Strategies For Business
The Amazing Race
 Several years ago, when I lived in Oklahoma I set out to run in the OKC marathon in memory of the tragedy that took place on April 19, 1995 with the bombing in OK City. The race was to have been said was not about running, but about life. The experience of preparing and running in that race impacted my life profoundly as I have drawn several times from that experience for other experiences in my life. And in many ways, I have applied several mindsets and strategies that I lived through that race into my home-based business journey, which I call The Amazing Race.
Why do I see our network marketing businesses as a marathon? The marathon: the ultimate athletic even which embodies every challenge. There is not an opposing team. It’s a race trained with other runners, against oneself. It will push you past your limits. It’s a symbol of human achievement.
Dr. Norbert Sander (sports specialist) "A marathon race is something begun and finished. It is a completion. It’s a mental completion and a physical completion. It’s something that stays ingrained in your soul & memory and even in your body forever, and that’s the beauty of it. You can look back at it at it, and it’s a day, a part of your life that has a certain eternity to it."
More than any reason, such as the decision to own your own business, every runner who runs this race is a champion.
When I enrolled in the marathon race, I paid a fee, way in advance of the race date itself, and committed to what it was going to take to complete the race I had endeavored to one day be ready to run. It was a little bit scary. I had never run a marathon before. But I had the belief that I could do it. Why because countless others had proven it could be done. For goodness’ sake, if Oprah could train to run a marathon, then why not me.
So it is with your success race. Something inside of you said, "I can do this." I am hear to reinforce your decision, to reinforce your reason why, and to encourage you in what you can do to make it a reality. You are a champion!
Mindset # 1: Always Keep The End In Mind
Before we ever set out on race day, they had published the race route and we drove the route in our cars, so that we could be familiar with each leg of the race. I knew where the hills were and where the water spots were. I knew the scenes that I would enjoy the most. I ran that race in my mind before I ever ran it on foot.
Have you already run your success race? Do you see yourself at the end? If so, what does it look like? What does your life look like? What choices will this opportunity afford you? How will your life look because of the choices you are making today?
Yes, you made a choice to join and a choice to make it happen. Each and every day you are going to reinforce that choice by keeping a perspective of the End from The Beginning.
Have you Seen Back to the Future 2? There is a scene where the professor asks Michael J Fox to pull out the picture he has of his family in the future. Himself and a brother and sister. Slowly, his siblings are fading in the photograph. How crisp is your vision of your future reality?
We may have a day when we feel defeated or weary in our race. And that is when I will ask you, "Can you still see that picture of yourself as a success? Can you still see that life that you want a reality?"
The greatest enemy of our future is our current reality. Keep the vision of what is to come before you, despite what you may face today.
So how do we do that? What did I do to connect the end to the beginning and keep in front of us at all times?
- I wrote out my story of success as if it had already happened. WHY?
From the beginning, I wanted to conduct my business with the confidence and perspective of seeing the end from the beginning. Then I knew I just had to work to make the reality I had with vision, a reality in the natural. That is where activity came in.
Writing my story as if I had already accomplished my goal helped me feel like it was just a matter of time before it was true and helped take away any doubt it was going to happen. I truly knew it wasn't a matter of IF I would be a success, just a matter of WHEN--and the great thing about it was that I had some control of when. I set a range for my goals. I didn't know how long it was going to take me, but I was in a hurry to be home with my boys. I knew that I wouldn't hit a goal if I didn't shoot for one. "Shoot for the moon! Even if you miss you land among the stars!" And my husband always said, "You'll miss 100% of the shots you never take." If it took longer than the goals I had set, I knew the taste of victory would still be sweet. Having a goal just helps break it down into a plan and adds a sense of purpose to each day, each week, and each month as you work toward your vision. We all need powerful long-range goals to help us past the short-term obstacles.
Writing my story as if I had already accomplished my goal also took away any sense of desperation when I talked to people. I was simply looking for who had a story of their own, because it was a done deal, my story was going to happen. I could even see their faces as a part of my story as I was talking to them and thinking of my sharing as being a part of their story (my friend called me and it was an answer to prayer, or my friend gave me a product sample, or my friend never gave up on me and kept dripping on me). If someone said, "no", then I could move on looking for who was going to be a "yes." I was merely sorting, not convincing. Oh, it makes it so much fun and so rewarding to see their story develop!
I encourage you... begin to write some of your story today.
Then fill in what you hope to accomplish with your business as if it has already happened (for me it was being able to quit my job and be home--I actually wrote than in one of my early stories!).
I also encourage you to read the stories of others. The more stories you read, the more you'll really believe that God is no respector of persons. The stories of triumph and perseverance are amazing.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Substance is a piece. The vision is a piece of what is. I am merely walking out that reality.
