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Leslie Zann – Her Journey as Team Builder, Corporate Network Marketing and Trainer
Welcome to the Street Smart Wealth Podcast, show #72.
Today, I’m interviewing Leslie Zann, who brings more than 20 years experience in the network marketing profession both as a distributor and team builder, and a corporate employee, and now a field coach and trainer…..
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Alright, let’s get into today’s interview with Leslie Zann. Leslie Zann is a master at helping people discover and ignite their true and limitless potential. She has an extraordinarily unique way of making deep and emotional connections with her clients…and these connections lead to unveiling their outrageous achievement.
With more than twenty (20) years of Direct Selling experience, Leslie has developed a unique talent for helping people overcome their potential-stopping “limiting beliefs”.
Her one-of-a-kind perspective has much to do with the fact that she’s worked on both sides of the fence. She’s built her own very successful Direct Selling business ($1.2 million in sales), and has eight (8) years’ corporate experience with three (3) distinct business models: Direct Selling, Network Marketing and Party Plan.
Transcript below
ACTION STEPS And QUESTIONS:
Who do you know like Leslie, someone who might be on your chicken list who NEEDS what you have NOW?
How coachable would you say you are on a scale of 1-10? Remember, Leslie was not coachable in the beginning, and that stunted her growth. Once she realized that, she surrendered to the process and grew a hugely successful business!
Are you willing to “pay your dues” for 3 years and develop the skills you need to be successful? To make the shifts needed?
Do you have a personal development plan in place? Are you consistent with it?
Do you make attending events a priority in your business? IF not, why not?
Oh, and finally – <span style=”color: #df4142;”><b>“Are you letting your good enough get in the way of your great?” </b></span>
And, if you are looking for in-depth coaching on building a successful business online and offline, head over to – <b><a href=”https://JackieUlmer.com/coach” target=”_blank”>Direct Sales Online Coach</a></b>
Questions for the podcast? JackieUlmer.com/question
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Let’s have some conversation!
EXPECT Success!
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TRANSCRIPT:
Jackie: So, Leslie, thank you so much for spending some time with us here on today’s call. I know that our listeners are gonna get a whole lot from your vast array of knowledge and experiences because you have a lot of great experiences in network marketing. So, with that, why don’t you certainly say hello and share with us a little of your background before network marketing.
Leslie: Well, Jackie, first of all I want to thank you for inviting me to be on the show today. I’m very excited to join you. I’ve been an admirer of you and your success and have followed that and been inspired by that over the years, so it really is a pleasure to be with you today.
Boy, my success before network marketing. Yeah, I was in real estate. I was in real estate for nine years and I had no exposure to network marketing. Nobody ever tried to sponsor me. Nobody ever talked to me. Nobody ever told me about their product. It was really kind of interesting, and I had gone through a really tough time with my business. My husband and I, he was a contractor and I was a realtor and the market tanked and we had a lot of stressful things happening and through the stressful times I had gained a lot of weight. And I wasn’t even aware that my mother was becoming very successful in a network marketing business and her product line was nutritional supplements and weigh loss. And when I got up to a size 14, and the day my 14s wouldn’t zip, that was the limit for me. I called my mom and said, “Hey, send a shake, man. Send that stuff you’re doing.” And I went on, she never said a thing about the business. I went on her product. In about four months I was back down to an eight and then a six, so I lost 35 pounds on these products that my mom was selling. And the people in my real estate office kept asking me, “What are you doing? What are you doing?” “Oh this stuff my mom’s on.” And I kept referring everybody to my mom. And I really don’t know how it actually happened, but over the years I’ve always had this vision that this is the way it transpired.
My mother’s sponsor, Jan, who was the top income earner in the company, I just imagine her now calling my mom and saying, “Hey wow, how’s Leslie doing on the product?” “Oh my gosh, she’s lost 35 pounds. She feels great. She’s sending me all these referrals,” and Jan saying, “Well, have you talked to her about the business?” and my mom saying, “No,” and Jan saying, “Why not?” and Mom saying, “I don’t know,” and Jan saying, “Well, let’s three-way her,” and Mom saying, “When?” “Now.” And the next thing you know I get this phone call and it’s my mother introducing me to Jan, the first time anyone had done a three-way call with me, and Jan proceeds to tell me stories. “I have people in the company because of the success of the products. We’re making 30, 40, 50, 60 thousand dollars a month” and I was just amazed. It grabbed me from the first second and certainly we were having a tough financial time and so I was definitely intrigued by the financial possibilities. You know, Jackie, I believe it was just one of those moments in life where you’re offered a better path to go and you either go or you don’t and I just chose to go. I just knew this was something I should be doing. And that’s how I jumped into network marketing. And from day one, day one, I never looked back. It was just a fabulous journey from the very beginning.
Jackie: So when you were introduced, because you had not had any previous exposure prior to that, you didn’t have this, oh yuck, no that’s not a thing that I would do. How did you see the business model? It’s always interesting because I had a negative blueprint myself when I came into network marketing from a way early exposure with my family when I was probably a teenager, a young teenager. So it’s always interesting to me for people who see the business model who don’t have any of that negativity, what they think.
