I’ve been in direct sales and network marketing since August of 2000 – almost twelve years now! In that time I’ve worked a full time job and had a direct sales hobby on the side, I’ve been very sick and using my direct sales business to make the income I needed while I couldn’t work in a traditional position, I’ve used my direct sales business to create enough part time income that I could take a low-paying part time job that I loved that gave me lots of new skills, and I’ve worked my business(es) through a rough bed rest pregnancy, the birth of twins, and the baby/toddler/preschool years of my children who ultimately received multiple special needs diagnoses and needed (still need) lots of therapy and specialist appointments.

There have been five keys for my successfully being able to do this:

1. I stuck by my business no matter what. When I got sick enough I had to quit my traditional job and focus on doctors and medication and my prognosis, I still found it in me to work my business a little bit knowing that staying active and keeping on top of new products would be a key to my financial stability down the road when things were brighter.
2. I kept a sense of humor about my current life situation. Right before I was placed on bed rest with a complicated pregnancy, I was still running weekly unit meetings in my home for my direct sales business. I wore a VERY large maternity director’s suit, didn’t stand up while leading meetings, and told my girls about the goings on in my belly “oh hey, baby B just kicked!”
3. I planted seeds with customers and prospects and watered those seeds faithfully so that when the time was right for each customer or each team member prospect, they could hop in where it made sense— they could easily purchase the products they knew they needed, they could easily join my team having talked about it with me from time to time, or even when I was completely unavailable (during the weeks when I was very sick, or during the weeks I was on bed rest), online orders would still come in (my husband did my deliveries and post office runs, bless his soul!)
4. When I got the business bug in me to branch out and work with other direct sales and network marketing companies, I kept my first company as my bread and butter. I’ve worked hard to develop a group of clients who faithfully reorders. Even though I enjoy working in other ways as well these days, I still have my heart and soul with the first company.
5. I changed my commitment over the course of time, but I never quit. I went from hobby consultant to part time to top 2% of the company to part time again, but even when it seemed that squeezing in a few hours a week in between my twins’ insane number of appointments and meeting was unreasonable, I did it anyway and continue to do so. This past year because of the type of special education each twin needed, I had one twin going to preschool in the mornings and one in the afternoon. But each of my twins has the personality and activity level of three neurotypical kids put together, so I can’t work at all even when only one twin is home. I created ways to work my business late at night after the kids were in bed and during the brief amount of time that their preschool hours overlapped, as I met the special ed school bus outside four times each day. This fall, I’ll still meet the bus outside four times each day as each twin is going to a different school, but I’m finally rewarded with full day kindergarten and I’ll have more time to work. The struggle was worth it.

You may have just left a traditional job, or you might be in the process of a divorce. You may be pregnant and on bed rest, or you may be raising children with lots of extra appointments and struggles. You might be caring for an elderly parent. Whatever your situation, you CAN make your business work for you. You might have to forgo traditional classes and parties and focus on online and phone sales for a while. You might have to turn to social media, make new friends, and send sample packs all over the country because it’s hard to get out of your house on a day to day basis to fill your leads funnel. You might need to make less money and spend less time on your business for a while. Or perhaps you need a full time income and suddenly need to work many more hours and advance rank in your company. Whatever your situation you can make it work, and keep in mind that your situation may be temporary. Five years from now, your life situation might be completely different, but if you play your cards right, your business will still be a constant in your life. I wish you the best of luck in your business!

Meet Guest Blogger Heather Price!

Heather has been in direct sales and network marketing companies since August of 2000. She currently represents three companies. Her bread and butter is Mary Kay: http://shopskincarewithheather.com (to learn more about the business: http://skincarebizwithheather.com . Mainly to help promote her main business, she joined Send Out Cards in 2008: http://cardbizwithheather.com Most recently, in the spring of 2012, she discovered the power of video email and web conferencing with WowWe: http://videoemailswithheather.com She works her businesses when her special needs five year old twins are in school or sleeping. You can read her blogs at http://freeskincarehelp.com and http://directsalesrelationshipmarketing.com