À Embosser (embellishment) --embossing paste
2. À La Verticale (stamp set) -- Vertical Greetings
3. Wassermelone (color name) --Melon Mambo
4. Schneidklingen Fur Paperschneider (tool) --Trimmer blades!
5. Crayons Aquarelle (tool) --Watercolor Pencils
6. Rouge-Rouge (color name) --Real Red
7. Mittlere Umschlage Vanille (accessory) --Vanilla Envelopes
8. Tannegrun (color name)-- Shaded Spruce
9. Knopfe Ganz Gentleman (embellishment) True Gentleman Buttons
10. Prêts Pour Noël (stamp set) Ready for Christmas
11. Bijoux Classiques cristal du rhin (embellishment) Basic rhinestones
12. Punch À la Ananas (color name) Pineapple Punch
13. Kussrot (color name) Lovely Lipstick
14. Adorable Marguerite (stamp set name) Delightful Daisy
15. Horizon de bruyeres (color name) Highland Heather

 

To make this game easier, choose only color names or only stamp sets, to narrow down the answering options. Too make it harder, omit the categories so they have to guess on the product even more. Have fun!

Handout: Five FAQ when Jumpstarting a Dead Blog

Is your blog dead? Experts estimate that 95% of those who begin a blog abandon it sooner or later.  Forget past failure: that was then, this is now. There is no reason you cannot make a success of your blog this time.

1. Should I start over completely?

Depends. If your last significant blog post is more than a year in the past, or you only had a few posts to begin with, you may choose to start fresh with a new name, new header, and new attitude. If you have been posting off and on (more off than on), just start posting again. You can turn over a new leaf any time.

If you don’t want to delete past posts and remove the “evidence” entirely, just leave them there. They are part of your journey. Anyone who judges you for not finishing something you started is obviously an alien from outer space, because everybody does that.

2. What do I say in my first post?

Don’t make a big deal out of a spotty posting record. Drawing attention to it will just make new readers feel like it’s a waste of time following someone who might quit again any moment. I’ve seen blogs with multiple posts promising the turning over a new leaf… six months from the last post in which they promised to turn over a new leaf. Just begin as you mean to go on.

3. How do I make sure I stay consistent this time?

First, figure out what the problem was before. Was it lack of things to post? Do you hate photographing and editing? Was it the writing part that bothered you? Was it simply remembering to do it? Were you only blogging because you thought you “had” to? Did you get discouraged with lack of sales? You’ll want to nail down what it was that messed with your first attempt.

Then, look for resources, tutorials and accountability groups to help you overcome whatever the issue was. Implement a strict schedule and make it a priority. If you don’t fix what started the decline in the first place, get ready to repeat your pattern.

4. What if the problem was a confusing blog platform?

There’s no getting around it—blogs involve tech. And tech can be pretty confusing. If that was the main issue, definitely try an easier platform like TAMS or Typepad. There’s almost no learning curve, and the cost is reasonable. Remember, though, most of us bloggers are self taught. There’s almost nothing you can’t learn by Googling or watching YouTube tutorials. You just have to take it one chunk at a time—and keep taking chunks. Never quit learning.

5. How do I promote my blog better than I did in the past?

A very common mistake bloggers make is to remain passively sitting there, waiting for visitors to discover them. You’ll have lots better luck if you create your posts and then spend some time telling people about it. Pin it to Pinterest. Share on Instagram. Tweet it out. Post it to Facebook. Link to it in your newsletters. And link back to yourself, mentioning old posts in new ones. Think of yourself like the Public Relations exec for a client. Get the word out!

 

Get this article in PDF form and use as a handout at your next team meeting! Download 5 FAQ jumpstarting dead blogs

Somewhere online someone is marketing, and you are not

“Somewhere in the world someone is training when you are not.

When you race him, he will win.” – Tom Fleming

This sports-related quote struck me profoundly the other day, with obvious implications for business.

While I am goofing off, not prioritizing, making excuses, someone else is strategizing and staying focused.

__And they will get the customer. And I will not.

While I am whining about paying $5 for Facebook advertising or the $3 fee for unlimited linking services at TAMS, someone else is investing without complaining.

__And they will get the order. And I will not.

While I am online complaining about the company in a demo forum or pinning projects I'll never actually make, someone else is working on their brand and creating in their studio.

__And they will get the pins and engagement, and I will not.

While I am hemming and hawing over a decision, someone else will make it and move forward.

__And their business will experience growth. And mine will not.

Successful business people have a healthy, realistic but pressing sense of time. They realize and own the outcome of their decisions.If you make the decision to work haphazardly, you will get different results from someone who chooses to stay on task.

