It’s so easy to do. You have a home-based direct sales business. I’m sure you had great reasons to start your own direct sales business. You wanted more time your family, you needed some extra income, you wanted to meet new people, etc. Remembering those “why’s” can be a powerful motivator to keep your business on track for where you want to go.

But, there’s also a great temptation to let those “why’s” become your “how’s” – and before your know it, you’ve hopped right off the track.

Here are a few examples…

• Why: More time with family and working on your own schedule
• How: You try to squeeze working your business into the nooks and crannies of your family’s hectic schedule. You promise yourself you’ll sit down and make some calls when your kids are occupied and not hanging on your leg. You run out the door with sticky handprints on your shirt and the chaos of the day written all over your face.

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OK, you’re getting ready for a party.  It’s been a long day with the kids, and you have to pry them off of your leg to get out the door.  Or, a crazy day at work, and you just can’t wait to shed the heels you’ve had on all day.

Sure, you’re looking forward to an evening with women who you’d love to be your girlfriends.  You want to set a casual atmosphere where your guests are comfortable and having fun.  You want the guests to look at you and think “I could do that” and feel that you are just one of the girls.

So, it’s very tempting to throw on your capris and t-shirt and run out the door.  And hope that the grease stains from those little hands won’t show.  After all, this is your “fun” job and just a great chance to get out for a night.

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You’ve heard it – whether in your company’s training or in a recruiting pitch. My company says it, too. “Our (insert product here) is so great, it sells itself.”

What do you think of when you hear the word salesperson? Or sales? If you’re like me, the classic used-car-guy image pops into your head. Words like pushy & manipulative get lodged there.

About 6 months after I started my Direct Sales business, a group I’m in did a little activity where each of us wrote things we liked about one another on slips of paper. They were anonymous, and it was just one of those feel-good activities. One of mine said, “She’s a great salesperson.” I bristled. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be that!

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Are you a parent who is working from home? A retiree with a “fun” business to bring in some extra income? A student with a direct sales business to fund her college bills? A career-woman with a small business on the side for fun?

You might be any of these, but if you’re a business-owner, you are also a professional.

Are you objecting? If you’re like me, “professional” brings to mind accountants, lawyers, engineers, doctors, etc. What about entrepreneurs and small business-owners? I hope you’d agree that they are, or should be, professionals. If you have made the leap to start a business, no matter how small, then you are indeed a business-owner. You’re not just a “candle lady” or a “scrapbooker with a cute little business.”

Many of us choose a direct-sales business for the flexibility and freedom it allows us to spend time with our children, to add to the family income, or just to get out and have some adult interaction. I think those “why’s” sometimes distract us from taking our businesses seriously.

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