I’m sure many of you see it on your Insta-feed all the time: fellow mama friends living the Mom Boss dream. Perhaps they sell essential oils, makeup, or cute clothes for companies like Young Living, Beautycounter or Zyia (yes, those are my personal faves).
Or maybe you, yourself, are a successful Mom Boss distributor. And if that is the case, you are living the dream: working a job you can do from home that pays well, while you enjoy the everyday happenings of motherhood.
That is the allure of MLMs–Multi-Level Marketing businesses. You promote a product you already love and get paid for it. Can it get any better?
The usual disclaimers are that you have to get yourself out there, work hard, and hear a lot of “no’s”. You need determination and discipline. You must have a strong “Why” to keep you going when you don’t reach your goals.
My personal disclaimer? You will have to learn the delicate art of sales and marketing as you jump right into the thick of it, at the risk of sounding too “salesy” the first few rounds in. And that’s OK.
For one full year, I went all-in for an MLM, selling essential oils. And although I am not the raging Insta MLM Mom Boss I dreamed I would be by now, I learned a heck of a lot in the process.
To start, I am not a good salesperson
Yes, I know, they all say you just have to work hard. I did. I got some of the best training from my leadership, who, by the way, is super successful now. But the truth of the matter is, the numbers didn’t add up. I wasn’t even making mediocre sales. And I did it all: LIVE videos, Do-it-yourself tutorials, Michaels workshops, farmers markets, in home parties, online promotion, self-help/business reading/training, a website, paid ads… A lot of people liked my videos and loved my feed. But very few clients surfaced from those efforts, which were extensive and expensive.
And on that note: More spending does not equal more sales
I think I helped my leadership more while I was in sales, without making sales, than when I was a regular client. I bought items with the hopes of promoting them, and would instead inflate my debt while my sales bumped just a tiny bit higher for the effort. Lesson learned? Spending more doesn’t mean more sales. If you have a knack for this, it will come on your budget, even if it is limited.
I learned how others see me and what my friends were made of
For so long, I thought my friends would support me because they were my friends. After all, this is how many successful salespeople start off, right? In reality, only a couple of my very close friends and family bought from me. The harshest truth I came to know was how many of them would find out about the product from me only to buy the same or very similar product from other people. I had inadvertently surrounded myself with people who did not necessarily see me as a friend. And I learned it was time to change that narrative.
I learned about my natural talents
I do believe there are many out there who are natural salespeople and don’t even know it. Those are the people who become great at MLMs.
As for me, I was surprised to see I’m relatively good at doing live videos. I also discovered my passion was more in saying things as they are, without having a bottom line to worry about. So I began to write…
And here we are…
I would have never given blogging a try had it not been for my attempt at sales. It made me get out there, speak out to the world and seek my tribe. It also made me brave enough to continue to re-invent myself while I fulfill my purpose.
Too deep? Maybe. But now that I know this about myself, I lovingly embrace the awkwardness of all those failed attempts to sell an oils kit for $150. Because it was that journey that got me here. Here, to my over-thinking contemplations and writings.
So, if you are about to embark on your own MLM adventure, just make sure you stay on budget and give yourself a time bracket to achieve your goals. Also, go easy on yourself. One thing is for sure: you will come out better on the other side.
