12.15.2006

Don't Try This At Home

As I look back at this past year and begin to assess areas where I made progress and which activities I failed to achieve my objective, I can report I learned one very valuable lesson. (Many lessons actually.)

I ventured into any area that I had been advised not to journey. I heard a few different trainer/coaches warn against trying to represent more than one company at a time.

I found myself in what I believed was a unique situation that seemed naturally suited for working multiple businesses. I will offer more details about this situation in the near future in another entry.

Earlier this year I tried to position myself with three different companies. My intent was to provide a more diverse offering of products and opportunities. Each with a different business structure, non-competitive product lines for the most part, and various entry costs.

You see, I had a highly effective lead source that was providing an interesting cross-section of contacts. I spent a good amount of time talking with people from this lead source and felt that I may be able to help more people by offering some variety.

I made contacts with support people within these companies that would help me get up to speed on the specifics of that company. These folks would be available for referrals or 3-way calls if needed. I would make the initial calls, establish which situation would best suit their need as well as their qualifications. I would then introduce the associate and let them present the specifics.

It seemed pretty sound to me at the time.

What I found was that my efforts were still very diffused. I had less time to dedicate to keeping current with my main interests. I was juggling three companies meeting schedules, seminars, monthly specials, promotions, etc. I began missing important dates and contacts. I experienced a general breakdown in my already tenuous organizational abilities. Simply put..... things went to sh*t in a very short time.

More importantly, I know that people I was working with sensed a change in me and understandably, my commitment. I found I had lost a big part of my credibility with many of my teammates. I believe they could feel that my attention was divided. Even though I didn't have any less a commitment to the companies I was working with, I had to obviously divide my time to accommodate.

Not only did this have an negative effect on the people on the team but it created a lot of unnecessary drain on me emotionally. It soon wore me down and descended into the spiral of ineffectiveness for all concerned.

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