Personal Growth

When I started this journey, I kept hearing from various folks that you experience a ton of personal growth working for R + F.  I heard it but didn’t really think much about it.  I was more focused on my “to do” list for growing the business.

 

Fast forward six months.  

This past week, I had the opportunity to attend a corporate event in Chicago with our top earner. The event was packed and I mean packed, standing room only!

 

Thankfully Mike was home (he travels a ton during baseball season) to look after the repairs from the tree falling on our roof so Charlee was covered.  It may seem basic, and on the surface it is, but throw in travel, corporate schedules, a baby that refuses to take a bottle, drive time to Chicago and back, etc and it was complicated.  However, we did it.  So, I didn’t really think much about anything other than all the logistics of getting to the event until I got there.  

Oh boy, did the fear set in the minute I pulled up.  Holy crap, I am at a HUGE event, by myself, in a HUGE city (which means where all the beautiful people are and I am a mess after motherhood), and I am supposed to network?!?!  Networking was difficult for me at my best (pre motherhood).  Post motherhood has complicated things immensely.  If you are a mom you know exactly what I am talking about.  None of your cute clothes that you used to wear fit, your hair is crazy, you have bags under your eyes the size of your fist, any piece of style that you once had is LONG gone, and frumpy is the highest compliment you can possibly give yourself at the moment.  

Honestly, I don’t like to network.  It scares the heck out of me.  I am super shy by nature, and have been fighting this my entire life.  I'm very comfortable with people I know, have been blessed beyond belief with great friends, BUT networking is very different from interacting with friends --- at least it is to me.  So, I sucked it up and walked in and was not just out of my comfort zone, but I was really, really, really out of my comfort zone.

 

I struggled the entire night.  So much so I convinced myself to leave after the presentation and I missed the training.  I knew I would regret it because I was having one of those internal conversations with myself before I left.  It went something like:

“You should leave, the training is going to be stuff you’ve heard a million times and you are exhausted."

 

"No, I bet it will be good and you always learn something new no matter how many times you hear it.  You didn’t get the new consulting training so you really should absorb it."

 

"Yeah but you have a long drive and you are super uncomfortable with all these people you don’t know.  Look at yourself (there was a mirror that I got a glimpse of myself in and it was frightening compared to all the perfectly coiffed people in the room)."  

 

That visual was the final straw that pushed me over the edge; I bolted from the room and never looked back.

The entire drive home I processed what the heck happened.  It is true that I was tired, had a long drive, was worrying about Charlee, was hungry because in all the madness to get to the event I forgot to eat, etc.  But all of those issues weren't REALLY the "issue".  If I was being honest with myself, the issue is I'm truly uncomfortable networking.  Oh boy, this is going to be interesting since this is network marketing.  

I learned that I need to really prep and push myself prior to network type settings.  I need to figure out how to grow and become better.  I read this week that a good tactic to use is to make sure you have a job to do at an events.  A job will force you to stay the entire time and will help you get over your fear and anxiety because you are focused on your task vs focused on networking.  I really could have benefited from thinking through that prior to the event and making sure I had a job --- lesson learned.  I also do much better if I go with somebody or meet somebody there --- another lesson learned.

 

When I was a kid, I was so shy I literally was afraid of my own shadow.  Life brought me to Estelle Amador, an amazing woman that pushed me and helped me come out of my shell.  She used to force me (and I use the word force because if it were up to me there is no way, I would have done it)  to walk in a room and go to every adult and introduce myself and ask them questions.  It was horrifying for me.  I would beg my mom not to make me stay with her.  But my mom ignored my pleas and dropped me off everyday while she worked.  As painful as it was when I was, those exercises helped me in so many ways.  I had some of those same feelings this past week.  So while this is scary as hell, I know that the reward and growth is going to be worth it.

Bottom line, this industry is pushing me to improve in areas that I truly am not comfortable with.  Before, I was always able to avoid network situations or do the bare minimum to get by because it really didn’t matter.  Now however, it matters because it's my business. It's no longer good enough to simply get by.  I have to push myself to work thru

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Father Time

It's been far too long since my last post.  Sorry.  I'm still adjusting to being a Mom, working a full time job and building a business!  But, it's getting better.  Since the last post, the team continues to grow and this business is better than I expected it would be.  Dolonna in Utah joined.  We went to college together and met thru our sorority.  My niece Liz joined.  I call her Poopey and she is like a daughter to me.  Patti in Wisconsin joined.  We met when she started training me a few years ago.  Beatriz in Orange County jumped on board.  She is a high school friend.  And, Vanessa and Renee both have added team members too.  So what started as two friends on a year long journey has grown into a handful of friends working, having fun and uncovering the amazing world of network marketing.