Leslie: You know, I had a blank blueprint. I’d never heard anything bad. I literally had had no exposure. I knew one Mary Kay gal in my networking group and I was in real estate. I knew she sold what they could make and what not, but we had never sat down and talked about the business model or how it was different than retail. I frankly just never really gave it a lot of thought. So I really didn’t have any negativity and I’m very curious by nature, and so I began trying to find out more information about the industry. Now this was back in 1991, so Richard Bliss Brooke’s book was just coming out, in fact I read it the first time Mach two with your hair on fire. I read it the first time, it was in a transcript form. It wasn’t really even in a book.
Jackie: Me too, Leslie. I still have that original great transcript. That’s where I read it the first time, too. That is funny, that is funny.
Leslie: And so that was my first real article about it and we really had no tools to talk about network marketing. I really didn’t go into it with any negativity or any preconceived notions. And the more I learned about the industry, about a couple of years in, Wave 2, the book came out and that really intrigued me. And then Robert Kiyosaki’s books came out and I was reading that. So from the very beginning throughout those early years, as educational books and tapes were made available on the profession, I did my best to read it. But I was fairly bullet proof right from the very beginning. There was many of the top leaders in my company had come from other companies. They had some terrific stories. They had a lot of character to me and they really validated the type of, I was very fortunate. There was some terrific leadership in my upline that set some amazing examples for me about the industry so I really didn’t have any negativity. I will say now though, 20 years later and working with clients in my business, when I talk to them about their story, isn’t this a personal thing and no right or wrong personal opinion, if they came into the industry with a real negative opinion or baggage, I coached them not to include that or to posture it a certain way in their story. Because, you know, when they’re telling their story to people, they will have people in the audience or friends or associates like me who were a blank slate. And because nobody came up to me and said, “Oh man, I hated this stuff. I can’t believe I’m doing network marketing. Oh my god, when I first” that would have, could have, unintentionally planted a negative seed in my head that didn’t need to be there. There’s gonna be a mix of people out there and I think you and I are both a terrific reflection of that. You had a certain belief because of experience and I was a totally open slate. So when we’re telling our story, I think we try to posture it to be as inclusive and draw as many people in as possible. Bottom line is, we shouldn’t make the assumption that everybody’s coming to us with a negative connotation. And I think a lot of newbies believe that way. Do you find that to be the case?
Jackie: You know that’s so interesting that you say that. And I want to delve into this just a little bit deeper, and you’re absolutely correct. There are a lot of people, probably as many people who don’t have a negative opinion as have a negative opinion. But when you come in with a negative opinion, I think you’re predisposed to think that most everybody else feels that way ‘cause, let’s face it, we think that everybody in the world feels the way we do about just about everything or we really think they should. So I think that you’re right. So are you saying then, in sharing your story, not to include that you felt negative in case you could potentially derail someone who’s a guest who doesn’t feel negative?
Leslie: Well I’m not suggesting that they lie. I just say it can be postured a certain way. If they had a negative experience with another company, they can just say, “You know I’ve been in networking marketing before and didn’t have the experience I was looking for” You know there’s different ways to posture it or, if they had some preconceived idea about network marketing and it was all the negative but now they’re happily building a business, I don’t think they have to go to the extent of boy, I really thought I hated network marketing or I can’t imagine I would ever stoop so low as to be in network marketing. The way they almost posture it I could be in the audience thinking nothing positive or negative and then all of a sudden, here’s this really successful person with this negative background. It makes me think, hmm, what don’t I know about the business? I just think it could unintentionally plant a seed. So I’m just saying be authentic but choose your words carefully when you’re posturing your story.
Jackie: I love that. I think that’s great advice, very good advice. Good, good solid stuff. So you got excited on the phone call. You signed up. How did you start your business?
Leslie: Well, now, when I said my first husband and I were having a rough time, we had lost everything. I won’t go into the whole story, but we had really lost everything due to a water moratorium in California. My husband was a builder and we weren’t able to build and so basically in about a nine month period we lost all our working capital. We lost our business, had our house burn down. I mean, all this stuff happened and it culminated with us having to declare bankruptcy. That really played a role in the gaining of the 35 pounds. And so I was legitimately bankrupt when I started. And so the starter kit at the time was $4,000 to get the kit that made the most sense. And for people who are going, “What?!” Back in those days that was not an uncommon price range for a starter kit. And of course I didn’t have any money and I was bankrupt, I didn’t even have a credit card and I was in this little town of 3500 people. Well my mother, I was very fortunate, my mother invested in me and fronted that. She purchased that first starter kit for me and I hit the ground running. I was a magnet, Jackie, I was a magnet because I had the products to sell. I had total belief in the products, total belief in my mother, total belief in the company and I was just a magnet. If you came within ten feet of me, man, you were walking away on my products. So I got off on this really strong retail start. I paid back my mom in 90 days the $4,000 that she invested in me and just really never looked back.
And my passion, when I’m working with new people now, and my passion for the balanced message when you begin your business, my passion around embrace both your product message and your business message from day one. See I didn’t do that. I got stuck in this phase one, this product driven, retail driven. I didn’t sponsor anyone in those first months and I had great retail sales, but you know, I haven’t looked at every paid plan in the industry, but I feel fairly confident that for most paid plans, they will pay you well for strong retailing, but if you truly want to tap into the wealth of most paid plans, then that wealth comes from sponsoring key development, building a thriving, ever-expanding, robust organization. And my mindset wasn’t around that ‘cause I didn’t even know what I didn’t even know. So I was just selling product, selling product, selling product, selling product.