This seems obvious, but in the moment, day-to-day, we do not see the choices we are making, and we never think about the end result of the path we are on. You don't wander your way down one road and then successfully arrive at a totally different destination on the opposite side of the mountain. We somehow delude ourselves that hobby effort will yield business results.

Taking ownership of your day-to-day choices and being honest with yourself about the results you are trading in the moment is hard. But it's crucial. Be the one who is working the business while others are watching worthless television. Be the one who's in the studio whether she feels the mojo or not. Be the one who faithfully and consistently follows up while others work in spurts and starts.

Then you'll be the one who achieves the awards. And they will not.

 

Blog Bounce Boot Camp! May 7-12, 2018

Ready to boost your craft blogging to another level? Join us on a "Blog Bounce" as we spend a week improving our existing blogs to better serve our customers, reduce the time it takes to create posts, and further develop our personal brand. Everything's more fun when we do it together. Let's take what could be a chore and turn it into a challenge! 

We'll be covering topics such as:

• maximizing our posts for sales and upselling
• consistency in posting habits
• building and advertising our library of resources
• ways to incorporate personality and theme
• Increasing visits to our online stores
• optimizing pictures for sales and shares

This boot camp may be for you IF:

• you already have an existing craft blog and can function at least at a basic level within it (making posts with pictures)
• you want to increase your online presence and are willing to put in the time it takes
• you are the type of person who works proactively towards obtaining the information you need
• you already have a well-thought-out brand name, color scheme or general theme to work within

This boot camp is NOT for you IF:

• you are not an active Stampin' Up Demonstrator over the age of 18
• you do not have an existing craft blog or can't get into or function basically in the one you have
• you have not decided on a theme, color scheme and name brand for your online presence
• you want step by step information or "how to's" relating to your specific blog platform.

How my boot camps work: after payment, you will be invited to join a private Facebook group. There will be a blend of posts with training in PDF form (so you can print and save as needed), a daily challenge for specific areas of the blog, and informational threads covering different topics. The group will stay open until May 20th for you to work on, encourage each other, and copy any resources you want to keep.

This is a short-term boot camp: work at your own pace. If you need to skip a day, that's life. But remember, those who invest time and money into their businesses will be the ones seeing the results. This is a one-week Blog Bounce boot camp designed to energize, revive and enliven existing craft bloggers, providing encouragement in an environment of motivation, with a focus on achieving our business goals in the online world.

Please Note: we will not be taking questions relating to specific blog platforms (Typepad, Wordpress, Blogger, etc) during this week. I would never dream to present myself as qualified to do that. We will, however, discuss helpful sites, search topics, videos and other ways to find any platform-specific information you find you need.

All of the information offered in my training, groups and website is purely my 10-year blogging and personal direct-sales experience, not endorsed by any other company or entitity, including Stampin' Up; however, I run every aspect of my business in accordance with Stampin' Up policies. Unless noted, all materials are copyright Song of My Heart Demonstrators. Take any business advice at your own risk, after carefully considering whether or not it is appropriate to your own situation and goals.

Payment: admission to Song of My Heart's Blog Bounce private training group is $25 USD per person. Please sign up by sending the fee to http://paypal.me/songofmyheart with your name, email and existing craft blog address in the message area. You will be contacted with the invitation the first week of May. Please feel free to email me if you are not sure this boot camp is for you or you have questions about joining.

I hope you can join us for the Blog Bounce! I'm excited to put a spotlight on an area that has become so amazingly crucial for direct sellers in the last decade. Business follows where we focus. Let's work together on getting our blogs where we want them to be!

GAME: Random Task Wrapping Game

We played this game at our team meeting last night and had a lot of laughs! It requires a small amount of prep, a lot of wrapping paper, and 3-4 prizes. I used Sale-A-Bration and hostess freebies, but you can use any items of similar size and shape.

If you have ever played the Saran Wrap ball game, the concept is silimar, except that instead of taking off plastic wrap until the timer goes off, each player just removes one layer of wrapping paper. There are also conditions to keeping the prize you unwrap.

TO PREP:

• Wrap a stamp set in wrapping paper, three times. Make sure the tape for each layer is only stuck to that layer, so it won't rip into the next layer.
• Add another set and wrap that together with the original set. Wrap that again two or three times.
• Add additional sets as you go, varying the number of wrapping paper layers each time, so it can't be guessed. The more layers of paper, the more suspense and fun.
• Use as many different types of wrapping paper as you can. To avoid confusion over the layers, don't wrap twice in a row with the same paper pattern.
• You will end up with a large, bulky package about the size of a shoebox.

