Building on Gratitude for 2017

Building on Gratitude for 2017

It’s the most wonderful time of year where gratitude is on display for all to see. Why is gratitude such a GREAT thing? Gratitude above anything else puts all of us in a state of grace to feel good about what we already have in our life. The holiday season if we choose, gives us the opportunity to express gratitude in so many ways.  Gratitude can be magical at this time of year.  Maybe that is a big part of what makes this time of year what it is and without it we can feel lonely or lost.  We all have things to be grateful for – even when we have to look for them or dig for them.  At this time of year, we put ourselves in a bigger state of grace when we give gifts of appreciation and love to our family and friends, when we make more donations to people who need our help and when we take extra time to write special notes in holiday cards, just to name a couple.

 

gratitude

 

Unfortunately, sometimes showing gratitude ends after Auld Lang Syne. Imagine if more of us decided to keep practicing gratitude and sharing optimism for the entire year?  What kind of effect could that have, not just on others, but on yourself? The impact it has on your own well-being can be overwhelming.  I know this from experience.  Some of the positive effects that showing gratitude on a regular basis can have on our being include:

  • Increased feelings of optimism, joy and happiness.  We are happiest when we are grateful!
  • Strengthened immune system.  We are healthier when we are grateful!
  • Lower feeling of loneliness.  We feel more connected when we are grateful!
  • We sleep better with less anxiety.  Even our Z’s are better when we are grateful!

By practicing gratitude and thankfulness daily, even weekly, it can help better our perspective. We will attract more of what it is we want!  I practice gratitude almost every day.  If I think I don’t have time to write in my gratitude journal, then while I am walking or driving I will list out 10 things I am grateful for.  When I go to sleep at night, I fall asleep thinking about the good things that happened that day that I am grateful for.  Which means I fall asleep smiling.

 

optimistic

 

Improve Your Optimism

If you are looking to improve your level of optimism and increase your overall well-being, try a few of these exercises:

  1. Sit down and write a letter to someone (not necessarily someone you know) and thank them for something they have done. This can make quite the impact on their lives and can increase their level of happiness, and yours.  Even if you don’t send it (which I hope you will), it will increase the level of grace you feel inside.
  2. Reach out to 3 of the people you love and tell them how much you value them and what they mean to you. Too many people forget to do this and it can do wonders for the relationships you have with them, especially at this time of year.  You never know how someone is really feeling until you peel back the layers and be with them.
  3. At the end of each week, find a quiet spot and reflect on the prior week.  Write down five things that happened during the week that you’re grateful for. This little exercise can increase your optimism and your happiness right away!

 

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”

John F. Kennedy

 

 

gratitude journaling

 

Ways to Build Gratitude

  • Make a list of everything you are grateful for.  Write till you exhaust the ideas that come to you.
  • Every morning, when you wake up, have a sentence that you say out loud.  Mine is “This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.”
  • Keep a gratitude journal and write 10 things you love in your life every time you can.
  • Disrupt a stressful moment with a smile and remember what is good that is happening.
  • Balance out your complaints with positive thoughts.  Rein the negativity back in.

 

I recently heard a word that I had never heard before: brutiful.  The combination of life is brutal and life is beautiful. Life is truly both things and when we embrace both there is a peace within us that happens. We are living in uncertain times and now, more than ever, it’s important to be optimistic for a joyful and positive 2017.

I wish you all the happiest last days of 2016 and from my family to yours, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and the Happiest of New Years!

 

kathleen-deggelman-blog

NETWORK-MARKETING-ROCKSTAR

P.S. I hope you found my article useful on building gratitude for 2017. If you liked this blog post, I think you will love my blog post on How Being Grateful Leads to Success.

How Blending a Family is like Building a Network Marketing Business

How Blending A Family is Like Building a Network Marketing Business

In today’s world, many of us find ourselves blending families together. In fact, approximately 1 out of every 3 Americans are either a step-parent, a step-child or belong to some form of a blended family meaning over 100 million people.

In network marketing, there are over 100 million people worldwide involved so there must be some overlap between the two.  If you’re involved in this cross section then this blog post is for you! It’s also for anyone who wants to build a bigger business and still have fun interacting with their families and teams.

Blending families, or building your team, is not always easy but it can be one of the best things that you’ve ever done.  I know it was for me! So, I was thinking about how many of the personality traits that are needed to blend a family are similar, and handy, for building our business and I thought I would share these.

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First, there’s patience.  Patience with your extended new family and with your new distributors.  Our daughter asked me recently how I stay so calm. I’ve been through a lot in my life and have learned that the little things, and most things, are just not big enough or worth stressing or fighting over.  I’ve also learned to think before speaking and that sometimes not saying anything is best.  Then there are those occasions that call for a simple count to ten and exhale.  1, 2, 3, 4,…

Meet people where they are. This doesn’t necessarily mean physically but meet them where they are in their life and lessons.  This can happen in two ways:

  • Don’t set an agenda for who people should be or where they need to be.  See them for where they are right now.
  • Don’t sacrifice or adapt yourself in order to accommodate others.

By meeting people where they stand, and being authentic, it will pave the way for honest conversations and true connections.

Teamwork Understanding Meeting of the minds

Celebrate people’s strengths and downplay their weaknesses.  Children need to know that you understand and like them.  It doesn’t do any good if you’re always asking them to clean their rooms or empty the dishwasher.  You have to focus on what is working and what is positive too.  I can’t stand feeling like a nag and nobody likes to be on the receiving end of that either.  This is the same for your teams.  Focus on what people are doing well and look for those wins.  A simple “good job” or “nice work” or “we appreciate you” can go a long way.

