Car Boot Sale #3 (Sept 2010)

Had an amazing, inspiring, educational day today.

Went without expectations and even with a little dread. Did I want to sit around for 4 hours - again - trying to look busy and cheerful even when there are few passersby?

As it turned out, I had interesting, deep conversations with the lovely ladies running stalls on either side - Fiona and Karin.

It was unexpected cos I'm an introvert. I don't get my energy from talking with people, especially people I don't know; socialising can be mentally and physically draining. I need to be in a certain mood and head space to want to reach out and make that connection.

Today, I tried to focus on the other person and just flow along with the conversation.

It's what Michael Oliver calls Natural Selling, except I had made a decision not to think about selling or what was in it for me. So I managed to avoid one of those potentially costly faux pas: constantly glancing sideways to see if anyone was stopping by my stall. The result was that I was able to give the other person my fullest concentration and respect and acknowledge what they said instead of making presumptious comments.

The outcome? A meaningful connection, a sharing of life stories, and the seeds of future friendship were sowed. One lady ordered two items off me, my Sale Of The Day. The other gave me plenty of useful advice about selling, based on her retail experience. She told me I am friendly and have a nice smile, and that a business is often built from word-of-mouth referrals.

I was blessed also to have my 3 yo come along for company. She is a social magnet, with the kind of personality that has strangers saying how cute/gorgeous/adorable she is. She certainly kept herself busy. I had brought along a preschool activity book that she worked through for a while. We had muffins and shared a sausage. Then her friends the Sawyer boys came by, and she was off to play, get carried around and learn Snap.

I am particularly grateful for the unsought blessings: the gentleman who wandered by with his 6 mo baby girl quietly sitting in her pram, who shared about his digestive problems and intolerance to wheat. I was able to give him info about Fast-Tract and In-Liven. Turns out he teaches at Beth's school. The world has just grown smaller - again.

Our home group member Jenny, a fantastic cook and very organized, efficient lady, brought a friend by to see my stuff. She did all the sales talk for me, emphasizing how little she has to use because one pump is all she needs, and how she loves the pump bottle that the foundation come in because it clearly shows how much product is left in the bottle; as the bottle gets used up the marker rises. That's something I had never thought about and can now use for my next marketing exercise. Must thank her for the kindness and favour.

All in, my third Car Boot Sale has been a SUCCESS in every way.

Getting Off FB

I am taking an indefinite FB break.

It's madness, like being on a treadmill that you can't get off. I can spend hours reading other people's postings but never being able to catch up with all the energetic Facebookers who use it to market their products and services and every now and then announce that they are now at 1,555 likers or whatever.

Wish I could do the same, and believe me I did try for a few months, but it's exhausting and the results are not guaranteed. I haven't made a single FB sale, although my fan count is now a healthy 102.

The only people who buy from me are still people I know personally.

Maybe that's the way for me: just keep talking to people and being myself and suggesting organic solutions where appropriate.

Forcing The Introvert To Converse

I have just made a commitment to run a market stall on the first Sat of each month between Aug and Dec.

The aims:

• to promote my ONE Group business and products
• to have an excuse to talk with people about their needs and wants and see if my product and/or biz opp is the solution to their problem
• to get to know the other stall holders esp. those who are not HXUCA attendees, and look for opportunities to win them for Christ.

By Christmas, I will have a very good idea if markets are a boon or bane to my biz, and whether I should persist with this biz at all or just relegate it to hobby status.

Can you survive without a job?

I got thinking about this recently when we had dinner with friends who are new migrants.

The husband had just received a job offer from the Government, and you could tell the couple were elated.

He's waited six months, sending out applications and waiting for the phone call or email that can change his life and his family's financial position.

For a highly qualified Singapore professional, being jobless in a foreign First World country can be excruciating, a sort of baptism by fire.

That got me thinking.

Is it possible to have a life where you make money without getting a job?

Can you go against herd instinct and make money in other ways?
Why does everyone seem to think that getting a job is the best and only way to make money?

I was at the doctor's today for laryngitis. J had a nasty cough as well.

When I requested a medical certificate, the doctor's first question was: "What work do you do?"

I had to explain that I'm a stay-home mum, and that the MC was actually for my husband because he's taking carer's leave to look after us.

So he made out the MC in my husband's name.

It struck me as particularly galling that being a stay-home requires me to justify the work I do.

Perhaps I should have said "I am a writer" or "I am an online business owner".

Even then, I suspect the doctor would have looked suspiciously at me and thought I was being funny.

Isn't it interesting how the default position is that everyone who is able-bodied and not studying or raising a family should have a job?

Look at the way superannuation and bank loans are designed.

If you are an employee, your organization puts in the 9% or 17% contribution into your super.

The seeds of your retirement funds start from there.

When you want to borrow money to buy a house, the bank calculates your borrowing capacity and your serviceability capacity.

One criteria they use is your income.

Without evidence of a stable income over a period of at least 12 months, you might have to resort to borrowing from a second-tier financial insitution at a possibly higher interest rate (what they call lo-doc or no-doc loans).

How do you demonstrate a stable income over a length of time?

Again, a job is the best way to do it.

And yet, when you think of it, a job is hardly any form of security these days.

Recently, Ford Australia laid off 600 jobs. This was followed by a second-round cut of 350 jobs. On the same day that the 350 job cuts were announced, the company president resigned and returned to USA.

We are talking of nearly a thousand workers and their families whose livelihoods are suddenly threatened through a corporate decision completely outside their control.

If these workers receive job offers soon after, good for them.

What happens if they don't?
What happens if their reserves run out before the next job offer comes along?
What if they are single-income families where one spouse has stayed home to raise the kids?
What if there's an accident resulting in a disability, and the insurance company or TAC drags its feet about paying out?