Finally Jan asked me this really good question one day. She said, “Why did you get involved with this business? To sell vitamins or to change your financial picture?” And, oh man, what a great question. What a great question. And of course I had the answer, “To change my financial picture.” And she said, “You really need to sit down and understand balance. You are only embracing one of the gifts of the business. Let’s talk about sponsoring and business development and leadership development.” And we had that conversation actually at my first convention and to say it was an ha moment is an understatement. I left that convention and really ramped up my sponsoring. I sponsored four people in that first month, right after the convention, and then really got into a good rhythm of balance to where every month I was sponsoring new consultants and signing up new preferred customers. So I really embraced some balance and what a difference it made in the bottom line, in my paycheck.
So again, our own lessons, I believe, help make us the leaders that we ultimately turn into and so I really felt strongly that from day one that balance message is really important. I would have gotten a lot faster had I embraced that, but I wasn’t really coachable, which is all of our conversation, but I think that would be a good lesson for people that balanced message when you start.
Jackie: So you understood the pay plan. You understood that you could and should be sponsoring, but you were resistant to it or you just were so on fire with the product or you didn’t really have the total training of how to do both. What would you say was the obstacle that was holding you back from the sponsoring piece of it?
Leslie: That’s a great question. A couple of things. Number one, I really wasn’t coachable. I was 31. I’m 54 now. I like to think I’m a more mature person now. I really wasn’t coachable. I really wasn’t. I hesitated to do three-way calls. For years Jan told the story that the first time she tried to coach me on doing three-way calls, I said something like, “Jan, I sell million dollar homes without a three-way call. I’m sure I can sell these products without a three-way call.” And that sounds like me then. Doesn’t sound as much like me now, but it certainly sounded like me then. ‘Cause number one, I was not coachable. And I’ve learned when you’re successful, for most of us, we come into our marketing business and we have to find ourselves to move the success of our career. For many of us, I’ll speak only for myself, it was very difficult for me to surrender to being coachable. Number one I wasn’t coachable.
Number two, because I hadn’t built a business yet, I really fell into that very common trap, which is why I believe I recognize it so quickly when I’m working with people, I fell into that trap that I hadn’t built a business yet, so how could I sponsor people? I didn’t have my business story, so what was gonna attract people to join me in the business? Now, certainly Jan was saying, “Tell my business story. Let’s do three-way calls. Leverage my expertise to help you move your business forward, to share the business message.” She was saying all the right things and counseling all the right things. I was just not coachable and I was resistant. And again this lost a lot of time that way. So it was in my head. It was between my ears. It was my resistance.
Also, and again I think this is why I recognize it easily when I’m working people is, you know, it’s just flat out easier and more fun selling products. You’re getting that daily, daily reward, that win. For most of us, we love our products so much, most of us say, “I can go out there and sell the heck out of my products.” And I could. And so, think I was taking the path of least resistance. I wasn’t conscious of it at the time, but I think I was taking the path of least resistance. I’d just go out there and sell, sell, sell, sell, sell, sell. I was feeling really good about that and, again, I only had very part-time hours ‘cause I was still in real estate. But I think it was a combination of my lack of maturity, my lack of experience, my unwillingness to be coachable, taking the path of least resistance and just selling the products, which is perhaps why, at that convention and being in that ballroom full of people, watching the people go across the stage, hearing the financial success stories, hearing their personal stories, all the different walks of life and experience level and education level and age and whatnot, my vision expanded so dramatically, it was that weekend that I decided “let’s get coachable”, let’s learn how to do this. Let’s start sponsoring.
I was in my own way until I chose not to be in my own way.
Jackie: You know, I love that because it talks about events and I’m gonna come back to events with you, but I want to put that out there because it does speak to the heart of why events are so darn important. And we will definitely come back to that ‘cause I know you’re a big believer in that. You’re an attender. You’re an organizer of events and I know you embrace that. But I want to ask you a quick question before we move on. So did you actually carry product with you and do an exchange of money right there? Like did you sell product or did you get people set up on an auto-ship? How did you do that product thing?
Leslie: Yes, it was a combination. Now ya gotta remember this was in the early ‘90s. Yes, we had computers, but we certainly didn’t have social networking. And yes, we had auto-ship. My company wasn’t like some of the companies of that day in the past where all the products would come in, be divided and distributed to all my customers. It wasn’t anything like that. The company constantly shipped and drop shipped and yes, we had a monthly auto-ship and so it was a variety.
We carried a reasonable amount of inventory because we did have, it wasn’t a party plan by any stretch. It was standard network marketing, break away, generational pay plan. And yet, when you think about the products, shakes, vitamins, it lended itself beautifully to home events, networking events, trade shows, lunch and learns. I can’t tell you how many lunch and learns I did where a happy customer wanted everyone in her office to hear about it and I would just go in and make shakes for everybody and that was their lunch. So it lended itself to having some inventory on hand because it’s an emotional decision to want to change your health, want to make a difference, and when people make that decision, they really were excited to get started right away. So, I had a reasonable amount of inventory on hand. Not an excessive amount, but a reasonable amount. Never had a garage full. Just had a few of everything in my home office. So I could deliver good customer service if somebody wanted it. Yes, I could sell it directly to them, but I was a very proficient and had a very attractive every 30 day auto-ship, a preferred customer program. Jackie, I still have people today taking their products, having their monthly auto-ship who I signed up in 1991.
