The Toughest Part Of a Journey Is the First Step
...and I've really been feeling this lately.
I am looking back at previous entries from a year or two ago, and I STILL haven't made a dent in a dream I've had for over 10 years--financial independence. i started on the journey of running an Amway business, first single, then dating Cindy, and now married, and it's been difficult and demoralizing many times up to this point.
A really good friend from NIU introduced me to the opportunity and the LTD team my last year there. I first didn't see it for myself but supported her as a customer. I came around and saw the full potential of it when Greg Francis showed a slide show from his first Diamond Club in Hawaii. I could barely contain how excited I was, knowing full well this was the vehicle to get me where I wanted to be. Up to that point, my only reference of true wealth was my Aunt Amy and Uncle Marshall. Marshall worked in high finance and investments, and he did very well for himself. When they moved from San Francisco to Orange County, they had nearly everything I could dream of: a gorgeous house on the ocean, beaches nearby, the tiem freedom to spend time with their kids, and they were an active part of their kids' lives. I had never seen it anywhere else up until that night.
My start was a rocky one, and I finally was able to sponsor a good friend from high school, Gary. He was difficult to sponsor, and he realized I was serious when I turned down the ability to play blackjack with him, splitting profits. We both went on to have 3 personal teams committed to our first Francis Fall Leadership, only 2 of mine dropped out. By this point, my original sponsor had quit.
At one point, our team was a large as 20 people at Functions, and we had pushed over 1500PV. Consistently, we sat somewhere between 1300-1600PV. My issue was I spent literally all of my time with them and did not prioritize getting my own width outside of Gary's team. Not having other places to work ultimately led to a lot of friction, and I many times had a lot of frustration and contempt over it all.
Our closest growing Upline at the time, Josh and Bridgette, made the call to make a run for Platinum. Nate & Kelly, their sponsors, already had 1 team over 7500PV for a while, and they felt it was time to go Emerald. It was an extremely 6-7 months while we tried making this happen. Some of this was our fault, and I know a good chunk of it was on Josh & Bridgette.
At the time, they really only had 3 teams doing anything: Us, a team in Madison, WI, and the Klickna's. I can't remember if the Klickna's had moved to the area, or if they were still in CO. Either way, nobody was really trying to add more people to the group, and it was a constant spinning of plates to get Josh & Bridgette over the last day of the month.
When they and the Olsons called off the Emerald run, everyone breathed a little sigh of relief and got pretty bitter at the same time. In prior years, I noticed a shift in Josh's behavior when it was impossible to qualify Platinum. He stopped talking about the business--Growing it, setting goals, etc.--and more about politics, most notably of the deep-state variety. After this failed Platinum run, he went especially bitter. Twice in a week, our team met with Josh to discuss upcoming goals, and we were greeted instead with Josh bashing everything to do with the business. The first night, he started lightly bashing the LTD Team, the Diamonds, Greg & Jacquie, John Maxwell, etc. I tried my best to not sit there completely slack-jawed the entire night. As we left, I asked him where that came from and I very firmly told him he was way out of line. I made sure nobody else was around before I did so.
The next night we were together? He doubled down on this nonsense! He called some of the ceremonies LTD holds for new Diamonds "false idolatry", and that did it for me. I stayed back after everyone else, and again I asked him what on Earth was going on. He sheepishly shrugged the whole thing off, but I vividly remember that being the night he broke my trust. Bridgette later on got her pokes at Greg & Jacquie, and they fizzled out not long afterward.
I am looking back at previous entries from a year or two ago, and I STILL haven't made a dent in a dream I've had for over 10 years--financial independence. i started on the journey of running an Amway business, first single, then dating Cindy, and now married, and it's been difficult and demoralizing many times up to this point.
A really good friend from NIU introduced me to the opportunity and the LTD team my last year there. I first didn't see it for myself but supported her as a customer. I came around and saw the full potential of it when Greg Francis showed a slide show from his first Diamond Club in Hawaii. I could barely contain how excited I was, knowing full well this was the vehicle to get me where I wanted to be. Up to that point, my only reference of true wealth was my Aunt Amy and Uncle Marshall. Marshall worked in high finance and investments, and he did very well for himself. When they moved from San Francisco to Orange County, they had nearly everything I could dream of: a gorgeous house on the ocean, beaches nearby, the tiem freedom to spend time with their kids, and they were an active part of their kids' lives. I had never seen it anywhere else up until that night.
My start was a rocky one, and I finally was able to sponsor a good friend from high school, Gary. He was difficult to sponsor, and he realized I was serious when I turned down the ability to play blackjack with him, splitting profits. We both went on to have 3 personal teams committed to our first Francis Fall Leadership, only 2 of mine dropped out. By this point, my original sponsor had quit.
At one point, our team was a large as 20 people at Functions, and we had pushed over 1500PV. Consistently, we sat somewhere between 1300-1600PV. My issue was I spent literally all of my time with them and did not prioritize getting my own width outside of Gary's team. Not having other places to work ultimately led to a lot of friction, and I many times had a lot of frustration and contempt over it all.
Our closest growing Upline at the time, Josh and Bridgette, made the call to make a run for Platinum. Nate & Kelly, their sponsors, already had 1 team over 7500PV for a while, and they felt it was time to go Emerald. It was an extremely 6-7 months while we tried making this happen. Some of this was our fault, and I know a good chunk of it was on Josh & Bridgette.
At the time, they really only had 3 teams doing anything: Us, a team in Madison, WI, and the Klickna's. I can't remember if the Klickna's had moved to the area, or if they were still in CO. Either way, nobody was really trying to add more people to the group, and it was a constant spinning of plates to get Josh & Bridgette over the last day of the month.
When they and the Olsons called off the Emerald run, everyone breathed a little sigh of relief and got pretty bitter at the same time. In prior years, I noticed a shift in Josh's behavior when it was impossible to qualify Platinum. He stopped talking about the business--Growing it, setting goals, etc.--and more about politics, most notably of the deep-state variety. After this failed Platinum run, he went especially bitter. Twice in a week, our team met with Josh to discuss upcoming goals, and we were greeted instead with Josh bashing everything to do with the business. The first night, he started lightly bashing the LTD Team, the Diamonds, Greg & Jacquie, John Maxwell, etc. I tried my best to not sit there completely slack-jawed the entire night. As we left, I asked him where that came from and I very firmly told him he was way out of line. I made sure nobody else was around before I did so.
The next night we were together? He doubled down on this nonsense! He called some of the ceremonies LTD holds for new Diamonds "false idolatry", and that did it for me. I stayed back after everyone else, and again I asked him what on Earth was going on. He sheepishly shrugged the whole thing off, but I vividly remember that being the night he broke my trust. Bridgette later on got her pokes at Greg & Jacquie, and they fizzled out not long afterward.