These are the possibilities no one likes to think about.

We think it won't happen to us.

But bad things do happen every day that could threaten our family's welfare and put us in financial stress.

Studies have shown that finances are the main cause of domestic disputes.

If the sole source of income dries up, what then?

It is too awful to think about, so most of us refuse to go there.

But this is precisely why we need to make advance preparations.

We have to start thinking of alternative ways to make money while we are relatively financially stable, not when that stability is gone.

Banks lend money to you when you don't need it.

When you actually need money, you can be fairly certain the bank manager will politely show you the door.

Let's think for a minute of alternatives.

If you haven't got a job, or don't plan on getting one because you hate being tied down to one organization (which in a sense is what having a job is about), you could do one of several things:

• Hire yourself out as a freelancer or consultant, and do what you're skilled at, but for many clients rather than one. This way, you diversify your risk. If one client folds, there are always others.
• Convert a hobby into a stream of income. Teach music to the kids in your neighbourhood, walk people's pets, sell hand-crafted jewellery at craft fairs.
• Do jobs most people would be glad to pay someone else to do. Mow lawns, distribute fliers, do packing at ALDI's, do the ironing for someone who hates domestic chores.
• Start a business. If you have the capital and your market research has turned up an opportunity for your kind of business, by all means go for it. You could start from scratch or invest in a franchise. Not many people have access to large amounts of capital though, so if this is your situation, you may have to consider other low-cost ways of doing business.
• How about joining an MLM company? Of course you will have to do your due diligence and evaluate the opportunity before you part with a single cent.
• Now consider going online, like so many people dream of doing. When you do your research carefully, you will be surprised at how easily the Internet medium lends itself to all sorts of individuals, life situations and types of businesses. Including all the ones we've just discussed.

An online business is the perfect income-producing avenue for almost anyone.

Retirees who want to enjoy life their own way.

Career changers who - like 72% of American households - want to work from home.

Work at home parents looking for a way to help with the family expenses while looking after the kids.

Info publishers and infopreneurs.

Turn your specialist knowledge about something people want into a stream of income.

Elad did it with kids' parties.



Sellers of hard goods. You could be a maker of goods, a sourcer of goods, an artist, or someone who has found a unique way to present an array of goods from different sources.

Sellers of e-goods.Watch Tomaz turn tennis into checks.

Affiliate marketers who specialize in marketing and selling other people's products. They get a commission on each sale they make.

Network marketers who prefer a unique website to the company's duplicate website. With your own website, you have a better chance of reaching out to more qualified prospects than you could ever find time to meet or call individually.

Real estate agents. If you are an agent, you may have discovered that your company website doesn't do much to help you grow your business. How do you capture some of that online passing traffic and use it to bring in the buyers and sellers who are interested in the properties you are listing?

It's incredible just how useful and how flexible the Internet is. It can help you start a business, take control of your career and finances, and enhance the quality of your lifestyle to fit better with what you most love doing.

What if your spouse thinks you should forget about Network Marketing?

I want to share a fantastic article I read tonight in Michael Oliver's newsletter.

Michael is the author of How To Sell Network Marketing Without Fear, Anxiety or Losing Your Friends.

If you've been thinking of going into Network Marketing and your spouse doesn't exactly share your enthusiasm, this article's for you.

Have A Contract With Yourself To Be 1000% Responsible For You And Your Own Success

Here is a question of the type I get on a regular basis from people who struggle with many external influences in their lives.

My (spouse) thinks I should just get a real job and forget about Network Marketing. He is getting tired of me ordering different plans and really not finding one that works. There is something about it that really appeals to me and I am always looking to see what I can find. I know this will work and I’m just not ready to give up on it yet. I would appreciate any information you can give me. Hope to hear from you soon.- LW, St Elmo, IL

My response....

First. With regards to the different “plans” you talk about, ask yourself these questions...
What part or parts of the different plans you have been using and rejecting, are not working for you?
What parts of them are working.

Write your answers down in two columns... "What works for me" - "What doesn't work for me". If what isn't working outweighs what is, then search for a plan that has got more of what is working. Then STICK to it!

Second. Sticking to it requires discipline, a word which many define as too restrictive and the opposite to freedom. HOWEVER, like most conventional thinking – this is simply NOT true!
With discipline comes freedom.

For example - Nature disciplines itself and we are every much a part of nature as the trees that grow and even the seasons. Nature doesn’t decide to skip a season because something more interesting comes along. It might be late or early on occasion. The seasons might even vary as to temperatures etc.

But the seasons still turn up!

Heed the quote; “It was character that got us out of bed, commitment that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through.”

Are YOU Working?
The critical questions to ask is yourself is... "Am I working?"

By that I mean....
Are you willing to invest the time in learning how to communicate with people?
Do you have a real desire to change your present circumstances?
Do you have the commitment to take action, day in day out, to achieve your desire by talking with people every day – seeing if you can help them get what they want so that you can ultimately get what you want?

As for your spouse telling you to get a job... the choice is yours. You can either settle for the so called security of a regular paycheck by working for someone else. Or you can establish your own security by taking your own path to financial, personal, mental and spiritual freedom.

In my book "How To Sell Network Marketing Without Fear, Anxiety Or Losing Your Friends!" I include this comment…
"Find your own truth, by shedding the truths of others that prevent you from having the freedom and abundance that is your universal right."

Perhaps you could ask your spouse for help in this. I'm sure your spouse is just as interested as you are in wanting you to be successful and happy!

There is no right or wrong to whatever you do. The secret is to find what FEELS right for you and then ACT on it... taking 1000% responsibility for your own success allowing no one to get in the way.