This will be brutally honest. I have sat on my lawn mower most of the summer with occasional intermittent bouts of installing irrigation systems and landscaping. I have had a lot of time to think. Which is not common for a mom of three babies 4 years old and under. Did I mention that my average work day is between 10-13 hours long away from the house? I have had time to think, contemplate, listen, and discover a lot. I have written thousands of blogs through out the summer. Only a few have persevered in my memory til now. I suppose it will be those "blogs" that I will now share with my blog that I have abandoned until now.
I did title this one True Confessions of a 30 year old Network Marketer. It has taken me seven years of experimenting with network marketing to call myself that with pride. It takes every bit of courage that I have. I was raised in a network marketing home. One that meetings were the norm most weeks. A home that made up songs about the company that was currently being shared. (I to this day sing, "Melaleuca, Melaleuca, Melaleuca!" in a sing songy voice.) I experienced at a young age the awkwardness sometimes involved in the industry and the everlasting friendships made. Of course this was just what my young eyes saw through my parent's activities.
As I grew older, I learned that network marketing sometimes has a bad stigma associated with it. This stuck deep in my soul and had a conflicting battle with the good memories that I had growing up. Growing up a member of the LDS Church in an area primarily not LDS, I have always been "different" than my peers, family, neighbors, etc. I never cared. I loved that I knew without a doubt that I was in the right place and stood solid in my conviction of the truthfulness of what I believe. It did not bother me that others thought me strange, weird, peculiar, goodie goodie, or whatever they thought of me. But somehow with the network marketing it mattered to me what others thought.... and that bothered me.
James and I have been involved in 3 or 4 different companies since we have been married and deeply investigated several others. (We usually walked away knowing more about the companies than the person presenting to us.) I love the 2nd company we were in. It consisted of calling people I have never met and talking to them! I literally could care less about what they thought! It was great! Then it turned out that that company was a fraud. Yes, we were involved in a company that was not ethical, had zero morals and lied to us. Ha. I said never again. I will not do this again. Everyone was right, these are no good.
Two years ago, my mom, who is forever looking in to new and exciting gigs, health fads, pills, diets, etc., stumbled across this salt water drink. She did not back down when I laughed at her. Salt water? HA! Network marketing! HA! No way. I have too much to do to waste my time and money. Over the next couple months, she continuously "dripped" information on me. Stories of fish coming back alive after having this salt water rubbed on them, people going off of their inhalers, anti depressant medication no longer needed after a life time of dependency, chronic pain disappearing. So many stories, day after day, were being dripped onto me.
I like to be healthy. I like to be strong. I do not like to be sick or feel weak. James and I said we would try Asea. (James actually jumped at the chance. I was much more the skeptic and would not commit in anyway to sharing this with anyone. I would not "burden" anyone with this.)
That was October 2011. Over the next couple years we would quietly share it with our friends and maybe some others. James of course a lot more than me. I still really did not want anything to do with Network Marketing. I did not want to "burden" anyone. Nor did I really believe 100% that this was all it was cracked up to be. I knew that it had over 30 patents, that it affected the glutathione antioxidants by several hundred percent, that athletes who take it have increased speed and endurance and performance by 12%. I read the studies, watched the videos. I knew that it was not bad. I knew that I was not getting sick when friends around me were under the weather. I knew that when I actually worked out, I recovered a lot quicker. I knew that when I sprayed it on my bleeding nipples when breast feeding our new baby they almost healed in front of my eyes. (ok that was pretty huge and the honest truth.) I knew that I sprayed it on one leg after frying them in the sun and the leg I sprayed never pealed and healed much faster than the other which actually blistered. I knew that this "salt water" (Asea) works. I still did not want to burden anyone with it because of this idea that I had in my head about network marketing. I did not want my friends or even potential friends to run from me or become awkward because they had not looked at what we invited them to look at.
And then I spent all summer listening to books that James would download for us to listen to. Books authored by Jim Rohn, Eric Worre, Shapiro, etc. I listened inquisitively. After the third of fourth time listening to these books, I realized that Network Marketing is not a burden, not a scam, and was something entirely worth my effort to begin to live.
I believe that we should surround ourselves with what is positive, uplifting, good natured, honest, real. I realized that Network Marketing is becoming the best you you can be! Becoming more spiritually inclined, pushing yourself to limits you would never have gone. It is all about perfecting who you are, listening better, communicating better, serving better, loving more, being accountable for the well being of others. Network Marketing is about helping others who have a desire to become more, become more. Network Marketing is about setting goals, reaching goals and learning new ways to recommit to goals. Network marketing is about becoming a leader by helping them learn to lead.
This excites me. I feel that I am a driven person. Our philosophy in our marriage and life is that if we can help others, it will be passed along and somehow swing back around for us. This has worked without fail. What excites me more is that the Network Marketing company that James and I call ours is every bit of this and more. I can, (and have) looked into the eyes of the leaders and only see the concern for us reflecting back. This company has integrity. This company has morals. This company's main objective is to help and serve. I can align my personal goals right along side the goals of this company. UBUNTU!
Is the old Amanda lurking in the back ground taunting me not to share this with those who are desperately in need of the benefits Asea can bring to them? Yes. Does it take copious amounts of courage every time I open my mouth to share with someone about Asea? Yes. Do I bumble all my words together and talk too much and go cross eyed? Yes. But, that is the beauty of Asea. I am not left alone to figure this out. I have a team of partners that will even make calls with me on Valentine's Day during a night out so that I can reach my goals.
This is the confession of a 30 year old Network Marketer. I love Network Marketing. It has been a long road for me and I do not doubt that it will even longer. But as I learn to grow as a leader, I will grow as a Daughter of my Father in Heaven and reach even more of my potential.
On a side note, it is incredibly exhilarating to have finally put this "blog" down on paper. It has been months floating around in my head with little energy left to finally make it out on to paper until now. I could not hold it back and now I feel better. I may even be able to sleep! If anything more than to help me construct the reality of these ideas, I leave you with my confession and wish for you to find something that pushes you to reach more of your potential and polish the rough edges off of you daily.
