I've heard a lot of people say that they LOVE the idea of having a home business but that they HATE selling stuff! You might be able to relate to this. I've been doing business from my home for a while now and there are some parts of the business that I just LOVE and that come naturally, like talking with people, listening, and teaching ...
And there are some aspects of it that have always been more of a challenge, namely the whole notion of letting people know about my products!
This used to be such a problem for me that I actually quit the business not once, not twice, but THREE times, because I decided that I am not very good at "selling stuff". Can you relate to this? You love the idea of owning your business, and get excited thinking about the potential, and then when you get down to the "nitty gritty" of how you make money, it all comes down to the BOTTOM LINE ...
You've got to promote your product, opportunity, or service!!
Well gosh, if you hate selling are you doomed to a life of being stuck in the employee 9 to 5 grind? Not necessarily! There IS another way.
Recently I had a HUGE insight ... a real breakthrough, about "selling stuff". Maybe this will help you if you're a little squeamish about promoting your business, product or service.
In started in the mid 1990's when I was making my first forays into the land of home based business. I wasn't used to thinking of myself as a business person. To be honest, I felt like a fish OUT of water!! My very first business was a fantastic success until the company I represented went out of business. Ouch! Determined to do better next time, I read, researched, studied, went to trainings, and guess what? Over the next three years, I started, worked and FAILED in a grand total of FOUR network marketing business ventures!
Eeeegads!!! :(
I won't go into the gory details of when, where and why, but the bottom line is that obviously something was missing! I set about to find that missing piece. One big "aha" experience happened in 2001 when I found the internet. After that long "dry spell" I FINALLY began to make money again! However, I found that one thing was still missing though in this otherwise wonderful picture.
I wasn't quite sure how to tell people about my products! I was getting hung up on the big "S"... "Selling Stuff"! I studied, took courses on marketing, and still couldn't find "the groove".
Not knowing what else to do, I prayed for a solution. It is my habit to bring my all of my life, including my business, before God and Spirit. The answer I got wasn't in the "packaging" I expected.
In December I became sick for almost 2 months. Nothing serious, just annoying, intractable, and very unusual for me. Several of my business partners were talking about a new health discovery from the rainforest with a ton of healing properties.
So I read some info, and it really knocked my socks off! After going through the scientific research, and the list of healing properties, I realized that this could help me and almost everyone I know! Something in my heart "clicked", and I found myself staying up at night, thinking of all the people I love who could benefit from this.
There were at several HUNDRED people who came to my mind that I wanted to share this with ... that I had NEVER felt moved to share my other wonderful products with!! Okay, okay well you have probably figured this out.
Finally I realized that I just HAD to tell people about this new product!! Well first I had to try it for myself of course. My sickness went away, and my joint pain too! (Hadn't expected that!) It's funny, I am not a habitually guilty person but in this situation, I felt guilty getting excited about products that weren't part of my own company ...
But I felt MORE guilty in NOT telling everyone I know about this brand new discovery!! Eventually I worked through these feelings and "jumped" into the great unknown. I began promoting the new product, and yes, you can probably guess what happened next, right?
Yes, in one month I did MORE business with the new product than it had taken me a YEAR to build with my other products! And the best part is, I DID get want I prayed for. I never ONCE worried about "selling stuff".
What happened? What made the difference?
Here's the secret ... I WASN'T thinking about me!! I wasn't thinking about my business, my product, my income, my goals. Instead, I was thinking about all the friends and loved ones I could help!! This happened quite naturally. Not through "trying" to be altruistic. I wasn't TRYING to "sell stuff", I was REALLY excited!!
Network marketing, or any marketing really, comes NATURALLY when you are deeply, passionately excited about what you are offering. When you are passionate and CONNECTED with what you are doing, it's not work, it's NATURAL! When it's NATURAL, you're not self conscious. You're in the flow, in the present moment, you're thinking about others... you're in the ZONE! :-)
So you see the moral of the story is... If you want to have a home based business, but you HATE selling stuff... Then FIND something that you are PASSIONATE about to promote! Find something that is NATURAL for you to love ... something that you feel deeply CONNECTED to... something that other people REALLY want and NEED.
And then GO FORTH into the world and prosper!! :-)
Author: Tamara Esgoode
Author Bio:
Tamara Esgoode has been network marketing since 2001 and writes for Home Based Networketing With Heart at HomeBizHearts.com.
