Ahha Moments

Last year about this time, I had a huge aha moment in regards to my business. It was my "It's NOT about ME!" aha. It was a turning point where I really realized that I'm not doing the shows, recruiting, or booking for me. I'm doing it to help others. I knew this, but had never really internalized it.

Recently, I've really struggled emotionally with my business. I've gone from doing 8-9 shows/month (my goal) to 1 last month. Some months have been better (most better than April), but it's really frustrating. I've doubted myself, my business, my dreams, my goals, promoting to director, and really wondered why on earth I am still doing this. I've been burning the candle at both ends lately and am EXHAUSTED physically, emotionally, and in every way. I just wanted to throw in the towel, but something inside of me wouldn't let me.

Last week, I went and shadowed for a job opportunity. I was offered a job as a lunch "monitor" at the school where Lilly goes. This is where we were considering sending Katy in the fall for kindergarten, but I had pretty much decided to home school (many reasons, partly financial) when they offered me the position that would have paid for tuition for both girls. When I went, I really wasn't sure I wanted to do it, but Phil was really encouraging me to do it (or something else to help pay tuition). I went and found 1) it wasn't quite what I had been told 2) being extremely allergic to bleach while working in a kitchen that must meet health code standards is almost an impossibility, and 3) I just really felt home schooling Katy was the direction I was to head in. I turned down the job this week. (You know, after making between $10 and $25/hour with PC, $5.85 sounds like pennies!) I will be home schooling Katy in the fall. She'll go to "real" school as she calls it for 1st grade (at least as it is determined now...allergy issues if not resolved may dictate otherwise).

All that to say, I had really considered doing something to make money (still considering cleaning houses), but just couldn't find peace in my heart to give up PC.

This week has been a frustrating week. I've felt really discouraged with my business, even more than before shadowing for that job. I had a call with my up line that made me feel even more worthless because I wasn’t growing, meeting expectations (hers or mine), and was being plain LAZY about doing what I knew I needed to do (mainly because I’ve been so discouraged). After my weekly call with my up line, it was all I could do not to go curl up in a ball and cry. I want to succeed. I want to promote to director by the end of June. I want shows and I want to help support my family. I just haven’t been doing any of that (yes, I realized that we moved 10 hours from “home” and that I am starting my business basically from scratch here, but I don’t take well to not meeting my goals.)

Since Wednesday, I’ve taken 2 training classes over the phone, and tonight at my party I tried some new wording when talking about recruiting. (Here’s my aha) When I shared the words, 2 (of my 4 guests) were nodding their heads and very interested. When I handed out the information about the business, they both poured over it. One set up an appointment with me for Monday morning, and the other wanted the information for her sister. I was so excited. Sales weren’t great, but I knew most of the sales from this party would come from orders outside the party. I booked a party, and am so excited about meeting with this lady. I explained what she needed to do if she was serious, and I think she will come to the meeting ready to sign the contract!

Here’s how the wording went: “When I look at you, I have no way of knowing if you were up late last night worrying about the mortgage payment, of if you cried when dropping off your baby at daycare, if you hate your boss, if you need a vacation, or a new car.

What I do know is that Pampered Chef has changed my life. It is the only job I know of – part time or otherwise – that fits around my life and family, rather than the other way around. And while I never dreamed I would grow up to do this, I’m sure glad someone told me about it.

So, if you have any of those concerns, or just need some extra cash, let me know at the end of the show, and I’ll give you some information. You just never know if this might be a solution for you!”

Wow! That is powerful. I memorized it on my way to my show (didn’t end up repeating it word for word, but close) and it worked! I’m so excited. I can’t wait to meet with this lady on Monday.

So, I realized that it wasn’t that I was doing the recruiting thing wrong lately; I just needed to “freshen” up my wording. I think I really hit the “nail on the head” tonight. I plan to keep using this and watch my team really grow.