Introduction
Your mind is magic. Yes, I mean that. Your mind is the most powerful tool that you have your disposal and it can either work for you, or it can work against you and my friend, that is a CHOICE that you get to make. So I encourage you to choose to make your mind work FOR you!
I could talk about mindset forever – it’s my favorite topic on the planet. But as we don’t have time for that, I’ll give you a quick summary of the main points.
Mindset is how you view the world – and whether you want to believe it or not, your thoughts create your reality. The things you tell yourself every day matter. The thoughts that float across your head randomly matter – and you get to be in charge of what those thoughts are.
And here’s just a quick good example of why it matters what you are telling yourself in your business. If you’re telling yourself, just for example, that messaging people asking them to host a party is “being pushy,” or that offering someone the business is “being pushy,” or salesy, etc. – you’re going to stop yourself from doing those things. And not only does that hurt your business, but it actually ends up hurting the other person too.
So if you notice you’re thinking a thought and you want to be thinking something else – that’s when you work with yourself and journal through that to reframe that, create a new affirmation to help you work towards thinking a new way – and ultimately changing your reality.
Have you ever had something bad happen to you right away in the morning? Like you overslept, your stub your toe right away when you get out of bed. And it puts you in a negative headspace and then you notice all kinds of other negative things start happening that day? Like, you spill your coffee or your notice a negative comment on one of your Facebook posts. That’s negative mindset at work. As you think negative thoughts you become an energetic match for more negative things happening to you – you basically call in negative things – definitely not what we want! And a good point here too is that sometimes just because you’re in that negative headspace, you’ll see things that weren’t even meant to be negative, as negative! Like maybe that comment wasn’t even meant the way you took it, but you took it in a negative way because of where your mindset was at! This is why having a positive mindset is important!
Your energy is incredibly powerful and your energy is based on the thoughts that you think and the way you view the world.
And the energy you have is what you attract more of – so if you want to attract positive things and have a positive experience, you want to think positive thoughts and live in a world of positive mindset.
On top of that, people can feel your energy. So if you have a positive energy you are more likely to draw people to you – they are more likely to want to party with you and spend time in your world – join your team, etc. If you have a negative energy – the opposite is true. Most people run really fast the other direction from negative, desperate people.
A really good tip here – you get to be in charge of what goes on in your world on a daily basis. If someone you follow online is overly negative, unfollow that person. What you surround yourself with matters and who you spend time with matters. So if you want to have a more positive experience, make sure you are surrounding yourself with positive people and setting that example for your teams as well. You get to be in charge of these things.
I know it isn’t always easy to have that positive outlook on everything – which is why I believe in the 5 minute rule (you can vent for 5 minutes, you can rent a space in the negativity hotel for 5 minutes, but you can’t stay longer than that!) – but that’s also why I teach my team and everyone I can about the power of shifting limiting beliefs (or negative thoughts) into positive affirmations.
Your beliefs determine your reality – you can do anything but you have to believe that you can do it.
So – having shared all of that with you – let me share with you the 5 Mindset Hacks I Used to Grow My Direct Sales Business 200%+ in 1 Year! (Yes, you can absolutely do this too!)
Mindset Hack #1: I learned the importance of belief
Not only do your beliefs create your reality – but belief in itself is important in your direct sales business for other reasons too. In order for your direct sales business to work you need belief in multiple areas: belief in the product you’re selling, belief in the company you work for, belief in any type of rewards program you have (especially if you’re a party-based business), belief in the compensation plan that your company gives your consultants/distributors, and – most importantly – belief in yourself.
You have to believe in the product you’re selling, or you won’t be able to sell it. And that goes for the product of the service you’re offering, the physical product people are purchasing, the product of the host rewards (if you’re a party-based business), and the product of the consultant opportunity. If you don’t believe in those things with your whole heart, how in the world could you ever possibly sell them to anyone?
People can feel your energy. If you are hesitant or unsure about the product or service or opportunity that you are offering, people will be able to tell. And if you’re not sure about it – why should they be?
If you’re desperate to have people join your team or host a party for you – people can feel that. And they will run really fast in the other direction.
