It’s a well-known “given” that once in a while, a caller to your teleseminars is going to bother everyone else on the call. It’s up to you to head these off at the pass in order to make your event enjoyable, educational and memorable for the right reasons.

You don’t want someone thinking, yeah, I went to his call, and he couldn’t control that jerk with the barking dog. This will cut down on your audience, most assuredly. You also don’t want your call-in group to feel left out if you allow one caller to monopolize you with only their own questions.

The presenter is the number one leader of the call. You need to be familiar with how the conferencing service works so you can utilize all of its features, as needed. You also need to be able to explain any features your callers might need to use.

Most notably, that would be how to mute out. Tell them at the start of the call how to mute themselves out, as well as how to get back in for questions later, if you plan to have a Q & A session.

The other thing you may need to do is a “mass mute out,” also called presentation mode, or lecture mode. This quiets everyone so you don’t have individual hecklers or beginners taking over.

It also prevents someone’s background noises from ruining the call. Of course, you need to be mindful of your own background issues as well. Sequester yourself in a quiet room if you are at home, put a do not disturb hanger on your door if you’re at a hotel, and keep a glass of water handy to wet your whistle as needed so you don’t sound like a frog.

If you are having any health issues, you might also want to keep some cough drops around to soothe your throat and prevent coughing, sneezing or a raspy voice. You will feel more comfortable, too.

It’s essential to learn how to use your conferencing service’s features. I have attended many calls where the presenter became flustered when something didn’t work. In many of those cases, knowing the codes or the service’s methods to do certain things, like start the recording feature, would have solved the problem quickly. Do a test call before the “official” call to familiarize yourself with these things.

The best way to start your call, whether it’s a teleseminar or a webinar, is to be sure everyone knows the drill: how to mute out, how to unmute, how to submit a question, and of course, all the call in details before you begin. Email your callers a detailed instruction sheet along with, or as part of, your cheat sheet, if you have one. And it’s a good idea to have one.

Also, it’s considered good form to be the first one to call in and the last one to hang up. It is somewhat common, but not polite, to call in late to a waiting and wondering crowd. You might be surprised to know what people say before you arrive if they have to wait too long!

At the end, if you’ve announced the call would be one hour, stick to it and say good bye. Remember, if this is a telephone event, your callers are on the hook for long distance charges. Some of them are attending your event because they want to learn how to make money online but may be broke already from trying everything out there.

Another consideration is the difference in time zones. Some folks may be across the planet and calling at 3 a.m. If they have to go to a job at 8 a.m., they need to get some sleep. Help everyone out by observing your own promises.

You are excited about your new Network Marketing business and it’s time to schedule your first home presentation. Like many others, you tried this before and your friends and family didn’t show up. Believe it or not, there is a way to pack out your first presentation and start a trend of profit generating BPs. Here’s how it works…

Your new rep Bob has made his list of resources (names) and you tell him this, “Bob, I want you to get on the phone and find some people we can practice on. Can you invite some local people over by Wednesday? Great, we’re going to do a practice run to show you the ropes, teach you how the presentation works, see what kind of questions people ask so that you become familiar with the process.”

“I want you to call about 50 people and invite them over on Wednesday. You don’t want to tell them anything about your business. Just say, ‘I need somebody to practice on. My training manager is coming over and I need some experience before we begin a national advertising campaign. So please come over and help me out.’”

“I don’t want you to tell them anything about the product or the business because you will only blow them out of the water just like the examples on the Script Book CDs, remember?”

This simple “practice” script continues to produce thousands of dollars of sales volume for new associates, no matter what the company, product or service. You will be blown away at how many of your friends and family will be willing to help you by letting you practice on them.

While the rest of the amateur home business builders are chasing people away by spewing everything they love about their wonderful new business, you are using the professional approach demonstrated in this article and your business is thriving!

Dani Johnson is recognized worldwide as the preeminent authority on Relationship Marketing. She went from living out of her car with $2.03 to her name to earning her first million in two short years by the age of 23. Dani regularly consults, mentors, and coaches business owners, entrepreneurs, and career professionals on business, leadership development, personal achievement, marketing solutions, profit strategies, relationship marketing, and team development.

Despite the fact that your clutter is obviously around you in the here and now, one of the reasons why having a good declutter session makes you feel great is because most clutter is anchored in the past. So as you exist with all these remnants of your past in your immediate surroundings, you are unconsciously holding yourself in that past. Which means that you’re stopping yourself from moving forward in a lighter persent and towards a freer future.

Most people’s clutter is a mixture of their ancient history, their middle past and their recently lived present. It can be most interesting to take a look at your own clutter and see if there’s a period of your life which you’re holding onto particularly strongly. There may not be – you may find that your clutter is a mishmash of past life stages and more recent procrastinations.

