Judy's Solutions

How does this message resonate with you? Does it help you feel more confident about achieving your goals when you know that you are prepared for a presentation or an interview?

Experience helps us posses more confidence in the work we do. This makes our efforts more focused and successful because people naturally gravitate to those who are confident.

Confidence means we have an air of knowledge and understanding that emanates from inside us. It is our experience and knowledge that attracts people to us and makes them want to listen to what we say. Without that attraction, we will actually repel people from us.

Those who do not take the time to educate themselves about their products or services try to cover up that fact by pretending they know. Sometimes this effort works, depending on how charismatic a sales person is and the perception level of the client, yet most of the time people see through the falsehood even though the salesman thinks he is impressing them. Having a false air of confidence actually repels people when they figure it out.

Some people in sales think they cannot admit they don’t know something because it will cause clients to lose respect for them and so they try to “wing it”. However, would it not be wiser to admit they do not know the answer to that question but will find out and get back to them? What makes people lose respect is being manipulated and lied to or conned. They know when one is not being honest about what he or she knows and will respond negatively to the insult.

The reason sales people are NOT trusted is because usually they are committed to selling the pitch, and they don’t tell the truth when they should. The way to win confidence with clients is to show them that we are willing to learn, willing to be teachable, and willing to lead by example. Leading by example means doing the same things they teach. This earns respect and loyalty from clients and cause people to follow them. People follow a person because they know he or she cares about having integrity in personal and business dealings.

I appreciate what Judy MacEachran pointed out in her statement above. She said: “You’ll discover powers you never knew existed. If you’re prepared, you’re able to feel confident…There can be no great courage when there is no confidence or assurance. Half the battle is in the conviction that you can accomplish what you undertake.”

The point that half the battle is in the conviction that we know what we know from preparation, planning, education and experience. Nothing else will attract to us the things we want and are important to us.

You do n0t need to know everything before you start talking to people, but you do need to have a good understanding of what you are telling people. If you don’t know something, it is perfectly appropriate to say that you don’t know but that you will find out the answer. Finding the answer will give you more confidence in answering that question the next time.

The point is to be transparent and truthful in your personal and business dealings. Do not engage in sales pitches and key phrases, it just turns off people and makes them not want to trust you. The right thing to do is know the facts about your business, educate yourself so you know what you are talking about, and then confidence will attract the rewards you seek.

Live Your Life With Purpose

• What does it mean to live your life with meaning and purpose?
• What does it mean to have time and money to do the things you want to do, things that add value to your life?
• What does it mean to take care of your family the best you can and still have time to do the things you want with them?

These questions reveal what living a life with purpose means to me. What does it mean to you?

A life with purpose has nothing to do with things acquired or how many people know our names. Living a quality life means how many people know us by our good works, the things we’ve done for our own family and others that make a difference in their lives. If we are to be well known, let it be for the good deeds we’ve done.

Collecting treasures that cannot be swept away in a disaster are the type of gems I want to put in my Life’s Treasure Box. These are gems like honesty, integrity, values, character, service, love of others, memories of time spent with family members, making friendships, peace of mind, and joy in the soul.

I want you to find life rewarding in whatever way it comes to you. I want you to find the good in your circumstances and find joy in whatever it is you have to bear. It’s not the trial that makes us who we are, it is the way we respond to it and the lessons we learn from it that makes up the character of who we are now. That’s why I have written books, to share my story and the lessons I learned with others who are going through the same type of trials.

I believe that God created us to need each other, to help each other, and to share our knowledge and skills with those who need what we can offer them in service. Living a life with purpose to me is doing these things and feeling the joy that comes when we see the value we have to others that we have helped. Self-worth is way more powerful than anything we gain from a job or that money can buy; money should not be worth more to you than healthy relationships.

I want you to live your life in remembrance of those you have helped, and to look for opportunities to bless others lives with your gifts and talents. I want you to be able to say when you meet your maker, “I am all used up. I’ve done all I can to serve those in need of  the talents you gave me.”

You may find that you agree with me and want the same things.  If you agree, you will likely appreciate the training that I provide on this site. On the other hand, if you see things from a different perspective, it does not mean that you are wrong it’s just that you disagree with me, and that’s fine.

We don’t always have to agree with each other. Sometimes we learn from each other through disagreement, as long as we are big enough to listen to another point of view. Even if we still disagree, at least we have come to an understanding of each other’s point of view…and that is worth a lot to me.

