From Food Stamps to Freedom: Julia Thornhill's Inspiring Network Marketing Journey

Speaker A: And so here you don't have to do any of that, you know, and especially if you come into a good system where you can kind of plug and play and all you do is what get customers and customer getters. It uh, promote events and attend events and you taught me that. You know, it's just like I sucked at everything. I didn't, I wasn't a good speaker, presenter. I mean all the things. If you met me almost 10 years ago, you'd be like, she is not going to make it in this industry. But I was. What you lack in, you know, skill you can make up in work ethic and action and getting, you know. So I just realized, man, I can just sit back and I don't have all of these headaches of a traditional business or all the pressure's just on me and I can just pour into people love on them and have an actual lifestyle. Right. Like you know, whenever I stay at ah, like nice hotels like Four Seasons or something like that, you know, I see all these people on their computers and they're always on the phone or. And I'm like man, I mean uh, not that there's seasons for that perhaps. I don't, I don't believe in balance. Especially as a mom, there's seasons, but I just had this weight lifted to be able to really be able to create. And uh, you know, like we, we're going to Hawaii with my family for 10 days and I don't take every single day off often, but there are times like, you know what, I deserve this or I had my first baby. You know, the team came in crushed, it stepped up, continued to grow and I was able to be present with my daughter. And I think that's the ultimate freedom.

Speaker B: Welcome to the Excellence Project. My name is Eric Wore and today I have a network marketing leader, Julia Thornhill. She's been part of the mastermind that we run inside of network marketing Pro for quite a few years and built a huge business while growing a family, uh, while keeping a great relationship, while balancing all the different aspects of business. We talk about everything, what she did prior, how she got involved, how she got off to a quick start, how long it, it felt before she, this was going to be her thing, network marketing, how long it took to be a leader, how to handle difficulty, handle adversity, um, the impact of faith, the impact of working with women and helping women empower more women. So many things we talked about. Okay, I think you're gonna love it. With no further ado, let's jump into My conversation with Julia Thornhill. Julia Thornhill. How are you?

Speaker A: I'm great.

Speaker B: I'm. I appreciate you coming to Vegas.

Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. It's been, what, four or five years since.

Speaker B: Four or five years since we sat down to do one of these, but we've seen each other, what, three times a year probably for that entire time.

Speaker A: A lot. You've been amazing through all the journeys.

Speaker B: Oh, yeah, A lot. And. And this business is a journey.

Speaker A: Yeah. Yes.

Speaker B: Yeah. Freshen me and the audience up. Um, what is your story prior to your network marketing experience?

Speaker A: Man, you know, I came from pretty humble beginnings. I grew up on fish sticks and food stamps. You know, I didn't have a whole lot and moved out at 16. Had a pretty verbally abusive household with my stepdad. Um, and, you know, I just was, like, on my own pretty early, and my first job was McDonald's. And then I joined the military to help me with college. Found myself in Iraq in 2008, worked my way up the corporate ladder in marketing career and found myself at 30 years old in $40,000 in debt. Met my husband two years prior, um, who was a Navy Seal, which just meant he was gone literally 300 days out of the year. And I started a few companies out of college, and I just was like, this is. This is it. You know, I was just burnout. I didn't see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Speaker B: What. What was it like? Like the entrepreneurship journey was and the

Speaker A: corporate journey, I just felt. It just didn't feel right. You know, when you just feel out of place, you don't feel inspired. And. And so I was just in a space where the industry really found me at a good time. You know, I was just, like, ready for more, and I knew I was made for more. And I had these big dreams, and I'm like, I'm working my tail off. I mean, there was a time where I had four jobs in college, and it was wild. And then I'm like, this is. I did everything society told me to do, and it found me at the. Really at the right time. And, you know, I didn't have a social media. I'd never done this before. I. I thought I knew marketing, not this space. I never worked with so many people. And we matched her income in a few months.

Speaker B: When. When was this?

Speaker A: This was almost 10 years ago.

Speaker B: Almost 10 years ago?

Speaker A: Yeah, my 30s.

Speaker B: Yeah. It's funny, people have their. Their idea of what life's going to be, and. And when you talk about it found you at the Right. Time. So interesting because you can have an amazing. You could be amazing in this profession, but if you're approached at the wrong time, you literally are not able to see it.

Speaker A: Yep.

Speaker B: You know, you get approached when you just put yourself mentally all in on some project or just launched a business or whatever. It might be the most amazing thing, but you just can't see it.

Speaker A: Yep.

Speaker B: Uh, so. And maybe somebody tried to introduce you to different parts of your life, but. Nah, not for me. But then all of a sudden, it became for you.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Interesting.

Speaker A: I mean, I was doing, like, commercials for Arby's and Dunkin Donuts and Nissan and, like, thought I was like, oh, man, I want to be the creative director.

Speaker B: Like, how are you doing commercials?

Speaker A: So I was. I worked for an agency, an ad agency throughout my marketing career. And so that was some of the projects that I was on, but it was just like, you're still so tied from. I. Listen, I am m. Not the best of following rules or just. I don't know, it's just never been really. I've always kind of gone against the grain, and I just felt so constructed as a creative as well, to be able to produce or do what I really wanted to do. And so I was just trying to find. Figure that out. And this industry, it's like, you can create whatever the heck you want to create.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker A: It's just. I was like, this is amazing.

Speaker B: Right. So it finds you at the right time, huh? And you're like, and what made it the right time for you? You're just a little disillusioned by the traditional journey. You're like, there's got to be more than this, or there's got to be an easier way, or. What was the. What created the opening?

Speaker A: What created the opening was. Well, my husband actually was kind of the one that was like, we can kind of do this. I was a little bit skeptical. I've done. I've paid for a lot of things. A lot of courses, coaches, and just a lot of scams out there, you know? And I was just like, there's no way. And our mentor made an insane amount that month. And I never met somebody that made that type of money. I just knew I wanted to help people. I knew I had a bigger purpose, and I wanted to travel and just have freedom. Like, I've always just. I moved out at 16 because I wanted freedom. Right. That's just, like, in my blood. And I think what I realized, I. I think the amount of work and income that we made, you know, and it wasn't that much looking at it now, but at that time, it was in our first month or two, I was like, holy cow. This is. I just saw an, an opportunity to bring my husband home because it was traumatizing. When he would laugh, he was never home. And more importantly, I just wanted a life that I could really be proud of for my kids. I knew I wanted kids at the time, but I didn't see that in my marketing career at all.

Speaker B: Interesting. So, um, your husband was one who kind of like, did he see it first and then.

Speaker A: Yeah, me. Without me knowing, like, I was like, I don't know about this guy that we'd met, you know, because we had actually been almost like putting this. We were exposed to like a. Kind of like a. Just like a weird situation with a previous interaction in company. Like, read this book, then meet this guy. And it was just kind of weird and we just felt. It just didn't feel good. Um, um. And so when I saw what was possible, I mean, he, he saw what was possible. I was just a skeptic. And so it's researching to kind of like prove him wrong. And the more I research about the industry, I'm like, this is freaking amazing. How have I never heard of this before?

Speaker B: Right. And you know, I found is like, skeptics are the best. Cynics are not good. Because anybody who's cynical, they're just, they're just going to. Cynics ruin everything. But skeptics.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: Because if a skeptic becomes convinced, you can't, you can't change their mind. They're going to figure it out and they're going to do it no matter what anybody else thinks. Because they were like, there was a transformation that happened with them.

Speaker A: Totally.

Speaker B: This is nonsense. And you. They did some research, realized it wasn't nonsense.

Speaker A: Yep.

Speaker B: And off they went. So like 10 years ago, huh? Huh?

Speaker A: Yeah, almost 10 years ago.

Speaker B: 15ish.

Speaker A: So this October will be 10 years.

Speaker B: Wow. All right. So, um, you say you got off to some quick success. How did that happen?

Speaker A: You know, we had a simple video we would send and I was just relentless. I mean, I didn't, you know, there. Now. There was a time in the very first month where I honestly cared more about other people's opinions and my own family.

