Speech making...

It didn't come out exactly like this...but this is the speech I wrote.

I don't know about you but after the awards ceremony last night I am more than a little star struck. And generally that has me fluctuating between two points of view. On the one hand, I think "oh yeah I want to have my name called as many times as Kathy Hughes." How cool would that be? But then the pendulum immediately swings to "what am I crazy, I could never do that!" So today, as I share a little of my story, I want y'all to think about taking things one step at a time with me no matter where you currently are in your Usborne business.

I started with Usborne at the end of October, 7 years ago. I came to my first convention that following June and saw all the sparkly tiaras and heard all the speakers and was equally excited and overwhelmed. And thought quite honestly that whole team leader thing was not for me. And executive leader or director...yeah right!

NancyAnn Wartman, Ruth Smith...Tom and Becky Dean, and the many, many others...just like celebrities and just like I though of Hollywood celebrities I thought that's so not me.

So for the next 5 years I worked what I would call my July to December fun job. I scheduled parties because I wanted a mom's night out. I worked the holiday season because I wanted to buy Christmas gifts. Did my upline tell me, you should think about becoming a team leader? Sure. But I still didn't think it was for me. I was happy with my July to December fun job thank you very much.

Then at that 5 year mark something started to change. The Connect 4 iPad challenge was the beginning of that. I DECIDED I wanted an iPad, and it was something that I never would buy for myself. So for the first time, I actually made an effort to schedule parties and events for January through May. For the first time I had a goal larger than making sure I had a few mom's nights out. And guess what? I earned the iPad. And it felt good.

I liked that feeling of accomplishment so much that I needed another goal. So I DECIDED that I wanted to have a 40th birthday celebration in Vegas using my Usborne earnings. And guess what? I did.

But here's the thing. I was happy just being a consultant. I was happy working when I wanted to. Not worrying about any numbers. Helping people who wanted to join but not really having any responsibility for them...after all that was my upline's job.

But then...and there's always a but then...my son wanted to attend School of Rock. He's 12, an excellent guitarist who loves to be on stage. And when your kid has a talent what else is there to do but support him. So THAT was my trigger. That extra $150 a month to send my kid to a performance program was what made me DECIDE to promote. And when I decide to do something, I do it. I have the iPad and 40th birthday memories to prove it!

And here's the kicker that one decision didn't just lead me to team leader. Working consistently and paying attention to my sales numbers and actually looking at all those cool little trackers on the back office also meant knowing that I was incredibly close to making President's Club during the previous round. Who knew? Well Tanya Sanchez knew since it was her post on Facebook that prompted me to look!

But as the saying goes knowledge is power. Once I realized how close I was to making President's Club. I figured why not try? With a little extra effort and a lot of help from my team, I earned it. So that brings us to November when I promoted to team leader and gave myself the raise I needed to pay for School of Rock (maybe I should send them a thank you note).

And trust me that felt wonderful. Even more so now that my oldest daughter, who's turning 8 next week, has been invited up to gymnastics team, which of course comes with a higher price tag and competition fees and competition Leo's, etc, etc.

But you know what other tracker I was watching during this time? The trip tracker! Making that decision to promote to team leader to pay this one additional bill now had me within shouting distance of the Atlantis trip. It would be nice to say I had this all planned out, but I didn't. At this point I just thought...hey my husband and I went to the Bahamas for our honeymoon 15 years ago. Wouldn't it be cool to take him back? Wouldn't it be cool to achieve a trifecta?

I was at ALR at NancyAnn's impromptu hallway session on ideas for quick sales for those close to earning the incentive trip. And someone mentioned book drives in general and Tabitha Roach's book drive for foster kids in particular. Brain wave! I can get closer to Atlantis while helping someone other than myself? I certainly wasn't going to say, "come on team you're slacking, send me to the Bahamas." But I had no problem saying "let's get non-fiction beginners into the hands of every Head Start student in our county. And besides the feel good factor, here's what's in it for you." In those two weeks in January, we collected enough funds to donate 424 books to Head Start. Talk about your feel good moments.

So to recap, I decided to promote to team leader after 7 years with the company and at least 5 years of my upline encouraging me to all because of a new kid activity. During this time I actually paid attention to all those cool trackers home office provides and made a little extra effort to earn President's Club. I decided to attend ALR, which spurred the book drive idea that helped me the rest of the way to the incentive trip. And yeah I got a pretty cool honorable mention last night!

What do I want you to take away from this? First, reevaluate your why on a regular basis. Has what you need from your business changed? Second, make a decision and make an action plan to achieve it. And be prepared for some happy coincidences along the way. Third, pay attention to trackers home office provides. It's harder to meet a goal if you're not paying attention to where you are. And finally keep up with your training and networking and apply the knowledge and ideas of those tiara-wearing super stars.

I still fluctuate between "oh my gosh, I want to walk across the stage a bunch of times" and "ugh, that so not me." But this weekend I am taking a deep breath and taking one step at a time. Because who knows what my 4-year-old daughter is going to be into!

So I ask you, what decisions are you making for your business? Because while a journey of a thousand miles may begin with a single step...first you need to decide to take a walk.