Make sure your energy is clear. Choose a brand very deliberately that you BELIEVE IN wholeheartedly. And if you don’t believe in all of it – ask yourself why not? What is it that holds you back? Is there a way to change that? Do you need to do more research into the company, the product, the opportunity? These are all important things to explore to help you truly make an impact with your direct sales business.
And as I said, most importantly, you have to believe in yourself. Because, yes, you are selling the product from the direct sales company, but more than that you are selling the relationship with YOU. Direct selling is built around the relationship that the customer builds with you as a person and if you don’t believe in yourself, why should they? If you won’t invest in yourself and your products, why should they?
I taught myself through a process of breaking down limiting beliefs and turning them into positive affirmations (See Hack #5) how to believe in myself – and I suggest you do the same. Because if you don’t believe in yourself – if you don’t believe that it’s possible for your direct sales business to work for you, I promise you – it won’t. But if you DO believe in yourself, your business, the opportunity, the product – the possibilities are endless.
Mindset Hack #2: I stopped caring what anyone else thought
I was sitting on a beach in Hawaii in Spring 2019. I had earned a trip to Hawaii through my direct sales company and I was amazed that I had earned this entirely free trip – to somewhere I never thought I’d be able to go – through my direct sales business. The sun was going down and the breeze was light. I was drinking a Long Island Iced Tea (I pretty much drank those nonstop because, ya know, #hawaii and #vacation LOL). And I sat there thinking – man, if this is what I can do with my business while I’m afraid – imagine what I can do with my business if I just decided I don’t give a fuck what anyone else thinks and do it anyway? Imagine what I could do with my life and business if I decided to wholeheartedly embrace myself and chase my dreams? And I decided, right then and there, that I did not care what anyone thought anymore. It was like something finally clicked for me.
I finally realized that everyone is afraid. We’re all just doing the best we can to get by and make it through our day to day in the best way we can. I realized that while I was worrying about what everyone thought about what I was doing, I wasn’t actually paying ANY attention to what any of them were doing – and that EVERYONE ELSE was probably doing the EXACT SAME THING.
On top of that I realized that what people say or do or think about me only matters if I agree with them anyway. If someone were to tell me that I don’t have a great smile or that I’m not funny I would literally laugh in their face – because I do have a great smile and I’m fucking hilarious (ask my husband, lol). When people say things about you – it really says more about them than it says about you. They’re responding from where they are – the same way we are all always responding from where we are. It’s never about you. It’s about them. If you think about it that way, it helps you keep perspective and remember that it really doesn’t matter what they think. If someone does say something that strikes a chord or hurts me, I know I need to look at what’s going on under the surface. Rather than assume that what that person is saying is right – I ask myself – huh, why is that bothering me? Surprisingly – that usually allows me to realize that it’s an issue I have within myself I need to clear up. In which case I can say – hey thanks person! I didn’t realize I needed to clear that! ? Everyone is just a person. With their own thoughts, opinions, and issues. Susie on the internet is not the be-all, end-all of opinions you guys.
This freed me up to focus on doing what feels RIGHT for ME. Because no one else is me and no one else can tell me what’s best or right for me – but me. And I need to do what’s right for me no matter what anyone else thinks – and you need to do the same, for you.
Mindset Hack #3: I decided I was worthy
This is a big one. Especially as women we tend to think we’re not good enough, that we’re not worthy of what we want – so why even bother trying to get it right? It will never happen because we don’t deserve good things. Yuck. What horrible thinking that is!
One of the biggest mindset shifts for me this year was realizing and deciding that I was worthy. That I AM worthy. That I am already good enough exactly as I am and I have nothing to prove to myself or anyone else to make me worthy of the things that I want. This revelation was pretty mind-blowing for me. And when I shifted and decided this, my business truly grew in ways I’d previously only imagined.
Realizing I was worthy – deciding I was worthy – meant that I no longer needed to prove myself. Which helped me to step into my confidence as a leader and help my team learn and grow the way they needed to in order for our organization to truly blossom. It helped me to be confident enough in my parties that I could go live, share my story, and truly connect with my customers in a way I never had before.
