Network Marketing is Not My Gig! I want to swim with the dolphins!

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!

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