I was chatting with someone yesterday and I mentioned that I was having yet another record breaking month. I mentioned how I loved this industry for what it is and for what it offers. There was a short response back from this person, how they had wished they had known about what I was involved in sooner. This person is also a part of the direct sales industry, this got me thinking.

I had been in direct sales before, I had worked for the corporate world, and I had owned my own traditional business for over 15 years and I seriously thought I was living the dream, but it was really more like a nightmare... can you relate?

There were times when I was making very good money, however during those times I was unable to enjoy my success. I was crawling into bed at midnight or later, had to stay behind while my family went out with friends, or went on vacation. I attend late meetings, and made sacrifice after sacrifice... all in the name of "living the dream," sound familiar? Now I am sure most of you who own your own business have never experienced what I went through, but for those of you who have... can you relate?

I read a few books and came up with a little exercise for myself. I took a spiral notebook and for several days I wrote down all the things I did in a day and how I felt when I was doing them. You know, interacting with people; friends, clients, vendors, etc. What I discovered after several days, much of my "job" that I thought I loved was not that much of my day. Many of the things that I was responsible for made me feel sick to my stomach or I found my self completely avoiding necessary tasks that had to be done as a business owner. When certain clients called I could barely bring my self to answer the phone. This started me thinking that maybe I didn't "love" owning my own traditional business as much I thought I did. I would have to say this was a pinnacle discovery on my part. 

Once I analyzed everything I had documented in my note book, I decided to focus on the things I did in a day that I loved and enjoyed doing, what a difference in how I felt at the end of the day. The awareness was liberating in many ways and frustrating in others. My next goal was to figure out how I could either restructure my current business to incorporate more of what I actually enjoyed doing or figure out something completely different. No one could have predicted where I eventually would land.... not even me! Network marketing is not my gig, I had tried it several times and I was never successful. Because of that, I avoided netwrok marketing like the plague until a few years ago.

Believe me I know how you feel, I felt the same way, but let me tell you want I found out.... 

I wanted to swim with the dolphins! Not only literality but figuratively too. I wanted to hang with like minded people. Come back and follow my journey of self discovery and why today I call myself a "Professional Network Marketer."

Does anyone have a similar story on a road of self discovery?

Thanks for reading!

I wrote about this in the past but it is becoming more and more apparent that maybe this guy knew something at a very young age that many of us haven't yet discovered. When Riese, my son admitted to me that he had discovered what the meaning of life was... I did what all mother's do... oh really what is it? I have been on a journey of self discovery for several years and now my 17 year old son was going to tell me the meaning of life. "Find YOUR meaning of life," he said to me. It was spoken in such simple terms it took a minute for it to sink in. You can imagine my surprise, this is from my son, a teenage boy! Most of our conversations were movie quotes and jokes him and his friends had pulled. Nothing quite so profound had been spoke between us until now.

I think about this often and I have shared it with many people. You can see it behind their eyes. They are not on the path that they thought they would be on. Their life is not what they thought it would be and I can see that they are so much bigger then they can. I can see that because someone saw that in me. Somewhere along the way I had gotten lost. I guess I could have decided to just stay where I was and go with the flow, all the while thinking there was noting I could do. But, I didn't, I started surrounding myself with people who had had a tragedy in their life as well, but they were doing something about it. Now I know that when they looked into my eyes they saw the same thing they had seen in their own reflection many years before. I had lost hope! How could I help my family, my friends, my self with no hope. We see it ever day behind people's eyes. It is not about the words that are coming out of their mouth, I know I was saying those same words, but they had no power because I had no belief in them. Ironically, I sat in a meeting a few weeks ago and experienced that very thing. I was listening to a person say the words but I could see in their eyes they did not believe it.

First... you have you figure out YOUR meaning of life? Second... do you believe what is coming out of your mouth?