I am a do-er and a people-pleaser. I do all the things you’re ‘supposed to do,’ and I always have. I got good grades in school. I went to college. I graduated and got a corporate job. I worked my way up the corporate ladder by giving my all and working my tail off. I got paid very well and had fantastic benefits, and I had a professional job title. And, as awful as it sounds, I allowed my job to short-change my husband on time when I had to go on business trips and put in extra hours at work. Yes, I wanted more time with him. But, this is just what we are supposed to do, right? Oh yeah – and, we are supposed to do it for the next 40-50+ years.
Perspective
Once we brought a baby into the picture, my perspective changed drastically. I always knew I wanted to be a ‘working’ mom, having something of my own, something that kept my business brain engaged. However, I also wanted the time and flexibility to be present in my child’s life. I didn’t want to have someone else raise my baby while I was working through lunch breaks and missing his ‘firsts.’ Yes, I wanted to have my cake, and eat it too.
The 60-hour work-weeks and business trips suddenly were unacceptable in my mind, but I felt stuck. My husband had a great job and was very successful in his career, but we still needed my income to support the life we had created. If I walked away from my career, I’d be throwing us into financial turmoil, and that didn’t seem like a better solution. Plus, that career had become my identity and as much as I wanted change, leaving it seemed scary. More on that in a future post. 🙂
We have been taught all our lives that we are supposed to go to school, get a good job, and work hard in that job until retirement. Then, hopefully, (at 67 in my case), have enough in our 401k to retire and make it through the rest of our lives. I distinctly remember thinking ‘Is this it? This is what we’ve worked so hard for?’ We had an income higher than 90% of Americans, yet we were so stressed, and family time was less than ideal. Meals were frequently spent together in my office, shoveling in fast food, before I got pulled away again. In my heart, family came first. But in reality, my job had to come first and this was not what we wanted long term.
Non-traditional thinking
In the life we envisioned for ourselves, my husband and I would retire early (like, 45 early) and spend our time split between our home in Montana and his home country, Italy. While we have had our share of oops-spends, we were savers for the most part. When we were about 30 years old, we met with a financial advisor who said if we wanted to retire at 45, we would need to save $4,000+/month for the next 20 years, and invest it very well, to make that a reality. Ok – we are optimists, and both had successful and lucrative careers, but that definitely did not seem realistic – then, or maybe ever. We weren’t sure how we were ever going to do it. We just knew we did not want to do the day-in and day-out work grind for the next 40 years.
The unexpected answer
Enter network marketing. I know what you’re thinking – it’s probably the same thing I thought. ‘That’s cool for some people, but that’s not for me. I’ve heard of the companies that sell makeup, kitchen gadgets, cleaning products, and I’ll gladly buy those things from my friends, but it isn’t my thing. I mean, I’ve worked so hard to get to my position.’
But here’s the thing. You don’t know what you don’t know. And if that position you’ve worked so hard for, in the traditional business space, isn’t making you happy, then what is it worth?! If I hadn’t been willing to listen with an open mind, my life would NOT be what it is today.
So, here’s the scoop on network marketing. You have an opportunity to create the job of your dreams. No, literally. Once you choose a company to partner with, you can choose when, where, and how much you work. Your income is a direct reflection of your own efforts. You can use the products you love at a discount. You can help hundreds or thousands of others enjoy your products, or even their own business opportunity. No glass ceilings. No denied vacations. No working through sickness. No missing out on the things that matter to you most.
Now, call me psychic, but I can read your mind again: If network marketing is so great, why isn’t everyone doing it?! Working from home, part-time, AND making great money sounds like my dream job!!
The fact is, there ARE millions of people who do network marketing! I just wasn’t aware of it because it hadn’t been on my radar. We see what we’ve been trained to see, which in the workspace, is usually a job rather than an opportunity. For example: You know how when you’re thinking of buying a red car, you start seeing red cars everywhere? It’s not that suddenly there are more red cars on the road – you’re just aware of them now. Same thing.
I’d had a one-track mind regarding my career, until I realized that track wasn’t leading me to happiness anymore. Now to be honest, network marketing isn’t for everyone and I can totally respect that. No one career is the perfect fit for every person on the planet. But, for people who are hungry for change, driven to take action, and willing to learn and be coachable, it can absolutely be a life-changer.
You get one life
So, I challenge you to think outside of the box when it comes to your life. Is what you’re currently doing bringing you joy (more often than not), both in and out of the office? If so, I am SO happy for you and KEEP DOING IT! You have what everyone wants. 🤗 If not, please know there are options. BELIEVE there are other options. You don’t have to slave away at something you don’t enjoy for the rest of your life. Yeah, maybe you have to do it for a while. But everything in life is for a ‘season,’ and if you’re ready for the end of that season, open your eyes and ears to possibility and consider other options.
