Time Management Tips For Direct Sellers

One of the most challenging situations you face as a direct seller is navigating what are the most important tasks to get done each day to build your direct sales business and integrating those tasks into your already busy life.  I (Melanie) know firsthand what it was like to launch my direct sales business as a stay-at-home mom of two under the age of three.  Time management became a survival skill that I had to use from the start.  Time management for direct sales isn’t always the first skill that your upline teaches.  Most uplines focus on income-producing activities, making your first sale, and launching your business.

Today, I’m going to walk you through the most important time management tips for you to implement now! Katy and I recorded a great podcast on how to be more productive that goes perfectly with this blog post! 👂Listen here: 5 Tips To Be More Productive In Your Direct Sales Business

Direct Sales Time Management Tip #1:

Set your direct sales business goals. Determine what the two most important goals are that you want to reach in the next 30 days with your direct sales business.  You should always set two goals, an income goal, and a team-building goal (unless you only want to retail).  You need to set goals so that you know the appropriate action steps to take to hit those goals.

Direct Sales Time Management Tip #2:

Fill in your monthly marketing calendar. Pull out your Direct Sales Done Right Planner and Time Blocker to start the process of creating your monthly marketing calendar.  If you don’t know when you will talk about specific products, parties, or events- you won’t have clarity in what you are inviting to and what you are posting on social media.

The Direct Sales Done Right Planner has a monthly calendar layout where we put the dates of our parties, free groups, and paid groups.  This allows us to count back 7-10 days and that marks the start of our public marketing and inviting.

Pro tip: If you are nervous about not having people join the party or event, you are normal!  I need you to trust me and pick a date and then work hard at inviting people to join the event.  If you give a deadline, you create more FOMO and urgency with your followers to sign up now vs. waiting until later.

Direct Sales Time Management Tip #3:

Create your weekly calendar layout. Now you are ready to start brainstorming your list of social media marketing ideas that you will use to get to your goals listed above.  I like to work one week at a time by gathering trending audio, brainstorming a list of our ideal client’s problems, desires, and solutions, and writing it down in the weekly layout of the Direct Sales Done Right Planner.  I write down key topics for our stories, the calls to action, and posts we will make in our VIP groups.

I don’t pre-write ALL the content but I do have the tagline or general idea laid out so that when I’m ready to do the post, I am prepared.

Every week I do a planning session with myself where I plan the upcoming week of social media content based on my business goals. This saves you so much time through the week when life gets busy.  Plus, I am not always thinking about what I’m going to post or when I’m going to post it.  This is a literal lifesaver for your brain.

Direct Sales Time Management Tip #4:

Time Block Your Week. The next step is to get out your Time Blocker and plan out your week.  I do not have a separate calendar for my personal life and my business.  Everything I am responsible for lives on one calendar in one place.  I write my business goals for the week and month on the planner.  Then, I schedule my JOY!  That means I mark off when I will workout, spend time with the family, go on a date with Matt, or hit up the golf course.

If you don’t schedule fun into your day, you won’t make the time for it. That is always first because we want our business to enhance our life vs. feeling like our business is our life.

Secondly, I schedule any appointments for myself and the family that require me to be out of the house. I put on the kid’s sports practices and games.  This is also the time when you would block off your full or part-time job if you have one.

Next, schedule your business blocks of time.  We are all going to be different based on our life circumstances.  You might have 30-minute to an hour blocks of time to work in your business or you might have longer 2-3 hour stretches of time.  Block off the time and then we will work to fit the tasks into those time blocks.

You don’t have to schedule every minute of your week.  It is normal to have white space so that you can have the freedom and flexibility to let the week flow.

In my direct sales business, the only way I survived was to create space in my calendar for the tasks that needed to be done daily and weekly.

Lastly, fill in your direct sales work hours with the tasks you want to complete during those times.  I recommend pencil or erasable pens because nothing works out exactly as you have planned.  I am rearranging, add, and removing tasks all the time.

Direct Sales Time Management Tip #5:

Communicate the calendar to the people who are in your life.   I take the time to go over our weekly calendar every Sunday with my husband Matt.  We talk about who will do pick-up and drop-off for sports, what nights I have calls, and what projects I need some extra space to work on.  Communication has been clutch as I have grown and scaled my direct sales business to the top in the organization.

Lastly, it’s important to get too caught up in doing everything perfectly!  I am always learning and growing in managing my time and my priorities.  I could literally write a book about all the ways I’ve had to manage my own self and distractions throughout my direct sales career.  Instead of waiting for the timing to be perfect, just jump in and get started!  Take messy action and learn along the way.  When you create some type of organization for your direct sales business, you will teach that to your downline when they sign up too.  If you get overwhelmed, check out our Direct Sales Done Right podcast which gives you great advice on managing those feelings that we ALL have!

At the end of the day Time Management for your Direct Sales business is going to change the way you show up and the outcomes you achieve.

If you found this article helpful, share it with another woman in Direct Sales now!

☀️Summer is fast approaching, is your Direct Sales business set up for success?☀️

No worries, we can help you with your direct sales summer strategy!  📚We are hosting a two-part masterclass on Wednesday, May 24th at 10:30 am ET and Wednesday, May 31st at 12:00 Noon ET to help you and your team get ready for the summer months.  This virtual class comes with a downloadable workbook, access to the two, one-hour session recordings, slide deck, and more!  You can snag your ticket while tickets last here: Get Your Business Summer Ready

We want you to enjoy the summer months and grow a thriving business!  That can be quite challenging! We are taking the guesswork out of your summer planning and teaching you our simple framework for achieving goals and soaking up the summer.

Sound like something you need?  Make sure to get registered now!