“I am a strong advocate for personal and professional coaching to unlock potential and deliver results,” said Glenn Sanford, Founder, Chairman and CEO of eXp World Holdings. “When we launched SUCCESS Coaching in 2021, we created new possibilities for our agents to build and practice new skills. This expanded platform gives eXp agents who attract and use coaching services new avenues to earn revenue share and equity from eXp World Holdings. Our mission is to impact the coaching industry the same way eXp Realty has changed residential real estate.”

The program is expected to launch in the second half of 2022 and will include certification, an aligned compensation model for agents and brokers as well equity opportunities for SUCCESS coaches.

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1. How much have you invested in yourself in the last year to be better?
2. How many hours have you intentionally invested in yourself in the last twelve.

Take a look at your phone right now and count how many audiobooks you have in your library. How many books are on your Kindle or other device? How many podcasts have you marked? How many learning notes do you have from past events? This should tell you something.

Coaching is a force multiplier. It’s a powerful tool used by too few. Why are so many people not being coached? Perhaps it’s because they’re not as coachable as they could be or think they are. And let’s face it—they don’t proactively, regularly, and strategically seek advice. It’s a blind spot for many.

If you’re ready for it, coaching is a powerful secret weapon. When new clients come to our RESULTS Center, I take note of how they learn. Do they ask questions or just listen? Do they take notes? Do they engage or just absorb? Are they committed to taking action on the strategic plan we’re developing?

Ten Qualities of Being Coachable

Over the more than three decades I’ve been coaching, I’ve observed the qualities of the people who seem to respond best to receiving learning—the ones who internalize what they’ve learned and immediately begin to put it to work in their lives so they can be better.

As we share these qualities with you, take a careful look at yourself and see how they apply to you. At the end of this article, we’ve included an instrument to rate yourself to know where you stand on these qualities.

1 / Strong Self-Esteem

People with a strong self-esteem don’t have to defend their position. They exhibit a measure of humility because they’re willing to ask themselves, Am I wrong? Can I improve? What am I not seeing? They have the confidence to ask Can I invest a little of my time, energy, and money to be better? Those who are not strong often seem to feel like they always need to be right. They perhaps have not built up enough of an emotional bank account to say I could be wrong.

2 / Open 

How often do you seek insights and perspectives from a mentor, a trusted colleague, your banker, your field, your board, your team, your financial planner, and maybe even your kids or other people who are part of your life?

3 / Curious 

Dr. Denis Waitley and I were invited to join Zig Ziglar in making his last video before he passed. We were interviewed in Zig’s studio by Gerhard Gerschwandtner, founder of Selling Power magazine. At one point during the interview, I reversed the question to Gerhard: “What do you think is the keyword that is most valuable in sales and seeking success?” He surprised me with his response: “Curiosity.” He suggested that curiosity drives a person to ask questions, including the why’s, and eventually get into some really great kernels of information. At that moment, I realized how powerful having a strong sense of curiosity is, and that revelation impacted my life in a huge way. A person who is very curious is very coachable.

4 / Hungry to Discover Best Practices 

When you’re hungry, you’re eager to learn from everyone you meet, and you wake up every day asking, What can I learn today? You will be open to the best practices your coach shares with you and model part or all of them to grow your effectiveness.

5 / Willing to be Wrong 

This is a cousin to having a strong self-esteem. Many people aren’t willing to accept when they’re wrong, whether they’re seeing something the wrong way or they’re not as efficient or as effective as they could be.

6 / Understanding You have Blind Spots 

This is in the same family as being willing to be wrong. What are you not seeing that a coach could help you uncover? For example, maybe you’re making hiring choices that aren’t as good as they could be because you don’t have the ideal system for hiring the right people.

7 / Willing to invest in Yourself and Your Team 

Do you put money toward books and videos that will make you and your team smarter? And are you open to investing in a coach—the right coach—to make yourself and your team better?

8 / Sold Out on Learning 

Have you determined that you will be a lifetime learner and glean every bit of information you can each and every day? Having the consistent mindset of a student makes you very coachable.

9 / Self-Aware 

Are you fully aware of your strengths and weaknesses? How about the values that guide your life? When is the last time you used a discovery tool like 360, SWOT analysis to assess how you relate to others and what your key motivations, habits, challenges, and weaknesses are? Have you sought mentors who will challenge you to improve?