Speaker B: Sure.

Speaker A: Because I was just like, oh, no, you know, Susie, cut it in a role. You know, I care about what people thought about me. But once it clicked for me, we're like, wait a minute. If I buy into the opinions of people I'm going to buy into their lifestyle. And there was nobody at the time in my life that I would have actually traded places with. And so the more I was around great people that believed in me, in the mentorship and championed me, when I never had that in my life, I was like, I feel unstoppable. And why doesn't everybody know about this? And I felt so cheated for the first 12 years of my life in my career because I didn't know about the. From the tax benefits to the. You, uh, know, there's no glass ceiling. No matter your age, your race, your background, there's no nepotism, no politics. No one cares about your medical card. You can come in and put work in and make money that I had never dreamed of making in my career. Mhm.

Speaker B: All right. So it was basically showing a video following up, you guys both kind of introducing it to people.

Speaker A: Yeah, we started. Yeah, we were in San Diego at the time. He was still full time working 60 hours a week as a BUDS instructor. And I just kind of stepped back from my work because I started another company because we were just kept moving.

Speaker B: So the BUDS thing, that, that's somebody like that at, uh, Navy SEAL training.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: So it's like he's one of those people yelling at everybody. Hell week.

Speaker A: Yeah. Don't bring it home. But like, really? Oh yeah. Putting them. Put all the surf stuff he would do.

Speaker B: Ring the bell.

Speaker A: Oh yeah.

Speaker B: You want to quit?

Speaker A: Yes. Yes.

Speaker B: All that Stu. Yeah. I've watched documentaries and shows about that and it's just like I would never be able to be a Navy SEAL because I would probably snap like a tree. I mean that's like, dang. Uh, I went hard on cardio yesterday and it wiped me out. Let alone no sleep for seven days.

Speaker A: Well, you look great by the way. Super proud of you.

Speaker B: I'm working on it. Working on it. Transformation.

Speaker A: Aren't we all?

Speaker B: I'm a late bloomer. Uh, all right, so he's. You're doing, he's doing all that. You're doing this. You are both building together. But, but you. Who is the lead. Who is the lead person at that time? Because I know it shifted.

Speaker A: I don't know. I mean, uh, we've always. Once it clicked. So he was the lead probably, I would say in the first two months because I was just like, you know, it didn't click for me. 100. But I saw the potential. Three months later we went to my first convention and that was it. I heard this story. Isn't that funny? Like, quite wild.

Speaker B: So talk to me about that first convention experience.

Speaker A: I mean, I literally just. I just saw, I mean, ordinary people like me making extraordinary money, but more importantly, the freedom. You know, I just, again, I just craved that freedom and I craved helping people, and I never found that. I never found that career, I guess. Right.

Speaker B: And did you go full time right away?

Speaker A: Pretty, uh. Oh, yeah, pretty much. Almost. I mean, I would say by month. Right after that, I was like, this is it. This is our ticket out to create the life that we. I just knew that I deserved because I know I'm a good person, but I didn't know how to get it, you know.

Speaker B: So, um, in those early years, what. What were some of the things that surprised you about this profession that, you know, going in? You maybe had one perception of what it was going to be and you found out it was another.

Speaker A: That's a really good question, I think. Well, I'd never worked with so many people on so many different personalities, so I thought it. I found it so fascinating of how you can, you know, connect with somebody and there's different language and body movements, you know, that you can really just kind of build trust to be able to show people that they. That they can dream again. You know, I didn't lack the work ethic. I didn't lack the drive. I just lacked a plan. And so I just realized that most people lack a plan. You know, there's a lot of mes out there that were like, man, I've been grinding and doing all the things and ate. To faint in just the wrong vehicle. Wasn't like I was doing anything wrong. And not that this profession is for everybody. It takes work. But if you have the work ethic and the desire, which are the two things we can't teach. I mean, with the right system, mentorship, and. And several other things, you can kill it. And so I just. I didn't. I, uh. That was a new learning curve for me of the language and how to communicate. And I just. I was never taught that, you know. And so once I learned that, I'm like, man, I can just teach people how to connect with people, which, uh, in my mind, I don't, like, believe in, like, closing people. It's just about asking the right questions and being like, if not this and what. If not now, then when? Like, what's your plan? And most people have no plan. They have no blueprint. They don't have mentorship. And that was me.

Speaker B: So did you. Did you ever do the entrepreneurial thing prior to this.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: Um, so what differences between a traditional entrepreneurial journey and this? If you had to, like, break it down, you know, this is entrepreneurial, but it's, you know, network marketing is a unique thing.

Speaker A: Uh-huh.

Speaker B: Traditional business entrepreneurially is. Is tough. Just. Just like any. Any entrepreneurial journey is tough. Creating something is tough. Um, something from nothing. But what. What are the differences for, you know, for those out there that are, say, quote unquote, a traditional entrepreneur or a traditional small business owner or a solopreneur or side gigs that are out there, those types of things? What's the. What's the difference between that and network marketing?

Speaker A: I mean, what isn't different about that? I mean, it's like, you know, I think it takes work. Like, there's some similarities there. You got to be consistent. But I had never been in a space where if I stopped working, I know my business can either continue to grow or at least sustain. And so you're not having to deal with, you know, necessarily run an adult daycare center with employees and having to deal with product development, licensing fees, I mean, the, uh, shipping, the handling the customer service, you know, running pnl. I mean, there's so many things with traditional, like, you are the end of the rope for everything until you start to hire out and scale, perhaps, but no one's going to appreciate and love your business, traditional business, as you will ever, whether it's a restaurant or whatever. And so here you don't have to do any of that, you know, and especially if you come into a good system where you can kind of plug and play and all you do is what get customers and customer getters, promote events and attend events. And you taught me that. You know, it's just like I sucked at everything. I didn't. I wasn't a good speaker, presenter. I mean, all the things. If you met me almost 10 years ago, you'd be like, she is not going to make it in this industry. But. But I was. What you lack in, you know, skill, you can make up in work ethic and action and getting, you know, so I just realized, man, I can just sit back and I don't have all of these headaches of a traditional business or all the pressure's just on me and I can just pour into people love on them and have an actual lifestyle. Right. Like, you know, whenever I stay at, uh, like, nice hotels like Four Seasons or something like that, you know, I see all these people on their computers and they're always on the phone or. And I'm like, man, I mean, uh, not that there's seasons for that perhaps. I don't believe in balance, especially as a mom. They're seasons. But I just had this weight lifted to be able to really be able to create. And, uh, you know, like, we're going to Hawaii with my family for 10 days and I don't take every single day off often, but there are times like, you know what, I deserve this. Or I had my first baby. You know, the team came in crush, it stepped up, continued to grow, and I was able to be present with my daughter. And I think that's the ultimate freedom.

Speaker B: Yeah. Instead of getting a few weeks paternity, it's wild. Or maternity leave, I should say. Um, so let's say somebody's listening to this and they're. They haven't really had a breakthrough yet. You know, they're in their early stages, they're trying to figure things out. What advice do you have for, you know, somebody in their first year or two of their journey? You're looking back, you know, if somebody else could like, talk m to a person in that headspace, what advice would you have for them?

Speaker A: Well, number one, you have to work on you. The best investment is in you, period. I mean, you can. It's just. You'll never regret investing in yourself. I think what I've also seen in the industry is a lot of people, they might start making the money and then they go blow it, you know, fast money. Yeah. Just because you earn the car doesn't mean you get the car, you know. So my husband and I, we started teaching more wealth principles there because we just saw a, uh, need for that, you know, and we. And that was us again. Everything we've taught is just over our own personal experiences of, you know, oh my gosh, we're making all this extra money on top of her job. Let's go. And it's like, well, why don't you set yourself up for success? You know, really understand the tax benefits that I'm, um, not a cpa, can't give tax advice, but it will blow people's minds when you really dive into it as a 1099 during versus a W2. I mean, I felt so cheated for like 12 years, you know, just from that perspective alone. And so working on yourself for sure, being, being consistent. I mean, there's just never been a day where I show up for something. Sure. There's is there times where I take things off, but I'm also in my mind. I love what I do. I love to Work for me, my biggest challenge was just, you know, in motherhood, just finding that, that, that season of doing both. But that would let me, let me

Speaker B: ask, let me ask this.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: So year one.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: Walk me through a, an average typical day.