Here’s the thing. You are worthy just because you exist. You are already innately worthy of everything you want in life, in the world, and you are already enough simply by existing. You have nothing to prove. As one of my favorite rappers, Dax, says: “God got you, if you’re born, you’re chosen.” (Self Proclaimed 3, Dax, one of my favorite songs in the entire world.) Choose to know and believe that. It will not only change your business – it will change your life.
Mindset Hack #4: I learned the power of choices
Whether you want to believe it or not, everything in your life is really a choice. If you feel like you’re too busy to really scale your direct sales business – that’s a choice you are making. If you feel overwhelmed – that’s a choice you are making. (Don’t hate me – I’m just the messenger here.) Every time you say yes to something you are saying no to something else. Maybe that means you’re saying no to more sleep tonight, no to more time with family, or no to working on your business – but it’s always a choice.
It’s also always a choice to decide if something is going to work for you or not. You get to choose if something is hard or if it is easy. You get to choose how difficult you make your life. So stop choosing to make it hard. If you feel like you’re too busy – stop taking on the extra responsibilities. Stop leading Bible study or volunteering to run the craft fair. Start prioritizing yourself, because you can’t pour from an empty cup. It’s not selfish to take care of yourself – it’s necessary.
And EVERYTHING in life comes down to choices. I think this is probably going to be the hardest hack for you to swallow, because none of us want to be told that we’re choosing to make our lives difficult or that we’re choosing to do things the hard way when we could be choosing the easy way. I get it. I’ve been in your shoes.
But here’s the thing – if you give it a chance, if you opt to believe me and recognize the power that you have over the choices in your life, you’ll be so incredibly empowered. You’ll realize that what this really means isn’t that you’re to blame for the bad things in your life (definitely not what I’m saying!) But that what this means is that you have the power to change it. The fact that everything in life is a choice means that you get the choice to decide to have a good attitude or a bad attitude. You have the power to choose whether your direct sales business gets to work for you or not. YOU GET TO CHOOSE! No one else. Not your mom or your spouse or your kids or your boss. And that, my friends, is the most empowering thing there is.
And taking control of those choices, recognizing and deciding that I was in control of how my life and business went, is truly one of the key factors to my business success. Because without that, I never would have recognized that I was making the choices that lead to my recruiting success (or failure), booking success (or failure), and sales success (or failure). I can give you the tools to run a successful direct sales business – but if you refuse to acknowledge that you have the ability to choose to use those tools (or not), then you’ll be stuck regardless.
The choice is always yours, my friend. Choose wisely.
Mindset Hack #5: I learned the power of positive affirmations
The best analogy I have for this is a shirt crumpled at the bottom of a laundry basket – your brain is the shirt – with all these creases and folds from being crumpled that way, those are the neuropathways your brain chooses to follow. It’s easier and requires less energy to think the same thoughts you’ve always thought – this is why it’s so hard to break a habit or a thought cycle – your brain is designed to do everything as efficiently as possible, so it doesn’t want to change these thoughts and ideas, but you CAN change them, it just takes some work.
So what we want to do is take those limiting beliefs/those current pathways of thoughts and change them – shake out the shirt and the re-fold it to give it the creases we want.
As you give it the creases you want, you start to create your new more positive mindset which creates for you a more positive reality.
Limiting beliefs are anything you think – any thoughts you have – that tell you that you can’t do something
So the first step to changing this is noticing the limiting beliefs. So the first thing I always say is – and I got this from other coaches so I can’t take credit for the phrase, but “be the gentle observer.” Basically – be kind to yourself. It doesn’t help to beat yourself up about having these beliefs – because if you don’t acknowledge them you can never change them. It would be like trying to lose weight without acknowledging you’re overweight, or trying to stop drinking without acknowledging you have a problem – you can’t do it. The first step to solving any problem is acknowledging it – so the first step here is acknowledging that your thoughts are a problem.
It’s not your fault the thought is there – these thoughts come from all over the place – from what our parents told us as we were growing up, our teachers, our grandparents, etc. but you can change that belief.