10 / Willing to Take Ownership 

A coachable person is willing to own up to the mistakes he/she has made and learn from them. Being accountable in this way is a choice you make and defines you as a person who doesn’t make excuses, manages expectations, and controls your thoughts and emotions.

Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 in the assessment below. Let’s add up your score to see how coachable you are.

How did you do? If you’re not as coachable as you thought you were or want to be, then work on those areas you’re not strong in. Decide today to become more coachable so you can take full advantage of this powerful force multiplier that can change your life and bring you extraordinary success and results.

Tony Jeary—The Results Guy—is a prolific author and a strategist. His organization, TJI, facilitates powerful meetings, keynote events and coaches high performers to accelerate their results.

From the October 2021 issue of Direct Selling News magazine.

The post Being Coachable first appeared on Direct Selling News.

In This Issue:
The Most Influential Women in Direct Selling
Bringing Gender Parity to Direct Selling 
Advocating for the Direct Selling Community 
Navigating the Millennial-Driven World
Sticking to a Winning Business Model
Leading with Passion and Commitment
Launching New Products and Segments
Recruiting and Retaining the Field
Direct Selling Icons

A May 2017 report by the Center for American Progress showed that although women hold almost 52 percent of all professional-level jobs, only 25 percent have senior-level or executive positions, and only 6 percent are CEOs. At S&P 500 companies, senior-level or executive positions increase to 29 percent, yet decrease to 2 percent for CEO positions. And, as recently as last year, 43 percent of the 150 highest-earning public companies in Silicon Valley had no female executive officers at all.

We asked this year’s panel of influential women to offer their insights on what needs to be done to create more gender equality on the corporate side of direct selling.  What they had to say may surprise you.

Unintentional Inequality

For Cindy Monroe, Founder and CEO of handbags and accessories brand Thirty-One Gifts, the disparity in executive leadership is not by design. There will always be leading and lagging industries and companies, and she believes gender equality is one of several areas—technology, digitalization, training and organizational development being the others—in which direct selling is lagging behind.

“I don’t know that the area of gender inequality is intentional, but rather a lack of prioritization among strategic planning,” she says. “Thirty-One has 40 percent women within our executive team, not including myself. I believe that coaching and developing talent is a great place to begin with changing gender inequality within our industry. However, I also believe that we have a huge opportunity to attract professional women into our companies.”

Angela Loehr Chrysler, President and CEO of membership savings company Team National, notes that the channel should be a great fit for women executives, not only because of the high number of women direct sellers but because of the relationship-building aspects of direct selling that are central to the business.

“I do believe having a diverse team of men and women at the executive level is healthy and provides a nice balance of personalities and strengths for the office and field,” Loehr Chrysler says. “The industry needs to be open to promoting from within our companies to support and recognize men and women that are connecting well and embracing the different aspects of our industry.”

From her perspective, Candace Matthews of Amway, the world’s largest direct selling company, located in Ada, Michigan, believes the direct selling channel needs to understand its consumers—who are primarily women—and appoint leadership appropriately, while also embracing the change that must occur.

Regional President of The Americas, Matthews says, “According to studies such as Women in the Workplace by McKinsey an LeanIn.org, women remain underrepresented at every level of corporate America, despite having earned more college degrees than men have over the past 30 years.”

She also notes that studies show many companies overlook the realities of women of color, who face the greatest obstacles and receive the least support.

“When companies take a one-size-fits-all approach to advancing women, women of color end up underserved and left behind,” she says. “If we want to create more gender equality on the corporate side of the direct-selling business, companies need a comprehensive plan for supporting, advocating and advancing women. Organizations need to understand their particular barriers and address them directly.”

Inherent Abilities

For Cami Boehme, Partner and Chief Operating Officer at green energy and sustainable lifestyle brand Viridian, gender parity is an issue that transcends the industry.

“The gender gap, the glass ceiling—whatever you want to call it—it starts in the hearts and minds of women, at any stage in their career, and it extends to the boardroom,” she says. “I believe it starts with empowering women at all stages of their career to not only believe that they can achieve greatness and be one of the top executives of any business, but also to have the desire to do so.

“I never set out to be a ‘female executive,’ ” she goes on to say. “I only set out to have a successful career and positively impact others’ lives along the way. The fact that I was a woman was no different to me than the fact that I was a human with lungs. I can genuinely say that it was not until later in my career that I truly internalized the unique role my gender played in my suite of skills—my ability to be an empathetic leader, to respond with emotional intelligence, to use intuition and rely on my gut as my guide and as the tiebreaker in otherwise analytical decision-making, and a number of other soft skills in my executive positions.”

