Networking 101: How Far Will You Go?

• November 25th, 2007
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This weekend I’m traveling about an hour or so away from home in order to find new leads. Why? Why would I do this? It’s because I like to “think nationally.” You may have heard me say that before on my blog. It’s like thinking globally, but in MK-speak, that is nationally because one day, I would love to be an NSD. That is going to take me years. I’m not naive to that fact. But, when we make big goals, we have to be realistic when we are creating them and determining how much work it will take.

I have a fabulous CD by NSD Linda Toupin. The CD is called “Everything I Need to Know I Learned at a Skin Care Class.” I may have mentioned it here. Towards the end of this recording, Linda instructs her audience to take out a blank sheet of paper. She then tells them to draw a circle filling the entire paper. Next, she asks, “raise your hand if you are willing to drive 30 minutes to a skin care class. Keep your hands up if you would drive an hour…” She continues to 3+ hours. She tells her audience to place a dot in the center of the circle they’ve drawn and write next to it, the name of the town where they live. The large circles represents the maximum timeframe one would drive. So, if you’re willing to drive 2 hours to a skin care class–and I am–the circle represents a 2 hour radius from your home. She then tells them to take time to fill in the circle with all the towns they can think of within that radius. She asks the question, do you think you can build a national area in that span?

Another fantastic piece of media is “Booking” featuring Gloria Mayfield Banks. This CD (also mentioned here) focuses primarily on team building (but that’s part of building nationally, now, isn’t it?). On this disc, Gloria Mayfield Banks states that she will drive 3 hours if she thinks someone is a good potential team member.

If you have a large goal like, Director, then you may want to think about how far you are willing to travel for your business. It’s part of the job and part of the work. I strongly feel that in order for me to meet my goal of director, I need to travel at least an hour in order to stretch my business scope. Why? Well, there are many reasons. The area where I live has several directors in close proximity. It’s difficult at times to find people who don’t already have a consultant. It’s not to say they aren’t out there, but in the grand scheme of things, I need to reach beyond my regional boundaries in order to reach the numbers.

For right now, I’m willing to drive up to 1.5 hours. That should give me enough range to get myself into DIQ and most likely driving free. I’m very excited about the event coming up. I want to book many appointments from it. My plan is to perhaps designate one weekend or two each month to travel to that area. As I build my team out there, my need to travel declines, but I have done my job by building my area.

So, that is my philosophy. Any directors care to share some input? Feel free! I have this big event this weekend and then in January I have a bridal show that is local. I feel both will boost me into business!

Tags: Business Building, Communication, DIQ, Dreams, Hard Work, Media, NaBloPoMo, Networking, NSD's, Team Building, Work Ethic