I love "The Amazing Race." It's one of the few shows my two teenage boys, John, and I can all agree on and enjoy together. And I love traveling the world vicariously through the teams on the show.

If you've never seen this show, the premise is simple: Several teams start out on a race around the world. They travel from destination to destination searching for clues to the next step of the race. They must complete tasks and navigate their way around cities where, more often than not, they don't speak the language, with a set budget and method of travel for each task. Each week there's a "pit stop" and the last team to arrive there is usually (but not always) eliminated. The team who crosses the final finish line first wins a cool million bucks.

We always have teams we love and teams we love to hate. This year, we are totally rooting for the Cowboys, two rodeo star brothers from Wyoming (on the left) and we can't stand the young dating couple we've dubbed "the models" (on the right) who bicker constantly and neither of which is the sharpest tool in the shed. (If you think she looks familiar, it's because she was the model in the Miss Teen USA Pageant who gave the famous "and such as" speech. Check out the video here. If you've never seen it, it's pretty dang funny and, believe me, he makes her look like a genius!).

I was thinking about the show the other day and the fact that the life lessons inherent in it completely apply to you and your direct sales business. Here's what I've learned from The Amazing Race and how I think the lessons apply to your business.

  1. Pay attention to detail. Each clue is specific, and if you miss a detail because you don't read carefully, it can cost you valuable time and even earn you a time penalty when you hit the pit stop (I've seen many teams eliminated because of this). In your business, the devil is in the details, and it's imperative that you set up clear systems and stick to them.
     
  2. Ask for help. Consistently, the teams who do the best (and those who eventually win) are the ones who aren't afraid to walk up to a stranger and not only ask for directions, but ask "will you take us there." I've seen locals spend the entire day leading a team from clue to clue just because the team had the guts to ask them to (and they got to be on t.v.).

    When was the last time you sought out your upline or someone in your organization and asked for help? When you're feeling overwhelmed, do you ask your husband or children for their support? You might be surprised at what would happen if you did.
     

  3. Follow your gut. This one is really important. Most of the time, when one of the members of a team says, "this doesn't feel right." they're spot on. Being willing to listen to that small voice inside, even when it's telling you something you may not want to hear, is essential to success in life and business. I heard a quote last month that really hit home for me. "Prayer is us talking to God and intuition is God answering back." Listen to your intuition.
     
  4. Never give up. This is probably the most relevant of all for our industry. One of the things I love about The Amazing Race is how quickly you can go from first to last place and vice-versa. Every once in a while the team who arrives last at the Pit Stop learns that this leg of the race is a non-elimination leg. That means they've been saved to race another day but they also face a speed bump in the next leg (which is an extra task that only they must complete). A few weeks ago, our favorites, the Cowboys, were spared in a non- elimination leg and came back to arrive first at the next pit stop (a feat, the host informed them, that no other team had ever accomplished – go Cowboys!).

    For you, this translates into understanding that you will have setbacks and it may even look, at times, like you won't make it to your goal. If you stay the course and just keep running the race, you may be surprised at the outcome.

Does any of this make sense to you? I think it's really relevant to your business. What say you?

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Julie Anne Jones is direct sales corporate consultant, coach, and trainer, and the CEO of Julie Anne Jones, Inc. She is known for her authentic and easy-to-use scripting and specializes in specific language and tools for success in direct sales. To learn more about Julie Anne and her products and services, and to read more blog posts, visit her at www.julieannejones.com.