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Establishing Good Work Habits
The most important thing you can do as a new Designer is
to establish good habit patterns. This
is a simple business with a lot of company support, and you can be very
successful just by
learning and practicing a few basic skills and then repeating them
over and over.
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Whether your goal is to work your business part-time or full-time, you will
have to
schedule time to make phone calls, follow up with leads and do your shows.
I think the most important advice I can give is to
set a schedule and stick to it. Set
aside the appropriate time in your calendar to work your business.
Schedule it and write it in your calendar, just as you would a doctor or
dentist appointment. Make a commitment to participate in every training
call you can, write it down on your calendar and then participate in each
call. Create good habit patterns by
establishing a work schedule and sticking to it. Decide what
nights or days of the week you want to hold your shows (e.g. Tuesdays and
Thursdays) and stick to it.
Then let your family know so they can plan accordingly. “I will be scheduling
my parties on Tuesdays and Thursdays from now on. That means we can plan our
family time on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. How does
that sound?” |
Go through your calendar and
actually pencil in the nights you wish to hold shows, and stick to it
by placing your bookings on these days or evenings. This establishes a good
habit pattern of
calendar control
early on in your business.
It is also imperative to learn early on to
set aside time each day for follow-up telephone calls and mailings.
A few minutes of your time to write a quick note or place a phone call to a
customer is a small price to pay for the income that can be generated if
even a small percentage of those customers become future hostesses or may
join as a Designer on your team.
Create a power hour each day for building your business or as often as you
can schedule one. The idea is to work in 15-minute increments on bookings,
follow-up, customer care, recruiting, etc.
Remember, you don’t have to do ten shows a week to be a great success in
this business.
Just do two or three, and make them the best they can be!
All too often we assume our job is finished once we’ve held the show and
sent it in; however, nothing is further from the truth.
By creating good follow-up habits early on,
you can literally double and triple your personal show average, the number
of shows you hold and the number of bookings you obtain from each show.
No matter how successful we are with our businesses,
we will always have postponements and cancellations.
When this happens, make it a habit to always
replace lost bookings immediately. When a show cancels, do
not consider it a night off. Instead, pick up the phone and replace your
lost show with two more:
one to replace the one you lost, and one for insurance.
You would have spent two to three hours away from your home doing the show;
and you’re ready for business, so
why not take that time to get on the phone to build – or rebuild – your
business?
As a brand new Designer, it’s important to learn early on that
you can always control the outcome of your business.
Your success depends directly upon
your actions, not upon the actions of others. By creating good habit patterns at
the outset,
you can be in control of your own success!
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