Guest Post:  Teresa Romain

Spring is here! YAY!

Which means my husband and I are spending a LOT of time in our HUGE vegetable garden – preparing the soil, planting, weeding, watering. We’ve even begun HARVESTING some things – like the lettuce we planted on our cold frames in March.

This, combined with a coaching call I recently had with one of my direct selling clients inspired this post.

You see, there is much to be learned from growing a garden that applies to growing a thriving direct selling business.

First, there’s the soil. The type and quality of the soil has a huge impact on how well a garden will grow. For example, if you want to grow carrots, you’re going to have a difficult time in soil that’s predominately clay. Carrots need sandier soil in which to thrive.

And so it is with your business. The “soil” in your business is YOU – your skills, talents, life experiences, the network of people you know, your sense of self-esteem and so much more. Sometimes when your business is not flourishing in the way you had hoped, you need to work on YOU – to “build up” yourself just like my husband and I “build up” the soil in our garden with compost and other organic fertilizer. While this takes time and work, the difference it can make to the growth in a garden and your business is amazing.

Then there’s the importance of sun and water to a garden. You can have great soil but if the seeds you plant do not get sufficient water and light – you will not have a thriving garden. So – what’s the equivalent of sun and water in your business?

I think it’s the fundamental actions of your business, e.g., phone calls, booking, prospecting, recruiting, selling, hostess coaching, training, networking, and customer service. Without the “right amount” (quantity, frequency and consistency) of these actions, your business will not grow.

It also might include the people who add “brightness” to your business – by supporting, encouraging, inspiring, training and coaching you. They’re “sunlight” for your growth.

Then there’s another element of gardening that REALLY applies to your business. The WEEDS. You can have the best soil and take all the right actions and have a great support group, but you still won’t have a thriving business unless you weed it regularly.

The “weeds” that can “choke” the growth of your business include the conscious and subconscious beliefs you have, choices you make and behavioral habits you’ve developed that limit and block your prosperity. If you’ve ever “not enoughed” yourself, your actions and/or your results – then you have “scarcity weeds” you need to pull. Other “weeds” that choke the growth in your business might be those people in your life who “not enough” you and overtly or covertly discourage you, your actions and your goals and dreams.

And, finally, there’s a time in the cycle of every garden when things start to “bolt” and “go to seed”. No matter how much you water or weed your garden, you will not be able to harvest much (if anything) once a plant has “gone to seed”. For example, in the heat of the summer, most of the lettuce in our garden starts to bolt and go to seed. At this point, it doesn’t taste good – it’s quite bitter. And so rather than continuing to eat this bitter-tasting “old” lettuce, my husband and I know it’s time to plant a new crop.

This same dynamic can show up in your business with long-term customers and team members. Sometimes you need to let them go and plant new seeds – start a fresh crop. If you have customers or team members who never have or are no longer “doing” much, it may be time to let them go and start a new “crop”. That doesn’t mean you don’t like or care about those customers or team members nor does it mean you aren’t grateful for them. It just means that the time has come for you to plant some new seeds and turn your attention elsewhere.

This process of growing a garden is an ongoing one. We are regularly building up the soil, planting seeds, watering, weeding, pruning, harvesting. It’s not something we can do once and be done with it.

(Oh… how I WISH that was the case!)

And so it is with your business… you can never stop “building up” you, watering your business with your actions, giving it the “light” it needs, weeding it, harvesting from it and planting new seeds. That’s what will have the harvest of results in your business (both tangible and intangible) be one of abundance!

I’d love to hear your comments and/or questions about what I’ve shared. Perhaps it will support you to “build up” your soil or get a handle on the “weeds” in your business.

Just post your comment or question below.

Happy Gardening!

 

Teresa Romain is the President & Founder of www.AccessAbundance.com and has trained and coached thousands of individuals around the world access and experience greater freedom, fulfillment, well-being and abundance in their businesses and their lives. Unique in her approach and dynamic and passionate in her style, Teresa is known for making the transformational process of accessing abundance challenging, fun and powerful in its results.

 

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