Jackie: I love it, I love it. You know what? That’s such a powerful story. That’s the power of residual income. It’s the power of understanding being paid over and over again for the work that you do one time and people have a tendency to miss that when they don’t make, you know, rocket ship money in the first 60 days.
Leslie: Yep, it’s not about the first. The first, I think, three years, okay one to three years is what I call pay your dues. Have some discipline. Be consistent. Hang onto that vision. For most of us, within a three year period, with discipline and consistent activity, you can change your financial picture unlike any other business, career, job out there and that’s the beautiful thing. To have the get-rich-quick method does a disservice to everybody. The company, the new consultants. Now, I’m all for pay. I’m all for getting off to as fast a start as possible, and I’m all for continuing with the pace and staying consistent, but great rewards come from great effort. You’ve gotta look at this realistically that this is a beautiful opportunity to make a real shift and redesign your future. It’s not gonna happen in a day. It’s gonna happen in a quicker period of time than most other possibilities is how I see it.
Jackie: Well, it would be easy to listen to your story. You were able to pay back $4,000 in 90 days and most people don’t make anything. And sadly, you know, I shouldn’t say most, but a big number of people don’t make anything in network marketing and obviously there’s a reason for that. But it would be easy to listen to your story and think oh, well it must have just been clear sailing for you from then on out. But talk to us a little bit about some of the challenges and obstacles that you had to overcome throughout your journey.
Leslie: Well, I lived in a town of 3500 people. We were bankrupt. It took me six months begging a manager at Chevron to get me Chevron card, $100 Chevron card, so I could start building some credit. It took me six months to beg somebody. I finally got the right manager at Citibank to give me $100 security card, you know. I could write a book on how to get your credit back. I mean, I really crossed every “T” dotted very “I.” The folder is about 18 inches high, the multiple folders, but I had to start first of all by being able to be in business. And so that was a real sticking point in the beginning, the fact that I didn’t have a credit card and I’ve just gotta tell you, I was the most irritated, pissed off, unhappy broke person on the planet and I was willing to do whatever it took legally to get my financial life back. I did not take that lying down. I was not complacent whatsoever. So I was driven to create some income, but I also had a lot of authentic passion for my product and the business and I also was very disciplined and continue to be to this day. I was prepared to put in the time and the effort and knead it into my busy life and sacrifice certain things to get the work done.
So I was in this small town. My sponsor was ten hours away. I was one of the first consultants in the area. To go to a regional event at the time, we had to get in the car and drive four hours to Oakland. After about the third time that happened, I finally put my foot down and said, “What the hell do I have to do to get y’all to come to Sacramento?” I lived an hour outside of Sacramento in the foothills. And they said, “You’re overdoing this, Leslie. If you build it, we will come.” So I looked at the handful of people on my team and said, “We’re gonna build it and they’re gonna come here.” And that next year they came to Sacramento for regional event and I don’t think they ever went back to Oakland.
So, you know, I just was consistent and learned to be coachable and I would have to say the biggest gift, the biggest shift, the biggest support in my business was being introduced to personal development. I cannot stress that enough. I remember the first book I ever read, “The Power Is Within You” by Louise Hay. I read that book, I’d never read a personal development book before. I read that book and the visual was like the top of my head came off and all these new thoughts came pouring in almost to the point that I couldn’t even handle. It fundamentally opened my eyes, changed me. It changed me. I had never thought about personal development. I had never thought about the concept that what you think about you bring about. I had no awareness of what I was thinking. I’d never heard of the law of attraction. Everything was new, but resonated with me. It felt right.
So I really became a student of personal development and I am absolutely convinced that that helped me create a vision, not stay in that little playing small, oh poor me, we’re bankrupt. It helped me create a vision. Got me out the door every day. It helped me authentically transfer my passion for the business so people wanted to hear more, wanted to participate. It drove me to be the best leader I can be and really care about the people that came onto the team and do my best to be the best leader that I can be. I think personal development, that introduction and then my commitment to a daily practice, really helped me through those first few years that were, you know, very difficult, very challenging. Learning new things, having to drive far to get to a city big enough to make things happen. I mean just all the things that go along with building a new business. Couldn’t afford to get the hotel for the business presentations so we had them in my living room. Weekly training, starting trainings were in my living room. I’ll never forget the one Saturday morning when there was 30 of us. I said, “All right, boys and girls, man, there are 30 of us. We are going to the Sheraton.” We all pitched in and that was the first time we started having our business pop meetings at an actual hotel, which of course made the whole process of bringing guests have a more professional look and feel to it and it really started to drive our business.
The personal development helped me develop my vision and I was so clear with my vision, Jackie, it just kept me going. It just kept me going.
Jackie: I would say, just listening to you, I would say that you have some pretty strong leadership skills already deep within you. And I think a lot of people do. A lot of people don’t think that they do. They look around to other people to be the leader and it’s kind of like you said, well, what do I gotta do to get you to come here? And they basically said, without maybe saying, “Step up and be the leader.” So that’s good to know that they told you what to do and I guess you had become coachable by then and you stepped up and you did it.