Consistency. Be consistent with your actions when you’re either talking to your teenager about cleaning up the family room or speaking with prospects about the products or opportunity: consistency is key. When things are inconsistent, people can find situations difficult to predict and have a sense of lack of control. When you’re consistent in your behavior with people, this will create trust with them.

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Last, but certainly not least, if you care about a person, let them know how much. Whether it’s your kids, your mom, your prospects, or your team.  People don’t care how much you know until they know how much it is you care and now during the holidays is a perfect time to take a little extra time to let people know they matter to you.   I wish you all the best during the holiday month!

 

kathleen-deggelman-blog

NETWORK-MARKETING-ROCKSTAR

P.S. I hope you found my article useful on how blending a family is like building a network marketing business. If you liked this blog post, I think you will love my blog post on How to Stay Focused During the Holidays.

Top Qualities To Look For In A Prospect

Top Qualities to Look for in a Prospect

As you begin to build your MLM business,  you will not be able to avoid the task of recruiting new prospects.  Sometimes you may want to, but it won’t work…:)  So how can you best maximize your time to focus on those that have the potential to be great MLM leaders?  Over the last ten years, I have figured out there are a few key traits that you should be aware of as you go through your recruiting techniques.

Entrepreneurs MLM Leaders

Previous Success: The chances of you being able to convince a fairly successful prospect to leave their current MLM network to join yours is highly unlikely.  However,  people who have success in another field are exactly the kind of prospect you should pursue.  I was that prospect.  10 years ago I was brand new to network marketing but I brought with me my previous success in business and real estate.  Any prospect who has some success in a previous field could be classified as a greater fit for MLM than someone who has dropped out of school and hasn’t had great employment history.  We aren’t looking for the couch potatoes…Working hard and the desire to obtain goals are traits your  MLM prospects must have.

Ambition: Successful people tend to share this common trait. We are hungry, driven, and are just plain looking for more out of life.  The status quo just won’t do and we tend to be visionaries, looking for the next steps to making a better life and how to achieve it.  The prospects that possess this trait are a hot commodity so try to add as many people with ambition as you can.  I have always been driven to succeed whether it was UC Berkeley, IBM, cooking school or investing in real estate.  Look for people who have that drive.  It will be so much more fun for you to work with them.  And if you aren’t that ambitious person yet, then really think about what your vision for your life is and make a decision to go for it.

Learning Training

Willingness to Learn: Regardless of where the prospect may be starting from, there’s a decent chance that there will be things that they’ll need to learn and be coached through so they have the tools to be successful.  The prospect’s willingness to be coached and taught is a crucial element.  As you discuss the opportunity with your prospect, are they cutting you off during the conversation?  Do they seem to know everything there is to know about MLM? Keep in the back of your mind “Are they coachable?”.  If they aren’t willing to learn anything or take your advice, then chances are they may not be the great prospect you were looking for.  Keep that in mind for yourself too – none of us have all the answers and the more open we are to learning, the faster we and our businesses will grow.

Entrepreneurial Mindset: As you first begin to interact with a prospect is when you should start to assess them and figure out what their motivations are.  The important part is determining their mindset about finances and money.  Do they think that making money is about having a job and getting paid or is it reflected more in an investment and profits sort of way? Don’t get me wrong.  Wage earners play an important role in society but the hourly earning approach may not necessarily make them into the MLM leaders of tomorrow.  It might but it might not.  A person who has knowledge about owning a business or investments may be more likely to possess entrepreneurial qualities and have a better understanding of the startup costs that are required to begin and know that building a business doesn’t happen overnight.  It takes time and the entrepreneur knows that and is willing to put the time in.  If you have limited time for prospecting, then focus on small business owners.  It is the best use of your time!

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Upbeat Attitude: You won’t like being around or be willing to coach prospects with a negative attitude.  It can be difficult to be around people that have a constant pessimistic outlook on life.  Our MLM business works so much better with people that are upbeat and positive.  Those negative people will need to have a huge change in their mindset in order to make it work.  Make sure to pursue the prospects that possess that positive outlook already because it’s those people that will potentially have an easier time prospecting themselves and won’t be discouraged at the first signs of difficulty.  And if you have a debbie downer attitude, get to work on seeing the cup is half full instead of half empty.  At least half full.

Self Starter: These are the type of people who will go out there and get things done.  Having people that are self-motivated as part of your team will prove to be a great asset as they are capable of identifying their own strengths and weaknesses.  Self-starters aren’t waiting to be told by anyone on what their next steps should be.  They recognize what paths are needed to be taken and take action.  These prospects will typically show the most enthusiasm.  I was a self-starter in this business 10 years ago.  I didn’t know what I was doing but I didn’t wait for someone else to tell me.  I figured it out.  If you have a great upline and training system to tap into, then by all means that is a great place to start but don’t tell yourself you won’t make it if you don’t.  It is amazing what we can achieve when we decide to.  I am so glad I decided!

Communication

Communication Skills: Prospects that have the ability to communicate clearly are a bonus to any downline.  Communication is more than being able to relay the messages they’re trying to convey but listening as well.  We want to listen twice as much as we talk.  Ask great questions.  Draw people out.  Show interest in what they are saying and being able to effectively express your own thoughts through verbal and non-verbal cues is a skill that can help grow any MLM business.  Look for people who are good at talking to people and care about communicating in a positive way.

These are what I consider the most important traits to look for during your prospecting time. Keeping them in mind as you speak with people will steer your efforts and time towards those who can help you get where you want to go faster and with more fun!

 

kathleen-deggelman-blog

NETWORK-MARKETING-ROCKSTAR

P.S. I hope you found my article useful on the Top Qualities to Look for in a Prospect. If you liked this blog post, I think you will love my blog post on How to be a Better Sponsor.