Wow! Six months of change and here I am, back at the blog deciding that it’s time to share MORE about this baby brand I decided to partner with last year. After more than 8 years with my previous company and building an organization of thousands of women across the country, what prompted me to leave it all behind and jump on this brand new beauty bandwagon?
So.Many.Reasons.
Let’s dive in to my personal journey to discovering this new brand and the laundry list of beautiful reasons that I could not ignore!
How it started…almost a year ago one of my friends from this industry took a leap of faith and left her own company (different than the company that I was affiliated with) for a new brand called Bellame. I had never heard of it but let’s be honest I am extremely nosy so I made sure to pay attention to what she was doing next!
Bellame didn’t resonate with me that strongly. The name seemed kind of strange and it looked like they had expensive skincare. I brushed it off and kept it moving.
I had a large and successful organization with my past business BUT the company had been on a rollercoaster for 3-4 years of EXTREME changes.
Major leadership changes, constant product issues, sell outs, low inventory, payplan changes and more than I can even explain in one blog post. I was tired, exhausted, disengaged and uninterested in signing my name to an opportunity that I no longer believed in with passion and authenticity.
However, unless you have personally left a team that you built for almost a DECADE, your best friends, COMFORT, people that felt like family and community that you dearly loved I cannot explain how terrifying it is.
After a few months of watching my friend, she made ONE post that caught my attention more than beauty tips, skincare reviews or product information.
She posted about the GROWTH her team was experiencing. I saved that picture and sent it to a group of my closest friends titled, I miss growth.
When I joined my previous business we were in that stage of exciting new opportunity and growth.
And joining at that time was good to me and my family. I quickly built a successful team and was one of the first 10 to promote to our first major leadership level and later to the top of our compensation plan. But due to decisions and actions and issues beyond my control, my stable business that had provided strong residual income to my family suddenly began to feel more and more like a house of cards.
Balancing one unhappy leader over another, just waiting for the entire thing to come tumbling down. And tumble it did. In one month my income dramatically dropped…over the course of the next year I lost over $100,000 in income. IN ONE YEAR. It was a horrible shock to the system and to our family that forced me back into the workplace, where I worked extra jobs to make ends meet and put milk on the table.
It was honestly one of the worst experiences of my life. I could not stop crying. I lost my Dad to terminal illness that same year. To say, 2018 was a dark time is an understatement.
While my time with that company had brought many many beautiful things, it had brought a lot of hardship, stress and anxiety too.
One of my only regrets is not being able to truly enjoy the beautiful moments more as they were almost always clouded with fear and stress.
When I saw my friend and now mentor, post that ONE post about her team GROWING and thriving, my attention was caught.
It would still be MONTHS later before I worked up the nerve to even reach out to her to buy ONE product and ask for ONE set of samples. Once that simple spark of bravery was lit, it caused an explosion of overthinking, research and nerves.
I spent the next two weeks pouring my heart into researching this brand and what I found only made it MORE obvious that my time had come to LEAP.
I researched the CEO and her partner, her husband and what they believed in about this type of business.
I saw her decades of experience in the industry where she talked about and showed up not to take advantage of or bleed out a consultant with inventory, fees, or fear driven product hoarding but she showed up to BUILD up the consultant. She wasn’t buying new leaders into her brand, she was using attraction marketing in the best ways.
I saw leaders that were HAPPY, joyful, authentic and open. I saw a tribe that SEEMED to be there for one another, cheer each other on and wish for success for everyone, from the new partner to the experienced leader coming in from another company. I saw a compensation plan formulated by people who KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING. Not thrown together in a desperate attempt to save a flailing business or trap tired leaders who need to pay their bills. I saw a compensation plan that paid out in 17 ways, for ALL levels. Bonuses, recognition, different ways to earn and build for everyone who WANTS to make this into more than a hobby or a discount.
I saw marketing that FIT, made sense, was grown up and sophisticated. I saw products that actually WORKED. Ingredients that were backed up by science, results, information, before and afters and rave reviews. I saw leaders getting beautiful flowers for their accomplishments. Not fighting with each other because no one was lifted up so everyone was a target and accused of getting too little or too much. I saw the laws of abundancy and a plan.
I saw the VISION of Bellame and I was sold.
A few days later I tried those samples and I was terrified but decisive.
I had THAT GUT FEELING that I had in the very baby beginning of my past business and I knew better than to ignore it.
The first time I heard it I jumped and I learned so much and our lives WERE forever changed. The second time I heard it, I knew I was ready to do it just a little bit better than I did last time. This time I had found a company that matched what I wanted and what I was WORTH. I had found Bellame.
Beyond grateful.
Jesi