Leslie: It’s interesting. There is a exercise that I remember seeing years ago and I share it when I’m on the road. It’s an exercise, this is about leadership and our belief and whether we believe we’re a leader or not. Now certainly, if you would have asked me before this when I was still in real estate, if I was a leader or a follower, I would have said I was a leader. I’m the middle of three girls and yes, I have always been courageous enough to take that step forward. That is for sure. It’s not like I was a shy introvert person and all of a sudden developed, got stronger being a leader. Now my skillset of being a leader, being more effective, being more generous, being a better question asker, all the beautiful aspects of leadership have certainly been focused and purposefully created, I wanted and continue to want to be the best leader I can be.
But let me go back to the section here real quick ‘cause with so many people listening who don’t believe they’re a leader or perhaps they haven’t led before or they lead in other areas of their life like their family or their community or their church, but they can’t figure out why it’s not working for them to lead here in their network marketing business. So there’s this exercise where we start and we ask people to call out, men or women, living or dead, great leaders, who you think are great leaders. So we get this whole list of people who are perceived as great leaders and then I say, “Qualities. What are the qualities of great leadership?” And then, okay, so all these qualities, vision, transparency, authenticity, courage, honesty. So we get this whole list of qualities. Now it’s all coming from the audience. I’m just writing it down. So now we’ve got this list men and women, living or dead, who we all feel are great leaders and now we’ve got their thoughts on what are the attributes, what are the qualities that make great leaders. I’ve got this whole list of 20 or 30. Now I look at the audience and say, “Okay we’re gonna do this together. As I go through this list, we’re gonna identify is this quality a skill or an attitude?” A skill or an attitude and, Jackie, you’ve probably done this exercise. By the time we get through with the list, every time, over 80% of these qualities that they say make great leaders are attitudes. It’s attitude, not skill. Attitude.
They acknowledge this. They’ve just taken ownership of this. They’ve just been doing the voting and the calling out. Look, it’s between your ears. It’s in your head. It is your attitude and that should give them confidence, confidence that leadership is mostly attitude and can’t we all step into our greatness? Don’t we all have the opportunity to be leaders and effective leaders and lead, not just small teams of people, but large teams of people? I always find that very liberating, very freeing. It gives me a lot of confidence just doing exercises, Jackie, you know?
Jackie: Very good. I like that. I like that exercise. That’s a good one for everybody to put in their toolbox for sure.
Leslie: I was going to say, it’s very powerful to see the, I can see it facially, we get the benefit of being in front of the room so we can see everybody’s faces. You can see a shift in belief at the end of that exercise. You can just see it on their face, wow, I am a leader, I can be the best leader, I can be a better leader, I can lead. It’s very empowering. I believe they walk out the door with a completely different belief and, as you and I know, that belief can translate into new actions. So leadership, we could do hours on leadership and the importance it plays in this business, but at least we have to them to believe, right?
Jackie: Right. Well, was there any time you wanted to quit?
Leslie: That’s such an interesting question. No. I was happy doing my business. I truly was. I was very satisfied on so many levels. I was not a person that, just because I had a bad day or someone let me down or somebody cannibalized my downline or they changed the pay plan or they ran out of shakes, you know, all the stuff that happens in the business, I wasn’t the one who said I’m outta here. That really wasn’t me. I stayed with the same company for 16 years. I loved it. I was vested, I was vested emotionally as much as I was vested financially. No, I’m not that way. I’m not one that, if it gets tough, I want to quit. I mean, think of the people you’ve known over the years and I’m thinking now of the people I’ve known who quit. It’s just too soon, never gave themselves the opportunity to be the best they could be. Because they quit, they quit too soon. You will succeed if you don’t quit. The only way to fail is to quit.
Jackie: Well you eventually transitioned from your network marketing career as a field distributor into a corporate position. So tell us a little bit about that, why and how that went.
Leslie: Yep. The company sold, the company sold. And the former CEO of Fruit of the Loom bought my company. And at the time I had been doing a lot of training, not just for my organization, but I was one of a dozen what they called mastery trainers. And it was top leaders and we were all very abundant and focused on supporting the greater good, the entire field, and high tide raises all ships. And the company sold and I was called into the office and he had heard me on the stage, and heard I trained talking about me and I think he was really smart. He wanted a liaison. He wanted a bridge from the field to the corporate office with this new corporate tone and team. And so he asked me if I would come in out of the field and be the director of field development.
Now people always ask, “Did you give up your check?” No, but did I stop working my business actively? Yes, because there’s only so many hours in the day and I made a commitment to come in and support the development of the training materials, field development, leadership development. My character is such that it was just never an issue. I continued to receive my residual, which I do to this day, and for three years I worked there corporately, really supporting that transition, that bridge. And then it just got to a time where it was just time to go.
And you know, Jackie, you and I spoke about this, actually when you and I first met. It’s very rare that someone can come out of the field, successfully having been in the field, and be successful in the corporate environment. It was just something I was able to do and I was real excited from the corporate standpoint because, through my experience in those three years and my exposure to other corporate teams, I realized how rare it is that someone in the corporate team actually has experience in the field. There’s usually a disconnect. And I thought, wow, I can really make a difference. So I stayed corporate for eight years, I stayed corporate for eight years and I worked with four different companies and I was able to work corporately in all three of our major business models, network marketing, direct selling and party plans. So I got this really vast and fabulous experience corporately to go along with my 16 years in the field. And I’m really pleased. I don’t think things happen by accident. I think they really happen purposely and it was a wonderful experience and I felt that I really made a difference on all those corporate teams and I wouldn’t trade it for anything looking back. Those eight years I grew as a person, I grew in this industry, in experience and I believe, it’s not even a belief, it’s knowing, I know that it supports my less-than consulting business because of the fact that I was able to so effectively wear both those hats. So it’s an interesting background, don’t you think?