Speaker A: Oh, for me. Year one.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Ooh, let me take me way back. So I never, I mean I still haven't done this. I never missed an event I qualified for.

Speaker B: Yep.

Speaker A: That was non negotiable. And my mentor was like, listen, I'm not, I won't work with you if you don't attend events.

Speaker B: A centerpiece.

Speaker A: Yes, yes. And so I'm um, like, okay, check. You know, I, I got, but I get that because after my first event I'm like, this is now you can't, you can't lead until you believe. And belief is everything. And so consistency for sure. Events being non negotiable, working on yourself. And every day I, There really wasn't a day where I didn't expose somebody to some information.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker A: I was always just in phase one. But I was also like, I need to hit this much because I just saw bringing my husband home.

Speaker B: So.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: You know, more granular than that on, you know, what did you do in the day? Were you just, what were you doing?

Speaker A: Well, and then in. I did do a lot of events.

Speaker B: So in the beginning she hosted small events.

Speaker A: Yeah. So I started building communities, micro communities. And you know, first we were helping a lot of military because again, you know exactly what you're making.

Speaker B: And how did that, how, how did that express itself?

Speaker A: Uh, what do you mean?

Speaker B: How did you create, um, these events? You know, let's say, let's say it was for military families.

Speaker A: Oh yeah. Okay.

Speaker B: You just, how did you promote that?

Speaker A: So it was either coffee shops, we'd connect with people or it was, we started doing like home events. Right. And this is like way back in the day. But community is everything, you know, you can really connect with somebody. And we just started building from event to event. Then we started doing weekly leadership. Then we started doing monthly regional events and soon we were doing, you know, events with a few, 5, 600 people in a room to just cast vision and show it's possible for them. If, you know, if not this, cool. But this is what we're doing. This is how we're helping people. And I've always been in the wellness space and most people aren't, they're struggling.

Speaker B: Yeah. How many hours a week do you think you were working once you went full time? Real life?

Speaker A: Yeah, probably. I mean at least 40 to 60.

Speaker B: Yeah. Somewhere in that range.

Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Because I knew that I could expedite the process. I'm like, this is just a numbers game. Yeah. I'm not here. I'm just here to expose people a better way. And whether if I expose a hundred this month or a hundred this week, it's the same outcome. I started to realize and track my numbers of what my conversion rates are for me and my team and operate it like an actual business without all of the stress or financial liability there.

Speaker B: Do you remember what your numbers were

Speaker A: in terms of my conversion?

Speaker B: Yeah. Like.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: You expose this to a hundred people.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: You educate 100 people about your product or your opportunity. What. What happens, what kicks out of that?

Speaker A: In the beginning, it was like 10 to 15, but I didn't have 10 to 15. What, percent conversion. So if I exposed 10 people, I would enroll, you know, one and a half to two people.

Speaker B: Distributors.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: Yeah. How many customers?

Speaker A: Um, that I don't remember.

Speaker B: A little bit more.

Speaker A: Oh, yeah. For sure. But I've always been fair to say

Speaker B: three out of ten became a customer.

Speaker A: Oh, yeah.

Speaker B: One and a half out of ten. Because we.

Speaker A: At least three out of ten. Yeah. Or I would say yeah. I mean, most people, they don't. Again, they lack the belief in themselves or the industry. So I'm like, cool, let's get you feeling better first. And then maybe it makes sense to build a business.

Speaker B: Um.

Speaker A: Um, yeah, absolutely. But I. For me, I always. Once I saw the freedom that it could create for somebody, like, for me, that drives me. Don't get me wrong, I enroll. I mean, my team M. Has. I don't even know. I mean, I have girls enrolling hundreds a month. You know, um, that's ever been me and not big influencer. I've always been driven by the lifestyle and freedom. But that's why I'm here. I mean, I got. I really started to build belief also with the products within my first 30 days. Changed my life, rocked my world. And then those combined. I'm like, this is the most powerful thing ever. I mean, we can help so many people in so many different ways of their life.

Speaker B: Yeah. So your. Your goal at first was to educate as many people as possible. Here's what you. Here's what I have.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And you might like it, you might not not like it. Either way is okay. But here's what I have.

Speaker A: Yep.

Speaker B: Uh, exactly. And what was the mechanism that you used to educate people? Was it just talking to them, but was it presenting with them? Was it using a video? Was it, Was it, uh, inviting somebody to a Zoom call? What, what was it?

Speaker A: So we didn't have zoom back then. Yeah, like that ages me. Remember? Crazy, crazy.

Speaker B: It's happened recent.

Speaker A: Yeah. It's why everything was like phone calls,

Speaker B: you know, Or Skype. Remember Skype?

Speaker A: Oh my God. Yeah.

Speaker B: Skype was a thing.

Speaker A: Yeah, Crazy, crazy. So it was a third. It was like a 20, 30 minute video in the beginning, or we invite them to an event and a quick like 15, 20 minute presentation. And that was pretty much it. Those were the two tools, the combo. Correct. Y.

Speaker B: A tool or an event.

Speaker A: That was it.

Speaker B: Okay. Or sometimes a tool, then an event.

Speaker A: Yep. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker B: Yeah. Uh, so I'm, I'm a big believer in finding a tool if you can, or creating a tool to save your voice. Right. Because if you have to do a presentation on the phone, uh, yeah, you know, 20 times a day and it can't wear you out.

Speaker A: Hard to scale.

Speaker B: Sure. And plus people are afraid to do that anyway. But, but if you can give them a little process to invite, uh, a person to watch a video. Yeah, everybody can do that. Then they can bring in an expert like yourself. How long did it take before you felt, you know what, I'm good at this and I'm, um, I'm going to build an empire here?

Speaker A: It probably, I mean, I think maybe the first year and a half. After about a year and a half when I really was like dialing in communication leadership systems, it really clicked for me actually though, at, uh, one of your. It was like the first event for six figure earners or something like that. And there was just like a piece that I took away. You're like, everything needs to be on paper. And I'm like, wait a minute, all I have is call, you know what I mean? And I'm like, done. That was just like the, the missing

Speaker B: piece, like documenting systems.

Speaker A: Yes. I just, you know, I didn't know what I didn't know. And from there I just. Business, skyrocketed, income, all the things. And I'm, um, like, this is, this is awesome. Like, I have my husband side by side at the time. He was eight months later. I think maybe we brought him home and then I was like, wow, we were becoming professionals. You know, they say, what is it, 10,000 hours or 10 years, whatever, you're an expert. But I think because we also worked really good together. He's like leadership hard coach, like, and he's such a big heart, but he's also very like, people need that mentorship. And I'm like, systems events and culture and community. And so we've always worked really well together. But probably in any, I mean, I knew I would, in my mind, I had the belief that I would crush it here after my first convention because I'm like, okay, if they can do it, I can do it. Yes. But I would say probably after a year and a half where we've, we had our first biggest hit and then boom, built it right back up and then some, and I was like, oh, we can do this, we can keep building.

Speaker B: It's a slightly different, uh, question.

Speaker A: Hm.

Speaker B: When you've kind of realized this can be my thing. When did you consider yourself? You know what, I'm, I'm an excellent leader. How long did that take?

Speaker A: I would say three years. Um, my company at the time had made a shift and a, uh, tons of people had like left or decade. They didn't have like, maybe the emotional maturity. And I just took my team and doubled up on training and vision and calls and you know what I mean, I didn't really know what, I didn't know back then though, of like, what was really going on. I was like, well, we're in momentum, like we're good. And we built the biggest team in the whole company. I mean, I had almost 2,000 people on my team at a convention. And so that's, I think that was maybe the aha moment. Maybe at that convention you went and I was like, hang. Yeah, literally. So a few different moments.

