Hello, ,
I was sitting at my kitchen desk opening my mail! One envelope was a little bulky and when I opened it, three little STAR charms fell out. Inside was a note that said, “I’m proud of you!”
It was the first time someone actually shared that with me!
I wasn’t feeling very successful at that very moment. I had just started in Direct Sales. I was learning a new business and I had an enormous goal. We had just sent our third daughter off to college and so now there were three college tuitions to cover - not to mention their living arrangements.
I had no safety-net to fall back on, I had to make this business work and it was daunting! Actually, life was daunting at that time. My husband had started a new job and we were moving to Denver, Colorado. I figured out I had to sell $4,200 every month to keep those kids clothed and fed in college. And, I knew NO-ONE in Denver!
I’d worked for many companies when I travelled the world. I’d been my own boss for 10 years owning my own business, designing, manufacturing products and owning retails stores! But this was new territory!
I had only been in Direct sales for 3 months! It was a business I could take with me anywhere! I was excited. I was scared. I “had” to make this work!
It was those three little STAR CHARMS that fell out of an envelope that made me realize somebody really cared about me and my success.
At the time, I didn’t realize these charms belonged to a brooch (or pin as we say in America.) The pin was an American Flag with a bar across it, and the team name, “Challenge America” written across it. Every time you hit $1000 in sales you were sent a star charm to add to your pin. So, in effect that little pin and charms meant hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars in
sales.
I understood the enormous impact of this small pin and charms when I attended my first Direct Sales Conference and I met other team members who were wearing their pin full to the brim of STAR CHARMS!
These women were positive! They proudly wore their pins. When I talked to them they told me about frustrations in their business, but wearing that pin, made feel more confident and most of all excited to know they were on track to growing their business.
Most of all they LOVED getting that note from our leader with those words, “I’m so proud of you!”
I kept hearing those words over and over at the conference. They were blasted on the loudspeakers every time a woman walked across the stage to receive an award!
But when I read those words for the first time in a note to ME, it truly meant something.
When I re-read that note, I felt a warm fuzzy feeling inside, and I smiled!
I knew who had written that note – my leader!
And at that very moment, I needed to hear that! How did she know? She lived in Minnesota. I lived in Hawaii.
It was like she knew how I was feeling. How I was struggling to stay positive. To smile when someone said “I’m not interested in your fashions.” Or “I’m not interested in hosting a party.”