THEN:

• Prepare a small jar or basket with slips of paper on which are written random tasks. It's best if they are not TOO embarrassing, but you know your crowd.
• Suggestions: bark like a dog; sing a line of a song; share your celebrity crush; take a selfie with a duck face; give the person next to you a bear hug; quote a line from your favorite movie; tell us a knock-knock joke.

TO PLAY

• Pass the bundle around the room, with each person peeling off one layer of paper and then passing it on.
• When a player unwraps a gift, they can choose to keep it IF they are willing to perform the random task.
• If they chose not to, they can pass the whole bundle and the unwrapped gift to the next person, who then gets a random task to perform in order to keep it.
• If a person gets the gift more than once, they can decide to keep their original prize or trade it for the new prize--but they have to perform a new random task if they want the new set!

This is a fun way to randomly distribute door prizes for the meeting with a lot more flair than just drawing names. Use it for your Christmas party or just to shake things up during any given month. Good luck with your team gatherings!

Meeting Theme: That's so Random

Premise: a complete random event where everything is different from your typical meeting. Shake your teammates out of their complacency by reminding them of how they felt when they were new!

Do as many things as you can backwards, out of order, or in a goofy way. This will be the meeting they talk about all year!

Here's some ideas to spark the fun!

• Instead of names, write totally random nicknames on the nametags.
• Have random drawings at intervals throughout the evening. Have your helper set the timer so that even you don't know when you'll be surprised by a prize patrol. Have the prizes be bizarre things like a half-used pack of rhinestones, one sheet of every color cardstock, a sack full of scraps, or a bag full of ribbon bits no longer than two inches each.
• Set up the room completely differently than you normally do.
• If you usually finish with demonstrations, start with them. If you normally begin with stamping, do it at the end instead.
• Have a random speed drill or search challenge in between demonstrations.
• Have pop-up business tips at random moments in the evening, or every time the prize timer goes off.
• Play hot potato or the saran-wrap gifting ball, for random gifting of the door prize.
• Guess what's on a random page number of the catalog (this is hard!)
• Have a Random Acts of Kindness project for your team charity project for the month.
• Make the winner sing a line from a random song before they get their prize.
• Select random names from a bucket to share how they decided to join SU.
• Serve breakfast foods at night, if your meeting is typically in the evening.
• Play the Random Purse Items game (points if you have a safety pin, crayons, nail polish, etc.)
• Work on totally random holiday projects. National Donut Day, Christmas in July, Un-Birthday, belated birthdays, etc. All the ones you don't normally get to cover.
• Instead of a swap, have participants bring ten random sheets of paper. Exchange with others to go home with ten different sheets.
• Randomly pair up teams to stamp a simple notecard according to the sample, with their closest arms tied together with a bandana.
• Random product challenge--have them blindly draw from a bucket of scraps. They have one week to post a picture of a project on the team Facebook page, made with whatever they pulled out.

What other ideas do you have for a random, hilarious evening with your team? Do you have ideas for helping this translate to a virtual meeting? Please post in the comments below.

Premade headers up for grabs

I have a little stockpile of pre-made blog header designs that were ultimately rejected in favor of heading in other directions. When the changes are profound, I usually just start over instead of messing with a design! They'll be the perfect fit for someone down the road--maybe even you?

*** Please note that at this time I am not taking any new blog clients except my downline. Premade headers are the exception to this since they require very little time. *****

I will be putting fully designed blog headers that are up for grabs in this post, so check back regularly. Here's the parameters:

• I will change the title and wording to your information
• no more than one other minor revision or color change (if possible) allowed
• can be used for Facebook and newsletter headers as well
• you own the rights to the image from here on out
• special price of $20 for pre-made headers only

If you decide you want one of these, please act quickly! They are first come, first serve. Email Lyssa@songofmyheartstampers.com for a PayPal invoice to make the premade design yours. Be sure to specify which design you want!

Design: Polka Dot Peony (below)

Design: CAS Blossom Vine (below)

Design: Spring Wreath (below)

Design: Springtime Garden (below)

 

Design: Iguana Garden (below)

Design: Vintage Pink Swirls (below)

Design: Sketched Flowers (any color) (below)

Design: CAS Rainbow Flowers

Design: Beach Shade (below)

Let me know if one catches your eye at Lyssa@songofmyheartstampers.com. Thanks for looking!

Do I need an online presence to be successful in direct sales?

Short Answer: No. I believe with all my heart that you do not have to do anything you do not want to do, and there is still a path to success.

However, it might be harder or take longer to get there. And it will be increasingly difficult to manage  your success long-term. If you truly want to build your business in the modern world, growing or sustaining it for the future, you’re going to want to have your own slice of the internet.