This repost from a year ago is about being successful when you build character and being a person with whom people want to do business.

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Repost from Business and Network Marketing Coach

March 19, 2009
by Judith Sherman

Let me share my response with you after I read an email I received yesterday. The email was from a man who wanted to help promote my business on the Internet. I share this story because I want you to appreciate how we sometimes become when we focus on pursuing our dreams.

I want to be very transparent about my motives here because the information in this story could be important to you.  Perhaps you will relate to my experience and recognize something about yourself as well.

I learned something about myself when I attended a Dale Carnegie Training class last night. I saw a side of me that I was not aware of, and because I was not aware of it, I didn’t know that I often come off as arrogant and abrasive to people. That is not the person I want to be or how I want to represent myself when I meet people.

I see the same characteristic I saw in myself as being in others who are active in this field. However, like me, they may not recognize it in themselves. As Dr. Phil says, “We can’t change what we don’t acknowledge.” So please read my response to reading the email and being an abrasive type of person. Then I will tell you why I wrote this posting and why I titled it the way I did.

Dear Sir, I appreciate your offer but I am part of Marketing Merge and Renegade University. I have applied the principles taught there and doing pretty well. Now I am chosing to take the next step in my career and become a mentor for network marketers. I am excited about this and what I will be able to do for others with this training. I am writing updates on my blog about what I am learning from my Carnegie experience. I know what I’ve learned will help others like me some day. Perhaps you will check out my blogs. I will be adding one more article tonight about what I learned this evening. I have done MLM for over thirty years. I’ve had the best teachers, read all the books suggested on the reading list, listened to all training and positive motivation tapes, gone to every seminar and every business meeting, and sat with the most successful people in the field … and I am not exaggerating about any of this. I’ve succeeded and failed, and I’ve picked myself up and started over again and again This is often the nature of network marketing. I know when a business is not within FTC regulations and will be shut down when it’s notice. I also know when hype is used to cover up a sinking ship or holes in the plan. I know when someone is only interested in their success after stepping over people to get there. I know a “come-on” or an approach the minute I hear it; I learned them all and I used them. I have gathered a lot knowledge and experience over the years and so I’ve been mentoring others; I found out that I am darn good at it. So now that is what I’m doing, along with my Network Marketing business. However, I realize there are thousands of mentors on the Internet so what makes me different enough to get clientele? First thing that makes me different is that I enrolled in the Dale Carnegie Training. It cost just under $2,000 for the 12 week course. When I complete the course, I will become an instructor for them. Having the Carnegie Course under my belt will make me a better person, a better writer, a better leader, a better trainer, and a better mentor. This one thing alone can put me a step above most of those who profess to be mentors on the Internet. See http://jlsherman.wordpress.com

Now you have likely figured out why I titled this post “It’s All About Me!” What I learned at Carnegie is that everything I did up to this point os all about me. For the first time, I realized that people in the class saw through me and knew that my objectives were centered around me. I did not see how what I contributed to the class might not be helpful to others. Unfortunately, I saw everything clearly tonight about the person I had become; and it was only the second class.

Dale Carnegie wrote the book titled, “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. He teaches that, in order to get what we want, we need to help people get what they want. Being sincerely interested in the other person, listening to them and what they want, means being humble enough to accept that this is not about me. Being humble and sincere is not the way someone would describe me, and I learned that tonight.

People see through the fakes, those only interested in themselves. I recognize that is the person I have become, even though I thought of myself as serving others. This person may have been who I was in the past, but that is not who I am now. I am so very grateful for what I learned tonight. I now understand a lot more about myself and how I can be a better mentor and serve people better than I have been.

I should have known that the only type of success we should want to attain is that which makes us feel good inside. We feel good when we help others obtain what they want before we try to satisfy ourselves. We feel good when helping others fulfill their potentials and see how their achievements make them happy!

One of the success principles that many Network Marketers and Business Owners forget is that what goes around comes around, and that we get what we want when others get what they want. This success principle is taught in the book “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, by Dale Carnegie.

I knew all of this but I did not know how to become that person again. Although I had been successful in the past at helping others get what they want first, I had forgotten it and lost my ability to focus on others.

My brother wanted me to join a social site. I didn’t want to and did not have the time to spend. I wanted to do my business and not waste time on a social site. Then I realized this was my answer for getting humble and out of myself. When I made friends and began to know them and interacting with them, I became my old self again. I became the person that made others feel good just by being me. I needed the social site to soften my rough edges and make me a more loving and kind person.