A Legitimate Option

The lower percentage of female applicants from outside the channel can, in part, be attributed to two factors: the negative publicity direct selling often attracts and the lack of awareness of the global power of the business model, says Traci Lynn Burton, Founder and CEO of the eponymous party-plan Traci Lynn Jewelry.

“I think with all of the negativity we’ve had over the years, and the negative titles that people label us with, that maybe some of those executives don’t think it’s real,” Burton says. “They don’t think direct selling is a legitimate option. Or they don’t know that some of us are billion-dollar global brands. I just don’t think that there’s awareness.”

Meredith Berkich, President of North America for anti-aging skincare and wellness company Jeunesse Global, notes that women place a major emphasis on legitimacy and integrity in business, which makes them a valuable part of any direct sales team. But she also believes much work remains to improve the overall number of women executives in the channel.

“Deep-seated misconceptions about women in leadership roles continue, and if we educate all women on the importance of self-promotion, [and] intelligent and aggressive competition, then fewer women may be willing to settle for support positions,” Berkich says.

“Instead, every woman should believe in reaching for presidential and C-suite positions. Specific to direct selling, we must educate people about the benefits of what our industry offers, including positive economic and social impacts, to overcome objections based on misconceptions that prevent more traditional-business female executives from exploring our sales channel,” she adds. “Aside from this, we can continue to work to balance the scales of executive equality by mentoring the next generation of young women to pursue the best in themselves with no limits.”

Commitment to Equality

What is clear to Mona Ameli, President of healthy living lifestyle brand OPTAVIA, is that there is a need to understand and remedy this gender disparity not only for more executive women to be attracted to direct selling, but also to help talented, experienced and high-potential women currently within the channel to grow into more executive leadership roles.

“The first step, from my view point, is to open this conversation to not be just a topic for women to have to deal with,” Ameli says.

“Diversity and inclusion for women in management roles is an issue that impacts our economic growth as an industry and as a community. Creating possibilities for more women to access executive leadership roles in our industry is absolutely doable. But it’s going to take a commitment across both gender lines to achieve it,” she adds. “There is a broader conversation that must be had. Men in the direct selling industry need to actively be part of the conversations and action plans and make it a priority to help set new standards that focus on creating gender equality across the board.”

Health and wellness company Isagenix International is one of several direct selling companies committed to attracting a diverse workforce and gender equality in both leadership opportunity and pay parity. “At the end of 2016, 61 percent of our corporate staff were women,” says Kathy Coover, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President.

“On our executive leadership team, 40 percent of our leaders who held positions of Vice President and above were women. Since Isagenix is a family-oriented company with more than 85 percent of our customers being females and 47 percent having children in the home, it’s important that we have a diverse representation on the corporate team that is leading the development of our customer and associate programs and products,” Coover adds.

In addition to embracing and fostering diversity in its independent salesforce base, Princess House, a kitchenware and home décor company, has also been at the forefront of equal gender opportunity for corporate team members. Its leadership base (managers and above) comprises 68 percent female and 32 percent male.

“While these figures sound impressive, I don’t want to send the wrong message,” says President and CEO Connie Tang. “I believe our company’s responsibility and commitment is to provide learning, development and growth opportunities for all. The ability to attract top female executives and top talent comes from our ability to successfully develop individuals in our organization and provide them with opportunities to put those skills into practice for growth and exposure.”

Tang has found that individuals with great potential come in the form of individuals who not only have a resume and list of titles and roles that are progressive, but people who express a zest for learning, take challenges head-on, and have a desire or hunger to grow in skills, responsibility and credibility through a solid work ethic and discipline.

“If your company has a goal to diversify for the purpose of growing through new thinking and adding both bench strength and talented women to your company, then do so beyond recruiting and headhunting efforts,” she says. “Invest time, resources and intention to offering support in leadership and skills training through programs, participation and engagement that, oftentimes, doesn’t require huge financial resources.”

The post Bringing Gender Parity to Direct Selling first appeared on Direct Selling News.

