Why???

That is the question... WHY?

Our "WHYs" are so essential to our being, our lives, and our businesses with ONE Group. Having just hung up from our team call, I am so exhilarated with passion for our business that I just need to spill it somewhere!

Have you ever started talking and suddenly you answer your own question without even knowing there was a question? How in just some unexpected way your own problem is solved and you actually solved it all by yourself without forethought?

Well, that is what happened with me tonight on our team call.

Typically after our calls a few of us "gabbers" stay on, and tonight was no exception as we talked until midnight! :-) But it was great - and it was great because we are all so passionate about this company, about these products, about our own opportunities to reach our own personal goals and destinies - and here we are TOGETHER - sailing on the same ship!

My WHY has been somewhat ill-defined since I joined ONE Group back in July of 2005. But just as we evolve and learn and develop in life through experiences, the same is true in business. Someone may actually marry their mate for security and comfort, only to find out a dozen years later they remain married for love - or vice versa.

I joined ONE Group as a former recruiter, and I was no ordinary recruiter. I loved my job so much that I used to joke with the companies I worked for that I would pay THEM to work because I loved it so much. Thus, my WHY in ONE Group was always to find and nurture others to grow successful businesses of their own.

But now, nearly three years along this amazing journey, I realize that I can't sell products effectively with this only this WHY.

Wanna know a secret?

Looking at MiSpa parties in their true MiSpa platform, I cringe. I want to do parties because I see how effective they are - but I just can't bring myself to do them. I just can't seem to find a reasonable WHY behind pampering a bunch of women to look beautiful just so I can make a commission check.

There... I said it.

Okay - sounds bad, I know. But I realized tonight that I CAN host MiSpa parties, and there is a WHY to sell products for beauty - it was right there in front of my face the whole time. I just needed to understand my own perception of what beauty means.

It is said that, "Beauty is only skin deep." Based on this statement the logical inference equals this: "If I were sell skin care and cosmetics for beauty reasons, I would be doing so for my own benefit... a commission. And those purchasing the products would be doing so for their own benefit... vanity.

Not that there is anything wrong with earning money, nor is there anything wrong with wanting to look beautiful - but for me, it just didn't resonate.

Then it dawned on me that I was holding up this picture, of selling products to make people beautiful, upside down the whole time! When I hung the picture right side up, I could see that I am selling products that don't harm anyone. They don't harm those who use them, they don't harm the planet when they are made OR when they are consumed, and they aren't making some irresponsible corporate money mongers wealthy beyond imagination.

No, our products are doing just the opposite! Offering these products is BENEFITING the planet with sustainable agriculture, BENEFITING the consumer by reducing carcinogenic exposures, BENEFITING Alf and Narelle and Colin, who I wholeheartedly trust will only use for good, and BENEFITING me by allowing me to contribute something special to others... an opportunity to be beautiful as I define it.

I think a lot of you feel like I do and freeze up at the idea of selling at parties - or anywhere for that matter. We tend to think that "sales" is some raunchy word that should never be used. We feel icky when we refer to ourselves as salespeople - and with good reason, after all, look at the stereotypes of used-car salesman, insurance salesman, ambulance chasers... it isn't exactly the noblest profession, now is it?

Have you ever been to a another company's cosmetic party?

You buy because you feel you should, or you buy because everyone else is, or you buy to help the rep who is a single mom raising three kids, or you buy because the hostess wants the free/discounted products... and the whole time - well, for me anyway, I am feeling guilty about spending so much money on myself. Money that could go to ANYTHING more important than my own vanity.

But now, turn this picture around.

Now see that we are offering these gracious consumers a chance to make a PURCHASE with a PURPOSE. To not only pamper themselves with products that will make them look and feel beautiful in the physical sense, but beautiful on the inside as well. Their purchases are not selfish or in vain - actually they are quite the opposite! They are making an incredibly positive contribution to this planet and all those whom inhabit it today - and tomorrow.

This isn't some huge "ah-ha!" moment for me, because this is really what I have known all along. But oddly enough, I never could understand why I felt so shameful when I would consider doing MiSpa parties. I never made the connection of the beauty and the vanity and the selfishness that I associated with it.

If you are struggling with sales of products or recruiting people into the business, perhaps it is time for you to look at your picture and see if it isn't upside down as well. And then take some time to review your WHY's. Consider what makes you feel worthwhile in life. That is the whole point of being in business for yourself is that you can choose to work towards what matters to YOU. You can define beauty, define success, wealth... all those are exclusive to YOU and you alone!

And yes, we are all on this ship together sharing this beautiful voyage of ONE Group, but search inside for what defines you, and your life, and your purpose in this business, and what you can do with it to prosper in EVERY sense of the word - while helping others do the same!

Let's succeed together!

Blessings,
Candy