Got kids? Build a big business together

“We live in a world of extra- ordinary possibilities. When we believe it, we’ll see it.” — Dewitt Jones

This is the mantra of children and their unwavering belief in the promise of their future without evidence. They lead their lives with this philosophy creating a world of super heroes and princesses right in their backyards. Through my children, that care-free jubilance of youth and inspirational vision has guided and shaped my journey in network marketing.

Making the decision to get started in the industry was a truly a defining moment for my family. My husband and I were at a point of change or crossroads in life. Like many parents, our priorities transformed with the birth of our first child.

We were ready to challenge the order in our life and move from my “stay at home mom” status to a vision of a “stay at home family.”

We were moving from success in a career to significance in life.

You, too, can lead the change for your family with these Eight Success Habits of Building a Family Enterprise.

• Develop the Mindset of a Parent Entrepreneur The most significant piece to building a powerful family business through network marketing is to allow your self to be open to change. You need to throw away the old paradigm of working around your children, and embrace a new empowering philosophy of working with your children in every aspect of the business including personal development.

When you enter into your business with the attitude that your children are partners, you release the tendency to set them up as obstacles to your success or an excuse to not do the business.

When you’re open to this change, possibilities emerge, and the legacy of a family enterprise begins.

• Craft a Family Vision Be very clear on your “why” for getting involved in network marketing and your company. Paint a picture of this vision in the minds of your children, share your intentions, and invite them into your dreams. Encourage them to broaden the picture into a family vision.

Together, create a family Dream Board and have everyone draw or place pictures and phrases of something they want to work toward individually, and that everyone can focus on as a family.

Develop a ritual of setting weekly and monthly goals as a family. Spend time evaluating and celebrating progress, and revisit the family vision. In our house, this ritual is part of our Sunday Pizza & Planning Night.

• Engage your Children in every aspect of your business Acknowledge and celebrate all the busy hands you have waiting to work along side you in your business. Children are never too young to participate in some way with your business.

Understand and respect the individual personalities that form your family. No matter the age, each of you will bring a different strength to the business in a complementary style.

You will begin to establish roles or age appropriate activities each of you will fill as the “Corporate Team” for the business.

Your Shipping and Receiving youngster can help check in or sort inventory, stick business labels on products and brochures, or experience the fun of bubble wrap as they package products for mailings or customer purchases.

As your Sales and Marketing Team, older children excel at creatively using the computer to design flyers, display ads, or create graphics for your newsletters. They can even design their own business cards!

Children can be involved in the set up of displays at presentations, parties, or expos. And, there is something heart warming when the whole family makes an assembly line for collating and stuffing business information packets or placing stamps on postcards.

Even a newborn child can be your Public Relations Team by wearing company logo apparel or just being along side you as a public reminder of your “why” and that you are home with your children building a legacy.

Don’t leave out the Administrative Team or Family Advisory team.

Children are naturally “out of the box” thinkers. Together, brainstorm new business ideas, continue to establish and evaluate goals, work through challenges, inspire, and celebrate each step of building the family enterprise.

And lastly, remember children love to imitate. Set up a child friendly office space. If you work a lot on the computer, put a small desk next to yours. This is a place for an old computer or keyboard, nonworking telephone, notebooks, pens, and homemade awards. Your children will feel important sitting next to you with their very own tools for success.

Throw away your limiting belief that children are too young or can’t stay focused long enough to help you. Yes, it could take you twice as long to complete a task, because you have little fingers following your guidance. But, if you allow yourself to be open to the big picture, you’ll see that by engaging your children in the business, you’re equipping them with skills for their future and a spirit of entrepreneurship.

• Commit to Living in Balance Have you ever raced into your laundry room to rescue your washing machine as it’s spinning out of control, banging the sides of the washer as the clothing inside became unbalanced during the cycle? It’s a thundering sound and sends a clear message about trying to operate when things are not aligned.

If you think about it, we are very much like our washing machines. When we’re spinning with daily activity, we experience forces of stress when each fabric of our life begins to move away from their set-line of priorities.

Achieving family balance takes a commitment to a lifestyle plan that includes each facet of life; physical, spiritual, intellectual, social, family time, and business.

To stay in alignment, take a blank calendar and begin blocking out these non-negotiable times for each of these areas. As the maze of activities sprinkle onto your calendar, you’ll find where you need to realign to achieve balance and gain a confident feeling that you’re attending to your pillar of priorities.

Commit to living within this balance. Throw away the voice that says, “I’ll find the time”, and replace it with the affirmation of “I’ll make the time.”

• Be a Creative Master of Time Remember, every task is important to the movement of your business. Prioritize and delegate household chores. Even clearing the dinner table is an activity that will free up time for business activities, reduce the stress of clutter, and foster the teamwork of a family enterprise.

