Winnning The Network Marketer of the Year Award...

It has been a whirlwind few weeks for me since winning the award for NETWORK MARKETER OF THE YEAR, but I finally have chance to put my thoughts into words...

Rewind a few years....At school I was the girl that went bright red if I had to speak in front of the class. I would do anything I could to blend into the background. In my teens, I was the girl that wouldn't even take an item back in a shop because I was too shy, I would rather ask my Mum to phone to book an appointment for me because I hated speaking to new people. In my first job out of university when I got told I had to do a presentation to 6 people, I wanted to hand in my notice. When I started this business, I was the girl that would NEVER be able to speak on stage, I looked up to all these confident, inspirational speakers and thought that could never be me. I didn't want to get out of my comfort zone, I was happy hiding behind my computer screen. That is why an online business using social media was a natural fit for me....I could network online, and build a business while doing that.

But, guess what.....this amazing thing happened. My confidence grew, little by little. I learned that I was good at building relationships, I could speak about our products because I was using them, and I could talk about the business from the heart, because I was living it.

'Everything you've ever wanted, is one step outside of your comfort zone'

Before I knew it, and with a nudge in the right direction from some exceptional mentors that I have, I was able to get up on stage and share my knowledge on our business, to talk about the experience I was having....every time this happened, I would be a bag of nerves, voice shaking, and sweaty palms. But you know what, it doesn't matter. In life there will be people that are amazing at speaking on stage, and then there will be the people like me, where it takes everything they have to get up there. Now, I am that girl on stage, and I am that girl that will talk about our business to a friendly face anywhere I go...

So, if you are reading this, and you think you will NEVER be able to talk confidently in front of new people, or you stumble over your words, your shy, you won't be good at networking and you think these things will hold you back. Trust me when I say........you don't have to be perfect, you just have to be willing to step out that comfort zone. Little by little you will grow as a person, and as you do, you business will grow....and that is where the magic happens.

Thank you to everyone that voted for me to win this special award, I am so grateful. It marks a special time in my life where I now know, I am the girl that can do ANYTHING...

Love Emma xxx

Being a mummy, I truly know the value of time....

My whole reason for starting a business that gave me more time, was for a future family....

Time is a created thing. To say 'I don't have time' is like saying 'I don't want to' - Loo Tzu

Rewind a few years, I had a successful business but spent so much time on the road, working evenings and weekends. Even when I then got in the door, I would spend more time answering client emails, booking appointments and placing orders. I knew this way of working didn't work around a baby and family. But, I also did not want to go back into employment, working for someone else. Yes, I would of got maternity leave, but I would of had to go back to work at some point, relying on childcare and wishing for the weekends and 5 weeks holiday a year. Its just not the life I wanted.

I earned good money with my business, but I was trading my time. So when I went on holiday I wouldn't earn and then would be playing catch up when I got home. I would also of had to go back to work 2 weeks after having our baby boy as being self-employed I couldn't of afforded anymore time off, with no maternity pay.

If I hadn't taken a risk to make a change, one of those scenarios would of been my future. Has it been hard work? YES. Have I wanted to give up at times? YES. Did I ever feel like it wasn't going to work for me? YES. But, the numbers don't lie - if you work at something consistently for a period of time, you don't have to HOPE that it is going to work for you, you can be safe in knowing that it WILL work for you.

I have just got home from a week long trip to Tenerife building business and because of this opportunity I was able to take my partner and our little boy. Jenson is now 6 months old, and his flight home was his twelfth flight since he was born!  These business related trips have included America, Denmark, Scotland and obviously Tenerife.  In 2 weeks time it is taking us to Miami & New York and then in April we go back to America again followed by Cancun and also to Marbella for a European convention.  I could never have envisaged travelling so much let alone getting paid for it but this is where this business can take you. I love that it doesn't matter where I am in the world, that I can have my baby with me and still make money as long as I have wifi. Whether it is at home on the sofa because we are tired, whether it's on a day out because we are going on an adventure, or whether we are in a totally different country altogether.

Of all the books in the world, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport - Unknown

Jenson on flight number 12

I would love EVERY woman I come into contact with to take a look at this opportunity, because being a Mummy I truly know the value of time, Time goes fast, way too fast, spend it doing what you love, with who you love. For me having the knowledge that I will never miss any part of him growing up and seeing all his 'firsts' is more valuable than anything that money can buy.

Love Emma xxx

Your SO lucky

I frequently get told I am lucky....well, YES I am lucky, but I created the luck I have. I believe absolutely anyone can do the same....

As I said before, when I first got introduced to this opportunity, I did not have a clue what I was doing. But, I was keen to learn and had a dream. A dream of long term freedom and the ability to create whatever life I wanted. To be able to live in whatever home, to be able to drive whatever car, to be able to travel wherever I wanted, to be able to chuck my shopping in the shopping trolley without looking at prices, to be able to have a family and provide the best....and ultimately the very best I could give, was to be able to give my TIME. This is a luxury we cannot buy.

We are taught, especially here in the UK, that we go to school, go to university, work hard and then work hard at whatever job we choose for 40 odd years, If as women, we want to have a family, we make a choice between having a career and having a baby, and often made to feel guilty for what we choose. This isn't the only way though,,,,what I have learnt over the last 3 years, is we need to work SMART. I now LOVE everyday showing other women especially how to work smart.

3 years ago, I got to work at something I thought in hind site would be easy to achieve my dreams....I was so wrong!! Here in the UK, we also are so closed minded when it comes to anything other than the 'norm'. I thought I had found an amazing opportunity, and that everyone else would see what I saw.....I was VERY wrong haha. 

