Many people believe that becoming a leader involves working your way up the ranks so that you no longer must do the everyday work that those who are on the team must do.

I disagree with that wholeheartedly.

I believe that your team members are not going to want to do things you are no longer willing to do. You must lead from the top by DOING what you are asking to be done... I remember early in my team building with Avon, the main direct sales company that I built with. I was promoting working towards the company incentive trip for personal sales, and I had a team member say to me, “You want me to make it in personal sales? Have you done it before?” I knew she was right!

I then set about earning the trip for personal sales together with my teammates.

Whenever I am encouraging an activity on my team, I have team members ask me questions such as, “You want me to do a booth? When was the last booth you did?” or “You want me to get new customers? Who was the last new customer you sold to?” Setting a good example is not just for example’s sake, either.

How can you come up with new ideas to share or new ways to market your business if you aren’t out there trying and doing things?

I like to look at my business like I’m a solo salesperson first and then a leader so that I make sure I do everything a solo salesperson on my team would be doing. I am always learning and looking for new ways to find new people for my business. I’m always looking for new ways to make the customer experience better. And I make sure and devote full-time hours to my business so that I can expect full-time pay.

Along the way, I find ideas, resources, and information to share with my team members. So, my leader position is more about sharing, encouraging, caring, passing along ideas, recognition, connection and building up and less about “being a leader” or “leading”. We work together toward goals, we share ideas, we encourage each other. And my team members know that I am doing what they are doing, day in and day out.

Being a leader just gives me the opportunity to serve the people on my team; it is not an accolade or an award.

I hope my thoughts on this encourage you to set the bar high for your team and be the example that your team will want to emulate.