Diligence does NOT mean Dull !!

In order to gain anything of significance, especially success in business, you must be diligent. Many people come to a complete halt on the plateau of mediocrity and never leave and then comes the blame...the company, the product, your upline, your downline, your spouse, your whatever. The truth is the majority of people never stick around long enough to reap the rewards that diligence pays. We should look at our businesses more like a buffet rather than a meal that we order at a sit down restaurant. In a buffet, you usually pay first and then partake in the feast of choice, in a sit down restaurant, we enjoy the meal first and then pay. We have heard that anything worth having requires sacrifice. Just because we have a new age of technology that makes some business practices more convenient, does not eliminate the need for patience and most importantly, diligence. If you are bored, you may want to examine your philosophies. Let's look at the Wikipedia definition of diligence:

Diligence - is a zealous and careful nature in one's actions and work, exemplified by a decisive work ethic, budgeting of one's time, monitoring one's own activities to guard against laziness, and putting forth full concentration in one's work.

The thing that stands out to me in the definition is the word, "zealous". The words "dull" or "bored" do not come to mind when we read this definition. What I take from that is, when we are diligent about something, we should have excitement or "zeal" not boredom or complacency. Diligence which is rewarded, gives us satisfaction and excitement, which fuels us to be even more diligent to experience more of the same. We must pay the price of diligence first, and then the rest will come! Have you paid for YOUR buffet first?

Be Interested !!!

It doesn't take much to notice the amount of effort that people go through to try and sell themselves or their opportunity to you. With the popularity of social media in hyper growth, people are making attempts to capitalize in any way they can and grab some piece of the financial pie that is being created from this phenomena. No matter what the message they are trying to get across or how good their deal is they have to offer, one thing has always and will always hold true: People are not interested in you or what you have to say initially because you have not taken the time or effort to get to know them or anything about them, but you still suggest that you know what the best deal is or how you can help them. How can you help anyone without first knowing what it is they need help with? The answer is, you can't possibly know. So what is the answer? It is simply taking time to get to know the person personally by asking questions and most importantly, listening. This is simple but seldom practiced by people in business today either because of the pressure we put on ourselves to "close" a prospect or by lack of patience. In either case, you will never establish a meaningful, long term business relationship with anyone unless you are first interested in that person. You must be interested in order to be interesting.

Mentality for the New Year

If you haven't already,I suggest you read, The Slight Edge. This will be one of the most insightful books you will ever read.

Most of us have experienced failure and success in business and as a result, we can relate very well to the author. He tells about a plant called Water Hyacinth and how it can grow exponentially in a relatively short period of time. It's growth may not be obvious initially, but it will cover a body of water very quickly.

It's a brilliant way to demonstrate how a typical MLM business owner could explain the potential growth of a network marketing business.

The lesson that I took from the book, in relation to starting a business was that you must be prepared to persevere and withstand any obstacle you may encounter in your business or you simply will not experience the joy and success that diligence brings.

Every person that starts a business wants to be successful. But most people are not mentally prepared to put massive effort into the business until it starts to grow exponentially.

In the case of the water hyacinth, the plant uses the art of leverage to grow each day. Instead of planting its own seeds and waiting, it sends out its own tentacles which enables it to use leverage. Each tentacle produces tentacles and so on, producing more and more growth. It's also the key to success in relationship marketing. Each person we share with opens the possibility of meeting someone who will lead us to the one who will change our business forever.

This is all made possible by using a system. Through leverage, we can grow it consistently over time.

If you are thinking about starting a business, either offline or online, think leverage before you think "I got to get it done by myself".

By thinking this way, you will give yourself room to grow and develop beyond your own capabilities and you will reap the rewards.