I am not saying that joining a social site will help you the way it did me, but whatever it takes to soften you up and make you a more kind and loving person, then that is what you need to pursue. So, if you want to change the hardened business person that you think you have become, then I encourage you to do something to serve others and that helps you forget about yourself and your own pursuits.

I realize that this is the opposite of what some upline and business mentors teach.  I also realize that books on how to succeed tell you to stay focused on what you want and everything you do must be working toward that goal. If you agree with these people and do what they teach,you will actually push away the people you need to give you the successes you want.

Think about it. Do you enjoy being around people like you want to become? If you don’t like people like this, why do you think others will like you if you are like them?  And why do you think others will want what you offer if they do not like you? People would rather be far away from you than to do business with you.

So what is the answer? Do you follow what you are being taught by the so-called experts or do you want to become the type of person with whom you would want to do business? Would you want to do business with someone who cares about you or with a stranger who just wants to make a buck?

I welcome your comments on this topic, especially if you recognized this flaw in your own character because of this article.

Thanks,

Judith Sherman

LACK OF PLANNING FOR WHAT’S NEXT

It took me a long time to figure out why people die in their businesses or why they fail in life when they seemed to be at the pinnacle of success in their professions. In almost every instance, parking was the reason; they did not plan for what to do next once success was attained.

Unfortunately, people often spend too much time and energy building their future and then forget how to build a good life in the present or how to maintain good relationships. In so doing, they often take people for granted and do not see the blessings in their lives. This happen when people see success as a destination instead of a wonderful journey through life.

The problem with people treating success as a destination is that, once they’ve arrived, they don’t think about what to do next. They often forget to set additional goals after reaching their specified level. Life has a tendency to become routine, mundane, dull, and unexciting when people no longer dream or set goals. Indeed, their lives seem empty when they have not planned for “What’s next.”

A woman I once knew named Anne found herself in this situation. She described herself as feeling depressed. She asked herself, “Why do I feel this way? All I want to do is cry. I should be happy. I have everything I could ever want and life is so good to me.”

Anne’s best friend suggested that perhaps what she was experiencing was just a let-down after coming off the high she had been on during that period of time. She had been successful in her business and also had just married a wonderful man. It had been such a whirlwind leading up to the wedding that, when it was all over, she did not know what to do next. In other words, because she had been busily working hard for the event of a lifetime (which she had been praying for a long time), a big hole was left inside of her when it was all over. The problem was she had nothing in place to substitute the energy high she had been on for the past several months.

My point is that you should not only plan to succeed, but you should also plan for what happens after you reach the level of success for which you had planned. You should make plans for what comes next by setting new goals. Think about the following questions:

What motivates you to move ahead in life and to reach for another goal?

What worthy project would you like to be involved with next?

What will you do with your time and energy once you have gotten to where you want to be?

How do you see yourself in the future and decide what you want to see there?

Who will be there with you, who will not be there, and what will you be doing or not doing?

What kind of person will you be, spoiled or humbled?

How will you spend your time, energy, and money?

Will you be wasteful with those assets or continue to use them wisely and charitably?

How much time or money will you be giving to charity, and to what organizations?

These are questions you need to answer so that you have a realistic plan in place to keep you motivated and growing each time you reach a new goal. Also, you need to be adding new lifeblood to everything you set out to accomplish. Old blood gets sluggish and thick when there’s nothing to give it boost once in a while. This means you need to bring new people and new ideas into your circle on a regular basis.

I welcome comments about this subject. Do you believe that planning for what’s next and following through with what you had planned is important?

I suggest you refer to a blog I found interesting. I do not know the author but the material is interesting. Use this link.

My friend, Judy MacEachran, sent me this email yesterday. I thought this would be a good topic to discuss with you today.

“Sooner or later you’ll experience a crisis in your life, and how you meet it will determine your

future happiness and success. Since the beginning of time, everyone has been called upon to meet such a crisis.

A closer look will show you that most “crisis situations” are opportunities to either advance or stay where you are. In fact, most changes in your life will take place out of either “inspiration” or “desperation.”

Whatever comes your way, give it meaning and transform it into something of value. Your personal growth is the process of responding positively to change.

A precious stone cannot be polished without friction, nor humanity perfected without trials.”

To Your Success
Judy MacEachran

Her message is completely true, especially in today’s economy. It’s not the challenge that we should be concerned with, it’s how we deal with it that says a lot about who we are and how much trauma we will endure.