Speaker B: The, um, your company, uh, went through a terrible tragedy. The, the owners and founders were on a private airplane. Um, crashed.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Kind of wiped. Wiped out, um, the people who are running the company.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: And you created some pretty difficult hardship. So what was that? Like,

Speaker A: I don't want to like cry on a podcast, but it was terrible. It was awful. It was gut wrenching, it was terrifying, it was sad, it was emotional. It was all the things that, I mean, these were men that became some of our best friends or mentor. They believed in it, believed in me, you know, and they were just incredible owners. And man, I was just so blessed to be able to find the company that I had found, you know, for that first few runs. And it was, it was really hard.

Speaker B: Yeah, I couldn't imagine. But I remember, you know, being sad, kind of rippling through the profession. Everybody's like, oh my gosh, what a tragedy. What a terrible thing. Um, and one thing kind of led to another and another company kind of helped to take over.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: You Know, there's like a merger of sorts or acquisition of sorts of, um, you know, we, we talk about the time freedom and the financial freedom and the ability that we don't have to deal with politics, but we do have to deal with politics sometimes. Now, it's not the same as in a corporate office where you got to watch your back because somebody's trying to take your job, or you got to kiss the right person's butt in order to get a promotion, any of that stuff. Your performance is. Your performance is your performance here. You know, the computer can't tell whether you're male or female or old or young, or you have a degree or you don't. Uh, it, it'll, it'll pay you based upon the results. But there are some times when things get challenging.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: So upline, downline.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: Can, can be some friction as far as, like, maybe not totally seeing eye to eye. Leading leaders can be a, ah, unique challenge because leaders is different than leading a follower and leading yourself. Leading a leader, completely different skill, unique skill. Um, but this new culture comes in and now you've got a mix of a couple different cultures within a couple different organizations. Um, what was that like?

Speaker A: That was insane.

Speaker B: Yeah, because I mean, moving through that transition, you had to feel like almost like there's an earthquake going on and the earth is like the ground isn't really settled under your feet, it's shifting all the time. Uh, you know, how did, how did you manage that emotionally? Because that can be an emotional thing.

Speaker A: Well, it was very mixed emotions because I had. God had called us back. We were actually in Texas. And he was like, I had just, he spoke to me and was like, you need to move back to Utah in two weeks. And I'm like, oh my gosh, two weeks. Brandon's going to kill me. Like, babe, listen, I know this might sound crazy, but, but God's never late, you know. And what's wild is two weeks we packed up whatever, moved to Utah. Two weeks later we found out about the acquisition at a big event that we're running. Like, literally had found out. We have, I mean, like, I don't know, a few thousand people in the audience. And uh, two weeks later we moved into our new home or our new headquarters was like, right down the street. And like, what are the odds? You know, it just kind of all came into alignment. So at the same time though, I was also in a company that had old systems, old, like old website. It was really hard to get orders in. So we, I was super excited. Like, I knew we needed that. We need the innovation and the change. So I feel really fortunate to. To find my home where that landed. But it doesn't mean it was easy, you know, so it was like casting vision of, like, now we finally have website. Look at this new innovation, new products, like, things that we. I mean, I built to, I don't know, millions a month in sales with just three products, you know, and to have this whole new category and being in this new space was super exciting. But that comes with challenges, you know, I mean, I was. We were losing lots of auto ships, which is not normal when you're in a solid company. But when you go through an acquisition and you go from $100 order to now 150 with your customers, they're not going to be happy if there's no communication there. So outside of really just losing a lot of. Of business kind of trickling away as the acquisition happened, yeah, it was interesting with cultures because at the time, um, our culture, we're very bold in our beliefs, bold in our faith, bold and all the things. I mean, when COVET hit in 2020, I ran an event for over a thousand people in Texas. And it was epic, you know, but so community culture were loud and proud. We just championed people, like at conventions. We. It was just different, you know, like, we walked into the. The first event and definitely felt a little out of place because it was a different culture, but also kind of cool, like, hey, two cultures can totally combine and collide and collaborate. And so I saw the vision there to be able to merge cultures, you know, um, man, that's it.

Speaker B: How long did it take before you felt like the cultures have blended and, you know, you arrived at a. At a reasonable balance, or is it still in process?

Speaker A: I would say six months ago. Six months ago, we have a new owner that came in who's been phenomenal, invested. Like, I don't know, over 50 million in 11 months really brought in an A team, um, from a corporate perspective. And there was some challenges there with why the cultures were colliding, that we found out. And when we found that out, all of the cultures came together and championed and like, okay, now, like, we want to win together. And so that was probably about six to eight months ago with new ownership, new changes. And.

Speaker B: And how long was the transition between six months ago it being solid?

Speaker A: It was like two years.

Speaker B: Two years, yes. Going through that, through all of that with a little bit of uncertainty takes some, uh, particular leadership skills.

Speaker A: It was hard.

Speaker B: It was.

Speaker A: I'm not gonna sugarcoat that it was, uh, very challenging. But I just, I just saw that vision. Our owner is phenomenal. And yeah, I feel fortunate because it's not always the story.

Speaker B: And, um. And you mentioned faith being an important part of your business. How, how important has faith been since you. In your life and since you started this, this journey?

Speaker A: Well, my dad was actually a pastor.

Speaker B: Okay.

Speaker A: But my parents got divorced at 12 and that was really hard for me. I was like, if my parents, you know, are getting any and he's a pastor, you know, there's not a God. You know, I went through this. This is my teens. Like I was 12 or 13 and culture shock, moving from California to New York. And I just, you know, I got angry. I was really angry. So. Came back to God and Jesus and all that, you know, about probably seven years later. It was, you know, some rough seasons there. Um, but that's always been integral. You know, it's. That's always been important to me. That's. There's so many things in my life, Eric, that are completely unexplainable that I can only explain through God.

Speaker B: Give me one.

Speaker A: Oh, man. Okay, so, uh, man, I've never really shared this before, but I was in Iraq in 2008 and I was. It was 12 girls and thousand plus guys. You know, it's like everyone is. You got eyes on you. And it was really. It was the hardest year of my life in terms of people just out to get me or get me in trouble or. I just didn't conform. Like, I'm not. I am. Again, I talked about like rules. I don't go too well with rules. So the military was not for me. But, um, I had like a three day trial. I had. They, they. So if you know the military, they, you can get Article 15, which is like a write up. And I had three of them and I appealed them all because I knew it was uh, all bs, which means you're in court martial, but which. Okay, well, I didn't know that I wouldn't get a lawyer if you're in Iraq and in at the time you only got an hour meeting with the lawyer. So they took. Took my top secret security clearance from me for two weeks and I studied law for two weeks. And I knew that if I mind mapped all the questions with like the, the investigating officer, et cetera, that I could get them caught in their lies. And I freaking did it. It was crazy. My roommate was the investing one of the. My roommate literally at the time was um, um, the government, like she. It was me and her, you know, against her. And we had 16 witnesses flying from all across Iraq for two day trial. And I got the investigating officer in like, six counts of perjury. You know, I. I just. I knew if I, He. I said, yes, no, yes, no, that he would lie. And then I said, so why didn't you interview this guy? And he was like, oh, I didn't feel that he was relevant. And I'm like, so you did an interview? And the whole audience was like, what? And so, uh, from there, just, I don't know, I won. And, uh, there was. It was absolutely crazy that the judge that we got was fair. I mean, all the odds were against me, that they were trying to just execute me. And I defeated the United States government, you know, by myself with my little notes in the middle of Iraq.

Speaker B: And how did faith play into that?

Speaker A: I mean, I just, you know, I kind of just let go and let God because I just prayed, like, I. Please guide me through this. Please help me. I mean, I don't. I don't know all the answers. I don't know how I'm gonna do this, but he just told me, you need to fight for yourself. You know, I prayed really hard. I mean, from. From doing convoys in Iraq of like, please don't. I don't know how I was kept safe. You know, and there's just a lot of shady situations. Um. Ooh, this is really hard to talk about. Um, Yeah, I think it's bringing up some feelings. That was really, really rough.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Um, so. Man, well, sorry about that.

