Procrastination

Inertia: the tendency of an object in motion to remain in motion, or an object at rest to remain at rest, unless acted upon by a force.

Hi. Procrastination is something we candle consultants simply have to manage. Because we're our own boss and because we set our own hours, we tend to do other things before we do our business.

Let's face it, procrastination is bad for business.

Here are some ideas to help you reverse the inertia of procrastination .

Set up specific time to work. Just like you would if you worked for someone else. It could be 15 minutes a day, but if you call two clients at, for example, 1:00 on weekdays (right before lunch), you'll develop a habit.

Make a weekly to do list. Do the hardest job first.

Find a buddy and challenge each other. It always helps to have someone to report your results to. (Live by example, Wendy, what are you going to do? OK, I'm going to call a Rainbow after I post this article and challenge her to get a new January booking today. I'll do the same. If she beats me to it, I'll give her a prize.)

Set up your 2009 calendar. Put your Unit Meetings in, put the company training dates in (you have registered for our Plan to Shine training on January 31, right?), put your birthday in, put your family's birthdays in, put in the Hawaii dates (read the brochure, you CAN do it!), put in school holidays (even if you don't have kids, your clients will want to know), and liberally cross out days you don't want to work. Then fill up the rest with your work time.

Don't have any shows in your diary? Call everyone who came to your November shows, ask them if they had a great New Year and let them know about the following:

1. We have some great guest specials available only in January.
2. We have a limited edition Baby Gold Elephant available only in January.
3. They can buy candles and accessories only in January 2009 at 2008 prices! (NOTE: The Savannah is not going away, it's changing. They can buy each one separately or the pair, but either way, it's increasing in price. Buy only in January and save!)
4. We are retiring some great products and fragrances in January, so they need to buy them only in January.
5. They can either book a show or order from you over the phone.

Once you call all of your November guests, do December, then go backwards from October. If you put in 10 hours of work this week, I bet you have a diary of shows in January (only in January) and February (NEW exciting catalogue).

Not everyone is a procrastinator, I got this in an email form fellow Rainbow, Judy Axiak:

What a great start to the year for me $1800.00 worth of sales for only three
parties so I’m eligible to the consultant’s early bird sales promo. Yippee!

So plan your 2009, but don't just make a plan, make that call! You'll change your inertia and build your business! Guaranteed!