In This Issue:
The Most Influential Women in Direct Selling
Bringing Gender Parity to Direct Selling 
Advocating for the Direct Selling Community 
Navigating the Millennial-Driven World
Sticking to a Winning Business Model
Leading with Passion and Commitment
Launching New Products and Segments
Recruiting and Retaining the Field
Direct Selling Icons

Mary Kay Ash remains an ever-present figure in direct selling. Sixteen years after she passed away, the legendary founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics continues to inspire female entrepreneurs and leaders. A trailblazer when she formed her business in 1963, a time when very few women held the reins of any company, Ash championed the direct selling business model to ensure women had every opportunity to become their own bosses and achieve financial security.

Today, half of the 20 most influential women in direct selling follow in Ash’s footsteps as founders who lead their own direct selling enterprises. While much has changed over the past 50 years—certainly when considering technological advances and the ability to instantly communicate across the globe—today’s founders continue to face the same challenges as Ash once did: how to infuse passion and energy into the sales field, how to compete in a crowded marketplace, and how to encourage and train first-time entrepreneurs to grow into successful business owners.

Leading by Example

Employees and independent representatives of a direct selling company embody the vision and mission of its founder. They also reflect the passion and energy of their leader. As a channel with its foundational structure built on interpersonal relationships, direct selling’s independent representatives are finely attuned to the pulse of the executive team. Today especially, with easy access to both positive and negative information about a company, the executives we spoke to felt communication directly from the founders to the field is critically important.

Chrissy Weems, Co-Founder and CEO, Origami OwlChrissy Weems co-founded Chandler, Arizona-based custom jewelry company Origami Owl with her then 14-year-old daughter, Bella, in 2012 when Bella’s desire to own her own car inspired the entrepreneurial family.

“In the fabric of my DNA is die-hard passion, purpose and boundless energy,” says Chrissy Weems, Co-Founder and CEO of Origami Owl, a custom jewelry brand. “When you’re passionate and committed, people around you feel it. When you’re not, they feel that, too. For me, it means staying true to our genuine intention to be a global force for good. It also means, during the good times and the bad, I work hard to keep myself in a peak state of energy. I’ve learned that even as a founder and CEO, I cannot control what happens, but I can control how I respond to it.”

Mary Young, Co-Founder and CEO of Young Living Essential Oils, says she believes the best way to infuse energy into the field is by allowing them to freely offer their insights and opinions. “Personally, I enjoy building friendships with those with whom I work,” she says. “Treating those people as equals and valuing their opinions builds tremendous passion and motivation. Great creativity comes out of allowing others to express their feelings and share their ideas, knowing that the leadership or management is listening with sincere interest.”

For Melanie Huscroft, Co-Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of social-selling beauty company Younique, allowing employees and consultants or distributors to share in successes and wins, and giving credit to those involved with those successes, also breeds loyalty and passion. “Setting business goals as an organization and ensuring that everyone is aligned is very important,” Huscroft says. “Passion starts at the top and breeds its way down through the organization. Owning mistakes creates a culture of learning—I truly believe that. When the big wins happen in business everyone helps to celebrate those, but we can also celebrate the learning that comes from those mistakes as well. It helps everyone to feel passionate and motivated and personally invested in the long-term successes.”

Melanie Huscroft,Co-Founder and Chief Visionary Officer, YouniqueMelanie Huscroft founded Lehi, Utah-based beauty and personal care company Younique with her brother, Derek Maxfield, in 2012 and leads areas in marketing, advertising, product selection and branding.

There will always be ups and downs in any business. Executive leaders as well as the field understand that. But how those downs are managed is critical, especially for the morale of employees and the field. The key to managing such challenges, say these founders—especially regarding reputation, a recurring theme in direct selling—is being open and honest with everyone so they fully understand the company’s business decisions.

“Transparency and honesty—we need more of it in business,” Huscroft says. “Employees and consultants/distributors appreciate it and respect it. Not all business decisions end up being the right ones, but owning those decisions and then evaluating and sharing the insights learned helps everyone to understand the motives and filters used to help make those decisions. Decisions and outcomes can evolve as the learnings of the business evolve. Staying laser-focused on the company’s vision and mission is the purest way to stay true to what is most important in managing those inevitable challenges.”

Young agrees that communication is the key to all interaction. “If management is honest and puts the well-being of those with whom they associate first, whether they are employees or distributors, everyone will feel respected and regarded as important to management and the company, which makes it much easier to solve problems, make decisions and have positive growth and success,” she says.

