Toni is 44 years old, married to Tony and has one daughter aged seven.

Q  What network marketing (NM) are you currently involved in?  A  Forever Living Products, growers and producers of a range of natural health, nutrition and beauty products based on Aloe Vera and beehive produce. I started my FLP business in February 2000.  Q  How did you find out about it or get involved?  A  My first contact was via a mailshot. It arrived when I was in a mood for a change, so I decided to investigate! Management consultancy, my previous career for some fourteen years, was difficult to fit around family life and I had been experiencing increasing levels of dissatisfaction with the corporate world. Getting involved in network marketing was a gradual process of exploration, learning and building trust and confidence in my sponsor, the company and how this business works. I soon learned how big the market opportunity was, due to various key economic drivers and growth trends. I also soon learned that if I didn't take some risks and try things out (take action and lots of it) my business wasn't going to move forward!  Q  What negative experiences did you have in the past with NM?  A  I had never actually encountered NM before, but I had the common feelings of doubt, suspicion and anxiety lurking in my mind centering on notions of 'pyramid selling' and exploitation of the unwary. I was also far from being a sales person and took some persuading that I didn't need to become one to be successful in this business.  Q  What investment did it take to get started?  A  The financial investment was minimal. I bought a 'Combination Box' of products costing just under £200.00. This is discounted from the normal wholesale price and also contains a free literature pack. I wasn't obliged to do this and could have chosen a slower method of trying out the products for myself to find out if I could believe in them, but this seemed the most sensible approach if I was going to be serious about building a business. Most of the products were substitutes for everyday items I was already using and paying for in the shops, so it was just a case of making a swift 'swap over' and then noting the differences we experienced as a family. The investment in time was another matter. Looking back, my first six months was really all about a process of learning (with a great deal of help and support) to overcome the fears and negative emotions I mentioned earlier and to change my thinking habits from negative to positive. I had to learn to trust not only the products but also the people I was working with, the system I was a part of and my own ability to succeed in this business. Only when this trust and belief began to take root did I begin to develop my communications and leadership skills so that I could give real support to my team and help each of them to achieve on the marketing plan - and when I found I could do this, I moved up myself of course! The training itself cost very little but I had to give up some of my free time, miss favourite TV programmes and ask my daughter and my husband to accept the fact that it couldn't always be me who did the bedtime routine.  Q  Do you manage to keep your work and home life separate?  A  I believe that integrating them more than we do traditionally is the answer to having better relationships with less stress. However, I do have some ground rules, about not letting kids wreck the focus of business meeting (managing the environment to that end), ensuring that true friends who choose to remain outside of the business stay as true friends, and 'my corner' is my own work space!  Q  What are the negative points about working at home and NM?  A  I can't find any negative points about working at home. An NM environment overcomes many of the common problems of loneliness and isolation often associated with working at home. You're working for yourself, but not by yourself, as long as you learn to ask for the support that's freely on offer. The worst aspect for me has been overcoming the stigma that many people still attach to NM and learning to tell people I know what it is that I do with pride and total confidence. But once you can achieve this, it's amazing how you can gain people's respect!  Q  Does your NM cover the cost of the time you put into it?  A  The first year is definitely an investment year. Certainly, I have always covered my costs on the retailing side, but if I look at what I could have earned over the past 12 months as a management consultant, of course there's no comparison - yet. But now the foundations of my business are laid and real growth is starting to happen my time is being leveraged in a way that could not happen in a conventional business. I expect by this time next year to be far better off in terms of this equation than if I had remained a part-time consultant.  Q  Do you do your NM part time or full time?  A  I began on a very part time basis - around 7-10 hours per week - but I had to be disciplined to make sure that I really did put those hours in and became a regular attender of company training meetings and evening business briefings. Also I got together with my sponsor a lot in the early days, mostly in the daytime. Now that I have made a personal commitment to building a big business with FLP, I'm working just 20-25 hours per week on average. My daughter is in school and one of my priorities is to collect her every day from school and be free to take her to after school activities, support her with any homework tasks or just socialise - have friends round for tea. So I choose to work 9.00am to 3.00pm on weekdays and typically I'll go out to a meeting two nights a week, having done the family supper first. I also have to budget time for shopping and house cleaning within my 'working day'. There is also a monthly national training day which happens in the Midlands on a Saturday (10am - 2.30pm) and I regard it as vital for learning and business development to attend that special day each month, so family life has to be organised around it. On the other hand, if the school puts on an event involving parents on a weekday, I'm always there - provided sufficient notice is given. One of the pleasant surprises for me has been how the school holidays and half terms have been working out. I used to find it was 'all or nothing' with consultancy. It was very hard continuing to be productive on client work during the holidays and I used to panic as they approached, feeling guilty that either work or parenting was bound to suffer (sometimes both). Now, however, I seem to be able to mesh business and social activities together much better and I really enjoy the holidays. It's relatively easy to intersperse delivering a product to a customer, making a few phone calls or conducting a short, focused briefing meeting around a full social or sporting agenda! Life is much more in balance now than it used to be and I'm really enjoying myself!  Q  Where do you do most of your NM?  