I have heard the word NO, more than I could ever tell you, I have lost friends and family members, I have felt rejected, disheartened, like everything is going so wrong. I have been ignored more times than I remember. People would join, be excited and disappear, join and moan its too hard, join and say there friends were being horrible to them about it so they didn't want to do it anymore. I have heard every excuse in the book as to why people can't do this business, or even consider looking at it, and I too, have come up with every excuse of why I couldn't do it. One year in, I felt I was getting absolutely nowhere, so I was going to quit. I was just going to concentrate on building the business I already had.

I have no time, is the grown up version of 'the dog ate my homework'

January 2014 - one of the most significant times of my life. Alex and I were buying our first home, and just about to get the keys. On the same weekend, there was also an event with the business I had in my mind made the decision to quit. However, something was pulling me back, telling me I needed to go to this event....the option was, pick up our keys, and move in together. Or pick up the keys, leave Alex to move in and go to London on my own and see for one last time if I could make something of this business. Most people would of probably moved into their home, its such a monumental moment in life. I, however, found myself in London....

Something clicked, I can't tell you what.....I knew I had to give this business one last shot, but this time give it my absolute all. I knew I wanted to start a family, and I knew my current business wouldn't give me the life I dreamed and would be so hard to manage around a family. I am SO grateful everyday I got myself to that event (if your in my business, and reading this - that there, is the very power of events. You just don't know what a person will see/hear at an event and then go on to do afterwards)

The motto is.....Yes, I am lucky, but only because I never QUIT!!!

Winners never quit, and quitters never win - Vince Lombardi

I hope this blog has inspired at least one person never to give up on their dreams - just when you are about to give up, is usually just when something amazing is about to happen. Believe me, I know!

Love Emma xxx

The Early Days....

Right from being a little girl, I always had HUGE dreams. When I used to talk about the places I would travel to, and the sort of house I would live in, people used to say 'You need to marry a rich man'. I used to reply 'no I am going to be a rich woman'. I didn't know how, but I always knew I would have exactly the life I wanted....

'All dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them' Walt Disney

I worked hard at school, and went to university. I chose the wrong subject, and ended up doing a degree for 3 years that made me feel restricted and didn't allow me to be creative in anyway. It was hard to stick at my uni course, and I was always dreaming about starting to earn money and having a career. I left university and still didn't really know at such a young age what I wanted to do. We are educated to work hard to get qualifications, and then to go straight into the workplace and work hard for 40 plus years of our lives. My first day in my office job I was just thinking WOW, is this really what people do for all their lives.....spend all day everyday in the office wishing for the weekend, and living for those 5 weeks holiday a year?!! Don't get me wrong, I know some people love what they do, and if that is in an office, that is fine, but it wasn't for me....I knew there and then on that first day, I was going to have my own business.

I started my own business at the age of 23, where I had a cosmetic teeth whitening business, I started this totally from scratch and built up a huge client base all over the UK, working in lots of salons, gyms, hairdressers and visiting peoples homes. When I first began, I thought it was the dream job. No boss, no alarm clock, working on my terms, when I wanted. I felt this way for a good few years. However, then I began to feel like there was still more out there for me, I was lonely travelling in my car all the time, I was frustrated not knowing exactly how many clients I would have each month, even more frustrated when people cancelled on me. I was basically trading my time for money in that traditional business model and there was only so many clients I could see in a day before my income was capped.

So along the way, I would try my hand at a few other things. First of all, I used my creative side to make gift cards and sell them at stalls on the weekends. Which was okay, but too time consuming for me. Then I sold jewelry, and a clothing range to supplement my income, Both of these were partnered with a company, little did I know at the time, that they were both in the industry I became a part of, but nobody ever told me there was anymore too it other than selling the product.

I tried my hand at offering beauty treatments alongside the teeth whitening treatment but it was always trading my time for money. I used to dream up business ideas all the time, and was a HUGE fan of Dragon's Den and The Apprentice.

The last small business I started alongside my teeth whitening business was a cupcake company called Baking Love, which I had with my Mum, We would do all kinds of cupcakes, wedding cakes, hampers, jams and chutneys. My Mum would bake, and I would decorate. This business became really popular really quick, and we really used social media in our favour. I don't think a lot of people realise the massive amount of work that goes into starting a business from scratch, especially a home based business. When I wasn't out teeth whitening, I would be decorating cakes or doing a wedding set up, and when I wasn't doing that, I would be sat on the computer drumming up business on social media for both the businesses. I loved this business but I still knew I was trading time for money....

All along this time, the lady that had trained me in teeth whitening, Catherine had been approaching me about a different kind of business model. I had been approached by lots of companies over the years and  I didn't feel passionate about the products. I thought to be succesful in business you needed to create your own product or idea.....how wrong was i?! Catherine finally caught me on a down day and I said YES to what she had to offer.

Fast forward and I am now 31 years old, a partner to Alex, a Mummy to Baby Jenson who is 5 months old, and I have created a HUGE online business, mainly based from home, that has given me the lifestyle and income I always dreamed of. I didn't have a clue when I said yes to what was on offer, I just ran with it. People used to say to me 'Oh your trying to sell something else or starting something new again and roll their eyes' I used to reply 'Yes, I have to try lots of things before I find the thing that is going to make me a millionaire'....now I have found exactly that.

'If someone offers you an opportunity, and your not sure if you can do it. say YES and learn how to do it later'

                                                                   Richard Branson

I look forward to sharing with you all about my business, how I have built it and how I balance having a business and a bubba....

Love Emma xx