Being The Best Me I Can Be!

I have spent my whole life looking at other people and wishing I was more like them. I have never truly had any self-confidence. I have never really enjoyed being me, deep down I would worry what people would think of me, and I still do, to a degree and think I always will.

When I joined Arbonne, I heard so many amazing presentations and wished I could be like the people I was seeing! I wanted to be Sarah, Iain, Gordon, Scott, Tamlyn, Stuart, Claire... I could fill the page with names! I tried to be like them, as they are now, forgetting that they had to grow themselves in to the people we see today!

Over this month I have changed things up. I wasn't going to carry on what I was doing, and just hope for a different result. I had to create a different result. Before, I desperately tried to get people to have a one to one with me, I wanted to go to a coffee shop, all professional, with my tablet presentation ready to go. But it just wasn't happening for me. I wasn't being me!

If you haven't guessed by now, I love to talk, I am such a chatter box I have to make a conscious effort to not talk too much (unsuccessfully most of the time). I love to help to people and I love to hear about people. I enjoy being friends and being there for people in any capacity! I am the 'yeah sure' girl.

So, with this in mind, and with my last blogs about my actions taking a natural course I am finding myself making natural connections with people. Remember the lady with the gorgeous makeup? The one I have been chatting away too at the playschool gates? Well, today I saw her in passing, we smiled, said hello and literally out of no where I asked if she was free on Wednesday for a coffee, she instantly said yes and said "Here take my number and text me!" I did then say I had a business and would love her to try some things and let me know what she thinks!

Now, before Christmas I would have been like a little Arbonne ninja! Preparing for my 'coffee' I would get in pickle, be excited, nervous, calm, excited, calm, then nervous again! But that was because I wasn't being real to who I am. I wasn't being me!

But now, on Wednesday I am going for coffee, to chat with my new friend. I will take some things with me that I think she will like, and we will have a coffee and natter about anything we fancy. I am not going to force a presentation on her, I am going to behave the way I would naturally behave. I will do what I would naturally do if I was sharing something with a friend.

If she wants to hear more, see more, try more, then great. But if not, then great too, it won't affect my feelings on how 'coffee' went, because I am not going for the single purpose of 'prospecting' I am just me, going for coffee with a friend! Why complicate such a simple thing?

If she wants to hear more, then I will invite her to hear more, whether it be at an event, meeting, or a presentation I do for her myself. But I will judge that in the moment. How many times have you played scenarios in your head of what is going to happen and what you're going to say? Did that scenario play out exactly as you saw it? Probably not! So why waste your time? Use your own judgement in the moment.

There is an amazing system to follow, we are given so many tools to use all the hard work is done for us. There is no, one size fits all, or perfect script. All you can really do is know what is available to you, be honest with yourself, be true to who you are, share what you have and enjoy all the friendships you make on the way.

Before I finish this blog I wanted to also talk about affirmations. As this was another thing that I wasn't being true to myself with. One of my affirmations was "I am an ENVP and I love the feeling of earning £35,000 a month or more!" I had others very similar, and I said them, daily, but I didn't feel them! Then, as I was reading I started to realise that I was not emotionally connected with my affirmation. So I took some time out to think about them. I have a statement now and other affirmations that really make me smile now. I can feel myself in that moment and could cry with just feeling how I would feel! So, here they are...

On the 10th June 2020 I will be paid £35,000 or more by Arbonne, I will have helped and mentored coachable, driven leaders. I will have encouraged people to realise their true potential so they can reach their dreams.
I will achieve this by continuing my own self-development and by opening up and talking to people. I will fully commit myself to individuals who truly want to make a change.

Day by day, in every way, I am getting better and better!"

That is my first statement, I read it out every day! More than once and I was smile and always getting butterflies! I also say...

"I am an Executive National Vice President and I have I helped many people to live their dream and I feel honoured to be part of their lives"

"I inspire driven coachable leaders in my team to reach their goals and realise their potential"

"I have an amazing client base who I help regularly with their needs, and who purchase products on a regular basis"

"I am continually growing a balanced business, earning money and spending quality time with all of my family and the special people in my life"

And lastly... Something I have to share with you, if you ever think it is getting too much or that you are going to fail, then watch this video that was played at the January 2015 UK Leadership Academy. Grab a tissue before you watch this!

Being Genuine, Keeping Focused!

This month has been somewhat challenging, for personal reasons, but I have remained focused and made sure that I kept up with training, reading and audios. It has given me much more confidence in speaking to people and making conversations. It has helped me find myself in terms of what works for me.

There is a lady at the Playschool I drop off at, she is pregnant and always looks gorgeous, perfect hair, perfect make-up, perfect clothes! She is literally 2 week away from her due date and every day she shows up with her son looking so well. Before Christmas I knew I wanted to talk to her but felt so awkward and didn't know what to say, so just gave a pathetic smile now and then. Until this week! I laughed and commented about how stunning she looked for how far she was, and made the joke that I looked like death. We got chatting and had a good laugh. Each day we have a little chat now and I am getting to know her, she is so lovely. I am not going to jump in with Arbonne straight away, but I will build my friendship with her and when I feel the time is right I will bring it up. If she is not interested, then I will have at least made a new friend... That's what it's all about!!

Before, when I went out, I saw "PROSPECTS" instead of people as new friends. I kept talking to them thinking "right, how can I mention Arbonne!" I had totally the wrong mentality. Since doing all the training and personal development I have taken a step back and really looked at myself and how I came across to people. It's okay saying to yourself "I am just sharing this and not emotionally attached to the outcome" it is an entirely different thing to actually truly believe it!

