What's a Nice Girl Like Me Doing in a Place Like This?

For those of you who may be interested in the details …

I was dead-set against purchasing the nutritional supplements my company offers; after all, I was a family child care provider and ate what I fed the children in my care, and that met the requirements of the state food program, right? Finally I was persuaded to try them, and I had a pretty quick response. I don't know whether that was because my system was particularly sensitive or because I was exhausted by my job caring for five preschoolers every day, but WHAM - that experience convinced me that pharmaceutical-quality supplements make a difference. I think that notion has become more mainstream over the past several years, and most people are already a step ahead of where I was at that point.

Truthfully, I called the friend who encouraged me to try the products and said to him, "I'm going to tell everyone I know about these, and I'd rather make commissions myself than just send them to you." That doesn't sound very noble, but I wasn't thinking big back then. He very happily brought over the form (those were the olden days before online enrollment) and and I signed up as an associate. I was off!

Then I went into a panic. I thought, "Oh my gosh, what have I DONE?" I'd worked for attorneys for four years in a previous life and even attended law school myself (bleagh!), and I was sure I'd just signed my life away. So I did what I do best - I got on the phone. I called the Better Business Bureau, the Attorney General's office for the state of North Carolina (where I live), the Attorney General's office for the state of Utah (where the company is located), everyone I could think of so I could find the real dirt on USANA. I read every single policy and procedure that came in my Business Development System and grilled other associates about each item. But the deeper I dug, the cleaner it looked, so I decided to stick with it.

Strangely, the parents in my child care group were not terribly receptive to my approaches. I think in spite of the fact they trusted me with their children and I developed all kinds of fancy early learning curriculum activities, they still saw me as The Babysitter. What did I know about nutrition? But here's something funny - one of them telecommuted for her job, and had a colleague in Salt Lake City - right in USANA's back yard. The colleague was complaining about being exhausted, and this parent told her, "My child care provider swears by these vitamins - I'll have her email you." This woman had never heard of USANA, and voila – she was my first customer.

If you had told me ten years ago that today I would be training associates in the health and wellness industry, I would have laughed in your face. Although my friend is no longer doing business with USANA (and that's another post), I have him to thank for introducing us to an amazing industry and a fabulous company. I have the privilege of working with some amazing people and helping some of them achieve goals far beyond what I might have wished for them. I had no idea I could be part of something this big!