If you read my personal note above it won’t surprise you my thoughts this month revolve around time… and how we spend it.

I’ve dealt with more death this year than ever before… death of those close to me and it certainly brought home the question:

How am I living my life?

This is not a moral question - Are you being good, doing what you "should."
It is a question of perception. How are you living your life?

Are you just getting though the day? Are you beating time until something else happens? Are you waiting for something to change things for you? Are you doing things you don’t really like today, so you can have more tomorrow?

Or

Are you enjoying your day? Are you enjoying all the things you do throughout your day… every minute of it?

Do you have a plan for your life - Is it written down? Is everything you do each day allowing that plan to unfold? Are you enjoying each step of your plan so you are Living Your Plan today? Or have you put your life "on hold" while you finish everything you think is necessary in order to "get there?" (And good heavens where do you need to "get?" Isn’t your life right here, right now with you?)

If I have a "Pet Peeve" around network marketing it is hearing this:

"You need to sacrifice now in order to get what you want later."

Ugh!

There are at least two things wrong with that statement.

1. You can have a wonderful, full life right now just starting out in your MLM business. Yes you can! Your life can have a qualitative change immediately for the better and you need not put anything on hold for it to continue to get better.
   
2. Who says you’ll be around later to reap the rewards of this life you put on hold? Anybody guaranteeing that for you? I thought not.

Look folks this is the deal. How you think about something is exactly how it is going to feel and look to you. Timothy Leary is right, your thoughts, your words they do create your reality. If you think you can’t have a good, rich, thoughtful, interesting life right now… you’re right.

But if you think you can have a good rich thoughtful interesting life right now, you’re right… All it takes is to get your head on straight.

My family could spend the end of this year spiraling down a nasty ladder because of my Dad’s death. I miss him and he’s gone. I’ll not hug him again, I’ll not hear his voice again, I’ll not talk with him again and there are so many things left to say.

But… I can change my thoughts and remember all that he gave me and celebrate the memories and work to keep my head full of Dad’s gifts. Oh, I talk about him with tears but laughter too and lots of it.

I know John McBride had bigger personal plans than he was able to accomplish in his all too short life. But I also know that John lived a rich full life while he was expanding it. He loved to sail and took his love of sailing to kids who might otherwise never have had the opportunity to learn. As John continued to accomplish more of his plan he may have done more of that but he did some of it now… John lived his life now and continually expanded it to his ever growing plan.

How about you? What kind of choices are you making? Are you letting life’s circumstances get in your way? Are you letting your past create your future?

My Dad was a five year prisoner of war during WWII. Not a nice time. Over the years, I heard stories that made me cry. But that’s not what my Dad focused on. I grew up hearing about the things these young guys (my Dad was only 19 when he was captured) used to do as prisoners to get more out life. Dad could have been bitter he certainly had a right to be. But how would that have served him?

If there is ever a time to take responsibility for your life, it is right now. Why is it so important right now? Because you simply don’t know how much more time you have. None of us do. But you do have right now.

Are you living your life to its fullest? What kind of choices are you making? Be sure to watch The Choice Movie to give you something to help you think about this.

What does all of this have to do with your business?

It’s the end of the year. Time to take stock. How did you do? Did you grow personally? Did your business grow? Did you have a good concrete plan in place for that growth?

What’s happening for next year? Are you thinking it through? Are you taking stock of your choices and deciding what your next steps are?

Is everything you do each day integrated into your overall plan?

What! You don’t have an over all plan? ;-(

Hey if that’s true… who is running your life anyway? Cause without a plan it’s not you.

Let me give you a quick example of exactly what I mean if you "think" differently and have a plan. Let’s go back to my (well one of them) pet peeve - Sacrifice today for tomorrow. 

Here is a practical example for reason number one above. This is how you can have a wonderful, full life right now even if you’ve just started your MLM business… and haven’t made a cent… that’s right not a red cent.

Let’s say you take your new business to someone (usually on your warm list) and ask them to take a look at this great business you’ve found. They get this really smug smile on their face, typically cross their arms and then ask you, "How much money have you made?"

If you really believe that before your business can make your life better you need to make money - you are stopped dead in your tracks. You have no answer for this person.

But… If you have an overall plan and see just how your new business fits into it, then you’re coming from a completely different place. You think differently because you feel differently. Everything is not tied to money -  it’s tied to your actions and how you think and feel.

So now instead of being speechless, your answer to this dream crusher goes like this:

The trick to bringing this kind of thinking and growth into your life is to take charge of your life.  If you don’t know how to do that and you like what you just read check out our Year In Gear program starting in January… We’d love to have you join us.