Here’s why:

A business run in-person only is limited to your personal circles of influence. There is only one physical you. You live in one physical town and state, have one set of co-workers and family members. You are limited to a certain number of nights/weekends in a month. You have real-life obstacles, responsibilities and parameters to work around. If you take a break, or can’t hold events for a while, your business comes to a complete halt.

Online, your business runs 24/7. It never stops working for you. Pins that are years old keep bringing traffic to a blog. People access Facebook and Instagram all hours of the day and night. The library of tutorials you’ve created or the gallery of cards you’ve amassed only becomes larger. Your audience has grown from 12 to 120 or 1200. Your “reach” is limited only to what you’re willing to spend to get your content in front of people’s eyes.

Once things are rolling (which can take quite a while) orders come in when you’re asleep, on vacation, at church, kids’ games, etc. You work an online business during hours that suit you and actually DO set your own schedule, like direct sales companies always say we do : )

You still are only one person, working around the realities of your life. But instead of your efforts being seen and appreciated once, by a small audience, and then gone forever, they are positioned where they can be seen and used over and over again, by a virtually unlimited audience around the globe.

Don’t be deceived—it’s still WORK.

In fact, it can potentially be more work than it was previously. It’s just different work.

It’s still you in the stamp room regularly, but it’s more often you at the light box, on the editing software, typing away at a blog post. It’s still managing orders, but instead of inputting them, receiving the shipment and driving around delivering them, it’s emailing a thank you, mailing a thank you, and following up. It’s still going out on a limb to distribute catalogs, but you’re giving out five times as many by being willing to mail them across the country.  

It’s still a newsletter, it’s just a weekly electronic one that signs up people by itself, year-round, instead of a paper one you mailed out once a quarter at great time and expense. It’s still creating tutorials, it’s just packaging them in a consumer-friendly, DIY PDF format people can do in their jammies at home without you there over their shoulder.

Most of all, it’s still about connecting with the customer. People want to do business with people, not products. We’re increasingly brand-loyal and willing to be a walking advertisement for companies and brands we enjoy. The more personal touches you can include, the better.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking online equals cold and impersonal. I’ve found just the opposite. I have health boundaries for my time and family now, while enjoying dozens of new friendships with people I never would have met in real life. I still enjoy connecting with my “real life” customers, but having most of my business come in online means I can actually have a life, in person.

Time to Proceed:

I hope this article has given you some serious food for thought. I don’t blame you one bit for hesitating on the cusp of something you know is going to take a time and money investment. Maybe you’ve tried one or two platforms and got discouraged by lack of visible progress.

• If you’re afraid, that’s ok. Do it afraid. Trust those who’ve come out on the other side and already know it was worth it. Don’t obsess over which platform is the best. Just pick one and go for it. Google anything you can’t figure out. It’s easier than it’s ever been to get online and start connecting. The worst thing that can happen is you lose a little time and maybe a few dollars. The best thing that can happen is you discover a whole new world of friends and a way of business that truly works for you and your family.
• If you’re excited, great! Just don’t get carried away and tackle too many new areas at once. Slow and steady wins the race. Learn one platform or practice, then move to the next. Fully utilize the features and advice available from each. Focus on building your brand consistently and creatively, to stick out from the crowd of voices shouting for attention online. Don’t allow yourself to get discouraged until you’ve sincerely, consistently tried something for six months to one year.
• If you’re still feeling this is not for you, that’s ok. Just realize you are always going to be working within a pretty small world, recreating your efforts over and over again. Don’t resent people who’ve decided the future lies online. There is room for us all. And you can definitely still have success (perhaps defined differently) as an in-person only demonstrator, especially if your circles of influence are expansive. Keep an open mind and reevaluate if you feel like you’re working too hard for too little payoff.
• If you’re feeling late to the party, you are. But that’s not a good enough reason not to go to the party! And you’re only a little bit late to the existing platforms. You’re not late at all for the many incredible, unimaginable online platforms and programs that haven’t even been dreamed up yet. It’s never too late to teach an old doggie new tricks. The doggie just needs to be willing to work for the treat!

Final Thoughts:

 If you see some big-time successful demo doing something online, don’t automatically think you have to do it, too. She or he may be working just like you—seeking out new platforms, giving them a good trial before deciding if they are a good fit or not. If it turns out its a path to success for many, it will come to the top repeatedly and you can investigate it for yourself. I’ve tried many an idea I decided wasn’t worth sharing. What actually works will float to the surface and define itself, soon enough. Good luck!

UPLINES: want to use this information in your next team meeting?

Here it is in PDF format: Download Do I need an online presence to be successful