PARENT Your Business

Happy Monday!  I was cleaning out my “hot mess” of a desk this weekend.  It seems like every time there is a catalog change or I am out of my office for a few days, the paper gremlins create a pile of things to do.  My theory of touching each piece of paper only once goes out the window and I am shifting papers (without notes on them) to figure out what my thought process was days ago.  For those of you who know me, this is not good!  I came across some notes that I took at a workshop held by Caryn Chow and ETTM (Entrepreneurial Think Tank for Moms), the basis today’s blog.

I was blessed to pick Caryn up and have a few minutes to connect with her BEFORE the meeting.  It was then that I knew what she would have to share, would be a game changer for me or at least get me on the path and out of the grass.  The thing that struck home with me the most was “apply the same skills to your business as you did to raising your children”.  WOW!

Here is an acronym that she shared with us:

P = Patience

A = A lot of Love

R = Resilience

E = Endurance

N = Nurture

T = Time Out

Being in direct sales, this makes so much sense because I usually think of my team as my kids which is mainly because most of them are younger.  As my daughter taught me lessons as she grew up, so does my team teach me.  The question is, if this makes sense for MY business, why does it seem so hard to do.  Okay, so patience, love, endurance and nurture are pretty easy for me.  I LOVE my business, the people, the connections, and the relationships.  Most days, I have patience to work hard (sometimes too hard) but I want to nurture it so that it will grow.  Despite the nah sayers, I have endured because I LOVE it even on those days when I can’t pinpoint my why.

The two things that I struggle with are “time out” and “resilience”.  Sounds crazy right considering that I have endured the roller coaster ride of direct sales and continue to move forward in leadership.  Taking time out for me (or family) is something that I have struggled with my entire working life.  Workaholic Wendy steps in sending the message that I am only worth anything at work!  YIKES!! Did I say that?  Yes, I did and that is why I believe that I have been (and sometimes still am) a workaholic.  With the help of hubby, I am learning to take time out to enjoy our moments together without work.  Not easy for me but I am trying.

Resilience is defined as “the capacity to recover quickly” or “the ability to spring back into shape”.  When I have a bad month, I do spring back but it takes ALOT of work on my part.  I have to be careful not to become the “pushy salesperson” and just continue sharing the gift of Thirty One.  The recovery process is a lot slower than I would like and as a result, Negative Nellie and Doubtful Debbie may get a chance to visit.  The key is that I do snap back – doing whatever it takes to make that happen.

So, here is another fun acronym that I cam across that helps too…

T eaching (telling them)

R ight

A ctions and Attitudes.

I nvolvement (showing them)

N urturing (caring for them)

Telling, showing, and caring– this triple gets you runs to home base and a successful business!  So, are you ready to be a PARENT to your business and TRAIN your team?  I would love to hear others thoughts on this…

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!