Speaker B: No, no, I'd love to hear this. The stories, I think are helpful. Right?

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Um, can we grab a tissue?

Speaker A: Thanks.

Speaker B: Yes.

Speaker A: Um, there's more. There's more there, you know, but that was definitely. I was really fortunate. I felt really fortunate.

Speaker B: Hey there. I hope you're enjoying the interview. And I wanted to break in for just a quick minute to ask you a question. Are you tired of feeling like success is just always a little bit out of reach in your network marketing business? Maybe you set big goals, but you keep getting distracted, overwhelmed, or discouraged. I get it. We've all been there. The truth is, the most successful people in network marketing don't just work harder, they work smarter. And that's why I created GoPro Insider. Every day, you'll get a short, powerful coaching video to help you develop momentum, develop your skills, and start winning in your business. Imagine where you could be one year from now if you just committed an average of 7 minutes a day of, uh, Focused strategic growth. Let's make that a reality. Join GoPro Insider now@gopro insider.com. you can start for as low as $9 a month. Just 30 cents a day. GoProinsider.com. okay, let's get back to the conversation. Yeah, yeah. Um, I'm, and I'm genuinely curious. How do you know when it's a message from God versus your own intuition? Like, you know, I feel like I should do this or I feel like I don't, I shouldn't. Um, how can you tell what, what's in your gut, your spirit?

Speaker A: I mean, if you pray enough and you're quiet enough and you can get to a space where you have that relationship with God. There's, there's sure intuition and gut feelings, but then there's times where he's speaking to you. I don't. It's almost kind of unexplainable.

Speaker B: But you, uh, know.

Speaker A: Oh yeah, yeah, definitely. There's times where I'm like, okay, was it him or not? But it's very clear when it is.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And there's just moments in my life, like from moving to Utah, you know, to like really, you know. But then it all made sense. You know what I mean? Like, okay, here we are. Here I'm going into blind. But now it all makes sense of why this, these things are unfolding. So at the time he would just was like, trust in me. And I'm like, how am m. I going to win? Like, there's no way. They all want me to be totally executed, but I'm just going to let go and let God. Like something. Everything's kind of happening for a reason.

Speaker B: Let go and let God. But also you did your part.

Speaker A: Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

Speaker B: You did your homework.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: You, you did, did your study. So, yeah, it's a combination. I think sometimes people, um, really let go and let God and they don't do their piece.

Speaker A: Oh yeah, sure.

Speaker B: God created you to, to be resourceful and to help be part of the problem solving situation.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: Uh, so let go and let God is one side, like not preparing. I'm just going to go into trial and I'm just going to you know, let, let uh, God decide. Or God's saying, hey, do your homework. Um, to be able to figure out a way to be able to tell your story effectively.

Speaker A: Absolutely.

Speaker B: Yeah. Interesting. Interesting. So, um, that happened once and then moving was a, uh, you know, you felt like that you were called to move. Right. Um, one of the things that, that uh, I love that you did gosh over the. I don't know how many years now. But, um, very good friends of both of ours. You're in town for a birthday.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: For that are, uh, Sami, uh, and Mandy.

Speaker A: Love them.

Speaker B: And you know, they've been personal trainers for us. And Sami works me out all the time. Um, he was here yesterday, he'll be here later on today. But you decided when they joined.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: You came to the. You basically moved in with them.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And worked with them for like 90 days.

Speaker A: Uh-huh.

Speaker B: Straight to kick them off.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: That is like white glove service. I mean, if somebody really wants to run and imagine you're upline saying, okay, I'm m coming to your town y and I'm just going to go to work. We'll, we'll put our heads down and we'll get something built. Um, what a cool gift for them because, I mean, some people don't get enough going in that, that period of time in order to be able to, to uh, justify a big move. Uh, but was that another thing you felt called to do? Not, um, or was it just strategy?

Speaker A: Uh, that was just. I saw the potential in them.

Speaker B: Yeah. What did you see? What was the spark?

Speaker A: I just, I was at the time, I was shocked of how many people they had enrolled. I think that at the time they only had like one or two people at any convention. And that didn't make sense to me. I'm like, wait a minute, you know, like, we've enrolled maybe around the same people and look what we've been able to create. So something was lacking there and they had come to us over the last six months. Or maybe you're like, tell me your system. We just shared. Here's our systems, here's our launch stuff. Like, and they had brought it to their leadership at the time and it just wasn't really vibing. And I just, I knew that, uh, for one, most of my six and seven figure earners have all been organic. It wasn't like a network. And they didn't bring a team either, but they didn't have any experience. So I knew, man, this is like the second networker at the time I'd ever even brought in. I'm like, they could, they'll totally kill it here. And they match what took them, I don't know, two years to do in a few weeks. But we, like, we got to work. I mean, we were just like doing events and like, let's just expose as many people to show them what we can really build here and show people In Vegas, you know. And here's what we have. So that was an easy decision for us. And we love to travel.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: You know, Vegas is my favorite.

Speaker B: It's a little bit different.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Pre children.

Speaker A: Oh yeah.

Speaker B: And post children.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: You're kind of like free and easy. You can go with the wind.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Back in those change Eric, didn't it?

Speaker A: My four year old has been on 67 flights, 11 countries, 70 hotels.

Speaker B: But you're not moving into somebody else's.

Speaker A: Well, you know, it's not funny. Well, I don't know about in their house, but now, you know, we would, we would move, we would move to countries like we were. I moved it. So when Covid hit, actually I moved to Arizona and we were going to leave in the summer to go to New Zealand to ski. And we were starting to build a team out there. I'm like, this is awesome. Let's bring the kids, let's go ski. We're going to meet our new team. But it was Covid, so that never actually happened. Um, not that I've moved in with someone's house with my kids. I think it depends. I don't know. I wouldn't say that I wouldn't do it.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: You know, or at least like, maybe, I don't know, move to a hotel next door.

Speaker B: And your willingness to be uncomfortable while you push is, is, I mean it's.

Speaker A: Yeah. But also people have always told me like when you have kids, you're never going to travel. And I'm like, cool, watch me. You know. And so for me I, because I have the choice, what's the worst that can happen? I'm going to take my kids and have experience a whole new thing. And that's the beautiful thing about this industry I think is as a mother, you can have it all, you know, I mean not maybe all at once, but you need systems and stuff like that in place. Um, but you don't have to do it all, you don't have to do it alone. And I'm very, very much so in my soul. Believe that.

Speaker B: So you have a four year old and a two year old, huh?

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And with the four year old and two year old, what was that like building um, your business?

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: Going through the two pregnancies and having the two kids and you know that that can be all consuming.

Speaker A: Sure.

Speaker B: Right, right. Um, how did, how did your business kind of manage itself through that process?

Speaker A: Well, I feel fortunate because I started putting teams into place. I started, hired my first va. I wish I had Done that sooner, to be honest.

Speaker B: But I do explain the VA concept.

Speaker A: Okay, so basically I think you should outsource things that you don't like to do, things that someone can do better or things that someone else is better off doing. And so I've had VAs and project managers, which I still have to this day do everything from flyers to events, to organizing committees to, to sending things in telegram to our tech team, automation. I mean all the things that kind of. I run like a company within a company. And then I started to work with committees where I had like a social media committee and events committee.

Speaker B: Where did you, where did you find these, uh, virtual assistants?

Speaker A: Uh, well, I started in the beginning at like Fiverr, you know, stuff like that.

Speaker B: Fiverr?

Speaker A: Yeah. Now I go through agencies which I'll pay, I don't know, maybe five, five hundred bucks or something and then they'll find the person with the skill set, interview them for me, and then I.

Speaker B: And where, and where are these people typically based?

Speaker A: Usually overseas. Philippines. Um, you know, all over. But my project manager is, is in

Speaker B: the US and, and uh, for those people that are, are virtual assistants internationally, uh, about how much. What is, what does a, a good VA cost you per month?

Speaker A: Anywhere from five to 15 bucks an hour.

