The Steno Pad

I have trained independent distributors the nuts and bolts of business building for near 40 years now. I have traveled from coast to coast, stayed in distributors homes, motivated, updated, communicated, and even organized their personal at-home work places in those homes. But until distributors learn to manage their time, they get very little done with building their businesses.

"Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One man gets only a week’s value out of a year while another man gets a full year’s value out of a week." - Charles Richards

I have built empire-sized businesses with Network Marketing ever since I married my handsome husband, Ken, 37 years ago. We've raised six children - now have 15 grandchildren with 1 more on the way in August. We've always worked from home. We've juggled all of them with piano lessons, soccer, baseball, basketball, music, school plays and concerts - see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfI6ii2janc - my daughter Angela Villa - and are known by our friends with even doing 3-ways and conference calls at half-time in the halls, bathrooms or phone booths when it was raining outside. Nothing has stopped us from doing this business in a big way. Why? Because we wanted time and money for our family. But it takes time management and organization.

Don't waste time. Use a planner, calendar, tickler file with your Biz Binder, and STENO PAD. This simple steno pad has kept me on track with achieving daily goals, which equal weekly goals, which turn into short term then long term goals. You have to chunk everything you do down, track it and achieve it.

Every night I divide what I have to do like this on the steno pad. Across the top I write the day and date. On the right side I write the things I have to do for the day. I list simple stuff like: bed, laundry, kitchen, vacuum, study scriptures, walk (that's my 1 hour morning walk). I then a put line under those "have-to's", and list business stuff like - calls - Shelley, Elaine, Nancy, Cynthia, Carol, etc. Then I list business have-to's for the day like - update website, blog, welcome new distributors. As I do these things, I check them off.

On the left side I only record actually income generating activity that I have initiated for the day. Example: 3-way Shelley - and names of those Prospects we did the 3-ways with. Calls placed to new Prospects, appointments made, samples given, product sold, etc. At the end of the day, if my listed right side items were not fully completed, I flip the page to a new page, put the date and day at the top, then list things I have to do as soon as I get up, including those calls that weren't returned, etc. If I've left a message I put an "m" and circle next to name of person I left the message. I then record activity on each Prospect Worksheet and move their sheet to the day in the tickler to follow-up. This is done at the same time that I'm recording activities on my steno pad.

I can tally my success for the day by looking at this steno pad. How productive was I? How many samples did I hand out? How many calls did I make for new Prospects? What did I accomplish? Important Goal for Each of You : Sponsor 2 a day, Sponsor 2 a month minimum. Break that down and do it!

Team - Use those nooks and crannies to make things happen. My favorite thing that happened the past few weeks with the business was a 3-way call Shelley Ball had me do with her. Once I did my validation message with her new Prospect, Shelley got back on the phone and said, "hold on, I'm at the dentist and I need to spit!" So funny. That's called "nooks and crannies!"

Plan your days to see success. If you don't plan and management your time, your day gets away from you and you get zip business building done. Bottom line ... you can make money or make excuses. It's your choice. You work this business casually ... you become a casualty of it! Don't let that happen. Plan for success. Work that plan every day. Don't waste time. Do it!~