Get rid of the time wasters by making conscious choices about the way you spend your time, how you spend your time, and with whom you spend your time. Ask yourself, “Is this activity really necessary, and will it move our business forward?” Are you surrounding yourself and family with positive successful people? Negativity is a weight that will always throw off your balance.

Work hard and play hard. When you give your children undivided attention, get down on the floor and play hard, run in the yard, dance, or investigate the woods. This is a bond that should never be missed as a family.

When you enter your personal business time, work hard. Be totally engaged, stay laser focused and give your full attention and energy to completing the task at hand and achieving your action plan for the day.

Embrace your lifestyle of cookies, crayons, and car pools. When your kids settle down for a quiet snack, slip in a phone call to a prospect, answer questions for a team member, or scroll down the abundance of incoming email, and delete the junk. You’ll be ready to reply to those important messages after the kids go to bed.

• Organize for Action With having children, you have to accept certain truths about parenting; from every moment, your life is unpredictable and spontaneous opportunities appear at will. Be prepared.

As a parent entrepreneur, your day really begins at night. Before you go to bed each night, prepare your business plan for the following day.

Jot down steps or intentions you will achieve for the next day. Set aside leads you will call, red flag important emails that need a reply, and have your personal development book handy for those unexpected moments of quiet time.

Desk for Success. Clear your desk area of piles, pens that no longer write, or an over abundance of sticking notes placed randomly around your computer. Clutter slows you down and adds unnecessary stress to your life.

Have the tools in place that you need to build your business effectively. Whether it’s CD mailing packets, product samples, or other materials, they should be at your fingertips.

• Use technology to Leverage your Time If you haven’t found the Internet yet as a way to build your business, start investing in learning the techniques of networking online.

The Internet allows you to bring your business home instead of to a Chamber Mixer or hotel meeting. You can network online, build relationships, and have people coming to you to learn more about your business. Effectively utilizing technology allows you to do all of this while you’re at your daughter’s tennis lesson, reading a bedtime story, or having a family day at the beach.

The tools you’ll need are a personal website to market you and what you have to offer, an autoresponder system to follow up with business information and newsletters, and marketing strategies to bring people to your website.

Invest in a high speed Internet connection to streamline your time online. A laptop can go anywhere you can and a wireless network within your home brings flexibility to your business building time as well.

Additionally, an online audio recording service will allow you to record company and team training calls that may not fit into your family schedule, but can be listened to at your convenience.

Lastly, an online training system or team forum is essential to support your growing organization. You can build relationships and provide personal coaching and team- focused support 24 hours a day.

It’s a wonderful way to celebrate the achievements and contributions of each member.

As your leaders grow within your team, they’re able to duplicate this system and strengthen the whole organization.

So, what makes a great system for a parent entrepreneur? It needs to be a system that allows members to access training materials independently at anytime. It should be flexible by incorporating resources for a variety of learning styles and lifestyle schedules as many team members are building a business with their family as well. And, the system needs to be one that will leverage your time and still allow for personal contact.

A team training forum and support network through Yahoo groups is very effective and easy to establish and duplicate. It Includes files for training resources, a chat room, and an email discussion group for team sharing, brainstorming, and mentoring. All of these features are available around the clock for members and at no cost to you, the owner.

• Celebrate Who Your Children Are Becoming When building your business with your children, the achievements, recognition, and financial rewards you may acquire are important, but the big picture is celebrating who your children are becoming in the process.

Children learn valuable life skills and character traits. They experience the importance of goal setting, and understand the commitment to following through with action to achieve the goal. Think of the many school projects your children will be assigned. You’re equipping them with the methods for achieving their desired outcome.

Allow yourself to be open to integrating educational learning experiences into your daily business activities.

For example, purchase a large map of the United States or other regions based on your network marketing company. As you sponsor in new partners, have your children find the new distributor’s location on the map, mark it with a thumb tack, and discuss the similarities and differences with your home state. Then, watch your children win the national Geography Bee competition!

Most importantly, lets follow the lead of our children.

Allow yourself to be as open, visionary, and trusting as a child. Live each moment with all you’ve got, always be in the learning process, and believe that all things are possible!

Debra Warren is a Director with Scent-Sations, Inc. She is the 2004 Top Sponsor of the Year. Debra lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with her husband Brad and their two young children, Sophia age six and two year old Oliver. Debra was a first-grade teacher and early childhood consultant for 13 years. When it was time to start a family of her own, Debra knew she would be staying home permanently. "There was no other choice for me, " she said.

I began to realize the power of owning your own business. It empowers you to take control of your time, make decision based on your values, and design a lifestyle through your definition of success.

Her strong entrepreneurial spirit, passion for success, and fascination for the Internet combined to have Debra be one of the fastest growing leaders in her company, which she joined only two years ago.

To learn more about Debra, and see how she markets, supports and trains her team, visit her website here: SoyCandlesByDesign.com