Beliefs are just thoughts we keep thinking – and we get to be in control of our thoughts (believe it or not)
We take the limiting belief and we find something that feels better – turn that into an affirmation, and the more that you embrace that affirmation – you’re changing the fold in the shirt – you’re changing that pathway and that belief into something better.
So for example turn “I can’t get a booking,” “everyone is partied out,” etc. to something else
Personally, a good example of this that I have used and seen work in my own business with bookings is I started telling myself “I’m a booking magnet.” And “Everyone wants to party with me.” That was on sticky notes all over my house and anytime I had a negative thought about getting bookings, I went back to that more positive thought. I can tell you from personal experience, this works. I currently believe I ALWAYS have at least 12 parties a month and I ALWAYS do.
So the first step in changing to this new thought is to ask yourself – is that ultimately true? Is there anyone who has ever done it? Other examples are helpful! People I know are working into upper level leadership in my company, we all started with the same kit. There are people who are having 15 parties a week, so there are obviously people out there ready to party!
The first step is basically disproving the negative thought in your own brain.
The second step then is – what is the belief that is more true? What is the belief that feels better?
You have to find something you can believe and get behind.
Baby steps here – a good example is with weight loss. Instead of telling yourself “I’m a supermodel,” that’s just going to reinforce the negative beliefs you already have – instead take a baby step – “I choose to believe that I can change my body.” “I choose to know and believe that I can get bookings.” “I am a booking magnet.”
Pick something you can get behind!
I choose to know and believe that I’m a booking magnet. I choose to know and believe that everyone wants to party with me.
I choose to know and believe that all the parties I want are already on their way to me.
Using the phrase “I choose to know and believe” is helpful because it’s a baby step – it’s a choice you’re making to have the new belief, even if you can’t completely get behind it yet. Once your belief is stronger, you can drop the “I choose to know and believe” if you want, but you don’t have to.
Put the affirmations everywhere. Think them constantly. Say them out loud. Make them into a song. Say them while you’re out walking or running or while you’re doing yoga and working out, while you’re meditating, etc. And of course, anytime the negative thought crosses your brain – you say to yourself, “thanks brain, that’s super sweet of you to try to protect me, but I’m choosing instead to believe this more positive thought”
Yes, your brain is likely doing this to try to protect you – from your fears of rejection, or fear of failure, things like that. So your brain is trying to do a nice thing, but it isn’t going to help you to get to your goals. So I do recommend talking to yourself! ? (All the best people do it, lol)
And here is where the journaling comes in. Journal about it. Journal about how you want to see your team grow, how you want your business to grow, the promotion you want, etc. and then deal with any of the limiting beliefs that come up. Be radically honest with yourself here – this is for you, not anyone else. If you want to improve and you want that growth, you have to know where you’re starting from.
I’m telling you – this is the secret sauce that took my direct sales business from a “side-gig” to my full-time job. Use them – they work!
About Jess McKnight
Jess is (at the time of this writing) a full time law student who makes her full time income through her direct sales business. In the space of one year she was able to take her income from about $1500/month to $6-8K/month with her direct sales business – and she attributes that success to these mindset hacks. She used these same hacks to promote two levels in her direct sales business in 3 months during that same year, which moved her into elite levels of leadership at her company. She also used these mindset hacks to become a leader in her direct sales organization and has since been asked to speak and train at an elite training within her company on mindset. She would also tell you she used the positive affirmations hack to take her party bookings with her company from 2-4/month to 12-16/month.
Jess is also a full time mindset coach for female entrepreneurs, particularly focused on helping those in direct sales use their mindsets to transform their direct sales business from their side-gig to their full time job.
Jess has a Master’s in Theology, is working on her JD, and in her spare time she runs marathons with her sister. She’s married to her best friend and soul mate, and believes that women absolutely can have it all – if they decide they can.
You can learn more about Jess, her course offerings, get on her newsletter, and learn about working with her one-on-one at her website: jessmcknight.com.
To all your success and with much love,
<3 Jess McKnight