When we Fail (Part 2)

9:26 AM

We left off last time with a big change coming. I had spent almost 4 years with a Direct Sales company and I was DONE. I was burnt out, tired and uninspired. I had 4 kiddos under the age of 5 and we had just dealt with a long house-selling journey and a move into a new home. Our fixer upper had a long list of things that needed done (still does) and my kids took up about every OUNCE of mental energy I had left. My parents had moved cross country the summer before and we didn't have a lot of help. We needed to increase our income and we needed to do  it FAST.

June 2012 I released my team with my previous company. I couldn't continue to lead by poor example and I determined while sales & marketing had filled a gap for a few years I wasn't interested in doing it again. I absolutely felt like a failure. I had quit. I had given up. And I didn't like that feeling at all.

And then I saw a friend posting about Perfectly Posh. I will be honest, I had NO interest in selling bath and body products. I was a self declared lotion hater and I am a notorious cheapskate. Why would I buy bath and body products from a company/consultant when I could get that stuff at Wal-Mart? Looking back I can now recognize the Holy Spirit not just whispering but SCREAMING at me to pay attention. Something had caught my attention and I launched into full on research mode. I wanted to know it all and I couldn't find enough information on the company, the founders, the products and the ingredients. The company was 10 months old and I knew...this was a huge opportunity.

What if I could take everything I had learned in my first company and do  it BETTER. I knew the best things I could do to build and build fast. Sales and customers would come but the opportunity to build a team was shining brightly. I added up everything I wanted to buy and it was more than joining for $99. I was highly conflicted. I can still remember sitting on my bed in my pajamas talking to my husband and saying, "Am I crazy to think  I can sell soap and LOTION? I don't even like lotion!" But I had that gut feeling. In his typical laid back fashion he said, "Go for it" and "what do you have to lose?"

Well $100 bucks to start! When I say we were struggling I don't say that to sound relate-able. It's the honest truth of where we were financially at that time. I pulled the trigger on the $99 to join Perfectly Posh when we got paid and I couldn't pay a few bills because of it. So I KNEW I had to make that money back and make it back fast. But people were interested and intrigued and in just 24 hours I had 3 team members hop on board and join me. It lit the spark inside and I knew I could do this. I would build as fast and furiously as I could to make back that $100 and prove to myself that I could. And I did.

My Posh story from that point is no fairy tale. It took a LOT of hard work to introduce a brand where there was NO brand recognition. People had no idea who we were or what "pampering products" meant. I booked every tiny event, every party I could get people to agree to and sent out as many samples as I could afford. It wasn't a lot. I made labels and stuck them on everything because I couldn't afford business cards and I paced myself at just 10 sample packs a month because it was all the postage budget I could spare. But it worked. Posh was something special and I had that excitement and enthusiasm that made me want to share it with everyone. In 90 days, my tiny team of 43 went Premier. I felt like I had made it. But looking back now I can see it was only the beginning. That's the thing about ANY business. You don't "make it" Any woman in business can tell you that the work NEVER STOPS. It's not like going to work, clocking in and out for a paycheck. Sometimes I miss that. As rewarding as owning your own business is, it's also exhausting, demanding, all encompassing and overwhelming on any given day. You truly do NEED the strength of the Lord to keep going. When you want to quit, when it feels HEAVY and it doesn't seem fun or inspired I challenge  you to look at your relationship with the Lord. My business has seen numerous ups and downs and the downs are generally inside my own head. The enemy comes to kill and DESTROY and that ain't no laughing lighthearted matter. There is spiritual warfare going on around us ALL DAY EVERY DAY. We must be on guard. We must feed ourselves TRUTH. We must be engaged in the word of God. We must seek Christ centered authentic community. We must guard our hearts and close our mouths. Don't let him destroy what HE has determined is GOOD.

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