 

 

Where my main focus has been on my personal development, my mindset has changed. I am genuinely not emotionally attached to an outcome, because I am in a place where I am trying to grow myself as a person. I am still doing activity and chatting to people in an organic way and I am finding myself having people come up to me now and ask me about it.

Like I mentioned in my last post, my husband and I are hosting an event in a couple of weeks, I had the idea I wanted a make-up artist to come and do make-overs on some of the guests for me. So I put a post out on several pages making that request, I explained that it would be an opportunity for them to showcase their talents and advertise their make-up business at the same time, a favour for a favour if you will. I had so many people message me, I booked one lady, but even now, I am still getting people message me.

I have spoken with them all individually, explained that I already have some one now, but also explained what it was for, explained it was a business opportunity and if they wanted to hear more, I would be willing to meet up over coffee for a chat. I now have 3 one to ones next week on the back of that.

My intention was not to get prospects in fact that didn't even enter my head, I was genuinely just looking for a make-up artist, and had the thought it would also be great because then they could see the products as well. I have let things naturally take a course without forcing anything and I am seeing such incredible results!

So remember guys, just keep reading, keep listening to them audios, keep plugged in, keep real and always be genuine!

January, So Far!

So far, I have been reading my book and listening to audios, had  two business meetings with my husband Mark, attended a team social with Maria hosted by Rachael Lalji, had a video training conference with Rach, attended the Region training and booked tickets for the Leadership academy.

I have bought a wall calendar purely for Arbonne dates, and filled in all the dates for the next year for various trainings and events. I have also bought a note book which I use for all Arbonne notes and done a complete stock take!

 

During the personal development, training and organising I have also been doing little bits of activity, with no other intention than to plant seeds and share the products in an organic way. I am not going out with the focused aim of prospecting. Over the Christmas period I did a few stalls and made up some gift bags with samples of products, Swiss chocolates and 35% discount vouchers, to sell at the events. Last week I posted on my Facebook that I had a few of these left and was going to give them away to the first people who messaged me! My Facebook went crazy! Literally within minutes they were gone, but I was still getting people message me. I decided to private message the people who didn't get a free gift bag and offered them some free samples anyway.

 

 

 

This has now opened the lines of communication with new people without feeling like I am trying to prospect them. It gives me a reason to message people who I haven't spoken to in a long time. I have several avenues I can go down with this depending on the response it get. I already have a one to one booked for Monday lunchtime with someone I have never met before, all because she saw my post and sent me a message!

 

Another thing I did at the stall was a free prize draw. People filled in a form with their information on, such as their current skincare routine and products, their skin type, their name, email, telephone number, date of birth and tick boxes for if they were interested in ultra premium, botanically based vegan certified products, and if they were interested in hearing about how to get a free gift and 50% off these products. After sifting through all the forms I was left with 57 new leads!

 

I am going to break these down and call 5 people a day, I will chat with them about their skincare needs and offer to do a one to one consultation at their home showing them the products, I will make a note of the things they like the most and discuss their options. I will also advise them that they can host a party which will help them get the products they want using the host rewards.  

 

As well as this, Mark and I are going to arrange two product events for February. We will be finding a nice venue to host our event and creating posters inviting people to come along. We will be going in to the local gyms, salons and hairdressers to invite them as VIPs and also asking to put up posters for their clients.

 

Not forgetting to keep up with personal development, reading and listening to audios daily. We will also be going to Area training, Leadership academy and we will continue to have our own business meetings.

 

 

 

Learning to Crawl

Isn't it funny how when you are born, you literally can't do anything... And I mean CAN'T it is physically impossible. We have no choice but to rely on our parents for everything. We can't even communicate our needs effectively, all we do is cry and hope they guess what is wrong!!

It would be so easy to be born and just stay that way, we don't know any different. Our excuse is "I have never done that before and I PHYSICALLY cannot do it" what an amazing excuse! But it is obvious that is not what happens. As babies we are curious, we want to see what's going on. We are nosy blighters and want what everyone else has. We are determined to get it, no matter what physical difficulties we have.

We slowly begin to strengthen our bodies, starting at the top... supporting our heads, being able to lay on our tummies, observing the world from a new angle. It is great, we can see things we didn't see before. But we want more! We are no longer content with seeing the world from a static position, we want to explore it!

Simply wanting to explore is not enough though. We don't go from laying down to crawling by just wanting alone. We do it by learning, trying, failing, learning some more, trying again and failing again... over and over again. Eventually after much trying and failing, we succeed. We go from being tiny babies literally unable to do anything but cry, to little explorers making our own way round the living room! What an incredible achievement, and it doesn't stop there. Learning to crawl was just the beginning, it open doors to new possibilities, it ignites new desires. Now we want to walk!

So, why is it that as babies, against all the odds we achieve such things? Because as babies, we don't start off with nothing, as well as crying we have the incredible ability to observe and learn. That is all we do in the beginning. Observe what everyone else is doing, watch how they move, we absorb everything around us and start with tiny actions and slowly build up. Constantly observing, learning and absorbing, never giving up, never waking up one day and saying "Meh, today I think I will have a day off"

We have this ability hard wired in to us, as we get older we seem to forget just amazing we really are and forget how we work. We forget that before anything else we are learners and observers first, then we are doers! Then failures, learners, doers, failures learners and doers until we succeed! We have all done it before, and we can all do it again. Every time you think to yourself "I can't do this" just remember that as a baby, you couldn't even lift your own head up, now look at yourself, a fully grown, walking talking success... do you think you would have even got to pre-school if your baby self said "I can't do this" then gave up?

Life is exactly the same as being a baby, starting with little more than the ability to learn, figuring out what to do, how to do it, then doing it. Realising that failing is just another way to start again with more knowledge. Use every available resource to aid your learning, never forgetting that doing and failing is also part of learning.