Leadership Goodies

This was my first Stampin' Up! event and I was blown away at the amount of goodies passed out.

Everyone in attendance received all of the above (except a package of brads that was just for first time attendees). Some even had additional goodies of new product (diagonal score board) and stamp sets handed out by prize patrol over the course of leadership.

Why am I showing you this?

For one, it is amazing!

Two, I hope that it might encourage some of you that want to join or those of you ready to take your business to the next level.

I hope to never miss another leadership.

Not because of the goodies (but seriously that didn't hurt :-)

but the classes were equally amazing.

Before leadership, I wasn't really sure what to do for my downline.

Today, I am ready to empower my downline to get the most of their SU business.

You might be thinking, that is a big change in a few short days, 

and you are right.

That just goes to show what a powerful tool leadership can be for EVERY demonstrator.

This might end up being a lengthy post but I really want to touch on the classes I took.

First, let me tell you the theme for this year is, "My way" meaning -your way.

I couldn't be happier about this year's focus because, I really do SU ....my way.

Additionally, we want to encourage and welcome a new generation of crafters. 

Which leads me to my first class:

Including a New Generation in Your Stamping Business

presented by: Amy Swartz and Paula Critchlow

This new generation falls in the 25-35 age group (generation Y) and they are a very large segment of the population.

How many of the women, age 25-35, identify themselves as creative?  

13.8 MILLION

This age group tends to communicate a bit differently... 

feel free to text an invite to a class or party

tweet about your favorite new product

There was a ton of great information given but I need to keep this short so I will just say

I have a much better idea of how to attract and to show this group of creative women all that Stampin' Up has to offer them.

* I love that this class was broken up into sections -the five pillars of leadership!

I love the repetition of this theme and I am glad it was my first class. Because of that emphasis and the benefits of  viewing the class through the 5 pillars, I was able to frame all of the following classes around the same format even if they weren't presented that way.

My next class was:

Getting the Most from Your Title

presented by: Bonnie Thurber

For me, this class probably wasn't the best choice. I have studied what I need to do to maintain my title, and what I need to do to get to the next level.

This class would have been perfect for anyone who may have been comfortable at their level without much thought of promotion, but now want to go to the next level.

Bonnie did a good job of reaching out and sharing, making everyone feel like her friend.

As I sat in this class, I had a little internal conversation, wondering why had God led me to this class.

What was I supposed to get out of it?

I have already set my goals.

I have from the beginning.

I have quarterly goals, 6 month goals, 1 year goals, 2 year goals, and 5 year goals...

As I sat there in my own head, Bonnie said some of my favorite words ever spoken....

She was sharing about a time when she was particularly down and feeling blue.

A friend of hers must have picked up on this and told her:

You can visit pity city

but don't move into the bitter barn.

I love that.

LOVE IT!

I can see myself as an old woman telling those around me....

Thank you, Bonnie!

My next class was:

Retaining and Engaging Your Downline

presented by: Donna Griffith and Patsy Waggoner

This was a gold nugget class for me.

My empty basket is now filled with golden nuggets on the best ways for me to 

celebrate, empower, unite, inspire, and communicate

with my downline.

Not only did Patsy share with us the way she empowers her downline,

but she shared with us her journey and goal setting that helped her really support and engage her downline.

With all of her wonderful information I feel ready to take on the very important task of being a helpful upline.... in my own way.

The last class I took was:

Change Anything - Book Discussion

presented by: Ellen Richardson

While I got fantastic, helpful information in all my classes, this one was my favorite.

This is a life changing book, that will have a ripple effect into your personal life, family life, and of course, your Stampin' Up business.

Ellen Richardson's genuine passion for this is so clear and engaging.

We briefly discussed the book and then we switched gears a bit and moved the general focus of change to the more specific areas of our business.

I loved our group round table discussions. This was by far the most helpful and energizing part.

The things we discussed brought me right back to my previous class of 

Retaining and Engaging Your Downline. 

I wish this had been a 3 hour class. And even at 3 hours it would have flown by and been a wealth of  useful information and solutions. 

I know in the future I will sign up for any class with Ellen Richardson. 

We also had the opportunity to listen to fellow demonstrators present on a variety of topics at 

Share Fair

I was only able to attend 3 of the 15 available:

My sweet upline, Dawn Griffith, talked about her online business:

and here is Dawn snapping a picture of the crowd just before she began:

The other one I popped in on was recruiting with Tami White. 

I was so busy listening to her, I forgot to snap a picture.

She is so fun and energetic it is easy to see why anyone would want to join her team.

She offered some great tips for those of us that have a hard time offering the opportunity to our customers. 

If you are still with me, bless you. Can you tell I didn't like Leadership at all? LOL!

Thank you for letting me go on and on. 

I promise to spend the rest of today working on my regular blog projects so next week we will be back on track.