A  It involves a whole mix of activities and where they happen depends on the business building cycle, although I'm at home a great deal of the time. Showing people the business for the first time involves either inviting them along to one of our Open Evenings at the nearest Business Centre to where they live, or getting together with them at my house for a one-to-one meeting. If they live somewhere in Oxfordshire (as I do) and unless I already know them personally I will probably invite them along to our Oxford briefing or the one at our head office near Warwick, and I will meet them there. If they live in a different part of the country, I can arrange for them to be welcomed and made to feel comfortable by a colleague at a business briefing in that location. We have a wonderfully supportive culture which makes these kind of cooperative arrangements between colleagues all over the country really easy to make! Then, if the new person decides on the basis of their initial introduction to the business and the follow-on induction training provided by the local team, that they would like to become a distributor, then as their sponsor I will travel to them, meet them at their home and plan their business with them and how we will work together to help them achieve what they want out of the business. The telephone and increasingly the internet play a strong part in enabling coaching at a distance, in between the essential face-to-face planning and coaching meetings. With the use of technology, I've been able to sponsor in Scotland, the South Coast, London and I'm just starting to get going abroad - in Australia! One of the ways of building early confidence with the products is to do a Business Launch for a new team member in their own home. I do this to demonstrate how easy it is to share information with others about our personal experiences in using the products, and the event usually kick-starts the word of mouth recommendation process and the gradual formation of a loyal, satisfied customer base. I keep my own local customer base topped up to the level I require by taking stands at local fairs, producing a product newsletter, honouring the company's 90-day money back guarantee without hesitation and generally demonstrating a real concern for customer satisfaction and health improvement. I also take part fully in all company fund-raising initiatives and arranged a variety of events locally last year which contributed around £1000 for Debra, a children's charity which has no public funding and supports kids with a horrific, painful and at present incurable skin condition. Nationally, FLP raised £116,000 for Debra over a two month period.  Q  Where do you work at home and do you need to store goods?  A  I work at a desk in the corner of my living room or around my kitchen table for meetings. I have very limited storage requirements as I buy in stock on demand rather than tie up funds in stock. I have a spare 'Combi box' in my cellar for demonstration purposes plus a couple of litre containers of drinking gel in my larder in case of emergency orders. Otherwise, I can get stock in and deliver it to a customer within 48 hours of an order.  Q  Do you find a car is essential?  A  Yes, I would say it is, though I do have one distributor who is disabled and a non-driver and I know of others who started out without transport and had to work a plan to get themselves properly mobile. It's a constraint but where there's a very strong will and a willingness to work, there's always a way!  Q  What sort of work do you also do (or before you did NM full time)?  A  Before I started my FLP business I was co-managing a consultancy business with my husband, working from home. I still consider that I am essentially working part-time because of my responsibilities as a parent and lack of other relations living nearby to share this with.  Q  What advice would you suggest to someone considering Network Marketing?  A  Do your homework carefully - get to know and feel comfortable with the company and the products it offers. Look at the financial stability, track record, leadership, culture, training and support structure of the company; decide whether you could get really enthused by the products and the values they represent. Having chosen your NM company, be loyal and stick with it. All NM companies worth their salt are offering ground-beating products that offer better value than their shop-traded equivalents. Ultimately, though, this is a people business and you will limit your potential if you get stuck with a product focus or if you do not work consistently at building long-term trusting work relationships. Treat your business seriously, even though you may be only working it very part time. Set goals that inspire you (don't be average, go for greatness!) and decide on your key milestones with the help of your sponsor. Be prepared to pay the price (e.g. missed TV programmes, working some weekends, stepping aside from the crowd). Keep your vision clear and reward and celebrate the signs of progress, however small. You will need a great deal of honesty, self-discipline, self motivation and a strong vision of what you want to achieve to keep on track and avoid getting dragged down or sidetracked by negative friends, family and acquaintances who will disregard, trivialise or even call into question your choice of occupation (be warned!). Invest in your learning and get help, advice and support from those who have already built successful careers in NM. There is a wealth of good literature and cassette tapes available to those starting out in NM and learning should become a lifelong habit - remember, you need to change your thinking before you can change your life. Train with the best people in your company and ask your sponsor (or upline manager) to help you and support you on a frequent basis (daily, even, to begin with). A good sponsor wants to serve his or her team fully, you have a right to expect such support and you need to learn to ask for it without thinking twice. Be coachable, keep it simple and learn from best practice. Don't waste time reinventing the wheel or attempting to 'sell' the business to those who don't really want it! Take massive action, don't be afraid of making mistakes (you will!), ultimately it's only by getting on and doing it, experimenting, falling over and picking yourself up again that you learn how to communicate effectively, connect with others, improve your performance and so move steadily forward. Finally, if you're going to build a business part time that replaces or significantly improves on what you could achieve with a full time job, you need to develop leadership skills right from the beginning. Start focusing on the success of others and help them to get what they want, because only if they achieve theirs will you achieve your goals! Support your local meetings and become a good team player and you will be rewarded and strengthened with the support of a hundred or more friends!

Thank you Toni for sharing!
If you are interested in finding out more about Forever Living visit www.no-more-rat-race.com and use the passcode 1103