Jackie: Oh I think it’s fabulous. And you know, network marketing is not always a means to, joining a network marketing company, staying with that company forever and retiring there is not always the means to the end that everyone’s looking for and that’s okay. Network marketing, as Robert Kiyosaki says, is one of the greatest business training schools, if you will, that you can ever check into. And, if you do it right, you might find that it leads you off in all different entrepreneurial directions. And that is fabulous. That’s a win however it turns out. I just think that’s a beautiful thing when it turns out like that.
Leslie: I agree 100%. I would not have, I would have delayed starting my own business had I not had that fabulous experience and the confidence and the knowledge that I acquired over those eight years corporately.
Jackie: Well let’s talk then about your own business and your own training company. Share some details about that with us.
Leslie: It’s really interesting. Another trauma, another life trauma I guess is a good word. Just like the trauma, the BK, drove me into taking a look and ultimately just falling in love with network marketing, an unexpected divorce was really the impetus that drove me to follow that dream I’d had to have my own consulting business and to be able to work with companies and sales leaders on my terms with my distinct voice without feeling any restrictions, having to stick with a certain company’s voice or politics or messaging or restrictions. I had always envisioned those last few years corporately, I’d envisioned being able to really make a difference but on my terms and had the worst not happened, I probably would still be working corporately somewhere.
But I think through the grief and the transition and the evolution of me over the last three years from the divorce and evolving into the Leslie that I am today, it was two years ago this month actually that I’ll never forget. It was Sunday morning and I had just left a corporate gig and the recruiters were calling and, Jackie, you know me and I certainly have confidence, but it’s tempered with quite a bit of humility and I didn’t doubt I could get another corporate gig. You know, the recruiters were calling. I was getting offers. I’m good at what I do and I knew I could get a corporate gig.
But I had had this dream and, from the divorce, it was timing. Business just burst out of me. I wanted to start my own business and here was the dialog. Well, this is not a good time to do my own business. I’m single now. I’m not getting spousal support. I just bought the house. I need a job. I have to pay for things. I got bills. But then the other voice was going, but this is what you want to do. You can do this. I know you can do this and you’d be so great at this and it’s what you really wanted to do. So I had this dialog going back and forth and it was a Sunday morning. I was sitting on the sofa. I started talking out loud to myself. You’ve gotta get a job. I don’t want to get a job. I want to have my own business. You need to pay the bills. Why can’t I pay the bills with my own business?
Then I got this idea that continuing to talk to the recruiters and launching my own business wasn’t mutually exclusive. And that freed me. I said I’m gonna launch my own business. The recruiters aren’t gonna go away. Those job offers aren’t gonna go away. I’ll always be able to get a job. I’m going to launch my business. I’m gonna face forward. I’m gonna jump into it and let’s see what happens. And I called four people, two consultants from one company, two consultants from another company that I had worked with and said I’m launching my own business. I’m gonna be coaching and training and whatever, and, Jackie, I mean I sit here with you a huge bundle of gratitude, a huge bundle of gratitude. From the day I made the decision, which really is the lesson that I want to come back to for your listeners, but it was making that decision to go for it and to jump in, to go all in and not doubt, not dabble, but to go for it, it was that decision that set the wheels in motion. And my coaching practice filled up within two weeks and I’ve had a waiting list ever since. My speaking gigs, my online classes, my CDs I mean everything has just progressed so effortlessly, even though it’s been a hell of a lot of work, but inspired work, creative work, joyful work. That’s what I mean by effortlessly.
So for the listeners, I’m not saying quit your job and jump into your network marketing business full time. I’m saying, however you define your part time business, be all in in those part time businesses. Don’t dabble. Don’t do it for a couple of days and then put it on the back burner for another couple of days. You know, you’ve heard the phrase, treat it like a hobby, it’ll pay you like a hobby. Treat it like a business, it’ll treat you like a business. I think it’s making that decision that I’m going to do this and then having the discipline to put in the effort in those part time hours and add to that a clear vision. My vision continues to expand, but from the beginning I’ve had this clear vision of where I want to go with my business and it just continues to get bigger and bigger, ‘cause those three things I feel, Jackie, the decision, I mean, like you I’ve had the opportunity to interview top leaders onstage from a variety of different companies and to the one when asked what made the difference, to the one they all said in their own words, one day I made the decision. One day I made the decision. And it’s no accident that every top income earner talks like that about there was a moment in time when they said this is my time, I’m in.
And there’s a difference between having very part time hours and what you do consistently and purposefully and with integrity and with discipline and the fun and the joy in all of it. There’s a difference between purposeful part time hours and dabbling. And so that’s what happened for me. I made the decision. I jumped in. I paid my dues. I had a clear vision. I come from my truth and authenticity and all the same skills, all the same activities. I do all the same activities, I’m just not building a downline, but I’m still building a business. I still have aspirations. I still have big dreams. I still pay my dues. I still do my daily personal development practice, which helps me continue to expand my vision and be the best I can be as authentic and honest and supportive of the people I work with. It’s the same thing, just without a downline.
