Thank you for your feedback last year. I started to outline how I built my Avon business in January. Success is really an inside job, so in March and April I shared how I work on being my best and beautiful self. Earning an all-expense-paid cruise to the Bahamas’ was my first glimpse of truly feeling successful with my Avon business.
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No, I didn’t take a vacation to the Bahamas – I earned it. I’m guessing your first thought is “How lucky she is” (which IS true), or “Good for her.” But I ask you to please understand the effort, sweat, and tears that went into getting to that point. As you might recall, I was still working full-time in a corporate job while working Avon on the side. I also worked very hard with my mentor, Barb. Remember, she is the one who had planted that seed two years earlier on how to work smarter. I believed I was doing all the right things, yet my business was not growing the way I thought it should. (You know how we tend to expect that unrealistic instant gratification.) I thought about giving up, but how was I going to tell Barb? Then I received the phone call.
When it comes to owning a business (and life in general) it’s important to set goals and expectations. What’s also important is to make sure these are SMART goals. As a recovering perfectionist, I had a goal of being perfect in everything I did. It was not realistic. As a result, I couldn’t possibly get my business to where I thought it should be. Yes, I made sales and brought in team members, but not enough of either. I made money, but not enough to feel successful. I was working my way up the leadership ladder. It still was not enough. As a result, I was setting myself up for failure.
What I needed to learn to do was measure my progress, not perfection.
There are lots of ways businesses fail. Obviously poor marketing and doing busy, but unproductive activities are business killers. Another is burnout – and that’s what I was experiencing. Because I couldn’t see how much I was accomplishing, I felt like I was failing.
Earlier I said that I received a call (actually a voicemail) telling me I had earned a cruise!! I called her back and told her she called the wrong Mary. She said, “No, you Mary earned the cruise.” Talk about re-energizing!! It made me realize how much progress I had made. And this trip was so much more than a reward. As I will share in the next blog, it was another opportunity to learn better approaches to building more business; and further my progress.
As always, I am available by phone, at 480-684-2866 for text or conversation, or contact me HERE with any questions or comments you would like to chat about.
