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For anyone who began with Citizenre over the fall, winter and spring of 2006/2007, you may have marked the passage of this time with excitement, sleepless nights, maxed out mobile phone minutes, and a couple false starts with our press release. It certainly has been a roller coaster ride. Naturally, the ups and downs have caused some associates to take pause, or to reevaluate the boundaries of their comfort zones. Others have continued to work consistently and methodically, and with great fervor.

So maybe you’re one of those who have maintained a steady pace working this business. Or maybe uncertainty drove you to sideline your efforts for the time being. Whatever the case, I have tremendous respect for your reasoning—we are all operating from unique and different backgrounds that affect the choices we make.

Regardless of your current level of activity, there are a few things I’d like you to consider. When the press release goes public, a lot of things are going to change. Fast. Homeowners will begin to seek us out for a change! We’ll be inundated with people needing to be trained as associates. The market will become much more competitive. Participation in events and trade shows will become more complex. The pace and volume of business will be ripe for those best positioned to take advantage of this growth.

After signing a non-disclosure agreement along with the other RSDs, we were recently entrusted with a preview of what’s to come. We were all momentarily speechless. It is real and it is happening with such magnitude it’s absolutely spectacular. There’s no denying this has been an imperfect process, but behind the scenes, some very big pieces have come together in perfect union and near silence. And I for one would like to commend you on your patience and tenacity in the face of some pretty big unknowns! We’re about to have a lot of fun.

So I have two words for you: preparation and readiness. If you’re active, inactive, on or off the fence, as long as you are still aligned with this concept, there are steps you can take to be well positioned for this historical event.

Here is what I suggest:

* Read and re-read all your training materials and knowledge base. Be comfortable with the information so you can be confident with the questions you’ll be fielding. Remember, it’s okay to say, “Good question, I’ll get back to you on it.”

* If you have remained fairly active, gather your team together and begin discussing ways you can be better trained and better organized. Set short and long-term goals. Be accountable for those goals.

* Get systems in place for FRA management and customer follow-up so the process is streamlined and efficient for you. Keep in mind that without received FRAs, there will be no site inspection, no installation, and no income!

* Follow up on any current FRAs that have not been verified. Do some “spring cleaning” in your back office and be sure you’ve communicated with customers and associates who need follow-up.

* If you haven’t already, try to achieve 10 team/personal sales to reach sales manager. The training materials at this level will make you better prepared to lead your own business and others.

* Assist members of your team to achieve this promotion to sales manager. The more associates in your organization, the more you and your team will benefit from what has been going on behind the scenes. Many of us will wish we’d worked harder and accomplished more during the down time!

* Be sure you have ample business cards and other supplies handy.

Now is the time to boost yourself and your organization to a better state of readiness. Please make use of the tools in our Powur back office and the tools provided on this site. If there is additional support we can provide, please email me with your request.

Spring Hericks,
Southwest RSD

I was thumbing through Robert Dilts’ Alpha Leadership: Tools for Business Leaders Who Want More from Life when I came across this concise explanation of why leading yourself first is important before leading others.

The central idea in the story of Monty Roberts, the ‘Horse Whisperer’, is that although horses will run away from strange humans at the slightest provocation, they will follow and ‘join up’ with interesting humans who appear to pose no threat to them.

We shy away from forceful demands for loyalty and commitment, but we flock to and swarm round focal points where ‘cool stuff’ seems either to be happening or about to happen.

Good leaders work with our hunger to involve ourselves, with others, in interesting work and exciting projects. They influence and seduce, rather than command, and try to become ‘attractors’, as complexity scientists put it - the embodiments of attractive energy, the center of the swarm.

But leaders can only be attractive, in this sense, when they themselves are truly aligned. Alignment starts from the inside, out: being sure of who you are and what your ‘calling’ is, understanding and projecting your values and abilities, and ensuring that these inner qualities and resources are fully aligned.

In short, there is no substitute for being an authentic and coherent person

Are You Reactive or Proactive

How to Gain Control of Your Time and Your Life

As an entrepreneur you are paid in direct proportion to how you use your time. You are not paid by how many hours you put in at the office. Rather you are paid on how effective you are at producing results. Period!

Most highly successful business people are absolutely ruthless with their time.

To produce at a higher level you must learn how to more effectively control your scheduled activities.