Speaker B: Five to $15 an hour? Yeah, but, but the equivalent here in

Speaker A: the United States would be probably 15 to 25, 30. I mean my project manager, I paid 30 to 40. Um, my tech team, it's like certain projects are 100 bucks an hour. Yeah, but I mean I can either do laundry or outsource that. You know, I can clean my house or outsource that and spend more time with my kids. So again, that goes into as like a traditional business owner, you have so many extra moving pieces, whereas here it's like there's just things that have to get done that I'm better off. Busy work my gifts. Yes, exactly. Yeah. M. Busy work. Great.

Speaker B: So yeah, the only reason why I bring that up is that's a foreign concept to a lot of people in network marketing. Like I thought I didn't have employees. Well, you don't have to, but there are certain tasks in the mundane pieces of our business. You know, a really good question to ask is what can only I do?

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: And do that.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: With the highest return activity and then what could be done by other people.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: That that would free me up to do more of what only I. My gifts.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: Are to be able to do, uh, do my business and make sure you. When somebody's Buying you time by mowing the, the yard or cleaning out the garage or going grocery shopping or whatever. You just have to make sure that you're putting your time either into income producing activities or emotional producing activities with your children and family etc, or your faith or whatever. Whatever those types of things.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: So finding ways because I mean we, we are the, the superhero in this movie.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: You know, and, and we need to flex our muscles more often in order for to, to go where we want to go. And we don't need to get our significance by doing laundry. And some people do. I mean it sounds, sure sounds funny, but some really do not.

Speaker A: Me, my favorite thing to make for dinner is reservations. Like I am not Susie O. Maker. I got a lot of gifts, a lot of talents. But like there's things that just do not bring me joy.

Speaker B: That's hilarious and super funny. Um, so one part of our business is overcoming adversity and becoming good at it. Problem. Mhm Shows up big or small, we solve it.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: Adversity shows up big or small. M blocks a blocker or some barrier or some challenge or very difficult situation or the emotions of stuff. There's a lot of emotions in our business. People don't know that from the outside in. I mean, if you're working, you know, doing an ad campaign for Taco Bell or something, you're not going to get emotionally involved, uh, as much.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: Maybe you would. But in our business it is all raw emotion. I mean I would love it if we could, if we could just turn that emotional piece off. But it's part of what makes this great.

Speaker A: Yeah. Um,

Speaker B: the highs and lows of our business. Uh, and only reason I think some people could benefit from this is what were some of those difficult situations and um, how did you get through them in the industry? Yeah.

Speaker A: I mean so many you had brought up like our founders, two of our founders dying.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: You know, and at the time I was always told like, leaders don't show like fear, worry, doubt or frustration. You know, And I had all those things. Right. But I knew I needed to be really strong for my team. I, I just felt like, okay, this is happening for whatever reason, it is what it is. But that was, that was really, that was tough. You know, um, for me I get my energy and belief around other people. So like being around the events fight, you know, around, you know, flying around in my teams, like I just love people and I, I don't know, I just can't really explain it. But.

Speaker B: So how did you manage it just. Did you treat that season as a project? Did you, did you, uh, say, okay, we can't control that team, we can't control what just happened, but we can control what we do in this moment. Let's not lose what we built while we're going through this difficult time.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: Uh, how did you. How did you message taking action in order to be able to preserve or grow their business?

Speaker A: You know, I love that question. You know, I. One of my mentors always said, like, people, you know, your team will do half of what you do right and 100% of what you do wrong. And for literally the past 10 years, I've always been in momentum in different pockets of my team. And obviously a lot of those are just me bringing in new teams and developing new leadership. And so I just really got to work. I. And maybe that's a me m. A coping mechanism of like, as a child, I don't know what. It doesn't matter now, but whenever, if. If something's really challenging, I kind of just naturally laugh it off or be like, you know, what's the worst that can happen? Or it could always be worse, or my glass is always half full. And you know, I feel blessed with that because I've gone through quite a bit in my life. And so I really just doubled down on activity to create new teens and create new excitement, create new, I wouldn't say distractions, but that was a really sad, somber time.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: You know, and the only thing that's going to shift that is like, it's okay, we got this. Let's. Here's what's. You know, things are still working, things are still growing, even though they're not here anymore. We can still make this happen.

Speaker B: Did you ever feel any disconnect or dissonance, kind of saying it's disrespectful for me to be building during this really sad time?

Speaker A: No, no, because.

Speaker B: Because that was honoring those people.

Speaker A: Yeah. M. Um, yeah, one of our owner, uh, owners, Kirk, that's what he would want us to do. I just know he would.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: That he built it to help people. It was like a, like he didn't need the money. You know, he was just like, I just want to help people. And so for us to stop helping people, he would just be like, that's not what.

Speaker B: That would be disrespectful.

Speaker A: Yeah, exactly.

Speaker B: Yeah. And you can kind of understand when you see these, uh, professional athletes that, you know, they're, they're. One of their parents died the day before the Big game. And they decide to play in. In honor of exactly that parent that would have expected that.

Speaker A: That's exactly what we did. What I did.

Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, there can also be in our profession, um, some mean girl stuff. M. You know, where people taking shots. You know, you could take a shot from a critic outside your business, but when you take a shot inside your business, have you ever taken any shots like that? People criticizing you, judging you, talking, um, about you behind your back? Um, you had to.

Speaker A: In my. In my team or in the company or anywhere. I mean, the hardest.

Speaker B: I wouldn't say with a competitor, but let's just. Let's say within the team or within the company, did you ever have to endure some. Some shots?

Speaker A: Yeah. When we merged cultures with the acquisition, that was really humbling. You know, we came from a really culture where everyone, no matter what, champion each other, all the things. We are there now. But at the time, I think because of some of the leadership in corporate, we're kind of pinning people against each other.

Speaker B: So that was kind of like a conscious, um, or subconscious strategy.

Speaker A: Yeah, it was wild.

Speaker B: Yeah. So we're, like, coming in unhealthy competition.

Speaker A: Yeah. So we're like, the black. Like, let's work collab. Like, we're super excited to meet everybody and, you know, a little bit like, okay, is this also the place for us? Right. Because it doesn't mean I'm gonna stay like. But it all unfolded the way it should have. So that. Yeah, um, that was. That was different.

Speaker B: What did you do? How did you handle that?

Speaker A: I, um, really just protected my team, you know, until, you know, I don't believe anything anyone tells me until I see it for myself. Like, you could tell me someone's doing something or is a certain way. We'll show me. You know, I'm not gonna, like, fall into any rumors or anything like that. So I think, you know, for me, it was just rallying my team of, like, we're gonna set the culture. You set the bar high, you lose the losers. You set the bar low, you lose the winners. And we're just gonna keep building with integrity, love, still championing sidelines, whatever line, sister lines, you know, and eventually people will see our hearts. And here we are today, where I think I definitely know they see that now.

Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. I was involved in one transition, uh, acquisition, uh, with a company that got acquired by another company, and it was oil and water. Oh, my goodness. Uh, we came in all fired up, excited, coming into events, being our bold selves, and they were not, uh. And they. The other company was the company that acquired us. And I will tell you, I mean, there's people getting, you know, our people go on stage. Other people be getting up and walking out of the room. They would be like, having little, you know, going on strike.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: They'd be all these kind of like little jabs and shots.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: You know, we were like, are we okay? Are we, you know, we protected in this situation or we going to get wiped out by the politics of, um. Ended up working out as well. But, I mean, the company had to kind of take a big stance to be able to say, listen, that has to stop.

Speaker A: Well, listen, I. The. The worst thing that's ever happened to me just came to mind. This was a few months ago, and

Speaker B: the Juice finally, this.

Speaker A: Okay, so I. I flew out to an event far, far away. I, um, was asked to be one of the speakers. Openers, closers, whatever. And long story short, I was on a panel, um, with another top leader who's no longer here, because. And what's so interesting is, at the time when it happened, I told all my leaders that were in the audience, listen, time either exposes or promotes people. We're going to set the culture, we're going to set the bar. And so what happened was I was on a panel. I was sharing, actually, like, they were asking some strategies of what I do with my team. I was sharing how I have committees. It was kind of as simple as that. And that person had gone next or whatever, and she's. One of the opening lines was like, oh, you know, I don't really have committees.

