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Confidence is something I have always struggled with. I struggle with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Both of these disorders feed off of uncertainty and worry. It is difficult to be confident when you are constantly questioning yourself.
Social Anxiety is another disorder that I am good friends with. I avoid social situations at all costs. When I have to attend a social event of any type, I have to prepare myself. Even then, I struggle a great deal.
You won’t find me greeting other people or starting conversations. I prefer to stand out of the way and to be unnoticed. But I’ve always known that this was something that needed to change.
First Step
I worked in retail for many years. I was a merchandising manager as well as a store manager for several companies. This was a job I enjoyed, just not the hours. As a mother, working nights and weekends was not what I wanted for my children . So I became a preschool teacher. I was able to be with my children during the day. This led to me opening my own child care center.
Child care is like riding a roller coaster. Some months you have lots of kids and others you wonder how you will pay your bills. It’s tough. But after several years, we were finally in a good place with my child care center. My husband had retired and I knew I wanted him to be able to remain retired.
One day, I was on Instagram and saw one of my preschool mom’s posts. She was talking about tall and curvy leggings and how amazing they were. As a 5’11” woman I can tell you the word “tall” grabbed my attention. I immediately began Googling LuLaRoe.
I did a lot of research and bought a few pieces. The leggings were just as perfect as I had hoped. There were more pieces added as I learned about shopping online and even went to a few in person events. But what sold me on joining LuLaRoe was Tiffany Cook’s video. Yes, I loved the clothes, but the business model is what got me. I loved merchandising when I was in retail. Putting outfits together and helping customers find the perfect outfit always made you feel great.
LuLaRoe put all those things together. But, it was also going to require me to step out of my comfort zone. I would have to have my own in person events. Talking and engaging with customers would be part of it.
No More Comfort Zone
I showed Tiffany’s video to my husband. He was immediately onboard. This was a huge scary undertaking. But we had a plan.
He would help me with the business. We had a room at the child care center we would turn into my LuLaRoom. In May 2016 I joined the queue to wait for my call.
The end of July 2016, I finally received that call. I was excited, terrified and in denial that this was real. I had spent 2 months setting everything up and preparing. Then boxes and boxes of LuLaRoe showed up.
It was real. I had all these awesome clothes and it was time to sell them. So we scheduled our very first pop up. My sister in law said she would be glad to host. She lives in Indiana. We live in North Carolina. So we loaded everything up and drove there.
On My Own
I quickly learned that my upline (the person I signed up under), was not great at communication. Since I research everything, I joined several groups to learn all I needed to know to be a successful retailer. One good thing I did get from my upline was the suggestion to join Brenda Ster’s Sassy Suite for social media training.
This group was full of women from all kinds of Direct Sales. I learned about community, vendor events and online pop ups. Before I knew it, I was booking pop ups and vendor events several times a month. I was selling lots of clothes. Most important of all, I was talking to people. I made connections not only with customers but other LuLaRoe retailers and other direct sales people.
As I became more knowledgeable, the more confident I became. I helped create vendor events and even sponsors several of my own!
Growth
In 2018, I had huge changes in my personal life. My son joined the Air Force and left home. While I was so happy for him, it was a struggle to have my first child leave home. I stepped away from my LuLaRoe business. Unfortunately I found myself in a downward spiral.
I went back to my LuLaRoe Business and I would feel good about myself. When I helped customers find things they needed, it was a huge boost of confidence. I realized that as I worked my LuLaRoe business, I became more confident in my skills as a business woman. The skills I learned through LuLaRoe I was able to use in my child care business.
But I needed something more. I was constantly taking course on social media and sales.at the end of 2018 blogging was calling me. I could blog about LuLaRoe, my life, my child care center, lots of things. I took a blogging boot camp and started my first blog, Prepare to Be Organized. This was HUGE.
Change in Paths
Blogging has changed my life. It made me realize that I have a lot to say about a lot of things. I knew I have to create a blog about mental health. In April 2019, at the blogging retreat, I launched this blog, ObsessivelyImperfect.
Recently I made huge changes at my child care center. Changes that 2016 me would not have been able to make. I continue to see huge growth in my confidence. There are many things I have done that are out of my comfort zone. But I learned to go there through direct sales. While I have not worked my LuLaRoe business as consistently as I would have liked, I know that my confidence has skyrocketed from the path LuLaRoe put me on.
There have been many changes in my full time business which has taken me away from LuLaRoe, but my full time business has benefited from all I have learned from working LuLaRoe.
What’s Ahead
I still struggle with social situations. Maybe that never goes away. But I’ve gotten better. Live sales may never be my forte. But maybe blogging about LuLaRoe will be.
3 years ago I would have never thought that I would have the confidence to make changes, start 2 blogs and have 2 more coming. I have a HUGE project in the making that I would have never had the confidence to even write down. But I not only wrote it down, but also recruited others to help me make it a reality.
If you are thinking about direct sales, give it a try. You gain so much more than a little extra spending money!
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