This week on the podcast, we’re sharing another of our monthly done-for-you trainings from the Modern Direct Seller Academy—this one’s especially timely. We’ve centered our last few episodes around incredible company conferences and tips for getting the most out of your time there, but now we want to discuss how to be intentional about taking everything you learned back home to your business. Let the inspiration from conference carry over into your day-to-day work by setting new goals, building new relationships, and taking action every day to help your business grow.

Time based notes:

• 2:55 What to Do After Your Company’s Conference
• 4:02 Take time to regroup
• 6:07 Set intentions for your business
• 7:46 Build new relationships
• 9:55 Adjust your day to day
• 12:15 Commit to personal development
• 14:50 Training in the Modern Direct Seller Academy

A Once-a-Year Conference = Day-to-Day Change

There’s nothing quite like attending a national conference for your direct sales company. It is just filled with excitement. There are new products. There are new friends. There’s a ton of fun. There’s good energy. There’s lots of momentum and big goals for your business. If you attended your conference this year, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Now, back in the day, when I was in the sales field, I actually would reserve an additional day at the hotel after conference just to kind of regroup and absorb all the information that I learned. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to stay an extra day. But, after conference, I definitely think it’s worth it to carve out some time to really think about what you learned. What commitments did you make to yourself? What big goals and renewed focus do you have for your business? Whether at a coffee shop with your favorite drink in hand, in your favorite journal, at home in a cozy corner, or even on the airplane ride home, just think through some of those things that you learned at conference and what things are going to look like in your business moving forward.

One thing that I’ve been talking about a lot lately is that, so often in business, we base where we want to go on what we’ve done in the past, right? That’s linear growth. We think, “Okay, I did $500 in sales last month. So, next month, I’m going to do $600.” The beauty of direct sales and the business model that you’re a part of is that what you’ve done in the past does not dictate exactly what you’re going to do in the future. Of course, if you’re working in a corporate job, you might inch up your salary year over year at your annual performance review. But, the excitement of being your own boss and being in this world that you’re in is that you have the potential of doubling, tripling, and quadrupling—growing your business exponentially—year over year. So, if you set some of those big, lofty goals to maybe double what you did this year, or bring twice as many, three times as many, four times as many teammates with you to conference next year, I want you to hold tight to those goals. Of course, I want you to leave conference feeling inspired and excited. But more importantly, I want you to be inspired to take action.

So, as you are digesting all the things that you learned at conference, I have a couple of questions that I recommend that you reflect on. These are things you can ask yourself, the commitments that you can make to yourself, the goals that you can have for yourself between this time this year and next year at the conference about how you want to show up and what you want your business and your lifestyle to really look like. So, really set some intentions about where you want to go in your business.

So, your first question: What was your Number One takeaway from conference? Now, you may have hundreds of pages of notes from conference. But, what was your Number One takeaway? What are three things that you learned at conference that maybe you didn’t know before you attended, and now you do? What are those goals that you’ve set for yourself as a result of conference? Where do you want to be three months from now, 6 months from now, 12 months from now? And, remember that growth doesn’t have to be linear; we can be doubling, tripling, growing exponentially. Why do you have those goals? What is it that’s motivating you and keeping you going every single day? Many of you have gone through exercises before thinking about your “why,” right? That “why” continues to grow and evolve as you meet goals, as your life changes, as new things are driving you to build the business that you have. So, really think about “why” you set those goals.

Next, I want you to think about the people that you met. One of the most exciting things about attending conference in-person is that you get to meet incredible people. Who did you take a selfie with? Who did you make a video with? Who’s that at your table at lunch? Who did you see on stage that you were inspired by? I want to challenge you to jot down their names and be intentional about connecting with them. Because, the cool thing is that you’re in this with others. You’re not doing this on your own. There are other people that are building businesses that might be a step ahead of you, or a few steps ahead of where you want to go. You have so much to learn from them. So, be intentional about connecting with them online, following them, sending them a quick message saying that maybe you heard them speak and you loved what they had to say. Don’t be shy about it.