I continue to learn a ton on this journey but lately have been thinking about time.


After 7 months of maternity leave, I returned to my corporate job.  What a shock to my system.  I have been back for a few months, and I’m not adjusting well, which I am okay with considering my life has changed dramatically for the better in the last eight months!


I completely underestimated how difficult it would be to return to work.  Obviously, becoming a mom is a major factor, but tasting what it's like to own my own business contributes greatly to my frustrations of getting back into the rat race of corporate.  Why is it so hard?  Why has it been so hard to go back to my corporate life after tasting the Direct Marketing industry and owning my own business?  One word keeps bubbling to the top: Time.


I initially wrote, "We all want more time, don't we?", and was going to go on and on how there's not enough time in a day, blah, blah, blah; but then a light bulb came on.  Time is the one thing in life we can't make more of.  The 24 hours in a day are the most hours we will ever get making time the most precious commodity we have.  More precious than money, more precious than our things, etc.  I can't control how much time I have but I can control one thing: How my time is spent.


I don't need to tell any of you life isn't always easy.  Trying to divide work, home, and family is tough, especially with a child at home and husband on the road for work.  Not to mention, trying to find a few minutes of "me time".  "Me time" is a rare and welcomed delicacy.  I had no appreciation for the simple joy of an un-interrupted shower!  I know!  I know! "Join the club", right?  But, why does it have to be that way?  I've never heard of anybody on their deathbed mumble the words, "I really wish I would have spent more time at the office."  We want more time with our family and friends.  Time spent working isn't the frustrating thing, I actually like to work.  What is frustrating is how the time at the office subtracts mommy/daughter time.  My corporate experience is that you have to trade one for the other. 


On average, I spend 2.5 hours each day of "awake time" with my daughter (Monday-Friday), and those 2.5 hours aren't really quality minutes.  Her watching me scramble to get ready for work takes up about 45 minutes, and one hour is spent feeding and bathing her after I get home from the office.  Some of that time is eaten up for drive time.  That leaves me with about 45 minutes of quality play, interaction, and learning time for my little girl.  She spends 8-9 hours a day at daycare.  Yuck.  I don't like how out of balance that is.


I want to spend more time with my daughter and my family so I started searching for something.  I didn't know what I was searching for but I was searching.  I looked at everything from purchasing a franchise, to consulting, to buying an existing business, but there was one BIG problem with every option I explored: None of them offered the type of time commitment I was looking for.  Rather, each would require even more time away from my family.


I didn’t give "time" much thought until a few years ago.  After my parents retired, they would visit and stay for a month or two.  It was my favorite time of the year and I dreaded going into the office when they were in town.  I didn't dread the work.  I dreaded the time I would spend away from my folks and the corporate schedule.  Thankfully, my parents are healthy, but they are getting older, and I want to spend more time with them. I’m not picky about how we spend the time. I just want to spend more with my mom and dad.


Then I had a baby, which makes time even more precious. I want to spend the majority of my time with her, my husband, my parents, my family, and with my friends.  BUT, I still want a lucrative career too.  How can I have the best of both worlds?  I found that Rodan + Fields was the answer for me.


Initially, time was the most appealing factor for me when I joined Rodan + Fields.  I definitely had my doubts and actually thought R + F had to be too good to be true. Well, six months in, I can tell you that's not the case. I was wrong.  I run a successful business in ten to fifteen hours a week, the product is amazing, the business is lucrative, and I work with a great group of people.  I love the people, the industry and the company.


I’m no longer willing to play the corporate game long term after seeing I CAN have a lucrative, productive career around the schedule of MY choice, and I CAN work out of my home. It's too good on the other side. I like spending my day with my family doing normal things like singing along to "Yo Gabba Gabba", eating breakfast at the table with good conversation, and taking care of my precious little girl.


So for now, I’m back working my corporate job, BUT it's temporary.  It feels good to have a plan and even better to be working that plan!


I need to thank my upline for sharing this amazing gift with me. It has been a life-changing and TIME-changing experience.  I’m redeeming my time in a manner that is going to allow me to spend as much of it as possible with my family, while allowing me to fulfill MY destiny versus a corporation’s destiny. I’m taking back my assignment and my purpose in life.  

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