Looking back, it is clear to me that the common thread through everything is my passion for promoting a product or service.   I have been an employee and an employer and have always treated any position as building my own company.  While I may not always be the most brilliant member of a team, nobody outworks me.  It may be a result of my midwestern work ethic and parents who were entrepreneurs.

I have always been a bit of a promoter, even as an 11-year old child, shaking and stammering, I proposed to my small town city council in the need to open a dog shelter.  It was my first sale.  As the oldest of four children (all born within 2 and a half years), I was often in charge of being the helper, planner and executor.

God seems to have blessed me with the gift of always being able to make a plan and the tenacity to execute it.   When life would get incredibly difficult (divorce, single parenthood of three sons under five, finding a job, being the sole supporter of my family, etc.), being a good planner and executor is what always got me through.  As that young single parent of three small sons, struggling to make ends meet, a number of friends suggested that I get into ‘sales.’  No one wanted to hire me because I didn’t have a college degree or any experience, but I was determined.  I finally found a technology company that would hire me and train me – cold calling in the Loop of Chicago and commission only.   I had saved up a month of living expenses, so failure was not an option.  I doubled my income the first year and again the second and so on.  That plan got me out of subsidized housing, daycare and I became financially sound.

I also wake up every day and think that something absolutely wonderful will happen.  And, it often does!  I have been able to reinvent myself a number of times professionally and knowing I can do that gives me a great sense of personal security.

There weren’t many women in the sales world when I joined it and it didn’t change for decades.  After a remarriage and acquiring a fourth son, I didn’t have much professional interaction with women as even my clients were mostly men.  I had lots of ‘brothers’ in those days who were my teammates.  When I got into the healthcare industry, things changed a bit and there were more women.  I was eager to pursue some of those relationships.  It was quite a shock to me to experience how cruelly they could treat one another, usually in some effort to advance their careers.   They just didn’t seem to know to how take care of one another but only to plow over one another.  After that phase of my career I went back to another male dominated industry.

I have loved helping others find employment through networking and recommendations through the years and helping almost every politician in my county get elected/re-elected.  Getting involved with gubernatorial and presidential elections was also thrilling.  The pay in those endeavors is simply the reward of winning the race.

Finding the franchise industry 14 years ago after selling my last company, was purely luck or maybe even destiny, but I couldn’t be happier to be part of it.  The people we meet!  And so often we are able to help them find a new passion and purpose for their lives.  The financial income is excellent, but it’s the psychic income that makes the biggest impact on me.  Helping someone one take the leap into entrepreneurship within a great framework, with all the support and guidance they need to be successful – that is awesome!  The rewards of this industry are vast.

What a great gift the women of the franchising world are to me!   That has been one of the very best parts of franchising to me.  The women of this industry are remarkable, caring and genuine – the zors, the partners and of the broker groups.  I have delighted in getting to know many of them and have developed friendships that are authentic, nurturing and lasting.  It seems we have learned much over the decades and are more comfortable in our own skins.

I work for an extraordinary franchisor – Deka Lash.  We have an elegant business model that has a modular design, is easy to scale and is in a recession-resistant industry.  Lash extensions are an alternative to mascara, much healthier for the eye, a time-saver and have quickly become a staple in the beauty regimen for women of all ages, ethnicities and demographics.  It is a happy feel-good business that can be semi-passive and very profitable.  Owners are happy, clients are happy and our lash artists are happy.

After having worked with two legacy franchises – both had been around more than 20 years, had hundreds of franchisees, I was approached by an emerging brand in the beauty industry. (Really?)  What a joy to be a part of this young, energetic, thriving company.  The culture here is the key.  We call ourselves the Wolfpack and that is how we roll.  All for one, one for all and this permeates our internal and external relationships with our franchisees.  The leadership of this company have been in franchising most of their careers; having been franchisees and franchisors.  They are smart, savvy, professionals who are determined to live their core values (committed like family, rooted in authentic relationships, integrity and always doing the next right thing, growth and fun) and grow this business.  If anything conflicts with a policy, we revert to the core values.