Taking Control, My Three Step Business Evolution

My business came to a stalemate in January of 07. After two years of trying very hard to do what everyone else was doing I came to realization that my instincts (that small voice you hear in your head) about carving my own path to success was something I should have followed from the beginning.

I have always worked on personal growth, it has been something consistent throughout my life. What I do and how I do it has never been something that I shared openly with others. I have always believed this is something very personal, and I still believe this.


I have made many mistakes throughout the course of building a home business. One of the biggest mistakes was sharing my "Why". What drives a person to achieve is so personal and if shared can show vunerablities that you would never show strangers. Its important to note that everyone in business needs to understand their why, I just don't think its anyone else's business what your why is.


My ability to always find something good in every experience is one of my strongest assets in my personal life, and now in my business life.


In early 2007, I was unceremoniously removed from a leaders board and had my moderator privileges taken away from a team board. Both of these events occurred without explanation and to this day I don’t know the reason why these decisions were made.


My attempts to find out why failed as the person who made the decision refused to tell me via email and I was not going to be manipulated into a phone conversation. In the end it didn't matter why because I realized that my knowing why was not going to change what had been done. This was the beginning of my taking control of my business.


I decided to evaluate the course of my business over the previous two years and this opened up a Pandora’s box that I was ill equipped to handle on my own. I credit the friendship of a single person with guiding me and helping me to keep my focus where it belonged as I evolved.


The first thing I realized while doing my business evaluation was that I had fallen into the herd. This was a shocking realization because I had always prided myself on not being a “follower”. Step One of my evolution was to stand up and take responsibility for my business as an individual.


Step one was huge because it meant that I couldn’t assign blame to anyone but had to hold myself responsible for straying from my own personal belief’s and making poor choices in regard to my business.


This is not to say that I did anything wrong only that I should have listened to my little voice who kept telling me that there was a better way. I also firmly believe that the people guiding me the first two years really belive that what they are doing is the correct path to follow. Ignorance can be bliss.


Step Two was the realization that the foundation of my business was not built on what I wanted or believed in. I kept a positive attitude as I tore down everything I had built the two years before by constantly telling myself that a successful business had to have a firm foundation.


As I rebuilt my business foundation, it was difficult for me not to be angry at what had led me to this point. This is where my friend played a key role in teaching me how to turn those bad feelings into something good.


Up until January, the foundation of my business had been built on old school methods of marketing like the three foot rule, working your warm market and some very long and boring training documents that were just tired and lacked any real substance. These were the tools I was given and I was told if I used these tools and didn't try to reinvent the wheel I too would be successful. Hogwash!


My process of rebuilding my foundation meant that I needed to learn how to market not only my product, but myself. It was silly of me to think that people with no formal training in marketing could ever teach me how to be a successful marketer. And it was stupid of me to not use my own common sense when making decisions about my business and business tools.


Step Three was a grueling process. It wasn’t enough to take responsibility and rebuild my foundation, the tools I had been given and in turn provided my team members simply did not work for the majority of people in our company. This conclusion is based on the number of people who actually promote to the higher levels within the company structure.


I had to look at what I had, and evaluate what really would be beneficial for my team members based on what worked for me and what my team members asked for. The actual process of building usable tools and putting training programs in place for my team was exhausting, frustrating but one of the most rewarding things I have done in my business.


I put my new marketing education to work and kept my focus where it needed to be and started working with my partner to produce quality tools that were simple and filled the need of my team.


In the beginning of the tool development, I struggled with each and every aspect of what I was doing. After the first tools were complete, things just started to flow like honey. I went against the old school rule and I reinvented the wheel.


My evolution is not yet complete. It will be an ongoing process as I learn more not only about myself, but about business and marketing. I am no longer angry or bitter over the culmination of events (not just the two I mentioned) that led me to this evolution, but look at them as part of my growth process.


I've learned that my responsibility as a Team Leader means that I lead my team and support my team. It is not my responsibility to lead and support someone else's team which is what I was doing prior to being tossed out of those two groups.


I have a firm grasp of why I got into this business and what I want to achieve within my business. I have also drawn my line in the sand and will continue to trust myself and believe in my own ability to be a leader and a moral and ethical business person.