We can face our situations with a cheerful attitude or we can be nasty and angry all the time. If we choose to be nasty, our business will be affected in numerous ways. People will withdraw from someone who is unpleasant and difficult to be around. However, people love to associate with cheerful and pleasant people when they are facing difficulties.

Let me tell you a little story about a situation we faced in 1990. It shows how creative I was in dealing with our challenge and how we turned a situation that could have been very stressful into an enjoyable experience that we all still remember with fondness today.

We lived in the Sierra Foothills of California at an altitude of 2,800 feet. During the winter, the usual snowstorms would come through and drop 1 to 6 inches of snow at a time. Then in early February of 1990, a major storm dumped over three feet of snow in a three-day period. The majority of snow fell in the first 24 hours and at least two counties were declared disaster areas.

Trees and power lines went down everywhere, and it looked as if a bomb had detonated! As a result, our family spent three weeks (others longer) without power and the normal necessities. Of course, this meant there was no electricity to run the TV, games, lights, little wall heaters, or the water pump, oven, stove, washer, dryer, and phone, or the luxury of running water to cook, drink, clean, do laundry, and take baths or showers. For awhile, the road was washed out so we could not replenish supplies. But, even if we had wanted to, we did not need to get out because we had adequately prepared for such a scenario.

This experience actually turned out to be a lot of fun for the family. We had already stored the needed supplies of food, water, kerosene, lanterns, wicks, and cut wood to survive the supposed ordeal. That meant the whole thing really was more of an adventure than a case of endurance.

We put twin and queen mattress tops on the floor next to the wood-burning stove to stay all warm and snuggly. The children had a great idea too. They suggested that we put rocks on the top of the stove so when they were hot, we could put them under our blankets to keep warm. Hot rocks are great for warming cold feet in the winter!

The children and I played board games by lantern, and used flashlights to go between rooms or outdoors for wood. The wood-burning stove provided heat for the home, and it dried wet clothes from the kids playing in the snow. To top it all off, I learned to cook creatively on the top of that old stove (even though it wasn’t really meant for cooking on) so meals were quite interesting.

I kept a pot of heated water on the stove at all times to wash the cooking utensils and to make hot drinks. We used plastic utensils and paper products for drinking and eating, and then burned all the paper products in the stove for heat. I did try heating snow on the stove one time to make soup. Although I found it interesting, it required so much snow to get just a little bit of melted water that I decided it was too much work to make soup. Besides, I had stored plenty of extra water and food so there was no need to worry about melting water for soup anyway. Making soup was really more of an experiment than a necessity.

We used the top of our snow-covered car to double as a refrigerator; as you can imagine, that was an interesting sight. Of course, the kids were disappointed that ice cream would not keep; that was the only thing they didn’t like about losing the power! After two weeks, the electric company brought water in for people who were unable to get out, but that still left us at least another week without power.

We sparingly used several five-gallon containers of stored water to flush toilets, so we only flushed when it was absolutely necessary! We tried carrying water from the creek to fill the tanks to flush toilets, but that was too difficult. So we tried snow in the tanks and bowels to keep from using up too much water, but that didn’t work well either. As you might guess, the whole toilet thing was quite an experience. The toilet issue is the last thing on your mind when you prepare for emergencies, but it is truly one of the most important things to prepare for in your planning—trust me on this!

This experience happened more than 20 years ago, but we still remember it with fondness! At the time, my husband worked away from home for most of the time the power was off. He thought we were silly when he came home and saw how we were living, especially since we all seemed to enjoy it and no one was complaining.

We are living in trying times. We should recognize that being prepared helps us overcome the harshness of an experience.

My own experience shows that, in spite of hardship, being prepared can turn an ordeal into a fun adventure! In other words, we overcome hard times with judicious planning, using our creativity, having a cheerful heart and cooperative spirit, and by sporting smiling faces.

I hope you take the situations that we live in right now seriously.  You don’t have to ignore the news in order to stay positive.  Indeed, you MUST stay informed with what’s going on around you in order to respond appropriately to a foreseeable crisis and to make preparations that meet the possibility of it.  Then you go on with your daily activities and carry on business as usual.

I am interested in your thoughts on this subject. Please feel free to leave a comment in the box below.

The best advice I can give you about prospering in these times is to refer you to an article I read by Mike Dillard. I highly respect this man’s advice because he practices what he preaches.

I include  a copy of the email Mike Dillard just sent me; you might find it helpful as well.  

Hey Subscriber, last week I asked you if you wanted information and my resources when it comes to the economy.

