"The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals." ~ Melody Beattie

It can be tough these days juggling everything going on in our busy lives.  Especially working women and/or moms who run a business from home.

Women in particular have quite a bit of responsibility which may include taking care of the men in their lives, their children, their households, and with the baby boomer generation many may also be caring for elderly parents.

For the last sixteen plus years while building a career in Network Marketing, I've juggled family responsibilities, taking care of our household and finding the time for myself which is important too because if mom's not happy guess what?  When mom is stressed out then no one is happy right?  

Self-development and continuing to grow personally has been a major part of the success I've had over the years in my home business and maybe that's important for you too. So many of us start a business in Network Marketing to ultimately gain time freedom right?  If we have no time to have fun and enjoy our life then we're not living much of a life are we?

So how can we balance our very busy stressed filled lives?   Being able to delegate and duplicate ourselves is one of the fundamentals of success in any business, whether it's traditional or Network Marketing.

This is a tough one for those of us with driven personalities.  Especially for those who are self-employed.   We want to do it all so it's done right. 

It can be rewarding to be a top recruiter, to win all the awards and trips, make the most money, and become the top income earner.   Just remember this can also set someone up for doing most if not all the work and could cause burn out especially for those who have families.   Sometimes all we're doing is putting out fires all day from too many people who have not plugged in, need way to much hand holding and who never start duplicating.  

Our job is to make sure people we sponsor get plugged into the proper training, 3/way calls, conference calls and other information they need to get their business started.  It's their job to plug in and take action.  If they don't then it could be because they don't have the motivation to own their own life.  It all comes down to priority.  We're the messenger.  Everyone is the captain of their own ship.   It's up to them to accept the message and then run like the wind to make it happen.  We cannot do it all for someone no matter how much we feel it's best for them.  They've got to want to become a leader and make it work for them. 

I love recognition as much as the next person and have a bit of a driver personality.   I've also got a lot of the supporter type personality.   In the beginning I was giving too much and often to the wrong people.  We've heard it referred to as the ‘Mother Teresa' syndrome.   Through continuous growing, learning and developing over the years, I've learned to balance and do more delegating and learning to develop the right business leaders.  

Here's another question.  What's most important?  Making a great income or having a great title?  Titles may make us feel important but can we cash a title at the bank?   For instance, just look at the title of teacher?  Teachers are very important and we certainly need  more good teachers but do they make a great income?  Usually not and that's really unfortunate. Actually teachers can do well in Network Marketing because they love helping people learn, grow and duplicate.  I know this for a fact because I've had some teachers in my business and they did an awesome job of duplicating!    Connect with and bring more of them into your business! 

In Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki's new book 'Why We Want You To Be Rich' they mention the quadrants that Robert talks about in his Rich Dad Poor Dad books. 

They mentioned that people in the 'B' quadrant or Business quadrant hire CEO's.

That means they delegate to their CEO leaders. How do we know who an excellent candidate for our business would be?  These are the people we've surrounded ourselves with that we trust, the ones that show up and prove they are leaders by wanting to learn, grow and duplicate themselves.    These are the people we want to delegate too.  These are the leaders we hear on the conference calls, attend events in their area and company conventions.  They understand leverage, know what it takes to run a real business entity and they do what it takes to secure their family's future.

What you have to do in your Network Marketing business is find you a few serious CEO's to delegate to.   You may need 10 or 15 serious candidates depending on your program.  These are the CEO's of your business.    Surround yourself with top people who are really serious about building their business at all times.   Not just people who talk about it but people who walk their talk.  Having a team that duplicates gives you and them leverage.

Constantly be working on yourself and becoming the best CEO leader you can be and finding other like-minded people just like you.   Learn how to clone yourself.  Teach others what you do and then delegate to them to do the same.   Learn to let go and see others get the credit too.   They win and so will you.   You'll all make the income and you'll all have leverage.

People who are busy doing all the work may never leverage themselves.  They are the ones doing all the sponsoring, burning out and their efforts may or may not be duplicated.

Delegate around the household too.  If you can afford to do so, hire a housekeeper.  Delegate specific chores to your kids and hire them to help you with your business.  Hire them to do administrative duties in your business.  There are some great tax advantages in doing this too.  Set up a separate checking account, debit and credit card for your business and if you're not sure what deductions to take hire a tax professional that understands home business tax laws. 

Leverage the tools effectively that help save time and grow your business.  For instance, Autoresponders, personal websites, Group Mail, Email, Conference Calls, Recorded Calls, Sizzle calls, business voice mail box, social media communications.   These paid expenses can be tax deductable for your business entity. 

Teach the CEO leaders you sponsor how to use them effectively too.  Put a system in place for your team to plug into and have their team plug into for duplication.  If you do not have a system in place then find someone who does and plug into their system, learn it, and then duplicate it by having your team do the same.    This is what I've done for years and it's worked really well to provide the leverage to enjoy and own my own life. 

Sue is an entrepreneur and business owner who has been networking, connecting and building relationships online since 1996.  She has created a full time career in Network Marketing and lives at Lake Travis in Austin Texas with her husband and two sons.  Co-author of the Direct Selling Women's Alliance book ‘Build It Big' - 101 Insider Secrets from
Top Direct Selling Experts & trainer on their Mentored by the Master Series CD and contributing writer for The Network Marketing Business Journal, Home Business Magazine and TheNetworkMarketingMagazine.com.  She is passionate about coaching others to achieve success in their business and life.  Visit Sue's website at http://www.sueseward.com