epic fail, man.

there are days that i fail. miserably. (shhh… don’t tell my husband I said that out loud). i fail at being a mom, a wife, a daughter, an arbonne consultant, a business owner, a friend. i usually fail at at least one of these things every single day. on rare occasion it’s all of them. on the same day. uggghh…

truth is i’ve become okay with this. i thank my lucky stars i have what and whom i have in my life. whether it’s to bring me closer to God, or to teach me a lesson. failing is super okie dokie with me. now, don’t get me wrong. it still sucks to fail.

we have some truly amazing leaders -not some, a whole truckload of them!- in Arbonne. and many of them mention ‘failing forward’. this concept of failing forward refers to: fail, so that you can become better. fail, so that you can grow and change. it’s like falling forward, but then you catch yourself right before you hit the ground. hopefully.

i like that my kids are watching me fail and pick myself back up. sometimes it takes longer to get back up than other times, but the point is i do. and i do it quicker and quicker.. and they see this. they’re watching. they’re paying more attention than i will ever know. but i want to do my very best and work hard enough for them to see it. and if i fail, it’s okay to let them see it. i want them to know that sometimes things just don’t always pan out exactly the way we think they will. God has a mightier plan than we do. it’s more beautiful, more crazy and probably a lot harder to achieve or finish than we anticipate. but isn’t it worth it?

i think so.

Right place, right time

There was a time, not too long ago, when I poo-pooed network marketing. Yep. Me. Miss “I’m so madly in love with what I do and with Arbonne”, because I truly am.

I wasn’t always. Wanna know why?… it was because I was completely uninformed and uneducated about this industry. First of all, I had no idea there was so many NWM (NetWork Marketing) or direct sales companies. I knew of about 3 or 4. And I didn’t like any of their products.

After doing extensive research and asking a LOT of questions to many different companies, I finally landed on Arbonne. I looked at many different things when comparing companies; how much to get started? Were the products in demand – do people need them and do they WANT them? How old is the company? How well known is it? (I wanted a company that was practically breaking ground, yet mature). Do I like/use the products? And are the products consumable?

Truth is, Arbonne met all of these criteria beautifully. 

1. It meets marketplace demands. The health and wellness industry is also EXPLODING!!! So, not only are you getting into the NWM industry, you’re also joining forces of an entirely different industry. In this case, 1 + 1 = AMAZEBALLS.

2. During the great depression there were 3 industries that didn’t lose out – in fact, you could probably find a statistic that these actually flourished during that time – they were; tobacco, alcohol and beauty products. Can you picture it? Folks standing in line for jobs for hours, but gosh darn it all, they were going to be smokin’, drinkin’ and lookin’ fabulous doing it! HA!

3. The company is overflowing with integrity. I NEVER have to wonder if they’re telling the truth about the products. They’re so transparent with the ingredients; where they got them, and why they put each one in the product. I’m excited to say that each product listing on the website includes the ingredient list. We have absolutely nothing to hide.

4. Arbonne attracts all different types of people. Men and women. What we all have in common is a desire to dream big, go for those dreams and help others do the same thing. We all have this freedom ‘chip’ installed in our hearts. It helps us make choices that benefits the whole, not just us. It pushes us to be our BEST selves every single day. Arbonne brings out the best in folks and helps them grow – and most of the time you don’t even know it’s happening.

Arbonne came to us at one of our very lowest points in life. My husband, children and myself are all different and better because that’s what it brought out in us. We prayed for a long time for this amazing gift and it was answered over a cup of coffee at my kitchen table.

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Be inspired by others success, not defeated

Last night I went to a meeting in Syracuse (about an hour and twenty mins from where I live) because I needed some connection with my tribe. My people. My Arbonne family.

And I got it. Along with inspiration, which I knew I’d walk away with, but it wasn’t in the form I was thinking. As usual, God has his own plans and they are far greater than mine.

I often think how nice it would be to be a National Vice President, or a Regional VP – and be driving around Canandaigua in a white Benz with a big beautiful Arbonne sticker on the back window (that’s TOTALLY HAPPENING, btw) beep beep! – or even an Area Manager. Oh how I’d LOVE to be an Area Manager. But I didn’t want to grow to Area so badly until last night at our meeting when 8 women stood in front of the room as Area Managers and told why they were there. It was INCREDIBLY inspiring.

A year ago, this would not have been the case.

A year ago, attending one of these meetings I wanted to be inspired. I wanted not to feel envious, or defeated. I desired to be happy for these amazing people who did the work necessary to get where they are. I desired so badly to be where they were. So much so that my own desire clouded my happiness for them.

I think this is a natural human feeling. I think everyone feels envious, some more than others. I think everyone can say they’ve looked at someone that’s in a position they desire to be in and thought, ‘man, I’ll never get there,’ or ‘I’ll never have that or be that.’

Don’t beat yourself up about having these feelings. But work to move past them. You have the strength right there in your heart to choose to be truly happy for them. And here’s the hot stock tip: Fake it ’til ya make it. If you’re finding yourself being “happy” for someone else’s ‘success’, but it’s clouded by envy, or a feeling of defeat, just smile and say “Congratulations! I’m SOO happy for you.” If you do this enough, one day, you’ll really, REALLY mean it. And you’ll find yourself being inspired. Not defeated. In fact, what does that even feel like? I don’t remember!

Thank God.