My friends who work with me sometimes joke with me and say that I’m one of the most strategic people that they know. I tell you what, I have to surrender to the one who has the bigger picture in mind. Strategy does give me purpose. I have always known that I was called to raise up leaders who would be salt & light in strategic arenas of influence. Do you know how much this opportunity excites me? It is my Why. I cannot let go. I cannot let disappointment or failure stand in my way of the finish line.
- The true end is not even that I accumulate rings or cars. It is what I do with them.
- I believe that my own life has been bought with a price. I believe that everything I have is a gift, my children, my spouse, my gifts, talents, resources… and even my business. I believe everything is just a resource brought into my life for a greater purpose to help bring freedom to the lives of others—to help set the captive free who are bound by fear, by money, by the lack of money, by life circumstances. I know it will provide the resources and the platform to make a difference and to help them make a difference in their own life, but I never want to forget who the true source of my provision. My resolve is strengthened with each step because I know this is the race I was called to run.
What give you purpose? What are your strengths that are linked to your greater purpose. If you don’t know what they are, surround yourself with people who are going to help bring them out. Check out the book Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham, a NY Times best selling book. Tie those into your WHY.
Mindset #2: Do Not let disappointments or failures to take permanence in your character.
When we were children, we could say to our siblings, "you told a lie", but we couldn’t say, "you are a liar." So what does that mean to your business? Have I ever failed to adequately follow-up with someone in a timely manner? Absolutely! But do not let it take permanence! We end up telling ourselves over and over a lie based on a setback. "I’m terrible at following up." And we beat ourselves up. Recognize the consequence attached to it, learn form it and do better next time. Put it on your calendar and do not make an exception. "For it has been written, the honor should not go alone to those who have not fallen, rather to those who fall & rise again."
- Surround yourself with other people who are committed to the same goal. Some of us are going to our friends who are sitting on their sofas eating Cheetos and watching Grey’s Anatomy (or whatever the latest show is – I don’t even know anymore) and are asking them what they think. Should I run this marathon? You know I’m going to have to train. I’m going to have to watch what I eat. I’ve got to pay the race fee. What are they going to say? They are not willing to do what it takes so they are oing to say, "You know how many people enroll in a marathon & never finish. You’re crazy. You are going to hurt yourself. Save your time and money. It is not worth it!" So what do we do? Do we choose to sit right down with them and join them or do we go out and connect ourselves to the people who have paid their race fee and are committed to doing it. They’ve got their gear, their shoes, their training schedule and they are going for it.
Can I tell you one of the most beautiful things that happened during my marathon race in OKC? During the last 4 miles of the race, I was very weary. I had managed to run, walk, and sometimes what felt like crawl a total of 22 miles, but I still had another 4 to go. Forrest knew where I was headed. He knew the end from the beginning too. You know what he did. He handed the camera and water to a friend and jumped into the race with me and ran the last 4 miles with me.
I felt that same exhilaration and strength from my team when I was close to achieving the top ranks of the company. It wasn’t long before a couple of my team members in my successline heard the news and began to call me and say, "Vanessa, what do you need? How far away are you? What can we do? And they did it! They jumped in to help when I am so close to the finish line.
Perhaps you have endured challenge, perhaps as needed in a marathon race, you needed to know there is a very deep, deep reservoir of strength in yourself that you didn’t know you had. And those in this journey are here to support you in that. Where are you headed? Share it with those who are around you. Only a small percentage of the population has taken on the challenge. Surround yourself with them, for if they have taken the challenge, they are a champions and you want to be surrounded by champions.
Strategy: A Series of sprints, a race of endurane
When I began I race in my business, I knew beyond shadow of a doubt where my end was.
And I broke down each piece of the race into 30-60-90 day sprints, just like my marathon training broke down the training needed for a full 26.2 miles into a 20 week program where my endurance increased and my confidence of completing the race increased. If I thought about where I wanted to be, it seemed overwhelming. But if I broke it down into smaller distances, then I knew I could do it.
Write out your goals. Goals give your activity purpose. I’m not going to feel like running when it is 17 degrees outside, but when I know this run is important because future runs are going to be built on it and my performance for race day is going to be dependent on it, I can get myself out of bed. So it is with our goals.
See the second sheet. Track your activity. How many times are you sharing the story? I did not always do the same thing. Sometimes I did a launch. Sometimes I spoke for a group of mothers on how to select a home-based business. Sometimes I led with the product, sometime I led with the business. But my goal with every single person was to share both.
No one can run your race for you.
There is a finish line. All you have to do is keep going. You are already a champion.
As it was said in Chariots of Fire "I believe God made me for a purpose (but he also me fast.) And when I run I feel His pleasure."
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