Speaker B: Haha.

Speaker A: You know, you don't need to have that. And then later on said, if your team works really well together, you don't need committees. And I'm like, on the main stage with the entire. I mean, a few hundred people, I don't know, maybe almost 500 in a new country, we're launching this. And I. And I look over to my team and like, one of my top leaders, her job just drops and she's just like, you know, if. And it was just so bizarre. I know it all came from insecurity. So I just had more empathy than, like, anger. And I was closing the event. My team's like, you got to say something and address it. And I'm like, for what? Why even feed the beast? You know, that person, to the audience that caught that just looks cringy and unsupportive. Other women. I will always champion women, whether it's their insecurities or Whatever it might be, that's just not. Don't get me wrong, I was, I was not happy. But I just felt bad. Honestly. I just came from, just wow. Like if you have to go that low in front of the whole company. What are you, what are you saying? Behind my back?

Speaker B: And much worse.

Speaker A: Yeah. You know what I mean? And so I just, and I had heard things, but I never believed it. And then there's uh, several incidents that kept happening and then that was like, dang, okay, this is for real. And I've never had that happen in my career ever.

Speaker B: Well, you probably never had it exposed.

Speaker A: I can't believe that.

Speaker B: Yeah. But there's stuff.

Speaker A: I know, but that's not what this industry is.

Speaker B: It isn't. But, but here's the thing. This stuff's gonna happen.

Speaker A: I get. Yeah.

Speaker B: We're dealing with people. I know we're dealing with high emotions and we're dealing with people. Egos get involved, um, insecurities get exposed. These different aspects of things. We're in a very highly emotional business.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And I would love to tell you that in my career I could just shrug that off and let's just have love in our hearts publicly. I did.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: But inside I'm going to smash. I'm going to hulk smash. I'm going to. I'm going to make it so irrefutable that I'll never ask them to eat their words, but they'll have to eat their words. So it's just how I'm wired. I try to resist that part of myself. But um, I never let a situation like that go to waste. I use the fuel.

Speaker A: Sure.

Speaker B: To, you know, not in a mean spirited way.

Speaker A: Yeah, I would say same.

Speaker B: You know, because I mean the competition part of me comes up. Let's say they're. Somebody's talking. But they're. But they're making more money than me, huh?

Speaker A: Uh-huh.

Speaker B: Okay, well, we have to fix that.

Speaker A: Right? Right.

Speaker B: You know, I'm not gonna bring them down.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: I'm just gonna going to pass them like they're standing still. It's going to happen. You know, so I would use that to emotionally drive myself when I didn't feel like building a new leg or.

Speaker A: Oh, I'm, I'm the same. Don't get me wrong, that fired me up and. But I kill with kindness. Like I even sent that person a message. Hey, great job on stage. Like so good to see you. Your team is amazing. You know, it sounds like thanks for the fuel. No, I know. Literally I was like, it sounds like you misunderstood, like the communities part. Lol. Like, can't wait to see you, you know, because what's, what's the point? You know? Like she, she knows I know I'm not stupid, but the whole audience isn't stupid. And so, but I'm still not going to be like, you know, what the heck? It's just kind of like, hey, like I caught that.

Speaker B: But it's like, be so good they can't ignore you. That's the best advice. Be so good. Mhm. That nobody dares.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: And time does expose. It's so interesting. There's uh, top earner that's in our mastermind.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: And their particular company has been kind of, uh. There's a few people that are connected to that company, they're good friends of that company that are not fans of Eric Worre.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: Okay. And it's been fine. It, you know, it's like no big deal.

Speaker A: Right?

Speaker B: But you know, they've taken shot, shot, shot, shot, shot. I'm like, oh wow. I mean, you know, like little indirect digs, like little digs here and there.

Speaker A: Game on.

Speaker B: Um, and, and it's not, it's just, it's nice to just wait for it because anytime I've ever asked, I'm ever asked, I compliment that. You know them, I compliment that p. I find something good that I can genuinely authentically say, you know, congratulations or they do this well or whatever. So their top income earner, uh, he just achieved some superstar rank.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: He's in our mastermind. Okay, um, I'll let you guess but uh, at another time. So I was contacted by the company and said, hey, we're going to surprise him with this announcement. Would you make a video that we'd like to play in front of the whole company? Absolutely, Absolutely. I wouldn't miss it. I wouldn't miss it. So evidently it's going to be played tomorrow.

Speaker A: Oh, so good.

Speaker B: So. So, uh, yeah, I mean earlier in my life I was. My competitive nature drove me and I used, drove me to prove some people wrong. Prove some people right. Um, finish something emotionally that you know, I needed to finish. Uh, make a statement, create. Mhm. A legacy. M. You know, those different types of things. And sometimes it's vision and aspiration and big thinking and benevolent and sometimes it's just competitive.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: Like hey, let's compete. You know, it's like, I'm not going to be an Olympic athlete, but I can compete.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: Here. And we can, we can Measure how many people, uh, each of us are helping.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: And that's how I measure it today. Not. Not how much money I'm making, but how much. How many other people I'm contributing to.

Speaker A: Exactly.

Speaker B: Um, and it's funny, the political or the, you know, the little sniping that happens, gossip that happens sometimes in our businesses is try and find somebody who say something bad about Jim Rohn M. You can't do it. You just can. I mean, and if they did say something bad, it would make them look bad.

Speaker A: Right, Right.

Speaker B: So I'm trying to. To build a life work that accomplishes the same. I love that, you know? Um.

Speaker A: And it shows. Yeah.

Speaker B: Well, I hope so. I hope so because I'm still a little bit of fighter.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: You know, I'm still gonna fight sometimes.

Speaker A: I don't think that goes away. I think it's like in your DNA.

Speaker B: Yeah. Maybe somebody takes a shot at network marketing. Somebody takes a shot at what we do or takes a, uh, you know, a cheap shot at a company or whatever. That still riles me up. It's like. No, no, no, no. That, those, those are my people. Knock that off.

Speaker A: Yeah, Right.

Speaker B: Um, Yeah. I mean, I. I won't say the name of the person because it'll say the name of the company, but there was a big celebrity.

Speaker A: Uh-huh.

Speaker B: That had relationship with the company. And I was speaking for, um, and. And he was backstage and he was talking shit about network marketing, about the company, about the people. Those are low class people out in the audience and stuff. This is an iconic person. And I. Have you ever seen me, like, get angry?

Speaker A: Yeah, a few times.

Speaker B: Have you?

Speaker A: Very often.

Speaker B: It's really small. It's a little glimpse. Right.

Speaker A: Twice in the last, like, almost, um, 10 years.

Speaker B: Just a little glimpse.

Speaker A: Just a little.

Speaker B: We had to be physically separated.

Speaker A: Dang.

Speaker B: And because I'm like, if that's what you think, you have to be the biggest hypocrite in the world. You're about to go up on that stage and talk about how much you love it. Uh, if you don't like it so much once, you freaking leave.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: Big shot, big talker. It's a long time since you accomplished something.

Speaker A: Uh-huh.

Speaker B: You know?

Speaker A: Yep.

Speaker B: Yeah. You're big hall of Famer now.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: But been a long time since you did a Hall of Fame thing. So we. It was on, man.

Speaker A: So good. So true.

Speaker B: Um, and then, you know, because I'm just so offended on behalf of the profession.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: And the company and everything else. I was Just offended.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: So. And then the CEO really wanted a relationship with that person. So. Say, will you fly, you know, go, go to dinner and see if you guys can smooth it over. We had to get separated.

Speaker A: Oh my gosh.

Speaker B: Literally. No kidding. Like waiters and waitresses were like jumping in between us. If I saw him today.

Speaker A: When was this?

Speaker B: It's. No, it's been a minute.

Speaker A: Oh, okay.