I’m reading this book called ‘The Tools: 5 tools to help you find courage, creativity, and willpower – and inspire you to live life in forward motion.’ The first ‘tool’ is to face your fear. Is a “fear” you have to pray success upon others because then you’ll be helping THEM push forward past you? This is a legit “fear” for some people. I used to have this fear. It seems odd, but it’s the truth. You’re SO afraid to want success for your peers SIMPLY because you think that means you’re giving ALL the success in the world to them and they’ll be none left over for you.

The ‘tool’ is facing your fears. Leaning into them- no, that’s not right. Don’t lean… RUN. Run full sprint right toward your fear. Eventually, you’ll be able to FEEL the fear, and then go do what you need to anyway. But you have to keep running at it. And one day, that fear will be gone.

And, by the way, there’s PLENTY of success to go around. ESPECIALLY in Arbonne. I know with all my heart and all my soul and all that I am that I CAN be an Executive National Vice President right along side those 8 amazing women and the other 500+ NVP’s in this company.

So, don’t think for a single second that wishing or praying success and being happy for someone is going to steal that away from you. It will PROPEL it! Keep praying for your dreams to come true, but, while you’re at it why not just put in a little plug for someone else? Remember Karma? She’s not ALWAYS a b***h. Sometimes, she’s the sweetest most gracious thing ever. What you wish upon others is coming from YOUR HEART and it will come back to you; ten fold. Wish SUCCESS upon others, not defeat. You will obtain success instead of defeat if you do this.

All I could think this morning is how flippin’ excited I am about attending 8 Mercedes Benz car presentations in the very near future! EEEKKK!! That means dressing up, getting my hair and nails done, maybe even getting some new shoes!! 😉 Of course, this also means that 8 people have changed hundreds of lives with the gift that is Arbonne. Can’t help but feel inspired about that. ☺

If it was easy, it’d be sleezy!

Rumors abound that Network Marketing is hard. Well, sometimes it is. A lot of the time it’s really not.

See, you have to really break down your own definition of ‘hard’. To me, when referring to work and earning a living to help support your family, hard is having to get up out of bed after a long night your child being sick and begging you to sleep in their tiny toddler bed with them and getting 2 hours of sleep – with one eye open of course. HARD is having to tell your family you can’t join them for Easter supper, or your Grandmothers 85th birthday celebration because you “have to work”. HARD is putting all this time, energy, sweat, sometimes blood, and tears into this JOB to barely pay the bills. Hence the term = Just Over Broke. And, on that note, all this time and energy is being spent making SOMEONE ELSE wealthy. Not you.

I’m not going to sit here and try to convince you that NWM is easy.  Anyone who tells you that NWM is easy is LYING TO YOUR FACE. Jus’ sayin’ 😉 Besides that, I’m not in the convincing business. It’s not my job to convince you to do NWM or to use Arbonne. If you don’t want to, well, frankly that’s your loss. There are thousands of people out there- men and women- who want what I have and my job is to let them know that Arbonne exists, how it can change their lives, to educate them and understand what THEY need.

If you got into a direct sales or network marketing/multi-level marketing, because you thought it’d be ‘easy’ you’re  not alone. Most people think it’s easy. And for some, it is. HARD TRUTH HERE: Those people don’t make any money. Well, they might make a little- enough to get groceries for a week. Maybe.

I know this only because this was me, about 2 years ago. Truthfully I only wanted to make enough money to put food on the table and if I’m ‘lucky’ make the car payment. I didn’t take it too seriously. I already owned a jewelry business, and THAT was not easy. I didn’t look at Arbonne as a true business, only as an extra fun thing I would do on the side. I had every reason to believe it’d be easy as pie. As they say. About a month in, I got a wake up call. Arbonne went from plan B (or E, for Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy) to plan A. I quickly realized this NWM ‘thing’ could actually be what is going to make all my dreams come true!

Everything of what I’m saying applies to all types of business. You go into any store, restaurant, law firm, wherever, and ask the owner if it’s EASY to own your own business. They will tell you no. Especially if they’re doing really well.

It’s simple: if you want to make a significant income with ANY business, NWM or otherwise, (I’m talking totally legal WITH your clothes ON 😉 ) it’s going to be hard. You’re going to have to do things you’ve NEVER done before. You’re going to have to step outside of your comfy bubble and go do what needs to get done. As Nike says – Just Do It.

To be successful at NWM you have to do some personal growth. Deciding to do this is the first step. Stop watching TV one night a week and read a personal development book instead. I think a great book to START with for anyone is ‘The 4:8 Principle’ by Tommy Newberry -or- ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ by Dale Carnegie. I could (and probably will) write an entire post about personal development, but this isn’t it.

I don’t know about other companies, but the plan that has proven successful over and over and over again in Arbonne is very simple. The idea of NWM is simple- you SHARE your products or service with others. You educate them and try to understand how it’s going to fit into their lives and show them how they can do exactly what you’re doing. The best copycat wins.

So, if you got into NWM because you want an ‘easy’ way to make a lot of money, you’re in the wrong business. This isn’t a get rich quick scheme. It’s not a pyramid and it’s not taboo anymore. It’s a legitimate way to make a lot of money over a period of time by showing others how to copy you. Not hard. Not easy. Just simple.

As former Arbonne President, Rita Davenport, says “If it was easy, it’d be sleezy.” 😉