There are 260 work days in a year (52 weeks a year times 5 days a week) After subtracting vacation days and various holidays most people work about 230 – 240 days a year. Many successful entrepreneurs’, on the other hand, work only 180 – 210 days a year. That’s an extra six to eight weeks vacation each year. How do they do it? Simple really. They don’t confuse busy with productive. When they work they are focused like a laser beam on accomplishing what they need to accomplish. They don’t waste time and they don’t do things that don’t have a great return on their investment of time.

To more effectively manage your time you should learn to break your days into one of three components: personal days, production days or planning days. Each of your 365 days a year should be planned doing one of these three things.

Personal Days: are days that are free of any work related activity. They are for relaxation, rejuvenation and enjoyment. Successful entrepreneur’s who have managed to get control of their business and their life enjoy as many as 150 - 180 personal days off each year.

Production Days: are the money making days. These days are jealously guarded for activities that are directly related to making sales and producing income. Successful entrepreneurs typically spend 120 to 150 days a year in production days. It is not so much a matter of how much time you spend but what results can be produced during these days.

Planning Days: are the days devoted to planning, preparation and organization. Successful entrepreneurs typically spend 30 to 50 days a year in these types of activities.

The key element in successful personal organization is control. There is a personal organization rule that states:You can either be part of your plan or by default you will become part of someone else’s plan. Failure to take control ensures that you will find yourself in a reactive mode where your whole life is a 911 experience. Failure to take control of your life produces poor results, physical and health related issues, anxiety and loss of peace of mind.

The first step to taking control of your life is to begin to plan you days and weeks by assigning each day of your life as a personal day, production day or a planning day and to keep your commitment to do only those things that are related to that day. In other words, don’t mix production and planning days together. Use the principle of focus to only work on things that are part of that day.

Taking control of your life results in increased rejuvenation, productivity and preparation. Those who organize their time according to the personal, productive, planning day’s concept experience a peace of mind that comes from having enough time to do the things that are important in their lives. They also experience the freedom of letting go of the unimportant and trivial things that most people seem to get hung up on and they experience an increased sense of control and confidence that comes from living a proactive life.

More free days leads to an increase in rejuvenation, energy, creativity and sense of well being. Production days lead to an increase in productivity by being able to accomplish twice as much in half the time. Planning days lead to simplicity and efficiency that provides peace and serenity that comes from having one’s life planned.

“Becoming a magnet for other Network Marketers”

Having other network marketers chasing you to become your golden contacts and then beating down your door to find out more, is better…

“Nobody who bought a drill actually wanted a drill.
They wanted a hole.
Therefore, if you want to sell drills, you should advertise information about making holes - NOT information about drills!”

Did you think about that at all? What exactly does it mean and how does it have anything to do with network marketing? This is another one of the strategies that has helped open up my mind to the endless possibilities that are found in this industry. One of the most important lessons I learned during this discovery is that our product is not what you and I, as networkers, really think it is.

People don’t care about your opportunity. They just don’t.

No one you end up talking to has been waiting all their life to be an Amway rep, so why would you let yourself be surprised if they instantly throw up a six-foot-thick wall anytime you bring up your opportunity? What they DO care about is finding a solution to their problem, whether that be a lack of money or time with their family, etc. Your job is to position your opportunity as the solution to that problem. However, YOU’VE got some hurdles to jump over in order to do that successfully:

Hurdle 1: You can’t sell.
Hurdle 2: People hate to be sold.
Hurdle 3: They will rarely see you, a complete stranger, as anything more than a salesperson trying to get into their wallet.

The SOLUTION to your problem is in the quote above, and here is what it means:
“Nobody who bought a drill actually wanted a drill.” - You didn’t join your MLM business because you wanted an MLM business.
“They wanted a hole.” - You wanted more money, time, etc…
“Therefore, if you want to sell drills, you should advertise information about making holes – NOT information about drills!”

- People don’t want your biz and don’t like to be sold (they like to buy!). So the BEST way to get them to buy your drill (CitizenRE) is to sell them information on how to successfully create a hole (reach their goal).
In other words, you want to get your prospects to sell THEMSELVES on using your opportunity (CitizenRE) as the tool with which to accomplish their goals.
Are you starting to grasp the power behind this concept?
Good!

