To Give or Not To Give

I believe in thinking of others and also helping others when you can, but you give and give and give…..does it ever become too much? Is it ever not good to give? My mom and I go back and forth about that all of the time….I mean all of the time. She gives of herself completely without hesitation and sometimes to the detriment of herself. I give but I am a hard ass (or at least that is what my family says) I believe in teaching a person to fish, I know it is over used, but really when you teach they grow when you give they take. I am not referring to charitable or philanthropic organizations I am talking about family and friends here.

In my journey with the So Cal Women of Arbonne I have found a woman a lot like my mother, she is a wonderful woman, but I wonder if she gives so much that she doesn’t have anything left for herself.

This is what I posted about her on their website http://www.socalarbonne.blogspot.com/

Now my impressions of Wendi: (disclaimer….remember this is based off of observations taken in a 2 hour chat session, I have been known to have wrong first impressions.)

Wendi is a very sweet woman and I could tell that her children and family come first for her. She has a dogged determination in what she does and even in down times she will try to see the positive. She is that person that if you needed something you know you could call her because she will listen and do what she can to help. She is not someone who says no a lot. It is those people that are so open, helpful, and unable to set boundaries that get overloaded with everyone else’s baggage. (I’ll tell you about my mother later.)

After our initial meeting she shared some more personal details of her life with me which confirmed what I had previously guessed. She has a lot on her plate and I have to say I am humbled by all that she has chosen to take on and has also been put on her. I don’t know that I could do it.

Wendi truly wants to do well but I feel that she might have difficulty prioritizing and setting up systems. She knows that where there are downs there will also be ups, but I do not believe she knows how to strategically create and stick to business systems that will generate sustainable momentum in her business. The sheer magnitude of her load probably makes her feel like she is always playing catch up. It is hard to go from the structure of the business world to the chaotic life of an entrepreneur. I wonder if she feels at times to be adrift out there trying to do it on her own. In direct selling you can create more with less hours but you must remain consistent to build up that momentum otherwise you may find more downs than ups.

My advice to Wendi would be to take some time out of each day to focus on you as a person, not as a mother, wife, daughter, or friend but as you. It may only be 15 minutes of quite time or a meditation, but that I am sure is more than you currently give yourself. Once you can get into that habit I think that you need to set aside some personal goals that pertain to you alone with strategic plans and execution dates. Finally and this is probably the hardest (I may be wrong) I would like to see a system for time blocking your day and devise a plan to get more done in less time by staying on your schedule. I know that you are a strong, intelligent, and highly motivated person I think that you probably just get pulled into too many directions. If you could control that a bit more I think you would Rock Arbonne!!

Blogging X's Two...... Julie's Bio

I have taken on the challenge of helping some great women with what I know will be a great blog. I am crazy really, I have a hard enough time keeping up with my own blog now I am going to contribute to two blogs! Sometimes I really do believe in possession!

First I met with the women to get to know them, find out why they are doing Arbonne, and see if this blog thing would really be something they could jump on. It was a two hour chat session that I videoed to put on the blog…..I am still working on editing that great idea. Why is it that things always sound good in theory?

After the meet it was time to build the blog. I got on blogger created the account, picked the layout, got pictures, invited authors, and then asked for author bios. Next I wrote an intro blog telling everyone what the blog was about, why these women are getting together to do it, and what the ultimate goal for the blog is.

The So Cal Women of Arbonne are Shannon, Trish, Beth, Wendi, and Julie. I asked each of them to send me a picture and a short bio about themselves so I could put together individual bio blogs. I wanted a short bio blog that expressed how they see themselves, where they are at in the Arbonne hierarchy, a two month business goal, and then an outside non-biased opinion of each of them. This is where that good idea thing sometimes backfires! The “non-biased” opinion is mine of course and it is not in my nature to sugar coat things. This is what I wrote about Julie, when I get through all of the women I think I may be fired as their blog advisor.

I am starting with Julie because she is the youngest and in the scheme of things the least experienced. (No offense ladies, after this one age will not be a factor I promise!)

This is what she sent over to me:

About Me: I grew up in the Bay Area before moving to San Diego 4 yrs ago. I live with my two dogs Lola and Baron, who love going to the beach. I work full time doing PR at my family's business Marketshare Inc. When I have free time I enjoy a girl’s night with my friends, drinking wine, watching sports, spending time outside, and trying new restaurants around town. One of my hobbies is interior design, and I have a holiday business which incorporates my talent with helping people ease the stress during that busy time. I can also be found volunteering with the Junior League of San Diego this gives me a chance to give back to the community.

