We've all probably heard the saying - work smarter, not harder. First of all though we need to understand what 'working smart' means. Working smart is basically just the PRODUCTIVE APPLICATION of hard work achieved by PRE PLANNING and by carefully working out the BEST, MOST EFFECTIVE WAY to proceed, BEFORE you start. So, how can we apply this to how we work our SFI business?
- Know WHAT you want to achieve each day when you first log into SFI. If you log in and waffle around getting side tracked you'll invariably find at the end of the day that you've spent a lot of time putting in some hard yards but not necessarily made any significant progress towards your overall goal. That's working hard, not smart. Working smart means making sure everything you do is focussed towards a particular goal, which you've predetermined before you even start working on it, and then ensuring that everything you do is actually taking you towards that goal, not sideways or backwards. Tip - "People dont plan to fail. They fail to plan."
So, when you log into SFI each day have a plan of attack which may run something like this - complete daily To Do's, play T Time and a few other games to earn VPs, MRPs and potentially Tcredits, find new TC products to promote, read at least one piece of information pertaining to business building, find X number of new places to advertise, spend x amount of time surfing in traffic exchanges, write a new blog post for your blog, update your website, contact your movers, send E-cards to new team members and so on.
- Don't keep repeating things that don't work in the mistaken belief that somehow the end result will be different 'this time'. For instance, if your current advertising is not bringing results, don't keep doing more of the same hoping that one day your ads will miraculously start working and you'll find people beating a pathway to your door. That's just a lot of hard, unproductive work. The smart way to work is to identify early on why your ads aren't working (content, wording, target audience, platforms etc), correct the mistakes (reword, tweak, research your market some more, try other advertising platforms etc) and then keep working on the ones that are getting the results you want in order to bring about the results you want.
***TIP - using key codes and SFI's Hit Tracking tool to assist you will help you work smart with your advertising.
- Figure out early on what activities are getting you the results you want. Working smart means being FOCUSED and ORGANISED so that you can make EFFICIENT, PRODUCTIVE use of your time. Set yourself SMART goals and be prepared to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to achieve them.
***TIP - remember the 80/20 rule. A person who works hard rather than smart has a tendency to focus 80% of their time on things that bring in 20% of their results. If you want to work smart you need to be focusing 20% of your time on what gets you 80% of your results.
Unfortunately most of us have been conditioned to think that if we aren't working long hours putting in the hard yards we aren't 'really' working. So we apply this principle to our SFI business as well, thinking that if we slog away at it for x number of hours each day eventually the hard work will pay off. Regrettably it probably won't. Not if you're not applying the hard work effectively to only those activities that will bring about the results you want. For instance, if you spend time randomly posting ads and interacting on social media more because you enjoy doing it rather than because it actually brings about any significant results, then you're working harder not smarter. Working smart involves first learning how social media works and how to utilise it correctly (by adding value and not running the risk of getting banned for spamming). Then identify your target audience, learn what it is they want and need, and design effective ways to approach that specific audience that will get you the results you want, whether it be new affiliates, PRMs or ECAs.
Likewise, if you're spending huge amounts of time writing blog posts that no one reads because you've not taken into account things like SEO, effective key word use and so on, that's working hard, not smart. Learn about SEO strategies and the like, then write original, targeted posts that supply information and provide value to readers and make them want to join SFI or purchase the TC product/s you're talking about.
- Don't spend hours and hours trying to cut down one tree with a blunt saw (because you're so busy cutting down trees you don't have time to sharpen your saw). That's definitely working hard. Working smart means taking time out to sharpen your saw so that when you do get to work you can cut down many trees with the same amount of effort. In other words, take the time to hone and sharpen your skills so that you can be more effective at recruiting new affiliates, PRMs and ECAs rather than spend endless hours using ineffective methods and tools that probably won't get you even one solitary new affiliate, PRM or ECA.
***TIP - 'Leaders are readers.' Utilise the extensive library of training material that SFI has built up over the years and made available, free of charge, to us all.
- Be innovative and creative. Start thinking outside the box to come up with ways of achieving better results for your business. Find new ways and places to promote your SFI and TC business.
- Look at ways you can work smarter with your team. For instance, identify the go-getters in your front line and transfer some of your other affiliates to them. This will allow you to devote more quality time to, and concentrate on, developing your team leaders. It will also help your team leaders build their own teams which is going to encourage them to stick around and it will help deepen and strenghten your entire team - you'll be growing several strong roots instead of a bunch of shallow ones and it. Then teach them to do the same thing.
***TIP - remember the 'find 5' concept.
- Utilise products like SBuilder, PSA's To Go and the various other ECA affiliate / website hit packages available through TripleClicks to build your team faster and smarter, at least until you learn to do this effectively yourself. Otherwise you may well be spending a lot of time on hard work that won't pay off in terms of real sign ups.
Tip - If you think something will be hard work it invariably will be. Likewise, if you approach it with the view that you can do it the smart way then you'll find a way to do it that way. In other words, by working smart you can turn even the hardest work into smart work.
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