By Neil Phillips.

When summer hits, focusing on work can seem painful.  Family, vacations, events, and holidays all seem more important.  What happens?  You put off work, your to-do list becomes impossible, and you just start working on whatever’s handy.  When you are self-employed, sometimes it’s easy to forget the main thing: if you aren’t working on earning, you aren’t earning. Your best weapon is your brain, so now is the time to use it to declutter your work.  Say “yes” to the most important things and let the others wait.  Here are nine attitude adjusters to help you get back to the core of direct selling.

  1. What makes you say not just “yes,” but “Hell, yes!”? Decide it every morning and do it first.  If it’s important enough to call it out, it’s important enough to do ASAP.
  2. Shut your smartphone off unless there is a reason to have it on. The typical user spends 2.5 hours a day checking their phone for messages that are generally not urgent or don’t matter at all. When your phone is on, you think about it every 3 minutes (even if it’s not buzzing).  Turn off the phone, cut the addiction, and skyrocket your productivity.
  3. Tell everyone you meet “Thank you.” No one is required to do business with you.  Be grateful and show it.  BTW: your attitude of gratitude will make you feel better about life.
  4. Be on time. Your timeliness is a great way of showing respect for others.  They will remember it.
  5. If it’s not working, it’s your fault. Your team is not put there for your pleasure.  Neither are your customers or your company.
  6. If it’s your fault, you can fix it. Don’t have anyone to interview?  Ask more people.  You say that asking more isn’t working?  Then say something different.  Once you admit that you are the problem, you immediately become the solution.
  7. Do everything else before your social media activities. Social media is the equivalent of a black hole. You get sucked in and are never seen again. Do everything else first.
  8. See people in the flesh. Sales is basically a one-to-one activity. Marketers love social media; they can use it to prevent you from forgetting their brand. You are in sales, not marketing.  Your brand is you.  See people.
  9. Brick and mortar business will tell you that returning customers are worth 25% more than new customers. (They buy more and do it more often).  Make a list of your top 100 and send them a note of gratitude. (P.S. This is a not-for-prime-time business activity.)

Bonus. Zig Ziglar said it so well: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Everyone is just as busy as you.  Show you care and they will stop to talk.

Want More Ideas to Declutter Your Business?

Every Friday, we offer a quick five minute Facebook live in our group, the Direct Selling Leaders Network. You and your future leaders are welcome to join the group. We have no cross recruiting and no daily sales pitches. PS: Our Friday topics for the next few weeks are about building and sustaining a business on Facebook. Interested? Join today!