The reason why clutter accumulates in the way that it does is because most of it doesn’t actually start out as clutter at all. Think about your own clutter and you’ll probably realize that most of it started out as something useful, valuable, attractive, creative, supportive, positive…

As time passes, though, what happens is that those valuable and attractive items simply get out of date. Over the months and years they reach a point where they’re no longer useful or valuable to you. But instead of recognizing that fact, you hang onto them out of habit. Or just in case. Or for sentimental reasons.

Sentimentality around clutter most often occurs after the death of someone close. You inherit all sorts of items which, under happier circumstances, you would easily identify as clutter and dispose of. But there’s an emotional attachment to these particular items and to the past memories that they hold.

A coaching client of mine, living in a small house, inherited a large amount of family memorabilia when her father died. She kept it for a while, but didn’t really have either space or use for most it and felt guilty whenever she considered the possibility of not keeping it all. The moment of truth came when she realized that her dad would never have wished for her to be leading a heavy hearted existence full of clutter and obligation to old memories. She chose a couple of items that she wanted to keep, then contacted an auction house about the rest. She knew her dad would be proud that she was being decisive and getting on with her life.

It may be a painful truth, but in these circumstances, you are the one moving forward with your life and you need to choose what will serve you best as you do that. You most certainly do not have to discard all your happy memories in the decluttering process, but do make sure that you ditch the guilt!

Decluttering is never a one-off. However careful you are not to let obvious clutter into your life, there are always going to be some things that evolve into clutter over time. So if you want to be clutter free in the long term and you want to live your life in the here and now instead of letting your clutter drag you back into the past, there’s a really important skill you need to learn…

By developing an awareness that allows you to recognize when something that was once useful and valuable has evolved into clutter, you will be well on the path to clutter free success. The second step involves learning to thank that clutter warmly for its previous usefulness, and then to dispose of it with gratitude in your heart. In this way clutter is not the enemy, holding you back, it is simply a reminder that you are involved in the ongoing process of staying present in the present.

As we progress through the journeys of our lives, careers and businesses, we often stop to reflect on where we are at a given point in time. Like mapping any trip, we have certain expectations of our progress along the way. Similarly, setting timelines for our goals make them more tangible and urgent. What happens, however, when we find ourselves at a place other than where we expected? A typical reaction is to explain, excuse or perhaps even criticize. The mere fact that we see ourselves as not being “as far along as we should be” passes negative judgment and sets the stage for the world of scarcity thinking. The situations where this kind of scarcity thinking can creep into our psyche are numerous. Here are some examples that may be familiar:

A person begins something that is new and uncertain and finds themselves in a group situation such as a class or educational program. Immediately, they start compare themselves to other and begin to think that “everyone else is so much more qualified or further along” and wonder how they will ever catch or keep up.
A corporate professional thinks their career is passing them by. They see themselves passed over time and time again for recognition, leadership opportunities or promotions. They wonder how it is that they are so stuck where they are and others are moving ahead of them
A new entrepreneur who is sure that they have done all the right things still hasn’t achieved what they thought they would by this stage of their business. Like the professional, they see their peers moving effortlessly toward greater success. They may try new and different things, grasping at this idea or that but become more frustrated or despondent that they are still stuck.
In each of these examples and in others like them, the constraints of scarcity thinking become apparent. What is focused on with laser intensity is “WHAT IS NOT”: what skills are deficient, what career progress or entrepreneurial success is not attained. The Present reinforces our sense of failure as seen through the lens of our own expectations or our assumptions about someone else’s journey.

Step back for a moment and imagine that whatever your circumstances, whatever your present situation, you are exactly where you are supposed to be. Where we are at any point in time is the cumulative effect of each of the decisions, actions, external events and our responses to them. Thus, while we may not be where we expected to be, we are where we are supposed to be. By embracing the present, we allow ourselves to discover the unique opportunities that are available to us right here and right now. Instead of beating ourselves up for not being somewhere else, we can identify the options that may have been overlooked otherwise. Perhaps instead of being “stuck”, we are where we are because there is knowledge or information that we need to gather before taking our next steps. Finally, consider the possibility that we are where we are because we need the chance to step back, catch our breath and enjoy things that may have been pushed to the side in the pursuit of our goals.

Our goals and objectives are like stops or progress points on a trip. We set a target for where we would like to be at a certain point on our journey. What would you do if you find yourself in Flagstaff at the end of your day’s travels instead of Albuquerque? Do you “fire” yourself? Do you cancel your trip or give up and go home? Do you keep driving relentlessly to make Albuquerque before you stop? Probably not. Instead, you likely consider the circumstances that brought you as far as you are, reassess your journey and plans and then go out to discover the surprises of a place that don’t know very well. The same approach works for our life and professional goals as well. It’s your journey, and each stop along the way is an important part of the map that will guide you where you want to go. Enjoy where you are. You are supposed to be here.