The first 25 people save $100 on their
registration fee, there are a few spots left at this
special price… so act now!

I only do this once a year… if you’re ready to stop getting in your way and are ready to “catch your truck” see you on the Year In Gear.

But if you don’t join us for heaven’s sake do something.  The one thing we all know for sure, this life is not a dress rehearsal.  Make every minute count because each one of those minutes is precious and as they tick off they’re gone … forever.  

How will you spend your minutes in 2007?

Do you have a good “Entry strategy” and “Exit strategy”?

The first time I heard this statement I was taking a stock (as in stocks and bonds) course. 

I was asked how I choose my stocks? Was it someone’s hot tip? (yes, I’ve done that)…. Or, I read the papers and liked something I read (yes, I’ve done that)….or a stockbroker suggested something (and yes I’ve done that).

Maybe not a strong entry strategy (not hardly!) but we’ll let that go for a minute and buy in that it is a strategy. I did way better on the next question, and was pretty proud of myself. “What was my exit strategy to sell the stock?” 

The answer is obvious isn’t it…when the price is high!

Of course that doesn’t always pan out quite the way we think it might (unfortunately). Take for example my 100 shares of “Red Hat” that I purchased for about $20 per share. It ran itself up and split at $100 per share and then ran up again to $80.00. I was ecstatic. How far would it go….. I didn’t realize that the techno bubble was about to burst.

It didn’t “go” any further…unless you count how far it could go down …down…down… and me with no exit strategy other than “when the price is high.” I just watched it from the side lines frozen in disbelief with no plan in place.

Hard lesson yes….but it did get me to the stock course and now when I purchase a stock I have a solid entry strategy and a solid exit strategy regardless of which way the stock ends up going.

Once I saw how well entry and exit strategies worked in my stock portfolio I began to think about what kind of exit and entry strategies I used in my business. It didn’t take long to realize that often (too often) I was flying by the seat of my pants – rather like “selling high” – and didn’t always have a clear exit and entry strategy. Let’s look at the holiday season that’s upon us for an example.

How have you planned the month? Are you burying your head expecting or hoping (pushing?) everyone will work? Or have you already given up thinking that no one will do much because it’s December? Are you dreading the January doldrums and how difficult it is to get people back to work?

Or do you have a good plan for yourself that you can share with your downline? What’s a good plan? A good solid, steady work program right up until whatever date you want to stop….Period. How do you do that?

This is your December *Entry* Strategy

1. Decide what you want to accomplish in the month of December that is reasonable for the amount of time you want to work. 
2. Lay out exactly what kind of activity you think you need to do to in order to accomplish your December goal.

This is your December *Exit* Strategy

3. When your last day of work for December rolls around s-t-o-p working. If you’ve done the activity as you planned you should be guilt free. 

If you go back to work between Christmas and New Year make sure you follow the same three steps. 

This is your January *Entry* Strategy

1. Take a look at January right now. Decide when you want to plan your first, second and third money making activity for the month.
2. When you’re speaking with someone who puts you off till the New Year (because they’re so crazy from the holidays (aren’t you glad you’re not ‘cause you’re scheduled!) book them to your January schedule.

What this does is keep you working right up until the appropriate time through December…and it gets you back in motion – on schedule – in January. 

How do you get your team on board? Ask them if they have a good exit and entry strategy to keep sane through the holidays as well as keep their business momentum. When they say “no” give them this link www.SavvySponsoring.com… and we’ll send them this ezine. Use us for your third party validation. 

Help everyone have

Speaking about great starts and out the gate… Most of you know that I built a six figure Excel business along with another six figure multi level lead business. But before an overall entry and exit strategy for my business that ultimately spanned a year, three years and then five years I was unable to keep the money or sustain my business over time. 

And it was not about sponsoring. Sponsoring skills alone will not keep you afloat. I know. Talking to people was something I learned to do. I could sponsor…I did sponsor…but they didn’t stay. 

Why?

In order to build a successful network marketing business you need planning and preparation to build an organizational structure and systems from which to operate your business. Without foundations in place, sponsoring skills are not going to keep your business afloat. 

My day-to-day activities did not correlate to my year. Sometimes I was prepared for the day ahead but I wasn’t consistent. That meant I wasn’t well prepared for the year ahead.  I just didn’t have good entry/exit strategies. 

Do you relate?

Check out my Year In Gear starting in January. If you want to head into 2007 feeling confident about where you’re going and how you’re going to get there… I believe Year in Gear is a great way to start!

The first 25 people save $100 on their
registration fee, there are a few spots left at this
special price… so act now!

I only do this once a year… if you’re ready to stop getting in your way and are ready to “catch your truck” see you on the Year In Gear.