Here’s the deal… People would rather learn HOW to do something, than actually do it. Most people are LAZY. They will spend money in order to move one step closer to their goal, which makes them feel productive, but they will rarely take true action, due to a lack of true desire, or fear of making a mistake and looking dumb. People HATE to get fooled, and they will buy INFORMATION all day long in order to sell themselves that it will be a sound decision. People LOVE to BUY. Remember? They just have to do the selling themselves.
By marketing yourself as a “How-to-Succeed” guide, you will take advantage of this aspect of human nature and increase the effectiveness of your prospecting immensely because you are taking a back-door approach. You don’t come across as a salesperson. You have essentially positioned yourself as a consultant. Remember, most people out there have no real idea what they are doing, and they are failing miserably just like I was for the first 7 months I was in this business.
This will also increase the effectiveness of your advertising over the traditional “Ground Floor Opt” by a factor of 10 because you are offering what people REALLY want… A solution! Help!

Goal Setting

Here is a quick reminder of your 10 step Blue-print to Goal Setting:

1. Write down your goals
2. Where should you be half way?
3. Create a deadline for your accomplishment
4. Write your goal in the Present
5. Write your goal in the Positive
6. Create a goal YOU desire
7. Make a measure if you are on track.What are the results at midpoint
8. Be as specific to what you want to achieve
9. Write your goal with emotion. Feel the sucess
10. What is being in the achievement like. Write it down

First and foremost what do you want? What do you want so badly that you are willing to exchange the rest of your days for?
What do you love so much that you can’t live without? Well, then WRITE it down and start telling others that you are accomplishing it!

Did you know a Harvard study found that only 3% of the population even writes down their goals! No wonder so many people don’t accomplish what they want! They don’t have a clear idea of what it is they want to accomplish! 3%! –that’s not a lot! Think how much more effective you will be when you start writing down your goals!

“If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.” - Seneca

In athletics we not only write down what we want to accomplish we plaster it all over our facilities and our printed material. Why do we do this? We want to remind everyone involved with the program to keep their noses pointed in the same direction. There is no doubt where we are heading!

“Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.” - Tom Landry

I encourage you to take a trip to your most successful local collegiate team. If you walk around the athletic facility (Intercollegiate weight room) I guarantee it won’t take you long to find where this team wants to go in the coming year!

You see, when you write it down on a piece of paper you are making it concrete! You are not only creating direction you are creating clarity. You are now telling your subconscious mind what is important to you.

By writing it down, you are directing your subconscious mind to begin to work for you! Setting your target gives your subconscious mind something to focus on, which is the first stage in you achieving your goals!

I know what you are saying…”How can writing something down get me to accomplish what I want?” It doesn’t. Now your saying “I am really confused.” Right!

Well, here is what happens. Have you ever thought of buying a new car? You would see a few of those specific cars on the road. But when you actually committed to buying the car or actually bought the car something changed. Now everyone and their mother were out on the road driving the same car!

How is this possible? You see, once you identify the importance of something, your subconscious mind will begin to scan your environment to make you aware of it. Thus helping you enjoy or accomplish it!

Well here is why; When something is important to you your subconscious mind begins to consciously identify these things. More specifically your Reticular Activating System is constantly searching for things that are important to you and when it identifies something that will help you accomplish your goal then it will make it know consciously. It is your natural goal seeking mechanism!

So go ahead and jump-start your goal seeking mechanism and start getting your subconscious mind working for you. Pull out a piece of paper and start your target practice!!!

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” - Chinese Proverb

To you hitting your mark!

Tim

Why you must Dream

“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he had imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” –Henry David Thoreau - Walden, or Life in the Woods

Comittment Moves the world

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in ones favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets: ‘Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it! Boldness has genius, magic, and power in it.’” –W.H. Murray, of the Scottish Himalayan Expedition

“The entrepreneur is essentially a visualizer and actualizer… He can visualize something, and when he visualizes it he sees exactly how to make it happen.” –Robert L. Schwartz

“Give yourself an even greater challenge than the one you are trying to master and you will develop the powers necessary to overcome the original difficulty.” –William J. Bennett - The Book of Virtues

“The tragedy in life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.” –Benjamin Mays

“By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands — your own.” –Mark Victor Hansen