Jackie: That’s fantastic. You talk about every person having that one moment and I call those defining moments. Sometimes, I know for me I had a couple of defining moments that ultimately took me to the final place where I literally dug deep within myself and said I’m doing this thing and I’m going to the top. I’m gonna move out of the decent but mediocre income in my own mind that I had and shoot to the top. And, for me, most of those took place at events and I know you had a defining moment at an event, your first event, when you came out of it on fire to sponsor. So we’re gonna come back to this, but quickly before we do, the question I want to ask you is, if you had to say three primary skills that a person needs to develop to become successful, what would those three skills be for you?
Leslie: Well, number one, embrace personal development. Period. Fifteen to 30 minutes every day, reading or listening to positive information, not business development. That’s all good, too. Okay, I’m not talking about learning more about the profession and leadership. I talking about personal development, you, yourself, your strengths, your weaknesses, your vision. So, number one, a personal development practice.
Hmmmm. Three skills, Jackie. Number two, I’d say be coachable. Really surrender. Every company has a system, a proven system and if you look at your top income earners, they’ve mastered a system of activities and have been able to transfer, duplicate it to other people. So number two I would say surrender, be coachable. Find the joy in being coachable. You will go faster.
And number three, mmmmmm, personal development, be coachable, get clear on your reason why. Be really clear on your vision. So many people come into this business and either, like for example me, my dreams had been trashed as we lost everything. So perhaps due to the economy or divorce or other situations their dreams have been lost or perhaps they come to us and they’ve never been a big dreamer. They don’t know how to dream. They come to us with all different ways. So really embrace, take some time to journal and, if you’re married, talk to your spouse and really get crystal clear on what’s your reason why. What a successful business will do to your life, your family’s life, your lifestyle, your legacy and the more clear that why, it’ll become a grounding rod to help you through the journey. Those would be my three.
Jackie: I love it. Love it, love it, love it. I want to talk about events because it’s funny, you and I met at an event. We had met, if you will, online before and via the phone, but we actually met at Richard’s book “Vision” event down in Orange County when we actually met live for the first time, which was fun. But, yeah, talk to us about the importance of attending events.
Leslie: Well, you know, there’s a phrase. We wouldn’t say it if it didn’t make sense. You just can’t miss the events. Now why do we say that? I used to say to my team, “Look, I would never ask you to spend money or/and take time away from your family if I wasn’t absolutely convinced it was gonna make a positive difference in your business.” And that’s just the truth. And so events are so supportive on all levels. Being in a ballroom or stadium full of excited people with a similar vision, a similar dream, being around people who are positive and are willing and courageous enough to make a difference, seeing your founders, your company’s corporate team, the people who have your dream in their hands is always so powerful. Hearing the stories, and not just the success stories of the top income earners, but the people who are working their way up. I always think the most impactful is the rising star, the newer emerging leader who just came into the business, but they have the vision. They were willing to take the action and set a pace and create early success and everywhere in between from the new emerging leaders to the top income earners. To spend time meeting people, sharing the stories, learning that for most of us we’re all coming at it in the same way so what’s the difference between those people who are walking the stage and those who aren’t?
I think it comes back to what I said earlier, the vision and the discipline and the commitment and so events, you just don’t miss the events. I made a note a little bit earlier. You had said something, Jackie, that reminded me of one of my favorite phrases and I heard it asked at event and, had I not been at that event, I mean it really, I think, it planted the seed in me to launch my own business even if I wasn’t aware of it at the time. But I was in an event and heard this tremendous speaker, this great guy, Craig Valentine. And he’s a top toast master speaker and he’s just a great guy. And he looked at the audience and I was in the audience and he asked this one question, “Are you letting your good enough get in the way of your great?” And that shook me to my knees. I literally had to leave at the break. I went to my hotel room and cried for about an hour.
Jackie: Oh wow!
Leslie: Yeah, it was powerful. Are you letting your good enough get in the way of your great? And for me, at that moment in my life, man, yes, I was settling. I was, things were good enough, but I was nowhere tapping into my greatness. Had I not been to the event, had I not showed up, I would have missed it. I would have missed it, so for your listeners, don’t miss the local events, your business presentations, your local training. Show up. Don’t miss your conventions. Show up. You have a dream and you truly have a dream for your business. Participating in events, being a part of the community, being in the gathering and certainly setting an example of the same for your team. If I had a piece of paper, I could only tell the pro side of the sheet. There’s nothing but benefits for going to the events. I cannot think of one negative. There’s not one con for going to the events. It’s all benefit, benefit, benefit, benefit, benefit.
Jackie: Perfect. Final question before we learn more about you and that is, if you were just starting your business today, if you decided to go back in the field with the knowledge that you have today, and this will help people who may be just getting started or struggling, too, what would you do to build your business? What would your first 30 days look like?
Leslie: That’s a good question. Okay, most companies have some sort of fast start program or quick start program and that’s not random. They do it on purpose because we’ve learned, I’ve learned, that the faster the start a person can get, the quicker we can help a new person start, the greater the odds they’re gonna stick. The faster we go in the beginning, the greater the odds they’re gonna stick, the greater the odds they’re gonna go the distance. We’ve sold enough to be vested emotionally until we get to the point to where we’re vested financially. So brand new, with my experience, let me answer this two ways, if you don’t mind.