I can tell you, as a speaker myself, when I hear from people that were in the audience, and they share with me something that they learned from my presentation, that fills my cup. So, don’t be shy about it. Even if they’re not your direct upline or sideline, reach out to them and let them know how excited that you were to meet them. Maybe you took a selfie with somebody; in a week or so, send them a picture of that selfie and remind them, “Hey, it was really great connecting with you. I’m so excited to follow your journey and cheer you on!”

Building those relationships are at the heart of this business, and you can do that within your organization, as well. In fact, maybe there’s somebody on your home office staff that you loved connecting with and you also heard on stage or you had a hallway conversation with. Let them know how grateful you are for their leadership and what they’re doing for the company and how happy you are to be a part of it. I can tell you from seeing behind the scenes at a lot of conferences that your home office team has worked their butts off. They are there from sunup to wait past sundown tearing down, planning, strategizing, shifting plans. There’s an entire production team that comes together to make conference as incredible as it is. So, don’t be shy. Reach out and tell them “thank you.” I’m sure they’ll appreciate it.

So, when you think about your biggest inspiration at conference, what are those things that really got you excited about where you’re going in your business? Maybe it’s a new product line that’s launched. Maybe it’s hearing from a leader on stage. But, think about what inspiration you gained from conference. And, most importantly, I want you to reflect on what you’re going to do on a day-to-day basis to really adapt and change to reach those big goals that you set. Because, it’s easy to go to conference and be excited and be part of the event, and then walk away, and then life happens. It happens to all of us. I can tell you, after being on a whirlwind tour this summer, I have a notebook full of follow-up to do. And, part of me is like, “Oh my gosh, I’m finally just home. I want to relax.” But, I know that my investment from being at those events pays off the minute that I get back home, right? So, of course, you spent some money and some time to be at conference. The biggest return on investment that you’re going to get is once you get back home and you actually start implementing what you learned at conference.

So, I really want to challenge you, from the bottom of my heart, to take a little bit of time to reflect, journal, process what you learned at conference. You may even need to grab your notes, or look back through the agenda, or look through your camera roll. I know many of you are out there taking pictures throughout the event. Think back at who you met, what you learned, what inspired you, and where you are going with your business. Because, I can tell you, you’re already there, right? You showed up. You were at conference, you were engaged, and you have set those big goals. So, your job now is to take those goals and put them into action every single day. What are those simple things that you can do to drive your business forward? And, as you think about where you’re going, I want to remind you that your success is up to you. You have everything you need. You have an incredible home office team. You have incredible products. You have a community of other likeminded people that are on a similar mission. If they can do it, you can do it.

So, it’s really up to you to own it and hold those commitments to yourself. If you say you’re going to do something, follow through with that. I know you don’t have a boss, and you don’t have an upline that might be breathing down your neck asking you how things are going after conference, so really, I want you to take that responsibility and own that commitment you have made to yourself. Nobody else is going to do the work for you. It’s all about you just putting one foot in front of another and taking action every single day to improve yourself and grow your business.

You guys know that I’m a training junkie over here. So, my last piece of advice is to encourage you to continue to keep on growing. Conference happens for you maybe once or twice a year. It’s not every single month that’s going to give you that amount of energy to keep you going. So, find that community that is going to support you and encourage you and give you that training that you need to keep your business moving forward. Of course, there are paid membership communities like the Modern Direct Seller Academy, but there are also so many free resources out there. There are YouTube channels. There are podcasts. There are professional development books. There are so many tools and resources available to you to continue your growth and your journey forward. So, go ahead and own it! Make sure that every month you commit to some type of personal development that’s really going to keep that fire ignited, because it’s easy to get home, and you have laundry to do. You have to unpack. You have family to take care of. Maybe you’re going back to a regular nine-to-five job. There’s a lot happening, so make sure that you’re continuing to focus on your own growth and development, to keep that excitement going inside of you, to push your books to the next level. I guarantee that that work is going to pay off exponentially.

Learn how to engage and energize your team for the new selling season with our free workshop, “Wake Up Your Team for Fall”! Register at ModernDirectSeller.com/WakeUp.

Take Action: What steps can you take to ensure that you’re getting the most out of conference?