Competing in the YouEconomy

In this age of the YouEconomy, honesty and legitimacy in business practices are even more critical when one considers Uber, Etsy and Airbnb. These companies also offer independent workers similar business opportunities, with a few key differences, including that earning potential is capped by time. There are only so many hours in a day to drive a car and so many days in a month that your property might be available to rent. But with direct selling, distributors have the opportunity to build their businesses through networks. Those networks can work for them, even when they are idle. That can make a big difference when looking to establish the flexibility to pursue the work-life balance important to younger generations.

Mary Young, Co-Founder and CEO, Young Living Essential OilsMary Young co-founded Lehi, Utah-based Young Living Essential Oils with her husband, Gary Young, and directs the company’s day-to-day business as well as leads the global outreach efforts of the Gary D. Young Foundation.

Consider this: According to an Intuit report, 40 percent of American workers will be independent contractors by 2020. That represents a tremendous opportunity for direct selling leaders—4 in 10 working Americans looking to start their own businesses. The challenge, both now and over the course of the next few years, is to successfully communicate the benefits the direct selling channel offers to these workers.

“Everything in our world seeks to pull us further and further away from connection with others: We shop online, we pay at the pump, we have groceries and meals delivered to our doors, we text instead of making a personal phone call,” says Weems. “What the social (direct) selling industry offers is an opportunity to earn income through flexible entrepreneurship while creating lasting relationships and empowering others to reach their definition of success. What we do connects people in meaningful ways that is so fulfilling. We offer people the opportunity to be a part of something way bigger than just what they can do or earn on their own.”

Young agrees that connection is what draws people to direct selling and what makes the channel a true community. “Our type of business offers lifestyle changes and a desire to share and help other people have the same opportunity,” Young says. “We build interpersonal relationships, trust and lasting friendships, which is the foundation that makes network marketing successful.”

The flexibility is also a key driver, Huscroft adds. “The beauty of direct sales is that one can decide the level of commitment one wants to give,” she says. “It isn’t necessarily bad nor good to realize that one individual may want a part-time investment of time and resources, while someone else may want to invest more time and energy into building an empire. It’s all possible, and proven, at all levels of success.”

A Coaching Philosophy

Another key differentiator that direct selling has over Uber, Etsy, Airbnb and many other YouEconomy companies that draws potential business owners to the channel is the focus on personal development. Direct selling was founded on the philosophy of coaching people on how to successfully build a business from the ground up. Often, new business owners have little selling or leadership experience, and personal development training helps them establish the growth mindset and learn the critical skills necessary to build their businesses. It is this focus on self-improvement that helps to set the channel apart from other businesses.

“Personal development is so critical to the very foundation of what we do each day,” says Weems. “New business owners need tools to help them succeed and strengthen their leadership abilities. We have the ability to provide the tools to help build confidence.”

The focus on personal development also shows that the company is personally invested in the new business owner. When a company leader, especially the founder, offers encouragement and support, it goes far in motivating the salesforce.

“It’s the old saying that when people feel you care about them personally, they will respond to your suggestions and perhaps direction,” Young says.

“I don’t believe in telling people what to do. I believe in giving them choices and new ideas to think about,” she adds. “Most people, when introduced to the idea of building a business, are excited because of a product they would like to share, but they don’t know how to do that. Business tools are important if they are simple and easy to follow. However, it is more important that you teach them how to use the business tools. You set the example, go with them, encourage them and show them how to talk to other people by being sincere and not desperate in their approach.”

As she notes, when new business owners share their personal experiences and why they are excited about a product or business opportunity, they can create immediate excitement in those to whom they speak. But some business owners might have the same desire to share yet are paralyzed by insecurity, and they need support and encouragement the most.

“Through coaching, when these people realize that they can do it, the idea of building a business becomes very exciting,” Young says. “The first taste of success, if it is just in being able to express themselves, can be the beginning of a new path in life for individuals who have never had this kind of an opportunity. Selling and leadership will develop with time and persistence. And with a good mentor, anything is possible.”

Huscroft agrees. “Building genuine relationships is the first fundamental principle of coaching,” she says. “While personal development tools are very important for learning valuable business-minded philosophies, I tend to believe that truly caring about others’ goals and showing a personal investment into someone else’s success is what is really going to help create a coachable mindset that will lead to duplication and, ultimately, long-term success in this industry.”

The post Leading with Passion and Commitment first appeared on Direct Selling News.