A couple of years ago, I jumped on the essential oil bandwagon. I’d been avoiding it for a long time (having mixed feelings about MLM), but I was at a point in my life where I was looking for a way to alleviate my endometriosis symptoms and some essential oils have the potency to do that (e.g. clary sage).
A few days after buying my first few oils and opening my personal account, I decided to upgrade and become a wellness advocate. At the time, I thought it made sense, and it was aligned with my business (I was a Reiki and crystal healer). I had big plans for creating lots of products myself to complement my services. I was also told I’d use the oils quickly and so setting up a monthly order was a no brainer.
A few months in and I had many (full) little bottles of oil neatly organised in my beautiful wooden box, nicely put away on a shelf with all my other essential oils paraphernalia. The diffuser was out and plugged in, ready to be used… but rarely was.
After visiting a friend, I realised that I was doing it all wrong. In an effort to be neat and organised, I had put all my oils away – they were out of sight and out of reach, so I never used them. My friend, on the other hand, had her oils all over her house, next to a diffuser, ready to be used. She would pop in a few drops whenever she was near her diffuser. It looked like second nature to her. Not surprisingly, she was going through her monthly order very quickly and in fact, needed it.
Inspired, I went home and took out my favourite oils and placed them next to my diffusers around the house, convinced that this was the missing piece of the puzzle. I just had made life harder for myself by hiding my oils away. It worked. The next day I turned on the diffuser. And the day after that. And maybe the next one. It may have lasted one week, tops. But I was so convinced it would work that I was ready to write an Instagram post about the blocks we create for ourselves or how perfectionism gets in the way… Except there’s more to it since a week in I’d already given up!
The fact is: I copied my friend’s system without understanding HOW it actually worked (e.g. when does she turn on the diffuser? which bottles does she decide to put where? when does she switch the bottles?) and, most importantly, WHY it worked for her.
Now, let’s put this in a business setting.
How often have you copied someone’s system (from a YouTube video or a blog maybe) and it just didn’t work for you? And how many times have you blamed yourself for it or felt guilty for not making it work?
Sister, it’s not your fault!
You can learn from others or replicate their systems, but it still won’t work for you and your business because you haven’t uncovered what your own process is – what makes YOU tick and how YOU like to work.
So, next time you need a new system, before opening up YouTube or Google, reflect on the following questions:
- What problem are you looking to solve?
- What issues are you currently experiencing?
- If I could have it your way, describe how this would work (step by step).
These are very generic questions and you’ll need to dive deeper to really understand what your system is for a specific business activity. Helping you understand how you can make things work for you and make your business flow is my magical power and what I love doing. Wanna know more? Let’s have a chat.