With my experience now, were I to go back into the field tomorrow what would be the first things I would do knowing what I know now? Number one, I would continue with my daily personal development practice. I’d never let that go ‘cause that’s critical. I would revisit my why based on this new company and what I was doing and how I saw that impacting my life and then I would do all the fundamental getting started activities. I would start working my list and I would not be hiding behind the computer. I would be taking advantage of all the social networking, social media, but I would also be working my list of warm market and the people that I know. I would definitely get my story down. I would package my story, ‘cause I think people are far more effective in prospecting and selling when they have a well-crafted story. I would talk to whoever my new sponsor was and I would get a feel for how he or she does three-way calling and I would commit to three-way calling immediately because I think that is the absolute number one tool where someone new like me could leverage the expertise of their sponsor. And I would begin networking. I would get back into a leads group, start using the chamber. That’s why I like the combination social networking, community networking, lifestyle networking. I like it. I like a balance. I like it all. So knowing what I know now, those are the things I would do.
For someone listening who perhaps has been on a hiatus or did not get off to as fast a start as they wanted to for whatever reason, and hey, have some self-compassion. Who knows what was going on. Maybe you weren’t as coachable, like me. Maybe you weren’t as coachable when you started. Maybe life’s distractions got in your way. Maybe you didn’t look at your business the same way you’re looking at it today. Maybe you have a struggle to focus. Maybe higher priorities for you now. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. Don’t look back. Always face forward. So if I was talking to someone who did not get off to a fast start but now they want to, I would say look at your company’s fast start program and pretend you were enrolled today and do those activities over the next 30, 60 days to duplicate the fast start program. And that is an absolute proven way you can reset your pace, reset your attitude, reset the clock, reset your story, reset your enthusiasm. Remind yourself what it takes to get off to a fast start or prove yourself the first time all the benefits from getting off to a fast start. It will make you a better sponsor as you bring people onto your team ‘cause now you have that new story to go along with it. And, even if you don’t meet all the requirements of the fast start program, just the fact that you move in that direction is gonna get you back into action and moving forward. That’s some recommendations.
Jackie: Love it. All right, well, Leslie, how can the listeners learn more about you?
Leslie: I would love a visit to my website lesliezann.com. They can find out a little bit more about me if they become a Zann fan, isn’t that so cute? I didn’t think of that, the web guy did. When they become a Zann fan, they receive a free 30 minute audio tape on the power of pace. You can get a sense already today of how I feel about getting off to a fast start and the power of pace and how important that is. So I give five strategies on how to move your business faster than ever before and there’s a couple of other ways I could support them. I have my Outrageous Achievement CD program and I have my Five Keys to Outrageous Achievement virtual online training, two programs that I feel are very beneficial in helping people not only understand what it takes to create success, but really the mindset, script, the language, the strategy, not only build the confidence but the skill set to take the business forward, to really tap into your greatness, to really move faster than ever before. It’s truly my theme. And I have a lot of pride, a lot of pride behind those programs. They were labors of love. I have a real passion in helping people really, I call it step into your greatness, really be all that they can be. It’s so important. We all have all this greatness in us and it doesn’t serve anybody to play small. We all deserve the opportunity to truly shine and to truly be the best that we can be and it’s finding that courage to shine as brightly as we can that’s so empowering to me.
So thanks for allowing me to share that, Jackie.
Jackie: Yeah, thanks for sharing with us all. It’s kind of funny. I do get that in your theme. I get that in what you shared about going fast and, you know, not wasting time and it’s funny. You mentioned your age, you know, being 54, and I love it that you’re proud to say that. And I think that the further we get along in age, the more that kind of defining moment or whatever comes around that there is no guarantee of tomorrow. Now, today is what we have and now is the time to get it done, not tomorrow, not next week. Get it done.
Leslie: Gosh, Jackie. I’m telling you, it’s just so interesting you bring that up now. And again, I know there’s many divorced women listening to this call and it was a defining moment, it truly was a defining moment. And through the process, I am so clear now at 54, I have, you know, 40 years left, 40, 50 years left. I am so clear right now about how I not only want to, but that I can, design my life. Who do I want it driving me on a friendship level, on an intimate level? How do I want my business to look? Who do I want to surround myself with? What do I want to draw into my life, bring into my life, have in my life? I will not settle again, ever, ever, ever and it is such a freeing, liberating place to be in. And my personal development practices really helped strengthen this in me, but I can’t guarantee the results of what’s gonna happen, but I can certainly control how I respond and how I attract and how I dream and how I act. And it’s a beautiful, powerful place to be and that would be the message that I would love to leave with your audience that you can design your life and if they truly believe that and take the actions to move in that direction, anything is possible. And I believe that and I live it every day and I see examples of it every day and it’s what makes life so joyful. Regardless of hard times, regardless of the challenges, it’s like the analogy even if the sky is full of clouds, the sun is still shining above them. You know, this, too, shall pass and it’s how we respond and how we dream and how we act and, you know, I would just wish that to all your listeners that they really get the self-worth, the self-deserve to act on their dreams and design their life. It’s a beautiful goal to have and to strive for.
Jackie: And that is a perfect note to end this perfect interview. So, Leslie, thank you so much for sharing your invaluable knowledge and your time with us. I know I appreciate it. I learn from you every time I’m around and get to spend time with you, listen to you and we definitely have to do lunch again soon. So I know we will, but thank you for being here.
Leslie: Jackie, my pleasure and I wish everyone great success on their journeys and really, Jackie, always a pleasure to be with you as well. Thank you so much.
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