Websites:

http://www.beautyandbrains.myarbonne.com/ (Arbonne)

http://www.holiday-helper.net/ (Interior Design Biz)
http://www.marketlineonline.com/ (Full Time, Family Biz) http://www.linkedin.com/in/arbonnesd (LinkedIn)

This is where she is at in Arbonne and where she will by July 1st 2008:

Currently a Consultant, only in the business 3 months

District Manager by July 1st, 2008

Needs 5 consultants/clients a month to get there

Now I am going to give my impressions of Julie: (This is where I go from popular to not so well-liked)

When I first met Julie she was quiet and hung back out of the way for a little while, not the typical personality type that I would expect to find working in this industry. To my delight, about a quarter of the way through our meeting she warmed up and became quite engaging. If I am Honest I am the same way, normally I hang back and check things out, and then I dive in. First impressions are important but it is the last impression they remember. I was really impressed with her willingness to step outside of her comfort zone, her interest in trying new things, and her ability to laugh at herself. She admitted that she has a lot to learn but that she is ready to do it and do it well. She is lucky she has a great group of women to emulate and hopefully she will tap into their differing styles to build something that works for her.

My advice to you Julie would be: do not sell yourself short. Looking at the websites that represent the businesses you are involved in, I see knowledge in varying industries with a mixture of skill sets that can do nothing but help you in Arbonne. Learn from these great women in your group but do not let them run you over. They are strong and determined women, you are going to have to be vocal about what you need to make things work in your business. Remember the better you do the better they do, so don’t be afraid to ask for more help or a different type of assistance.

It is all about you Girl…..so go get it and have fun doing it!! I can’t wait to see your blogs!

(You can check out their blog at http://www.socalarbonne.blogspot.com/)

Bridget

http://www.getsmartwomen.com/

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So Cal Women of Arbonne

I had an opportunity to meet with some very interesting women on Friday April 18th, Beth, Julie, Trish, Shannon, and Wendi. This meeting came about because of my relationship with Shannon Blas. Shannon and I both work in the real estate industry, she is a Realtor and I’m the in-house lender. We initially met at a blogging class that was being put on for the Realtors in the office. I was scoping out the competition for my monthly tech class and Shannon was looking for additional marketing tools. From that meeting on we have kept in touch talking about our businesses, goals, frustrations, and motivations. In our talks we discussed her Arbonne business, ways that she could take her skills as a real estate professional and apply them to her Arbonne business, and how the Internet could be utilized to supplement her other efforts.

Since Get Smart Women was created to help women in any industry create, build, and innovate their businesses. I felt that Shannon’s group created an opportunity for me to see how my ideas could come to fruition in the world of multi-level marketing. Exciting, overwhelming, and invigorating those are the emotions that went through me as I jumped on to this undertaking. I was pleasantly surprised by the group, which I often am when I meet people in direct selling. These women are intelligent, charismatic, driven, and happy. You don’t find that in your average corporate office. The experience that these women have ranges from Corporate America to owning their own businesses to just starting out. I loved the energy and most especially the underlying motivation, which seem to be balance, family, and freedom.

The first time I heard multi-level marketing my initial thought was “oh God a pyramid scheme” and then “slowly back away, keep smiling, do not spook the crazy person, and now run Forest run.” A little extreme I know but that really was my initial reaction. Then I needed a marketing tool to blow my competition away and I stumbled on to a video service that, yes you guessed it, is a direct selling company. I signed up for the video product not the multi-level marketing, but I had to join on the direct selling side because I needed the increased server space for my video distribution. The crazy thing was that as I used the videos in my mortgage business I found that others wanted to use it. In helping them get the service I helped my mortgage business and I made a little extra cash on the video side. Wow pretty cool right, two bird’s one stone in action, who knew it could really work!

When I get involved in something I like to know as much about it as possible, so I go crazy with the research stuff. What I found really surprised me, you know that Rich Dad Poor Dad guy Robert Kiyosaki? Great book and very rich guy, surprisingly he wrote about network marketing aka direct selling in his book with Trump, Why We Want You To Be Rich. Why would a guy like that write about an MLM? Well read the book he will tell you why. Did you know that almost every kind of product has been sold through DSOs, including cosmetics, art, time management systems, tires, kitchen tools and appliances, lingerie, long-distance phone services, and computers. I could go on for days. It is amazing Direct Selling, which has morphed into network marketing and multi-level marketing, started at the turn of the century. MLM’s have created incredible wealth for companies and individuals in the U.S., we are talking billions, and now around the world yet most snub their nose at it. Kinda makes you wonder who is really smarter? Is it the house wife/stay at home mom selling Arbonne at girlie parties, driving the white Mercedes that the company pays for, or the corporate woman who never sees her family, is beholden to her employer, and struggles to make her expensive car payment?

Interesting isn’t it? Well we are going see how the So Cal Women of Arbonne manage their lives and their direct selling careers…how you ask? Well we have set up a blog for them at http://www.socalarbonne.blogspot.com/ and they have agreed to actively contribute. We will meet them see where they are at in their Arbonne journey, where they want to go with it, and how they do along the way. I am going to be that annoying outside observer, occasional contributor, obnoxious accountability partner, and you will see it all happen on our blog pages. Why take this on when I am so busy with absolutely everything else in my life and for free mind you, I normally charge for this service? Well the answer is that it helps me, it helps them, and it could help others. I can’t think of a better reason to do something…so stay tuned and give plenty of feedback.

Bookmark these sites to keep up with us:
http://www.socalarbonne.blogspot.com/
http://www.thegetsmartbolg.blogspot.com/
http://www.getsmartwomen.com/