I titled my last post Taking an Unexpected Leap for a reason.  The last thing I ever imagined myself doing was investing in a multi-level marketing company.  In fact, even though I had never done it myself, I had quite a bit of MLM baggage.  I actually hated the idea of it because what I knew about it made me feel uncomfortable.  I never personally knew anyone who had succeeded.  I was never really impressed by the products.  They either seemed like questionable heath products with grandiose claims, or they were things anyone could just buy at the store.  And the idea of selling to friends freaked me out.  One time a friend I hadn’t heard from in ages invited me to lunch to discuss an “amazing opportunity.”  When I told her that I was not interested in her opportunity but still wanted to meet her for lunch to catch up, I never heard from her again.  Come on now, what kind of message does that send?  As you can see, none of my experiences were positive, so who could blame me for feeling that way?

How could I go from thinking I hated something to embracing it?  What changed?

My experience changed, and in turn my attitude changed.

It didn’t happen overnight.  I had a lot of negative associations to undo.  My big sister originally introduced the company to my mom and me.  I was so stubborn, I didn’t even want to try the product at first.  I don’t want to admit it, but my sister has some weird indescribable influence over me.  Wait, did I just say that?  Forget I said that.  I wouldn’t want her to think she has any power in this relationship.  Anyway, we always saw eye-to-eye when it came to MLM’s, and she is very strong-willed and not one to jump on the band wagon because everyone’s doing it.  I wanted to know who kidnapped my sister and replaced her with this crazy person who was really excited about this.   I was intrigued, wondering what was so great that for the first time in my life I saw my sister get so genuinely jazzed about something.  Plus, neither my sister nor my mother had ever really asked me to do anything for them before.  We just don’t do that in our family.  When they asked me to please, please try it, I figured it was important to them, and I said yes.

I tried this mystery product for 3 months.  After one week I liked it.  It was nice.  After 1 month I thought it seemed to be doing what I wanted it to.  And after 3 months, I was convinced.  I saw real change.  And during those 3 months, I started thinking.  (I know… never a good thing to do.)  I talk to so many people everyday who are unhappy at work.  I spend a lot of my energy trying to inspire others here on my blog to have the courage to get out of a career that causes them serious distress.  I’ve shared any opportunities I’ve had here on my blog.  I’ve tried to encourage doing the crazy things I’ve done, like entering a travel contest or even starting your own blog.  I don’t do any of this because I want everyone to be like me, but I do it to spark ideas in themselves; ideas that will work for them; anything that could trigger the shift they’re searching for.  So here I had in my hands, a very powerful vehicle that could provide even more inspiration to do something outlandish and continue to push movement.  This could not only be inspiration, but it could be a real solution for anyone who wants it.  That was my shift.  I opened up and thought, “so what!?  I’m playin’ the career field, right?  What do I have to lose?”

And the answer became very clear to me… nothing.

I recognized that the product was right, the timing was right, and the vehicle was right to help push myself out of my next comfort zone.   And in that moment, I stopped seeing this business as a nuisance, but instead I started seeing it as an opportunity.  The more I thought about it, the more secretly excited I got.

Then everything fell into place, and I decided to just do it.