You voted “YES” 8 to 1.

So here you go… This is arguably the most important email I’ve ever sent in the last 5 years. Please make good use of it.

Read it here:

http://www.magneticsponsoring.com/marketing/collapse-and-prosper.html

Also, below is part of a report from Mike Dillard. You see that report when you click on the above link.  I strongly urge you to use that link and read the rest of this report. Mike Dillard suggests books on the economy that I believe you will find helpful as well.

Jan 18, 2010                                                                                 marketing

We’ll I’ve got a pretty special post for you today… In fact, it may be the single most important message I’ve ever produced, so please stop what you’re doing and read this.

Last week, I took a little survey and asked if you’d like to hear about some of my economic insights and resources, in addition to the usual marketing strategies.

This wasn’t an easy decision, because I’m probably breaking every rule in the book right now when it comes to marketing…

Well at least every rule but one, which is the rule I’ve built my entire business upon… “Be willing to give without want, and you will get”.

And the bottom line is that you voted 8 to 1 in favor of getting this information, so I’m here to deliver for you today…

Now before we begin, I have a favor to ask of you…

If you haven’t taken a moment to reflect on what’s happening in Haiti and make a charitable donation, please stop and do that now through the Red Cross. (Thank you!)

Alright, On To The Economy…

So as I mentioned last week, I’ve been a voracious student of what’s been going on financially since the beginning of 2008, which gave me a few months of “heads-up” time before the crash of Lehman Brothers on Sept 15th, 2008.

For the last two years, I’ve literally spent 95% of my free time reading and researching what’s happening, and why its happening, in order to position myself to prosper in the future. <<MORE>>

Suggestions For Gathering Leads

Aside from using the benefits of Renegade University in getting leads through Attraction Marketing, what method can be most beneficial in gathering leads?

I am a guide with Renegade University. I value this fantastic program because it has helped me in numerous ways. If you click on the link, you can read my bio about the whole Marketing Merge program. Then, if it interests you, click on the link at the bottom of that page. It will take you to a form where you can visit and enroll in the Renegade University.

Gathering Leads

Saturday, March 21, 2009 at 5:12AM

You can gather leads the “Old Fashion Way” by Cold Contacting people. This means you meet people that you did not know before and start up a conversation with them. You need to go to places where people gather (at the Mall, the park, church, social gatherings, grocery stores, car repair places) and begin a conversation with them. The conversation should cover the F.O.R.M. questions.

F.O.R.M. is talking about their

F family

O occupation/job

R recreation/travel, do they have places they want to go and boats or RV’s they want to buy

M message that you can help them with the concerns and desires they’ve mentioned

F.O.R.M. WILL BACKFIRE IF YOU ARE INSINCERE AND COME OFF AS A SALESMAN.

People don’t want to be sold but they do want to buy. They will buy what you want them to when you allow them to sell themselves. They will buy your marketing plan or products when they see the value in it for themselves, how it will improve their lives, and how they can do it. In other words, it’s their idea to join your organization or to buy your products or service.

THE NEW WAY, THE SMARTER WAY WILL BE TO ATTRACT PEOPLE THAT WANT WHAT YOU HAVE TO OFFER. They have already made the decision to look or they would not have found you on the Internet. Your job is to convince them to look at your offer. You do that with a good Contact Page that allows them to get the gist of what you are doing and how they benefit. They will then fill out the form for you to contact them.

Do you see the value in contacting people the second way? People are already looking for you, they already want to buy, and all they need is a reason to contact you and not someone else. Your job is to give them that reason.

The second suggestion is a much better way to contact people. The old way is really nothing short of solicitation, which is why people get so irritated when you talk to them, why they don’t want to hear about opportunities and plans, and why they seem to run the other way when you talk to them. Likely, they were not thinking of what you can offer them and they were not in the mindset to buy.

Obviously, your rate of success increases when you contact people who are already looking, already prepared for your message, and already to buy what you offer. What more can you ask for? Do your job and give them a reason to contact you.

Let me introduce you to the Renegade University way of contacting people in greater numbers, those who have already been sorted and qualified, and those who are ready for the next step.

Send me an email and tell me you want to talk. Call me or leave me a number to call you. Otherwise, just click on the links I’ve provided above and make the decision to enroll in the Renegade University. They will let me know you have enrolled shortly after and then I will help you get started right away.

My name is Judith Sherman

Phone 903-487-2989

Email is Judith@JudithSherman.com.