Finding Our Why

The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.

Michelangelo

How many of us have really thought about WHY we are in business for ourselves? There are the usual stock answers such as independence, tired of the corporate world, etc. But, why did we choose this particular business? Why did I decide to make jewelry and sell it online? Why did I decide to branch out and also become an Arbonne consultant, especially as my jewelry business was ramping up?

Today's challenge is to answer the true question - WHY? If you can answer that question, then making decisions about how you run your business becomes so much easier. It will drive how you grow your business. You will conduct your business with true authentication and be yourself - and gain more pleasure from it.

There is a great video that I love to watch from time to time. The main point this video makes is that

People don't buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.

How true this is!

Here is a link to the video. It's 18 minutes and very powerful!
Great Leaders Inspire Action

The other reason to develop my 'WHY', is that it will then lead me to my 10-second commercial and my 30-second commercial. Everyone in business needs to be able to explain their business in 10 and 30 seconds. It's also called the elevator speech. If someone asks you what you do, what do you say? I know that I definitely need to practice this speech. So, by combining my WHY with my HOW and my WHAT, I can clearly articulate what Theresa Rose Designs is all about.

So, here is WHY Theresa Rose Designs exists.....

I started Theresa Rose Designs after attending a home jewelry show. There were so many beautiful jewelry pieces and I wanted it all, but I couldn't afford the $50 earrings and $100 necklaces. I also didn't want the same jewelry as everyone else in the neighborhood. So, I decided to make my own and found that I loved making jewelry! I believe all women deserve beautiful, personalized jewelry that reflects their own unique style, no matter what their budget. This is why nothing in my jewelry shop is over $30.00. My favorite part is working with my customers creating individual designs.

By reading my 'WHY', it becomes so clear how I want to grow my business and so much easier when I need to make decisions.

People often ask me why I joined Arbonne at this time. It would seem that I have my hands full with the jewelry business and becoming an Arbonne consultant would only distract from it. Actually, the two businesses blend very well together and allow me to have my 'alone' time making jewelry and my 'social' time interacting with other like-minded people who are also interested in the health and wellness industry.

So, here is WHY I became an Arbonne consultant.....

After my husband recovered from neck cancer a couple of years ago, I became very interested in the health and wellness industry. I started using Arbonne products a year ago because they are natural, vegan certified, and safe - plus I saw a big improvement in my skin and overall health! At the same time I quit my corporate job to run Theresa Rose Designs full-time and became very passionate about encouraging other women to take the same path I did to start their own businesses, whatever their passion may be. Arbonne gives all that to me. I absolutely love their products and the business opportunity it provides anyone who wants to achieve that same level of independence that I have.

So, what is your WHY?

Welcome to 100 Days to Grow Your Business

 'You can't hire someone else to do your push-ups for you.'

Jim Rohn, Motivational Speaker

I invite you to read along and hopefully join in as I spend the next 100 days concentrating on growing my business. My hope is that I will move out of my comfort zone, expand my knowledge and take my home-based business to the next level of success.

Here is my 100 Days Business Growth Pledge:

• Once a week I will apply a new concept/idea. Examples of this will be starting a YouTube channel, new sales techniques, reaching out to other people for help, marketing strategies such as Instagram, etc.
• Any action plans created during these 100 days will be applied consistently. Once committed to a plan, I will see it through for the duration.

I decided to start this blog series after reading the book 'The Success Principles' by Jack Canfield. If you have not read this book yet, I highly recommend it. I will be using many of his principles and documenting my success (or failures!). 

It is not my intention to provide this blog series as a 'how-to'. I am certainly no expert and I don't have all the answers. This is an experiment of sorts. I will be pushing myself WAY out of my comfort zone for the next 100 days. I am excited to see where it takes me (and you if you follow along!). I won't pretend that I'm not the least bit anxious or nervous either. There are many principles in Jack Canfield's book that I know I should adopt and utilize, but am very uncomfortable doing so. I'm going to challenge myself, and you will hold me accountable! By documenting my journey and hopefully with your comments about your journeys, we will hold each other accountable and see tremendous change in our respective businesses.

Here is the blog series plan:

• The challenge begins on Wednesday, January 1st and will run for 20 weeks.
• I will post 5 days a week, usually Monday through Friday. There are times when this schedule will change slightly, due to a couple of travel commitments I have in the next few months. During those times, I will post an alternative blog post schedule.
• On Mondays, I will outline the posts for the whole week so you know what to expect and if you are taking this challenge with me (and hopefully reading Jack Canfield's book), you can plan accordingly.
• Besides my jewelry business, I also have a new Arbonne business that I'm really excited about. I absolutely love their products and while I didn't plan on being a consultant, I found that it was a natural course of action to take and balances perfectly with my current business and life. My blog posts will include both businesses at different times as they each have their own unique challenges and opportunities. 

For this week, December 30 through January 3, the blog posts will be:

• Monday: Introduction to this blog series.
• Tuesday: Finding our Why (I found a great video explaining how you need to know why you are in business!).
• Wednesday: Success Principle #28: Cleaning up the Clutter. I thought this would be a good way to begin the new year.
• Thursday: Goal Setting.
• Friday: Developing a Social Media Plan.

So, welcome to my new blog series! I hope you enjoy it and gain as much from it as I will by writing it. I always welcome comments. Please feel free to share this with anyone else you think can benefit from taking this challenge.

Getting out of your comfort zone is the only way to see big change. Taking those scary steps are necessary! The ones we most resist are usually the ones we need to embrace and adopt. I know that I'm ready to plow forward - are you?
Theresa