Speaker B: It's been a minute. But, but uh, if I saw him today, I. I don't know if I'd be able to help myself.

Speaker A: Ah. Oh my God.

Speaker B: So triggered. I want to know over somebody who like takes a shot. If somebody takes a shot at my friends or, or at a company that I admire or at our profession. Oh. Does it rile me up? Um, but anyway, I'm trying to find the Zen in all of it. Um, but pray a little bit more. Yeah, maybe I'm gonna pray for you with my fist. There you go.

Speaker A: Anyway, something my husband would say.

Speaker B: Right. So, um, you've learned a lot of lessons in these 10 years.

Speaker A: So many.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And we're not gonna make income claims here, but. But you've done well.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: You've built a big business.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: How many countries is your business in today?

Speaker A: Over 20.

Speaker B: 20 countries. Um, and a lot of people making six figures. A lot of people making nice, nice part time income.

Speaker A: Yep.

Speaker B: Um, an enormous amount of people being, uh, helped by the products, uh, that you, that you promote and that you represent.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Um, first, you should be proud of that.

Speaker A: Thank you. Yeah, thanks.

Speaker B: Yeah, I mean it's just like that same thing when you're preparing for that battle in the military. You know, God took care of his part, but you took care of your part.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: So pull you out of this situation and all those people with you and your husband, all those people weren't going to be helped. Not to the same degree.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: You know, so you're a piece of the, of the equation.

Speaker A: Appreciate that.

Speaker B: Um, we. What's next? You're a young woman. What's next? As you look forward?

Speaker A: 40 this year.

Speaker B: 40? You know how much I'd pay for 40? I'd give you everything I have for 40. Every single thing I have. Cuz I'd have it back so fast. Uh, but you know, where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Speaker A: That's a great question, Eric. I mean, I think right now, how

Speaker B: far forward can you see?

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Like have a clear view of.

Speaker A: Well, it's interesting you ask that because like my, my husband's gone into just like we had chatted earlier before we started with coaching and he's just phenomenal. I mean, in leadership and he's working with massive sales teams and we've been brought in for quite a bit with like consulting and I just, I love it. I love sales. I used to be like, oh my gosh, sales. You know, I'm like, I love sales. As long as you believe in the product, like, it's exciting. I think so. I think right now we're, um, we're just stepping into a new season of mentorship that has been asked for quite a few years. We didn't. It just wasn't our focus at the time. We were in the. I mean, we still are in the thick of it, right? We got two and four year olds, but we just want to serve at even a bigger level. So I don't necessarily know what that looks like. I just know that we're not at our potential for sure. And you know, you know this. I've run thousands, hundreds of events, but it feels like maybe a thousand if you're including, you know, home events, but big events. Retreats from marriage, retreats for our top earners to leadership boot camps. And we love that. This is actually the first year we haven't done a retreat. We just did a mastermind, which I feel like, oh, no, my. Do you know there's still time? Yeah, something's. I know, but, uh, something's missing and we're definitely going to get back to that next year. But you know, right now I'm in this season of just really loving motherhood. Everything that I had a vision for is unfolding and, and I'm just figuring out, okay, how can I reach even more people with all of the knowledge that I know for women, for mothers, for this industry from a coaching aspect. Um, um. And I'm just kind of, I don't know, it's like a new season of like what I can do anything that I want to do in the entire. I could stop right now if I wanted to. And that's a really cool position to be in. You know, last two years of two years. Ish of the acquisition that was rough. That was like build back mode. But also figuring out like belief, like. And do I still love this industry? Absolutely. I've never been more of a bigger champion now that I do have kids because allows a woman to dream again. And I think what the world needs is more women and mothers that believe in themselves. And I mentioned this before, like, people don't lack, they lack a plan, right? They don't lack anything else or a vision. So right now, I mean, I know where I want to live. I'm definitely going to have a house in Park City. We're going to, you know, I. I want my kids by the time they're 10 or 11 to, I don't know, be at least 20 or 30 countries and just experience the world will probably be homeschooling. You know, I have all of those kind of things, um, in place. But that's something that Bryn and I really talked about. He. He's on a massive path. I mean, he's just getting picked up by everybody and anyone in training and flying around the world and he loves it. Like, he just loves coaching and love leading. Right now I'm just. I just love motherhood. M. And that's really weird for me to say. I'm still in my work. I've had time where I'm like, okay, I need to figure out how many hours am I spending with my kids versus my business because I can be in my office all day long, all day night, and be super happy. But then it's like, okay, but I have kids, right? So I think right now we're just kind of organizing a lot of. A lot of our trainings with leadership, leadership development. And you had mentioned too, and we were talking. You were just talking about, um, when you're going through challenges, there's a lot of emotions there. A lot of people don't have the emotional maturity. You know, like, just like that situation that I had that I talked about, it wasn't maybe that she's maybe a bad person or anything. It's just that there's a massive emotional maturity immaturity there. And so I think right now I've just really honed into more specifically niche down with moms because it's hard. Being a mom is hard. You're always pouring from an empty cup. Not always, but like, there are seasons where it is like you're in your car, you park and you're like, oh, you just breathe and you don't want to get out of the car. You know, it's like literally 24 7. But I now am really getting into dialing in from systems to outsourcing, to all the things that you need to run a massive multimillion dollar business, but also still have your sanity. Also with your marriage. You know, my husband and I, we are very much so. Like, I won't do coaching calls with my leaders if they haven't gotten like in a date night in a week or Two just not going to happen because why are you putting this business before your family? I very much so believe in faith, family, freedom in that order. Has it always been perfect? No. But I gotta check myself and I have to lead by example. And so right now it's almost just showing woman that here's some of the things you really have to have in place or you're gonna burn out. You're gonna resent something or someone or whatever. And there's a better way. And I went through years of ate to faint, you know, and being like, whoa, wait a minute, this is. Wasn't what I thought this was going to be. And I, but that's because I allowed it. And you always get what you allow.

Speaker B: Yeah. And, and you can create boundaries. Um, there can be boundaries that work. There's. There are seasons where, where you, it's in order to get where you want to go, you got to swing out of balance.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Something's got to give.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: You know, to get it off the ground.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: But then you can kind of create a lifestyle where you can grow. And I, I'd be guessing today, but I, you know, with, with your two children and even with support, you know, probably 30 hours a week working on growing your, growing your existing team.

Speaker A: Yep.

Speaker B: Uh, which 30 hour work in, in the, the pockets of your life is different than having to go to some office or something and have somebody else take care of the kids and all that stuff.

Speaker A: It's amazing. We ski every Thursday and Friday. You know, my kids go to Monte scoring school like one or two days a week because we just couldn't find a good sitter.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker A: But I think right now too, really focusing on our marriage, it was, you know, having kids is tough. It rocks the boat. I don't know, I don't care what somebody says. Like marriage is work. If you, if it, you know, if you don't have the communication skills. And we've actually, we've been working with, um, we've worked with, we brought in, we've done marriage retreats. But we really found these incredible people and it's called like the connection codes. And it has literally changed our life. And we're now like, holy cow, we have to tell all of our friends about this and that because it's. Our marriage has done a total 180 when we've done so many different things and you know, marriage retreats and hosted our own and brought in different. And now we're like, dang, this is. It's the first thing honestly that's like killing it working. Our marriage is like, next level. And it was really challenging with kids. I just. I'm just. I'm here to keep it real. And now we're like, this was the missing piece. So I'm almost just shouting that from the rooftops lately because it's been phenomenal.

Speaker B: Good. Well, listen, I appreciate you coming in and, um, and sharing some ideas, and I'm sure people are going to get a lot of value from it. Uh, so keep doing great work, keep evolving, keep growing, keep learning, and, um, keep contributing. That's what you do.

Speaker A: Thanks, Eric. You, too. You're the best. So appreciate you.

Speaker B: So that's my conversation with Julia Thornhill. I hope you get value from it. If you did share it with somebody, don't just keep it to yourself. Let somebody else know that this information is out there. Uh, again, I hope you find it valuable, and I'll see you next time.